In Flight
by gabriel blessing
Summary: Honestly, Shirou was beginning to think that he should be used to this; being unwittingly selected to take part in brutal tournament that he had no idea existed until he found himself in the middle of it. Then again, second times the charm, right?
1. First Wing

In Flight; The First Wing

Author's notes: Well, it seems like I've managed to patch together a new idea that won't leave me alone. While I'm sure many readers were rather hoping that this was a sequel of some sort to Hill of Swords, I instead finding myself once more instead crossing Fate/Stay Night with a series that really someone should have crossed it with before. I mean a poor unsuspecting sap suddenly being drawn into a mysterious tournament with some kind of amazing life altering prize at the end of it, a tournament that involves hunting down and fighting other members in secret at that.

I'd like to say that was what inspired me to start plotting this story, but instead I will admit that the reason I got this idea stuck in my head was hair. I mean, Takami and Minaka both had unusually white hair for being so young, and then I realized that Archer also had white hair, and I gotta to wondering what if there was some kind of connection behind it? Silly, I know, but the more I thought about it the more I realized just how much potential the two stories had if you were willing to work it right.

I'm sure that many of my readers who were disgusted by the fact that I had applied off camera character development to Shirou and then used the story to explain what had happened to him gradually will be relieved to note that in this one Shirou hadn't had too much life altering things happen to him so I'm planning on his personality being more like it was originally. Others who couldn't enjoy the story because they couldn't figure out what path HoS's Shirou came from can also rest easy; this Shirou is pure Unlimited Blade Works. The good ending, by the way, so if you don't like Saber, which I was surprised to realize a good number of F/sn-ers don't, then oh well because yes Shirou has been spending the last two years in a three way relationship with Rin and Arturia while serving as Rin's apprentice in the Clock Tower.

Also, though I've unfortunately come to realize just how rabid some Nasu fans can be, the ones who once before sang their outrage to the sky's over the fact that I wasn't perfect in using Nasuverse mechanics in HoS you can be assured that when I wrote HoS I was dealing solely with my knowledge from having watched and played F/sn and Tsukihime. Now I've officially added Kara no Kyoukai to my watched list, and spent a few days trolling around in the Nasu-wiki to try and figure out just what some of the things that were mentioned actually meant, so I'm a bit more confident in my ability to represent the workings of the nasuverse more accurately. I'm sure that I'll still manage to mess up a few of the more esoteric aspects of the nasuverse, and I'll probably end up using them in ways that I'm sure someone out there will want to scream outrage at, but so far my plans for In Flight will involve a lot more of the Nasuverse then HoS's did.

Now, as for the chapter. I'm interested in seeing how this goes over, because quite frankly I think I just did something that I've never seen once in any other F/sn fic ever: actually suggested the fact that maybe Shirou's parents weren't actually dead. I have no idea how that's going to go over, and I hope that I manage to attract enough attention to this fic by the time the next chapter is ready that I'll start getting feedback on the idea.

Let me know what you think of my latest venture in to the Fanfiction world.

*Story Start*

I jolted awake when the plane landed in the Shin Tokyo airport. The first thing that crossed through my mind when I transitioned from being asleep to being awake was where the nearest sword was.

The nearest sword was very nearly in my hand when the passenger sitting next to me spoke up, reminding me that airplanes are rarely a good idea to spontaneously conjure four feet of sharpened steel if you want to maintain a low profile while traveling. These days, after all the terrorist threats and high publicity failures of security, sometimes even having a pair of nail clippers or a bottle of shampoo wasn't the wisest things to have in an airport for that matter.

"Easy there, son," the passenger next to me cautioned when he saw me glance around with wide eyes. "It's just the plane landing," he assured me. He'd been in the chair next to me for nearly sixteen hours by this point, having boarded the plane at the same time as I did back in Belfast International. When our plane had a brief layover in Bangladesh for refueling and passenger on loading and offloading he had been one of the other flyers that hadn't left. So far he had spent at least twelve of those sixteen hours trying to talk to me. I'm not sure if he had spent the last four of them trying as well, seeing as I had been asleep for them, but it seemed a definite possibility. "First time flying?" he asked me with an easy grin, speaking in English.

"Second," I admitted in the same language, giving him the best smile back I could in the circumstances. My fellow passenger was a well dressed gentleman with a very professional looking briefcase tucked beneath his chair and a tendency to ramble on about anything. During the first twelve hours of the flight he had covered everything from his kids to his job, and managed to somehow touch on spiritualism, obscure cultural practices of the indigenous tribes of New Zealand, and the current state of the economy now that Mid Bio Informatics was releasing its newest string of mind bogglingly complex and groundbreaking inventions. I'd heard stories in the past about having neighbors like that during flights, and only two things kept me from being annoyed by how distracting it was. The first was the fact that it was naturally against my nature to let things like that get to me so easily. If I could endure Shinji's self absorbed antics during high school, than I could certainly endure a man who was simply trying to hold a conversation.

The second thing that kept me from being annoyed was being distracted helped keep my mind off just how close a thing it was me getting out of the Britain safely. And I really didn't want to think too much about how close a thing it had really been.

"Well, don't worry," the gentleman next to me assured me. "It gets easier after the first few times."

"Thank you," I told him in response, giving him a weak smile at his awkward but well meaning attempt to put me at ease. "I don't think I'll be flying much, but I'll keep that in mind."

The man nodded, and then spoke up, sounding a little apologetic. "I'm sorry if I wasn't the best person to sit next to. I know it tends to annoy people when I talk so much like that, but honestly," and here he paused to give me a sheepish look, "I have to admit flying makes me a little nervous myself. I apologize if I was a little chatty…"

When he trailed off looking slightly ashamed at his admittance to having used me as a way to keep his mind off whatever personal fears an airplane represented to him I gave him another smile in return, and this one managed to be stronger than my last one. "Don't worry about it," I assured him. "I was happy to have helped."

As he took my reassurance as a reason to start up another conversation, I let my mind wander as the plane taxied its way to the gate. The primary focus of what I was thinking about was exactly what I was going to do next. I might have made it out of Britain, but that didn't change the fact that they were going to be after me. Yes, the Clock Tower wasn't likely to have many resources now that I was back in Japan, but that didn't change the fact that I was still a target in their eyes. The fact that the stronghold of their power was now half a world away and that the majority of those who were in charge back there tended to think of Japanese magi as backwards semi-literate hedge mages were both strong advantages for me. The lack of Asian members combined with their tendency to favor either overly elaborate or completely out of style clothing also most likely meant that even if they did come after me I would be able to spot them long before they spotted me. But that didn't change the fact that if they did manage to find me, and decided to send the Enforcers after me, then I would be facing some serious power when they did.

Well, whatever the case might be, it didn't change the fact that they weren't very likely to be able to ambush me in the airport, seeing how public that would be. They'd wait till I was somewhere a little more private before they did something like that.

That meant I probably wouldn't have to fight me way out of the terminal in some kind of fast pace running battle which would devastate the surroundings around me till I managed to defeat my enemies or escape into the population at large. Which was kind of a pity I suppose. If that had happened I would have been able to avoid the inevitably long and crowded lines for immigration.

It must be some kind of unwritten law of the universe that if technology managed to advance to a level that provided some new form of privacy invading technology it would inevitably be found in an airport. I had little doubt that somewhere out there was some kind of secret organization of sadistic old men rubbing their hands together in glee and conspiring to find new ways to make the process of getting on and off a plane as painful and embarrassing as possible. As I stood as patiently as I could in the line for immigration, trying not to tap my foot in impatience while glancing around in paranoia at the world around me, I contemplated the newest way to make flying a pain in the rear.

It might have seemed like coincidence that the source of the current delay in my traveling plans had been a topic of discussion between me and the man who I had been seated with on the flight were similar, but in truth it really wasn't. Mid Bio Informatics, or MBI as it was known as colloquially, was the leading developer of all kinds of medical and medically related technology. Since the multi-national super corporation had its roots here in Shin Tokyo it was no surprise that you'd often find some of the company's newest technology here first. The one that was currently keeping me from picking up my luggage and finding a cheap hotel to stay in for a night while I contemplated my next move was the newest outrage inspiring piece of security that the airport had gotten straight from the company's vaults. I don't know what its actual name was but it was supposed to be some kind of DNA analyzer. It seemed a little unreal to be looking at one myself, even if it was from the back of a line that would probably take another hour at least to be worked through. Whenever I thought of DNA analysis it was always in relation to crime dramas, and usually involved needles and a weird machine that spun in circles for a few hours. I had no idea how accurate those preconceptions were, seeing as I rarely watched television for more than news, but it was probably a testament to MBI's genius that the analyzer was no bigger than a suitcase and didn't need anything more than for the tester to breath onto a small screen for it to start running its tests.

There had been a lot of outcry from people when the instatement of the DNA thingy in airports was announced, but as usual the airline industry was capable of getting away with far more invasive technology than pretty much any other industry when it came to the name of safety. It had taken months of respected scientists and overly apologetic industry figures explaining on news broadcasts and talk shows explaining that no, they weren't going to use the machines to start compiling enormous databanks on travelers and that the machines themselves would only be for identification purposes before the public had grumbled enough before they finally gave in to the inevitable. Apparently the machines would be listed with a set database of individuals, criminals and terrorists and things like that, and the machines would only be able to determine if the person being tested was on INTERPOL's most wanted list and wouldn't be able to store information at all on the person who was being tested. The idea was that if a person being tested did come up the official responsible would be able to double check the identified person's passport and see if it was fake or not.

It might sound like a good idea on paper, but in practice the only thing it was serving to do at the moment was make me more and more nervous as the line slowly crept forward. Shin Tokyo was the first city to have the machine installed, and it was serving more as a beta test for the technology than as an actual safety measure. The machine was buggy at times, and from what I could tell there were frequent false alarms and glitches as the line shrank. Most of the time if it did go off the attendant would just wave the supposed offender through. Other times the individual would be escorted to a small door to the side and would appear a few minutes later looking irritated at having been delayed even further by the wretched appliance.

When it was finally my turn to try the new machine out I handed my passport to the clerk behind the desk, breathed into the machine, and then spoke my name.

"Shirou Emiya," I announced, trying my best to speak clearly so the machine and the attendant would both hurry up and wave me through.

Naturally, considering how my last week had been, instead of the machine emitting a soft 'beep' which would indicate I could move on ahead it instead started to emit a series of shrill chirping noises. The man behind the desk glanced at me, then my passport, then the machine's display. He looked at it closely, and then sighed the sigh of a man who had been forced to put up with far too many shrill chirping noises.

"Please excuse me, Emiya-san," he announced, bowing in his chair as he did so. I could barely make out his wince as he did so, and I had the impression that he had been bowing a great deal since his shift started. "The analyzer is experiencing some technical difficulties. While I'm sure that it is of no importance, I'm afraid that new airport policy requires that I ask you to follow one of our security personnel to the side while our tech support analyzes the problem."

I couldn't quite suppress a sigh, but I gave the man an understanding smile back and a small bow of my own. "I understand," I assured him kindly. He looked relieved that I wasn't going to repeat some of the earlier explosions from similarly delayed travelers had erupted with at being held up yet again. "I'll be happy to do so." The man bowed again, and when a security agent stepped up he too bowed. The security personnel looked almost as hassled as the clerk did and not much older than me as well. As he led me to the door that I had seen so many other passengers go through over the last half hour or so I could make out the faces of the family that had been standing behind me. A young man and what I assumed was his wife and child looked very grateful that I had at least been quick in my inconvenience. While a good number of the Japanese travelers had reacted in the same way as I had, some of the western travelers hadn't reacted with quite the same amount of acceptance for the situations as I had and had served to hold the line up even longer.

When I finally got to see precisely what was behind the mysterious door I found myself being led into a small service corridor with a number of doors lined up down one of the sides. The security personal led me to one apparently at random and opened the door. "This way please," he intoned, bowing again as he did so. With a slight bow in response I entered the room. "I apologize for the delay. In a few minutes one of our service representatives will arrive to discuss the situation. Until then, please help yourself to the provided refreshments." With another quick bow the man left the room. My eyes drifted to the aforementioned refreshments. There was a small fridge with a pot of what looked like cheap coffee resting on top of it. When I opened the fridge I found a severely depleted stock of juice boxes and cans of tea waiting inside. Deciding on a small can of oolong, I noticed a small basket near the coffee pot that held a few packets of biscuits, the kind that usually got served during flights between meals. With a sigh I grabbed one and took a seat at the table in the middle of the room to wait.

It took nearly twenty more minutes, but finally just as I was finishing my tea the door to my small room opened and a much hassled looking middle aged man entered. Before I even had a chance to speak he bowed and spoke an introduction. "Good afternoon, Sir. My name is Kouji Suzuki. On behalf of Asian Air, I apologize for the delay. If you will please cooperate we will be able to quickly discover the nature of the error that has caused us to delay you and we will be able to allow you to complete your trip."

The speech sounded mechanical and well rehearsed, and I found it easy to believe that he had probably had to give it a number of times already, and most likely not been well received when he did so. Standing, I bowed as well. "I understand, and I hope that we can quickly discover the source of the problem so that we might both be on our way," I answered politely. When we both raised our heads I saw what was most definitely relief in the poor man's eyes. I gave him a reassuring smile and he had to stop himself from breaking his professional demeanor by returning it. When he fully entered the room I saw that he had three more men behind him, all dressed in security uniforms. When Suzuki entered he was followed by only one of the security personnel, a different man than the one who had led me here and who was pushing a squeaky cart into the room. On the cart was what appeared to be a portable version of the same machine that had put me in this mess in the first place. I had to keep myself from glaring at it. I was trying to be polite to the personnel that was obviously as equally put off by the whole procedure as I was, but that didn't mean I had to extend this contraption the same respect.

"Due to the newness of the technology, I'm afraid that several errors have not yet been corrected," Suzuki continued, once more sounding like he was reciting a well rehearsed speech. "Fortunately, most of those errors have already been documented. If you will please once more breath into the apparatus," he indicated the small screen that was the machine's receptacle, "then we will most likely be able to determine precisely which error has occurred. Once that is done we will be able to quickly finish your processing. Asian Air will be happy to assist you in whatever fashion is required to make up for this delay." I had little doubt that Asian Air was receiving a great number of complaints and that it had found the fastest way of dealing with them was to throw money at whoever was whining.

"I understand," I assured Suzuki. "Shall I do so now?" I indicated the small screen as I asked if we could hurry up and get this over with.

"Yes," Suzuki nodded as he gestured to the machine. "Please."

Without wasting any more time I leaned in and once more breathed on the receptacle so it could get my information. Again the machine began emitting chirping noises. No one in the room seemed surprised by that, and Suzuki began reading the small screen that displayed the results immediately, his expression bored while he did so. For the first few seconds that is. Then his eyebrows narrowed and he leaned in to read the display more closely.

That was as good an indication as any that this wouldn't be as cut and dry as we both had hoped it would be.

My own eyebrows narrowed and I began to get concerned. If this wasn't a simple new tech error, then maybe it was something more serious. I suppressed a swallow of nervousness. There was no way. The Clock Tower wasn't exactly renowned for being incredibly tech savvy, nor was it likely that they had the connections with a relatively new firm like MBI to get my name on the databanks, not this fast anyway. But then again, they might just have the resources as well…

"Is there a problem?" I asked, keeping my voice carefully bland as I did so. Beneath the table, in my lap, my right hand opened slightly, prepared to grip a sword that wasn't there yet.

I might just get my running battle after all…

"I'm not sure," Suzuki admitted, and his earlier tone of put out upon routine was gone as he began to push various buttons on the contraption which was causing me so much trouble. "I've never seen a response like this…" he trailed off, and his fingers continued to tap and press as his eyes darted up and down as the display presented whatever data he was having trouble understanding. I leaned over the table to see whatever it was that was distracting him so much, the anxiety in my stomach not exactly growing as I did so, but not going away by a long shot. It was incredibly unlikely that the Clock Tower had managed to arrange this, yeah, but it was still a possibility. But then again, it was a much great possibility that this was all just some giant fluke caused by using an airport to beta test new technology.

Suzuki didn't even seem to notice me trying to glance over his shoulder, too caught up in trying to make sense of whatever it was that was showing up on the screen. A minute turned into two, then three, then five. From what I could see the display, a small flat high definition screen, was showing nothing more than random numbers, roman characters, and random symbols. Finally, starting to sweat, Suzuki managed to pull his eyes away, only just seeming to realize that I was leaning across the table to see what he was seeing. When his head darted to the side I realized that at some point the single present guard had leaned over his shoulder as well. It looks like this really was some kind of random event. If the machine had been actually announcing me as a terrorist or criminal like the kind that it was supposed to detect I think that Suzuki would have probably said some kind of safe word and ran like hell while the guard tried to put me down. If it had just been a simple error he would have most likely already waved me out of here.

I suppressed a sigh. It looks like the computer was genuinely malfunctioning in an unexpected way. That would most likely not be good for my schedule.

"Emiya-san," Suzuki finally spoke up, rubbing his forehead as he did so, "I'm afraid that this problem is a bit more serious than I had originally anticipated." When he rapidly stood up, I couldn't stop myself from starting backwards, falling back into the chair I had been sitting in earlier. This time when he bowed to me it was a much deeper than before. It looks like since I had officially departed from the normal routine I no longer warranted a merely routine bow. "Given the nature of the technology, I am required to report this error to MBI directly. As this machine will become one of the security measures for this airport, any potential errors must be immediately dealt with in order to ensure the safety of our customers."

I suppressed a sigh, and wondered if it was too late for me to stop acting so polite. Maybe if I threw a temper tantrum like some of the other travelers earlier I might be able to get my way out of this.

"I understand," I found myself responding, and cursed myself for being so helpful. "Do you have any idea how long this will take?"

"I apologize again for any delays that you will endure," Suzuki responded, still bowing. "Please rest assured that both MBI and Asian Air will be willing to compensate you for any inconvenience this situation presents you."

Which meant that this was probably going to take a while, but at least they were going to pay me for it.

I suppressed another sigh. "I understand. Would it be possible for my luggage to be collected for me?" I asked, not wanting my belongings to be circling on the luggage carousal for however many hours this was going to take unattended. "Or that I might have some more refreshments delivered?"

"I will have one of the attendants see to it at once," Suzuki promised me.

*Scene Break*

Ten minutes after he had left Suzuki made good on his promise. A female employee showed up with my luggage in tow and a stack of menus for me to choose a meal from, free of charge for the inconvenience. Fifteen minutes later I had a slightly overdone steak in front of me along with some rather well steamed asparagus and some really first class french-fries.

Unfortunately, that seemed like the end of the prompt attention for me, because it wasn't until two hours later that something in relation to my delay happened.

And when it did, I very nearly killed them.

I had been flipping through a small collection of magazines that had been supplied to me in order to kill time when my nose was quite suddenly assaulted by a nearly overpowering scent. If it was a normal smell I would have been able to gradually start detecting it, or at least have been more likely to be able to identify it before it overwhelmed me. Instead, one second I had been glancing through a four month old copy of Shonen Jump and the next I was trying to suppress my wretch instinct as my nostrils were invaded by two overpowering odors.

The first scent was sweat, almost cloying. It was like honey, but more overpowering. I would have described it as rotting almost, but it was like something had managed to put a plate of something sweet out in the hot sun, something that should have started to decompose and go foul, but somehow managed to combine decay's overwhelming stench with the original sweetness of its fresh scent.

The second scent was equally overpowering, but both a great deal more obvious and a great deal more ominous: blood.

For a second as I struggled against the sudden sensation I had trouble identifying what was causing it. Sadly, that confusion didn't last long. Rin had always been amazed by my sensitivity when it came to magic. She had never forgotten the ease with which I had hunted down the sigils that Rider had placed over our school when she had been seeking to activate her phantasm. When I had been officially apprenticed to her she had made it one of the points she had evaluated me on. All mages had a certain sensitivity to other magic being cast nearby, though the sensitivity was made known in different ways. Some magi might experience it as a sound, or a taste, or even a physical sensation. For me it was always scent, and after some experimentation Rin had finally had to shake her head in disbelief and announce in that teasing tone of hers that I was probably half bloodhound. The range and accuracy with which I could pick up on nearby magic was bordering on the unreal according to my tiny magi friend.

After a second I managed to gain control of myself, and just like that the strength of the odor diminished. But it was still there, and despite the fact that my mind had managed to adapt to it enough not to get overwhelmed it was still getting stronger.

I put the magazines to the side, and gathered my single piece of luggage till it rested on the table leg beside my chair in easy reach, put my hands on the table in a way which would look as though I was simply sitting but actually allowed me to trace a sword into them in a heartbeat poised to attack, and then tried not to tense myself too much.

I might have been wrong about the Clock Tower not being able to locate me this fast, because right now something was coming. Whatever it was, it was magical. Judging from the strength of the scent, it was probably powerful as well. And judging from the iron tang of spilled blood that lingered in it, it was dangerous.

When the door to my little room opened, I was somehow not surprised when it was revealed to be female too.

She was tall, for a Japanese woman. I was still taller than her, but I was already growing into a height where I would probably be taller than a great number of my fellow countrymen. Her hair, while long and pulled into a ponytail, wasn't the typical shade that would be found in Japan though. It was light, but not shaded. It looked more like she was going prematurely gray. If I didn't know she wasn't human I would have suspected it of being dyed. She was wearing what looked like an extremely abbreviated kimono, reaching only to her upper thighs and bordering on indecently high. She had on long black socks that closed nearly to the hem of the rest of her outfit but leaving a rather appealing absolute zone in there as well. On her shoulders rested a long grey coat, though she hadn't apparently bothered to put her arms through the sleeves and instead chose to wear it like a cape of some type.

The most defining feature of hers though, at least in my eyes, was the fact that she was carrying a long sword, nearly five feet of steel long, sheathed at her side, and she was smiling while she did so. It wasn't a particularly threatening smile. Instead, it seemed benevolent, almost cheerful. The smile crinkled her eyes till they were merely slits, and she beamed at me when she entered the room.

With the scent of blood hanging in the air so thick I was surprised the walls hadn't started bleeding my eyes tracked her as she moved to the corner to perch herself idly.

Whatever the hell she was, she wasn't human. And for all her smiles, she was definitely not friendly either. My mind began racing as I tried to figure the best way to defend myself against her if she chose to attack, as well as the best way to kill her while doing so.

I almost didn't notice the second figure that was following the inhuman thing into my small room. They were also female, and whoever they were they were at least human. A bit shorter than the first female to enter, this woman had a lab coat that was being worn properly on, not like the coat of whatever it was standing in the corner. Beneath it was a pants, button up shirt, and tie combo that could be found on any office worker in the city. She looked like any other middle aged career woman that could be found in any office in Shin Tokyo. The most noticeable things about was the fact that around her neck was a lanyard holding an MBI identification card, and the fact that her hair was snow white.

Just like the thing that had entered before her, if the situation were any different I would have suspected the hair to be dyed, but instead it just seemed natural on her. I couldn't make out any change in color towards the roots, and I doubted that anyone as professionally dressed as the woman glancing casually down at the clipboard in her hand would just go out and dye their hair for fun.

Strangely enough, it was the MBI identification that caused me to let out the breath that I hadn't been aware I was holding. I was almost positive that the Clock Tower didn't have any fingers in MBI, not yet anyway. For the most part the Clock Tower was old money, and rather stuck on their aristocratic image. It didn't seem likely that they would have the foresight to try and get in on what they would consider an upstart organization like MBI. Old money always looked down on new money. It would probably take a generation or two before the wannabe aristocrats would deign to even talk to an organization which was developed in only a two decade time period regardless of how profitable the organization was.

"Are you the ones here to diagnose the mechanical error?" I spoke up, keeping my voice polite as I did so and trying very hard not to sweat. Regardless of whether or not they were associated with the Clock Tower, whatever it was that was standing in the corner was definitely not human and most certainly not benign, not with my magical sensitivity reeking of blood anyway. The only other creature I had ever come across that had smelt so strongly of the life fluid had been the Fifth Grail War's Rider, and she hadn't exactly been a shining example of benevolence and compassion.

"Cut the crap," the white haired woman said, snorting as she did so. "Who are you and what were you trying to pull with this little stunt?" She pulled the chair opposite me away from the table and plunked herself down without hesitation and began pinking away at the machine without giving me a second glance.

I could only blink in surprise at the abrupt tone. You'd think that a company whose malfunctioning machine was delaying innocent travelers for hours on end would be more polite. After so many apologetic airport officials I had been anticipating a more formal meeting. Well, I had been until I had caught wind of the grey haired thing in the corner.

"Excuse me?" I managed to get out, nonplussed by her bluntness. She snorted in response, still typing away at the machine. I could make out her looking at the same data that Suzuki had earlier, though it appeared as though she was getting more out of it than the airport official had.

"I said, 'Cut the crap'," the white haired woman repeated, her tone dry and disdainful. "I want to know who you are, who you're working for, and just what the hell you thought this little stunt would have gotten you. Now," she looked up to give me a glare that would have been frightening if my girlfriends hadn't both been much better at it then her, "are you going to cooperate or not?"

I looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out just what the hell she was talking about, before cocking my head to the side. Alright, if that's the way she wants it to go. She sounded more annoyed by having to waste her time coming out her than anything else. Well, if she wanted annoyed for having her time wasted, she wasn't the one who had spent bordering on four hours stuck in an airport due to a mechanical error.

"My name is Shirou Emiya," I told her in a flat tone. "Right now I'm unemployed. And so far the only thing this stunt has gotten me is a headache, a second rate steak, and massive inconvenience due to the fact that your little machine is a piece of junk. What I want now is for you to hurry up and figure out what the hell is wrong with it so I can get on with the rest of my day before it's completely wasted."

The thing in the corner snorted, and looked genuinely amused by my response if the smile was anything to judge by. The white haired woman also snorted, though her humor seemed laced with a great deal more cynicism. "Right," she drawled, still typing away at the computer, before she paused and her eyes narrowed at whatever it was she had managed to uncover. The look she sent me a second later lacked her earlier almost sardonic tone. "I don't know who you are, or how you managed to find this flaw, but I'm going to enjoy having Karasuba get those answers out of you," she growled at me. The thing in the corner, whose name I now assumed to be Karasuba, widened her smile and put her hands on the hilt of the blade she was carrying.

"And I'm sure I'll enjoy getting them, Assistant Director Takami," the grey haired female said, her voice jovial and pleasant to hear. Well, it would have been pleasant if it hadn't been accented by the soft whisper of drawn steel. I had only a moment to focus my attention on her before she moved. With a motion that would have made Saber raise an eyebrow at its speed the sword in her hand flashed and a portion of a second later I felt the kiss of steel on my throat.

For a moment I sat still, my eyes flickering to the thing in black as she casually sauntered behind me, keeping the blade steady as she did so. When the thing, Karasuba, finally left my field of vision I focused my attention back on the white haired lady in front of me and sighed. The movement caused the flesh at my throat to move against the blade being held there, and I suddenly understood why so many people throughout the world preferred straight razors. That portion of my skin had probably just received the smoothest shave it ever would. I leaned backwards in my chair and folded my arms with another sigh.

"Did you just pull a sword on me in a public place because your stupid machine is malfunctioning?" I asked, though the question was mostly rhetorical. The blade at my throat followed my movement as the thing behind me kept it against me despite my movement. The white haired woman in front of me raised an eyebrow, her expression still angry but apparently taking in my nonchalance at the situation as well.

"If you're still trying to convince me that you're some kind of innocent bystander and not an attempted infiltration plot by a foreign country or one of our competitors than ignoring death threats isn't the smartest way to go about it," she informed me with a scowl.

"It's not the first time I've had a blade pulled on me," I informed her, "I've even got a few scars from some of them. Legacy of a misspent youth I guess." Despite the flippancy that I was displaying it was taking everything I had to keep from sweating. Given the position of the female behind me it was unlikely that she'd have the torque or the angle to give me a beheading blow, and if she tried to cut my throat, well, she'd be surprised at just how hard that could be. Even back before I had started getting serious training from Rin on how to develop my magecraft I had been far tougher than I had any right to be. Even if the blade managed to open a vein I had ways to get around that. The problem was exactly just what the thing behind me was. I knew it wasn't human and that it was probably stronger than a normal woman her size, but the question was just how much stronger? "Hurry up and start your interrogation so I can prove myself innocent and collect a nice fat check of hush money from you afterwards."

The thing behind me snorted in amusement. "Well well," she drawled. "It looks like someone's rather sure of themselves." Judging from the tone of her words it sounded like she was actually enjoying seeing someone she was holding a sword against back talking. Given how strong the sense of blood from her was I had the impression that she was more used to people begging or screaming.

The white haired woman didn't seem anywhere near as amused by my confidence. "Name?" she snapped, pulling a compact little laptop from somewhere beneath her lab coat. It was a thin looking piece of electronics, one of the newer ones that had started to become more and more available as technology advanced. It seemed to consist of nothing more than a touch screen. Judging by the speed of the white haired woman's fingers as they moved across it the woman was well versed in its usage.

"Shirou Emiya," I answered without elaboration.

"Purpose of visiting Japan?" she continued, snapping her question the moment I finished talking. It looked like she was going to try and keep me answering fast, an interrogation technique designed to help make the one being questioned slip up.

"Returning. I'm a resident not a visitor," I answered just as quickly.

"Original purpose of leaving Japan?" she snapped back, not missing a beat.

"Going to school in London with my girlfriends."

"Reason for return?"

"My girlfriends broke up with me after I got kicked out of school." I suppressed a wince. That was still rather sore memory, seeing as it only happened a week ago and most of the last week had involved me running and fighting for my life as I desperately tried to escape the country.

"Ah, poor thing," the thing behind me cut in, her voice still sounding more amused than her words would indicate. Both me and my white haired interrogator ignored her.

"Name of parents?" the woman said instead, surprising me. I would have thought she'd have focused more on the circumstances that l just described. So far from what I understood she thought I was some kind of government infiltrator or espionage agent or something that was targeting her company. If she was trying to oust me on something like that wouldn't it have been easier if she focused instead on things as noticeable as me having been kicked out of school, or even the fact that every time I mentioned my girlfriends I was using plurals?

"Adopted or biological?" I responded to her question, trying not to let my confusion at the direction of the questioning. The white haired woman's eyes narrowed even further as she continued typing away at her laptop.

"Adopted," she informed me.

"Kiritsugu Emiya," I answered. She paused, glancing up to give me a hard glare.

"Then Emiya is an assumed family name?" It seemed like an obvious question to me so I gave her a flat look back as I responded.

"Yes, it is."

"Biological family name?" Without a second thought she turned back to her previous line of questions.

Here I could do nothing but shrug. "I don't remember."

For the first time since the interrogation started she seemed at a loss for words.

"You expect us to believe you don't remember your own name?" the thing behind me asked, sounding like she found the idea that they would believe me to be even more incredulous then my response itself was.

For the first time since she put a blade to my throat I turned to face her. I could feel my flesh drag against the edge of her sword lightly as I glared at the laughing face behind me. "I was five years old when they died in the fire. I was in the hospital for my own injuries for weeks afterwards, and I was lucky enough to be adopted immediately afterwards. I don't remember anything about the time before that, something the therapists at the hospital assured me was quite normal after that level of trauma. Is it that hard to believe that I would forget?"

I had meant the words to be a chastisement, but instead the grinning face remained unchanged. "Hmmm," she drawled. "I suppose if you put it that way," she allowed as though she were a queen deigning me with a pardon for some minor misdemeanor that would have otherwise resulted in my beheading. From the way she was holding the sword against my neck the comparison might not have been that off. I scowled at her before sitting back in my seat to face the white haired woman again.

The scowl that the woman had been wearing since she had first read my reading on the stupid machine that had gotten me into this mess was still there, but now it was much smaller. Rather than glare at me she seemed to be studying me intensely.

"Where was the location of the fire?" she asked, speaking much slower then she had been earlier as she focused on my face.

"Fuyuki City," I told her, settling in for more invasive questioning.

"What was your address during the incident?" she dug deeper, her fingers darting over the board in front of her even faster now, though her eyes only barely flickered down to it as though she could only just bring herself to stop studying my face.

"I don't remember," I admitted honestly. "I know it was only a block from ground zero where the fire started." Her eyes darted down to the screen and she typed furiously for a few moments. Finally she seemed to find exactly what it was she was looking for, and her face unexpectedly began to pale as she froze in her seat.

I waited for her next question. And waited. And waited. Finally the thing holding a sword to my throat spoke up. "Takami?" she asked, sounding curious instead of just amused.

The white haired woman, Takami I suppose, seemed to wake up and glanced over at the thing, Karasuba, in response to her question. Takami's eyes seemed to widen as they locked on to the blade still resting at my throat. "Enough, Karasuba," she said suddenly, and I felt the blade saw against me as the thing behind me shifted in what I assume was surprise at the tone of her superior.

"Oh? So I won't be killing him after all?" Karasuba asked, sounding disappointed at the thought of not being able to open my throat.

"Looks that way," I told her, my voice entirely too smug. "Since it seems that this whole little screw up has finally been revealed as not my fault, when they start talking about the hush money to keep me from mentioning how a corporation threatened to kill an innocent man because of their own equipment's failure, part of the compensation I'm gonna demand is that you apologize and beg for forgiveness while sitting seiza position." A bit vindictive of me, I'm sure, but you don't make it through a two year relationship with Rin Touhsaka without picking up a little of that.

The sword next to my throat stilled for a moment, and then the thing behind me began to laugh as the blade was finally taken from my neck. "Well," Karasuba murmured as she walked into my line of sight, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she smiled at me. "Aren't you a brave one?"

"So I've been told," I returned. Actually, I think the phrase 'suicidal' is more usually thrown around when describing my willingness to confront danger, but I don't think that would be an appropriate thing to mention in the company. "So have you figured out what the problem with the machine is yet? I would like to be able to get a hotel and some sleep, preferably before it's tomorrow morning." All this drama aside, I still had to figure out just what I was going to do in order to stay one step ahead of the Clock Tower.

"Would you please breathe into the apparatus one more time for confirmation?" Takamai said instead, still staring at me with a pale expression on her face. With a sigh I leaned in and did so. Once more, just like before I was greeted with the chirping noise the machine emitted. The white haired woman let out another shaky breath as it did so.

"Can I go now?" I asked, tired from this whole escapade and eager to get on with my life.

"Not…" the woman started, and then paused, swallowing as she continued to stare at me, her face now nearly as pale as her hair. "Not precisely. Shirou, wasn't it?" she began, sounding hesitant.

I frowned at the informal way she addressed me. If she was about to start apologizing and trying to bribe me I would expect her to be a little more polite. "Yes, that's my name," I answered her, studying her carefully in response.

"Well, Shirou," she began, licking her lips as though her mouth was dry. "We've never encountered an error like this before, which was part of the reason that I was called down here. You see, this machine analyzes microscopic traces of dead cells or exhaled saliva in order to analyze the DNA of the tester and compare it to a set database," she began, speaking slowly and carefully as she did so.

"So I've been told. So precisely why was it going off for me? Was it just a false read?" I asked. I didn't really care for the specifics of it, but if they thought I was some kind of international criminal then I suppose it would make sense that the lady in front of me would have brought some muscle like the thing that had once more resumed her post in the corner. Though that made me wonder just how a company like MBI had managed to get something inhuman like that Karasuba to work for them.

"Not precisely," Takami hemmed, sounding nervous. "You see, when you were tested you ended up reading as a partial match for two different people on the database."

"Partial match?" I asked, now feeling confused. I suppose that something like that would be odd enough for the airline to warrant them calling in tech support.

"Yes," Takami admitted, glancing at the result screen on the machine that was rapidly becoming the bane of my existence. "It seems that you read close enough to two individuals that it couldn't rightly determine if you were either one."

"My DNA was close enough to…." I got out, before than long distant memories of biology class in high school suddenly sprang to mind. I nearly jumped out of my seat, both my hands slamming onto the table with a loud noise. Takami flinched at the sudden noise and Karasuba's hand drifted towards the hilt of her sword once more as she eyed me speculatively. "Wait," I managed to get out in a strangled tone. "Wait. Partial matches? You mean….?"

"Yes," Takami admitted, sounding a little sheepish. "It seems as though the machine just inadvertently performed a paternity/maternity test."

I gaped at her. No way. That was impossible. My parents, my biological parents and my adopted father as well, were dead. They died in a fire years ago, during the horrible last moments of the Fourth Grail War, and a few years after that from injuries received in the same war respectively. I didn't remember my biological family. Honestly, I didn't care to remember them for that matter. I am an Emiya, the only parent I need is Kiritsugu who taught me more about how to live my life then I honestly could believe anyone else in the world could, regardless of whether or not they were partial donators of my genetic code.

Hold on a second. The database I was being compared to…

I groaned, sinking back into my seat. "So what, both my biological parents were international criminals?" I managed to get out, rubbing my forehead as I did so. That's great. That's just great. Karasuba seemed to think that the situation was every bit as amusing as I found it ridiculous. She had one hand up to cover her mouth as her body shook slightly with repressed laughter.

"That's," Takami began, and swallowed hard, still staring at me, "that's not entirely accurate." I glanced up at her, studying her carefully. She sounded hesitant, as though she knew something else and was too nervous to come out and say it. I said nothing and simply braced myself for whatever shock I was about to get. "You see," the whiteh haired woman continued, "since this was unofficially nothing more than a testing ground for the viability of the machine as a future safety device, the database for international criminals wasn't the only one in its memory. The machine was originally developed at MBI, and many of the scientists there were used as test subjects while it was being developed. Since the machine is still in the experimental phase during this trial period, it still had the MBI scientist database loaded in it."

For a long second I was simply unable to process precisely what that little tidbit of information truly meant. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks and if I hadn't already been sitting I would have been afterwards as I felt the strength flow out of my legs in shock.

"What?" was the only thing I could manage to get out, gaping at Takami and feeling the blood drain out of my face. I must have been as pale as she was at this point.

"Your parents are alive," the white haired woman said carefully. "And they're working for MBI."

Despite the clarity of the words, I still couldn't bring myself to completely understand them. My biological parents, the man and the woman responsible for conceiving and birthing me, the long forgotten entities of my past that were in some way responsible for me being alive were also alive.

"Who are they?" I heard myself asking as I struggled to keep the world around me from spinning. This, this was unreal. Who ever heard of something as crazy as this happening? Learning that something I had accepted my entire life as fact was in truth not? That thanks to a computer error in an airport and an improbable, no incredible, series of coincidences I was suddenly confronted by the fact that I wasn't really an orphan? That was like one of those insane rumors someone might read about in a newspaper about child that was put up for adoption finding their real parents in line at a coffee shop, or two babies that were accidently switched in their cradles at a hospital ended up being next door neighbors.

Takami took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and then closed it with an audible swallow. She tried again, and still couldn't manage to get anything out. Finally she simply took out her cell phone, pressed a button on it, glanced at the screen, and then held it out to me.

It took me a moment to comprehend what I was looking at. The woman in the picture was probably Takami, though apparently at a much younger age. In the picture her hair was still mostly black but liberally streaked with white. It looked like she had some kind of condition that resulted in early graying or something. There were two children being snuggled in the younger Takami's arms. One was an infant, presumably a girl from the pink blanket covered in cute little princess print. The other was a very young boy, perhaps four or five years old, with light auburn hair. He was smiling up at the camera, snuggled against Takami, probably her son…

Wait. Wait wait wait. Wait.

"You don't mean…" I gaped at the pale woman who suddenly looked a lot less intimidating and genuinely scared.

"You had the chicken pox," the woman said, her voice soft and on the edge of breaking into tears by the sound of it. "I was worried that Yukari was too young to catch them, so you were going to stay with your grandmother for a week or two while you got over them while I kept an eye on Yukari. Then," she broke off, her voice hitching and she paused, apparently mastering herself, " then I got word from the city officials about the fire. I had every hospital in a two hundred mile radius checking for your name among them, but there was nothing. And my mother's house was so close to the center of the fire that I, I thought…" She trailed off, taking a gulp and closing her eyes as painful memories that she had probably long thought were done and gone were no doubt once more made fresh in her mind.

"But," I managed to get out, "but if you were looking for me why didn't you find me? I gave my name, shouldn't they have found me?"

In the corner Karasaba was alternating between looking back and forth between me and the white haired woman, my mother I thought to myself in disbelief, and looked like she was one step away from bursting out into laughter. She had both her arms wrapped around her stomach and was shaking as she tried to keep herself from bursting out into guffaws. I was suddenly inexplicably angry with the thing in the corner. Here I was, having one of the greatest foundations of my life ripped out from underneath me and she was treating it like a joke. Takami didn't seem to notice, and shook her head, her eyes still closed.

"Shirou isn't your name," she told me, and I gaped again. What? "That was back when my hair was first beginning to go white," she held a lock of her hair out as though in explanation and I glanced once more at the picture where she still had mostly black hair. "I use to spend hours in the mirror trying to find if there were any new white hairs, and you use to think it was a game. You would help and whenever you found a new hair you would start yelling, 'White! White!'. You had so much fun with it that I started calling you 'Shiro-chan'."

"But I don't spell my name with the character for 'white'," I pointed out, though it was a useless attempt to defend my apparently false name. "I use the characters for 'professional' and 'department'."

Takami shook her head in response. "You were five back then. You were still learning hiragana and katakana, much less kanji. When you were found they probably asked your name, and you told them your nickname instead." She closed her eyes again and started to take deep breaths, no doubt running through her mind at the insanity of the situation. How many years must my death have haunted her? And now to find out that I was alive, and that the only reason that she hadn't found me was because of a nickname?

In the corner it looked like this latest revelation was driving Karabasa even further into the depths of hilarity, and that overwhelming surge of anger got hotter at her for it. Nearby were the remains of the steak dinner I had been served, and without realizing what I was doing I found the steak knife in my hand. With a trace of magic I used Alteration on it, the step between Gradation Air and Reinforcement on the scale of transformation magecraft. Using Alteration allowed the magi to add a property or effect to an item that would normally not have to it. With the small spell the otherwise unremarkable cutlery in my hand obtained a new degree of keenness that it would probably never have been able to obtain through any amount of sharpening.

And then I threw it.

Takami didn't notice my action, her eyes still shut as she no doubt recalled what it was like when she had thought I had died, and Karasaba was apparently so wrapped up in finding humor in the scene before that she nearly missed it, but the female thing in the corner caught my movement half way through. She tensed, her eyes widening in sudden concentration, but didn't move as the knife I had thrown at the wall next to her head struck the bricks there. If it had been a normal knife it would have probably have bounced off, but with its unnatural keenness my impromptu projectile sank up to its hilt instead.

It certainly stopped her laughing. Instead, she now turned to study me her normally half lidded eyes completely open and her hand resting on her sword's hilt. This entire meeting she had been regarding me as nothing more than an interesting specimen, one that she might have to kill, but was no real threat to her at all despite the apparent flippancy with which I treated her and her sword even when it had been at my throat. Now it appeared as though she realized that maybe my confidence had been more than simple arrogance.

It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but at least it shut her up so that I could focus on the fact that apparently my whole life had been altered by the fact that I had had the chicken pox in the wrong place and had told a paramedic my childhood nickname rather than my real one.

As Karasuba lifted one hand away from her blade to slowly pull the knife I had thrown at her out of the concrete I realized something.

"So what was my real name?" I asked, staring at the woman who was apparently my mother as she opened her eyes to look at me again.

"Minato Sahashi," she told me. My eyes narrowed. Minato Sahashi. It didn't ring any bells, but it wasn't a completely strange set of syllables. Instead it seemed to hum familiarly in my head, like a secret I had long ago forgotten, which wasn't far from the truth considering it was a secret that I had long ago forgotten.

"This," I finally managed to get out after a long moment of silence. "This is unreal." Across from me Takami could do nothing more than nod her head in agreement as the two of us stared at each other awkwardly. As the silence grew longer and more awkward I had to keep myself from fidgeting. What on earth are you supposed to do after discovering that everything you thought you knew about yourself was in fact wrong and you were suddenly confronted with a mother that you had always thought long dead? Takami seemed to be facing a similar dilemma.

Finally, I broke the silence. "So," I began awkwardly. "I have a sister?"

"Yes," the white haired woman nodded her head, apparently glad that I had taken the initiative. "Yukari. She's eighteen now. And you're about twenty, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, scratching my head awkwardly. "Yeah, that would be the right age."

Relaxing slightly as she grew more comfortable with the thought that the person sitting in front of her was really her long lost son, her expression grew suspicions the way that it had when she had first seen the results of her machine's test and thought I had been some kind of saboteur. "What was that you mentioned about having been kicked out of school? Or about your girlfriends?" and here she drew out and emphasized the plural form of the word as her eyes narrowed.

I swallowed, suddenly a great deal more worried than I had been even when I had Karasuba's sword against my throat earlier. This, this can't be a good way to start of getting to know your long lost mother.


	2. Second Wing

In Flight: The Second Wing

_Author's notes: Well, it seems that once more I find myself in the perfect position to start pumping out chapters. School is over for the semester, next semester is just me doing like two classes that I somehow missed before so the schedule then would be pretty light, no new videogames or anything, so its just me having fun typing away._

_Lets see. First off, thank you all the reviewers for the first chapter. It was interesting to see your reactions and hear your concerns. It looks like a lot of you found the idea of Shirou replacing Minato as a little preposterous and I kinda have to agree with you. They really don't look anything alike. Nonetheless, this is a crossover fic and half the fun of those is mashing together works that really don't have anything to do with each other so the only advice I can give on that concern is to shrug and say that it'll just have to be one of those willing suspension of disbelief things._

_A second concern is just which name and how Shirou is going to respond to suddenly having a family. This chapter deals with a lot of that, so I won't say anything else in particular there._

_Thirdly, a lot of people have been mentioning that they don't really know what some of the more obscure terms I've been dropping from Nasuverse mean, and I gotta say you aren't the only ones. Nasu seems to really like dropping random little tidbits and then leaving them untouched until he releases a volume of errata to explain them. Since I can't really expect you the readers to go out and research a fic you're just reading for fun, don't worry, I plan on explaining most of those tidbits in story when they're appropriate._

_The final big concern that I've mostly been noticing is the curiosity over just what happened between Shirou and Saber and Rin, as well as the Watch Tower, which is one of the biggest factions of the Mage Association for all you who didn't know that. I can't say it now because it's all gonna be revealed piece by piece throughout the fic, but don't worry. Yes, there is a story behind the separation, and yes you will find it out eventually._

_Now, my own personal note on this chapter._

_One thing that a lot of people complained about in HoS was how I pretty much followed the original story line and never did anything new. I actually kinda agree with that criticism in particular myself, so I decided that when I started In Flight I was going to change everything around, including Shirou's Sekirei! Let the havoc begin! And then I realized that I really couldn't change his Sekirei around. Mostly because his birds were the only ones that actually got development as characters. Just about every other Sekirei that they run across was just a one chapter battle cameo before they got beaten and removed from the story. Except for the disciplinary squad, I suppose, but I just really didn't see Shirou getting in on that particular action. Thus it appears as though we can expect Shirou to get pretty much what Minato did. However, I'll be darned if it happens like Minato did. Oh, he'll get his birds, but he'll be getting them my way or the highway. Mostly, that is._

_Also, do you have any idea how hard it is to write a fan-service scene without feeling like you're trying to write a porn script? I think that is really gonna be my problem area in this particular fic..._

_Now, anyway. If you like it, let me know. Any questions/concerns/complaints? Go ahead and list them._

_And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

It didn't come as a surprise to me when after careful study of the grade postings for acceptance to Shin Tokyo University I failed to find my exam number listed among those who had been accepted into the prestigious university. It wasn't like I had much time to prepare for the exams after all; having only come back to Japan a few months ago barely in time to enroll in the prepatory school. It had been nearly two years since I'd graduated from high school, and immediately afterwards I had traveled to Britain with Rin and Saber, and during that time while I might have been studying, the topics I was learning weren't quite the same as you would find in a more mundane school like Shin Tokyo University. I was well aware of the fact that I was definitely behind when it came to general knowledge that many of the other applicants had that was actually relevant to the entrance exams.

That didn't change the fact that I knew I would have to make a phone call soon, and that the phone call would most likely contain numerous incredibly awkward moments in it.

With a sigh I turned away from the board that contained the postings of accepted students, taking a moment to smile at some of the more exuberant celebrations that were spontaneously erupting around me as other, more lucky students, were cheered on by their friends and family once they confirmed that their particular applicant had managed to do what I hadn't this particular time. I suppose that if I hadn't been pretty certain that I wouldn't be making it into the ranks of Shin Tokyo U this time around I might be a bit more bitter of their success in the face of my failure, but instead I found myself enjoying watching the happy faces turning red in the still cold mid spring weather.

Still, the distraction could only last for so long. It was time for me to do something that still gave me a weird feeling every time I thought about it:

It was time for me to call my mother.

The phone Takami had given me after she had helped me settle into a new apartment located near her work in Shin Tokyo was quite frankly the most complicated piece of electronics that I had ever used, which went to say more for my lack of experience with computers and such in general than the expensiveness of the gift. Kiritsugu, whom I still thought of as my father regardless of the fact that my biological father was still alive, had never much cared for computers. That wasn't to say that he didn't understand and use technology. Saber had told me some pretty interesting stories of what my father had pulled off using some fairly advanced for the time technology during the Fourth Grail War, but Kiritsugu had always preferred living in a more traditional Japanese home regardless of his willingness to make use of whatever technology he needed when he was working. Consequently through most of my life I had never had a cell phone before. I had rarely used a computer either for that matter, though as I got older and technology got more and more prevalent it got harder and harder for me to stay away from having any kind of modern appliance.

Still, despite the fact that I held my new phone gingerly my fingers plucked out the sequence of buttons that would speed dial Takami, an act that spoke more of long practice than familiarity. As awkward as our first meeting was, it was a sad thing for me to admit that our relationship just got harder after that. Just because we were genuinely biologically related didn't mean that we instantly clicked like you'd see in those television dramas that tried to depict the same crazy situation that Takami and I had found ourselves in. The simple fact of that matter was that the two of us were strangers to each other.

After that first meeting Takami had used her clout as a fairly high ranking member of the MBI organization to check, and then double check, and then triple check to see if it was really true that I was her long lost son. So far the evidence that had been discovered was nearly ironclad. DNA testing from three unaffiliated sources had confirmed her maternal bond to me, and good old fashioned detective work had tracked down not only the hospital that I had been in, but the doctors and orderlies who had been on scene when I had been brought in originally. Not only that, but the paper trail of my adoption, the reports of on scene fire fighters and police personnel that had testimonies of Kiritsugu pulling me out of the inferno that had been Fuyuki city, and local testimonials from people I had known growing up had been added to the mix. Through what I was sure was an effort that most likely cost her company several hundred thousand yen, the conclusion that had followed was looking more and more inescapable: I was really Minato Sahashi, the long thought dead son of Takami Sahashi.

And that didn't change the fact that the two of us had no idea how to act around the other.

I had never had a mother, or parents in general really. I still have no memory of what it was like with her before the fire. For a brief period of time, I had a father, and one that I still love to this day, but that didn't change the fact that the strongest maternal influence that I had in my formative years was Taiga Fujimura. And I use the word 'maternal' there very lightly. I'd always been more or less self-sufficient, and even during my time in Britain with Rin and Saber I had pretty much been forced into the role of the one responsible for the household. Rin was always busy with her studies and her experiments, and Saber, who had tried very hard, just wasn't cut out for running a household. In fact, after her first attempt at it Rin and I had both come to an absolute agreement on the fact that Saber must never, EVER, be allowed in a kitchen again unsupervised.

It was a little sad that in retrospect that the only guy in the relationship had ended up having to play the housewife.

It was hard for me, trying to adjust to the fact that there was quite suddenly a woman in my life that was attempting to look out for and be responsible for me.

And as hard as it was for me, it was even harder for Takami. She still had memories of her little Minato mussing her hair up, yelling, 'White! White!' while he did so. She still had memories of giving birth to me, of raising me, of shopping for me, of holding me while I cried, of laughing with me when I laughed, of me being her child.

The first time she tried to hug me and I had stiffened and shook her loose without meaning to she had cried.

Even after so short a period I felt it in my bones that a crying Takami was just somehow an affront to reality as a whole.

Still, we were making progress, being a family. It was slow, but it was coming along. It didn't change the fact that apparently she kept her phone nearby and I had never had to wait longer than a ring when I called for her to answer. I tried to ignore the fact that sometimes I would hear things in the background breaking and people shouting in horror and fear and outrage, but she never wasted a second answering the phone when I called.

"Shirou," I heard her say half way through the first beep that was supposed to indicate my call was being transferred. "How'd you do?" Her voice was earnest, and I could hear a tight tone to it that indicated anticipation. I sighed in response.

"About as I expected," I reported, my voice resigned. "The curriculums were just too different."

Takami sighed in response. "If you would just tell me the name of your previous academy we would be able to get transcripts for having you transferred in instead of having to take the entrance exam," she reminded me, her voice sounding disappointed at the outcome.

I winced, glad that she couldn't see me while I did so. "I already explained to you why that would be a bad idea," I reminded her, my tone sour as I did so. The Mage's Association was already after me, but even if it wasn't I don't think that they would ever deign to provide a transcript that would manage to equate the magical studies I'd done to more mundane schools; mostly because they rarely acknowledged mundane schools as being worthy of even knowing of their presence in the first place.

"I know you told me that you got involved in a dispute with the faculty, but whatever it was it couldn't have been that bad," Takami prompted me, trying to wheedle more information about just why it was that I refused to talk about my academic studies in Britain with her. "I'm sure I could give them a call and we could hammer something out."

"That," I began, grimacing again, "that would probably be a bad idea. It's probably best to just let the whole thing blow over on its own," I assured her.

Takami paused for a moment, and then she spoke again, this time her voice more reassuring. "You know that MBI has a fantastic legal team. Even if there were some," and here she added a slight emphasis to her words, "exceptional circumstances," she paused again before continuing, "then I'm sure they could be made to go away."

Well, it seemed like my careless words in our first meeting might have had lasting consequences. Apparently when Takami heard the phrase 'misspent youth' she took that to mean something along the lines of 'outright criminal behavior'. More and more I got the impression that she had the impression that I might have been involved in some unsavory things during my time in Britain. Considering just how willing she had been to have that psychopath Karasuba torture and kill me when she had thought I was some kind of espionage agent I didn't quite believe that when she was offering me assistance she was talking only about hiring me a lawyer.

And the sad part was that it was better for her to think that I had accidently killed someone while involved in some kind of illegal drug trafficking or something equally outlandish than for her to know the truth.

"Thanks," I told her, and a part of me meant it. It was actually kind of heartwarming to hear that even though my mother thought I might have been involved in some shady deals she was more willing to use company resources to get me out of trouble than see me turned in. "But like I said, I'd rather just let the whole thing blow over on its own."

"If you're certain," she acknowledged, sounding like she really wasn't used to being hesitant but was at the time anyway. "What will you do now?" she asked and I heard her draw in a sucking breath.

"Takami," I began, "are you smoking again?" An awkward 'urk' answered my sudden question and I sighed. I know that it was a way for her to deal with what was apparently a stressful job. I know that MBI probably had treatment methods for the kind of problems smoking caused that were probably still experimental but most likely completely safe by this point, and I know it wasn't really my place, but I still didn't like it when she smoked. I suppose that if she was allowed to feel protective of me despite the fact that we barely knew each other at this point, I was allowed to feel the same for her. I didn't say anything else, knowing from her involuntary response that she already knew everything I wanted to say at that point, and instead moved on to answering her question. "Well, for now I think I'm going to stay in Shin Tokyo," I admitted to her. "I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it this time around, but at least now I know my problem areas," I referred to the test I had just taken and the parts of it I knew I had done bad one.

"History, literature, and economics," Takami listed off without me saying anything. "Though you scored nearly high enough on math and science to make up for them."

"Takami," I asked slowly. "Did you have MBI hack my results from the college servers before they were even posted?"

An awkward silence prevailed after my direct question.

"Yes," she answered back eventually, her tone of voice trying to convince me that it was no big deal and I should just ignore her earlier slip.

I sighed in response. Actually, all things considered, it probably wasn't a big deal. Still… "You mean you could have told me the results weeks ago and spared me having to stand outside in the cold for a few hours just to confirm what I already suspected?"

"Ah," Takami began, her voice sounding slightly panicked. "Yukari was asking about you earlier," she quickly changed the subject. I think the two of us were both coming to realize that while by conventional standards our morals might be a be different from the rest of the worlds, they might be more aligned then either of us originally expected. After all, if she was willing to offer professional help for dealing with legal problems overseas, I might be a bit willing to overlook certain abuses of technological superiority.

Then what she said caught up with me and I was facing a whole new pile of worries.

"Ah. Yukari," I managed, trying not to wince. If I thought having a mother was hard, then I was far, far, FAR, too unprepared for what it meant to have a sister. "Is she, well, has she calmed down yet?" I asked, sounding hopeful.

"More or less," Takami admitted, sounding like she was wincing as well. I don't think either of us had been prepared for just how Yukari had taken the news of having a brother. The only word I was willing to ascribe her reaction to my existence at the moment was 'enthusiastic'. "She was accepted at a local university, so I think she was planning on surprising you with a visit soon."

Oh. Well, at least I could anticipate what would no doubt happen shortly. To be forewarned was to be forearmed. I could only hope that that would be enough.

"Ah, well, that's good to know," I managed to get out. Internally I was trying to find a good excuse to not be home for the next two weeks. It wasn't that being with my little sister was hard, per say. It was just that being with my little sister was hard.

"Mina-…Shirou," Takami spoke up, her voice serious despite the hesitation I heard in it. "Are you okay? Really?" Her tone was laced with a desperate need to know that I really was alright, and that my failure to get into the university really wasn't eating away at me. I could tell just how serious she was by the fact that she had nearly called me by my birth name. We had one fight over whether or not I should continue to refer to myself by my chosen name of Shirou Emiya or whether or not I should adopt my birth name of Minato Sahashi. Just one. It had nearly destroyed anything resembling the chance for the two of us to ever properly become mother and son again. But regardless of what name I had been born with, regardless of how much it might help our relationship to be willing to return to my original name, I couldn't do it. I couldn't be Minato, not when I was Shirou. Not after all that Shirou had been through, after all that the Emiya name had come to mean to me.

I couldn't give it up. Even though that changing my name and assuming the identity I had been born with could mean that all my problems with the Clock Tower would go away, that I would be able to live free of the threat they always held to me in the background, even if it would have been a way for me to start over again I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I was Shirou Emiya. Nothing would ever change that, not even the fact that I had once had a different name.

"I'm fine, mother," I told her, and her title felt strange on my lips when I said it, but not too strange. It felt like a new pair of shoes, that still squeaked when I turned on them too fast, and were still a little tight in some places, and a little loose in others. But it also felt like the more I used them, the more comfortable they would become. Despite the fact that I knew she couldn't see me, I couldn't stop myself from smiling slightly at the thought.

"I'm glad, Shirou," Takami told me, and I couldn't help but think that she was feeling the same as I was when she said that.

"Oi! Emiya!" a new voice broke in, and I glanced to the side to see one of my classmates from the prepatory school calling for me from across the courtyard that was gradually starting to empty. When I identified the person calling to me I raised my hand in greeting.

"Listen, Takami," I spoke up, interrupting our moment. "It looks like I'm gonna have to hang up now."

"That's fine, Shirou," the voice on the other end assured me, and if I hadn't met the woman face to face and knew just how tough a nut she was to crack I'd almost suspect that she sounded giddy. Maybe me calling her mother might have had a bit more of an effect than I had anticipated. Still, we made our goodbyes and I managed to close the fancy cell phone just as the person who had addressed me finally managed to close the distance between.

"Oi, Emiya," the man panted, bending over to rest his hands on his knees as he panted. It looked like the exertion of dodging through the milling crowd might have been too much for the guy. Still, that didn't stop him from grinning up at me and asking, "So, how'd you do?"

"I missed it, Yasaka," I admitted, giving the panting guy in front of me a rueful grin.

Yasaka finally managed to get himself under control and straightened up, with an easy smile. Yasaka could loosely be considered an underclassman of mine, though that had more to do with our ages than our actual experience. He was a well dressed fellow with hair dyed a light brown since a little after we first met in the prep school and always seemed to be wearing a well pressed suit of some kind. He was two years younger than me, and only one year out of high school. Technically I was older than him, but in truth we both started attending prep school at around the same time so we could be considered classmates as well. Yasaka was an easy going fellow, and ever since we met we managed to hit it off in a strange kind of friendship. He was the ambitious first time test taker, always well dressed and a little too well groomed for my tastes, whereas I was the slacker first time test taker who had apparently decided to take a year or two off as a NEET before trying to get into college, according to the rumors I had managed to pick up from around the class, and was never better dressed than slacks and a sweater and coat.

"Ha!" Yasaka crowed at my admittance at having missed the cut. "Well, don't worry too much about it. There's always next year," he assured me smugly with a cocky grin. "I'll be sure to introduce you around when you finally manage to get in!" Unlike many in our class who thought I was a rehabilitated NEET, someone who was Not in Education or Employment or Training and generally spent all their time laying around and mooching off their family, Yasaka was convinced that I was merely a repeater who was covering the shame of my previous supposed failures by denying their existence. I didn't have the heart to tell him that yes I really had been in college and that the only reason I was taking an entrance examination instead of just transferring in is because the college I came from was trying to hunt me down at the moment.

"So you made it?" I asked him, my voice excited. We had studied together in the past on more than a few occasions, and I could honestly say that Yasaka was a good friend. Not quite as good a friend as Issei had been, but definitely a better friend than I could ever remember Shinji being. I was honestly happy that he had managed to get accepted. "Congratulations!" I told him, bowing as I did so.

Yasaka stared at me for a second and then sighed noisily, scrubbing his hand through his hair as he did so. "Damnit, Emiya-Sempai," he complained in a whiny tone. "How am I suppose to pull a joke on you by pretending that I made it in when I didn't when you just sound so happy when I lied about it? Couldn't you have been a bit jealous so the whole thing would have been funny?" he huffed petulantly, crossing his arms as he did so.

"Ah. Well, what I meant to say was, 'Damn you Yasaka! If only I had gotten smarts you had instead of good like I did,'" I said, my voice dry. That seemed to cheer Yasaka up immensely.

"Yeah! That's the kind of response I was hoping for!" he crowed, and then suddenly seemed to make a connection. "Hey, what did you mean 'smarts instead of good looks'?" I casually glanced to the side and began to whistle as I slowly started to walk away. "Emiya-Sempai!" he whined again, running his hand through his hair as he did so nervously. "Seriously, Emiya. You weren't trying to say I'm not good looking or something? Emiya? Emiya-Sempai? Emiya-Sama? Hey, wait up!" he called, chasing after me as he did so.

*Scene Break*

"Man, Emiya, don't scare me like that," Yasaka grumbled as we walked side by side through the streets of Shin Tokyo. I had originally been planning on just heading home by train, but with Yasaka tagging along the two of us had ended up just strolling through the busy streets idly. "I thought you were being serious for a second there," the well dressed young man muttered, his hands idly tracing his fancy looking clothes he wore as he did so, tweaking the jacket and shirt this way and that as he did so.

"You know, Yasaka, looks aren't everything," I pointed out, feeling like maybe I really was an upperclassman to this poor lost soul. There was something about Yasaka that just kind of reminded me of Fuji-nee. He was just so irrepressibly good natured that it made me want to look after him a bit. Not like I did Fuji-nee that is. If he ate anything like the Tiger had then I wouldn't be able to afford to have him over for breakfast every day. But he was still a cheerful and well meaning fellow so sometimes I found myself unable to keep myself from handing the younger man some advice.

"I know, Emiya-sempai," the younger man admitted, and then began to rub his head sheepishly. "It's just, well," and he paused glancing around in an exaggerated fashion before leaning in as though to share a secret. "Recently I got this new job, you see?"

"And you'd get fired if you were anything other than impeccably good looking?" I asked him dryly, expecting a sheepish response in return. Instead to my surprise Yasaka began nodding his head up and down like an eager puppy.

"Exactly!" he proclaimed, gesturing with one of his arms wildly. When I raised an eyebrow in surprise he leaned in again as though he was still trying to keep a secret. "You see, Sempai, I managed to get a job at a host club."

"Really?" I asked, surprised and yet somehow feeling like I shouldn't have been. It would just explain so much.

"Yeah," Yasaka admitted, sounding equal parts proud and equal parts embarrassed as he did so. "I've only been working there a few weeks so far, but it's amazing!" he gushed, sounding thrilled at having found a job that apparently fit him so well. "At first there was this one guy who worked there who I didn't think much of, but after having a chance to talk with him…."

Yasaka continued to gush on about his new coworker, but between one step and the next I suddenly found it hard to pay attention.

A scent in the air, like honey, only too sweet and too strong; and mixed in with that scent was another:

Smoke.

I kept walking, my expression purposefully bland as I tried to pretend like I was carefully listening to Yasaka even as I tried to figure out just where the scent which really wasn't a scent was coming from. I was lucky that it hadn't overwhelmed me as strongly as the first time I had come across that not-honey smell in the air.

Or the second time. Or the third time. Or the fifth time. Or the twelfth time.

I'd been in Shin Tokyo for several months now, and the longer I stayed here the more certain I was becoming that there was something strange going on here. I wasn't certain what they were, but there were definitely things here. Things that had been like that Karasuba back on the day when I first was reunited with Takami. I didn't know what they were, or what they were after. There were only two reasons that I hadn't gone out of my way to track down one of the creatures to find out just what was going on. Find out with extreme prejudice if the case needed it for that matter.

The first was that whatever these things were they were clearly connected in some fashion to MBI. Not only connected, but if the way Takami had ordered around Karasuba was any measure of the situation, but subservient too for that matter.

The second was because as self serving as it was, I was relying on the amount of magical interference these creatures emitted to keep me off the Mage Association's radar. When it came right down to it my abilities for preparing any kind of countermeasures or detection for potential magi hunting me was still limited. I just wasn't good enough with bounded fields to erect a proper defensive perimeter. Not yet anyway. I hadn't exactly been idle in my months here, but not only had I been lacking the material or space necessary to start creating a proper workshop of my own yet, but I had also been rather understandably distracted by the fact that I was still dealing with the fact that I had still living relatives that I had somehow managed to run into completely by accident.

Right now what I was relying on most to keep me safe was that Takami was eager to use any chance to get to know me and was footing any bills I might have so long as I was in Shin Tokyo, thus allowing me to be able to not use my original accounts and funds and avoid being tracked that way, and the fact that any magi worth their salt who stepped into Shin Tokyo was going to get nailed at their first step with dozens of conflicting signatures.

"-Really, Emiya-Sempai," Yasaka continued pulling my attention back to him and away from trying to detect where the creature was hiding. "He's the most amazing guy! So calm and cool, yet still polite and friendly." He clenched his hands in the air and shook them as he closed his eyes and made an expression that reminded me a little too much of Fuji-nee right before she devoured me out of house and home. "Nowadays it's like the only reason I go to work is to be able to see him!"

"Ah," I answered, confused by apparently how much of the conversation I missed while being distracted by a potentially dangerous nearby inhuman entity. "Wait, who are you talking about again? Your boyfriend?"

"Eh!" Yasaka stammered, suddenly seeming to realize just how his rather enthusiastic description sounded. "Wait, no, not my boyfriend! I have a girlfriend, a girlfriend I tell you," he frantically assured me.

"It's fine if you do," I tried to assure the panicking young man who seemed to be in denial. "I had a few friends that were like that back in Britain, and I knew a few bisexuals as well," I explained, letting him know I wouldn't judge him for being who he was.

"It's not like that," Yasaka whined his face bright red as he tried to convince me that he wasn't interested in the guy that was the only reason he went to work for.

"So what was his name again, your boyfriend?" I asked, trying to catch up with the conversation and ignoring his mounting attempt to set fire to his own head via blushing.

"Kagari-san!" he shouted suddenly, freezing in place and staring into the distance.

"There's no need to shout," I muttered, leaning away from him and trying to get the ringing out of my ears. "I'm sure that he's a wonderful fellow and that someday he'll see how happy you can make him…"

Yasaka wrapped an arm around my neck, a feat which required him to jump up a bit to manage to reach it. "No, shut up," he hissed into my ear, face flushed in embarrassment. "He's not my boyfriend, and he's right here, so just stop talking!"

"Yo," a new voice broke in, sounding amused, and I glanced up from where I was struggling to get my now once more frozen in embarrassment friend's arm from off my wind pipe. "Friend of yours, Yasaka-kun?"

The new comer who I could only assume was the Kagari that Yasaka had been raving about was definitely good looking for a guy. His delicate features and thin frame were no doubt a boon for his work since he was apparently a host just like Yasaka was. He was wearing a dark suit with a white shirt underneath that was casually unbuttoned to nearly the center of his chest, and stood with a casual stance, his hands tucked into his pockets and a half smile on his face. His hair was a light grey, and stylishly cut. He looked like a charming fellow, and I had no problem thinking that he probably had a great deal of success in his chosen line of work.

He was also the thing that reeked of honey and smoke that I had been trying to locate.

Yasaka instantly released me, flushing in embarrassment having been caught wrestling with one of his friends in front of his much admired senior host, and stiffly. "Ah, Kagari-san! How are you sir! Are you still going to work?" I took advantage of the distraction made by his enthusiasm to straighten and back away a half step. I might have been able to sense the other creatures that were walking this town, but this was the first time that I had managed to identify one specifically since Karasuba, and considering how Karasuba had been I felt it was better to be on my guard.

"Its fine," the thing identified as Kagari assured my friend, "I've been feeling under the weather a bit lately, so I've been taking some time off, but it shouldn't be anything serious."

"Ah! I'm sorry to hear that, Kagari-san!" Yasaka bowed again profusely before his much admired coworker.

I let myself relax a bit. That's right, whatever it was it had apparently been living among humans for a decent amount of time. If it was some kind of apostle or monster that preyed on humans it would seem likely Yasaka would have already become a victim of it. It seemed unlikely that MBI would be too closely affiliated with the things if they were malevolent. Hell, considering there apparent willingness to be under human command they just might well be actively friendly to the human race. It seemed unlikely, considering what I knew of most magical creatures, but then again it could happen. For all I knew they weren't even another species. It might have been possible that MBI just had the resources to identify and recruit mutants or psychics.

It wasn't a completely uncommon thing for some people to be born with unnaturally active magic circuits. While magi train for years to be able to identify and make use of the channels through the body that allow magic to flow, sometimes in rare occasions people would be born with specific channels that allowed them to accomplish unusual feats without any of the training that magi need to accomplish the same. Things like telekinesis, extra sensory perception, clairvoyance, or in the case of the circuit opening in a specific part of the body even sometimes things like Mystic Eyes could even be formed. Sometimes the psychic would be driven mad or self destruct due to their inability to cope with or understand their powers, and other times they'd be found by magi and either trained in their abilities or in other less fortunate cases experimented on. There were even occasions when the psychic would manage to get enough control of their abilities and then manage to use them in everyday life. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of particularly rich day traders out there whose success might be attributed to such traits.

"Ah! This is my sempai from prep school, Shirou Emiya," Yasaka enthusiastically introduced me to his fellow host and when Kagari turned to face me directly, I prepared myself to give a polite smile and try not to react in any way that would indicate that I knew that he wasn't human.

I had expected the conversation to go one of two ways. Either Kagari wouldn't realize that I was on to him and we'd exchange small talk before being on our way, or Kagari would realize that I was on to him and then we'd make small talk and most likely fight to the death someplace out of the public eye at a later time.

I certainly didn't expect that the moment he turned his attention directly to me he would light up in a blush every bit as bright as Yasaka had been sporting when I had been teasing him earlier. "Urk," the previously composed host managed to get out, before one hand was pulled from his pockets and started thumping against his chest hard as he began to cough harshly.

"Kagari-san!" Yasaka instantly shouted, rushing to his coworker's side and starting to waffle between wringing his hands in worry and putting a comforting hand on Kagari's back. Since he couldn't figure out just which to do it ended up with him just waving his hands in the air looking ridiculous. Despite the fact that I still didn't know what he was, I started to get worried as well.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, concern in my voice as I too went to the still gasping man's side and started to put one hand on his back to help ease his apparent chest pains. The second my hand touched his shoulder though his other hand launched itself out of his pocket to smack mine away. The moment he began to move I moved in response, launching myself several feet back and put my arm to my side in preparation to trace a sword. The scent of smoke grew stronger in the air and I prepared to call the weapon I needed in order to defend myself as…

"Ah, what are you two doing?" Yasaka asked, sounding confused by the suddenly tense atmosphere. Kagari and I blinked, a motion that was to my surprise in perfect unison, and then we both seemed to realize that we had been about to do something in public that would have probably been inadvisable.

"Ah," Kagari stuttered, and then seemed to regain his composure. "I'm sorry," he said to me, and managed to get his coughing under control enough to bow to me in apology. "I don't like to be touched," he admitted as an explanation for his sudden actions.

"No, it's my fault," I instantly forgave him, bowing as well though I kept my eye on him just in case. Stupid. Stupid stupid Shirou. What was I doing? If I start something now then the Clock Tower would be on me in a matter of days! Maybe even hours depending on how high a priority they might have assigned me. Keep your head cool, keep your head down, and maybe you might be able to stay off their radar!

As I chided myself for almost doing something that would be instantly labeled a high crime by the Clock Tower like expose the existence of thaumaturgy on a busy street, Yasaka turned back to the still bright red Kagari. "Kagarai-san, are you okay?" he asked, sounding on the verge of panic as he did so.

"I'm…" Kagari trailed off as he continued to stare at me. "I think I might be sicker than I had thought," he finally admitted. I had no trouble believing him. The longer he looked at me the more ill his expression seemed to become. "I think I'm going to go home and get some rest while I try to forget this whole day happened," he admitted, and turned around to walk away, still clutching his chest as he did so. Before he took two steps, he paused and turned around briefly. "Your name was Shirou Emiya, wasn't it?" he asked me, hesitating as he spoke my name.

"Yes, that's right, Kagari-san," I told him, eying him carefully and wondering if he was about to attack again. The smell of smoke had lowered back down to its original intensity, but I didn't forget that for a moment it had been the second strongest that I had ever smelled that particular scent. Considering the strongest I had ever smelled smoke was when I had been crawling through the fires of Fuyuki city that unnerved me just a little.

"Sorry for causing a scene," he told me abruptly, and then turned to stumble away. Yasaka took off after him, apparently forgetting I even existed in his haste to help his coworker out and make a good impression.

I stood perfectly still in the middle of the crowded sidewalk as other pedestrians passed me by and watched until they were completely out of sight.

What on earth was going on in this town?

*Scene Break*

I took my time heading back to the train station. Yasaka and I had wondered pretty far around during our little post entrance failure venture, before it had been cut short by whatever it was that Kagari was showing up. During the brief time I was wandering I managed to detect three more of them, though only briefly and each one a significantly weaker scent then Karasuba and Kagari had been. I wasn't completely sure why, but if I were to hazard a guess I'd say that it was most likely that the two I had met face to face had been significantly stronger than most of the ones that were in the city.

Sighing, I shook my head as though to physically force away the thoughts of this new particular concern. There was nothing I could do about it, not right now anyway, not without further exposing myself to risk. Besides, there were plenty of other things I could be worrying about at the moment.

Like my apartment for one.

I let loose a small mournful sigh at the thought of having to head back to my current living quarters. The place I was staying in was small, just a studio with a separate bathroom really. It was cheap, mostly clean, and only a train ride with just one transfer away from both the college I had been applying at and the prep school I had been attending. Honestly it should be every students dream to find a place like that.

But for someone like me, who had been raised in a spacious traditional style home, it was just barely tolerable and that was mostly because I had at least had experience living in small cramped places back when I was living with Rin and Saber in Britain. Originally when the three of us had left for London the plan had been for Saber and me to live in a small apartment near the school while Rin stayed in the dormitories. Technically I, as Rin's official apprentice, could have had a room at the Clock Tower's facilities as well, but unfortunately there was no place for Saber there. Or it was more accurate to say that Rin didn't want Saber's existence to be too well known. Since Saber was technically Rin's familiar she should have been able to board with the small magi, but it didn't change the fact that Saber was pretty unique. She had been summoned by the holy grail as a Heroic Spirit, but the truth was that Saber really wasn't one. In fact, we weren't precisely sure just what Saber really was ourselves.

In the Grail Wars the seven Servants that were summoned by the Master's to participate in the tournament for the holy artifact were originally meant to be Heroic Spirits that had ascended to the Throne of Souls . But Saber hadn't been one. Instead on her deathbed she had made a deal with the Earth: to be allowed to participate in the tournament so that she could acquire the Holy Grail and use it to fulfill her last desperate wish to have never assumed the mantle of king. Once she had done so she would have ascended instead to the ranks of the Counter Guardians, the spiritual beings that the Earth itself manifested in times of trouble and during cataclysms that might threaten the Earth's very existence. However, once Saber had learned of the taint that had resided in the Grail, she had instead abandoned her agreement and stopped her quest. Now she continued to exist in this time mostly due to the mana she drew from Rin through their contract. Well, the mana she drew from Rin and the mana I also, ahem, helped supply. The truth of the matter was that such a strange existence might draw a little too much attention from certain individuals in the Clock Tower, and so we had decided that the best way to keep her mostly out of sight was for her to live in town, and in order to make sure that she stayed out of trouble and to help her adjust to this new time period she had found herself in I had volunteered to stay with her.

That had been the original plan; Saber and I in town and nearby while Rin stayed in the Association's facilities. That had been quickly derailed by The Incident. I still don't know the details of it all, but from what I understood it had involved the top dormitory room, Rin, and another mage who had wanted the same room. I heard that the argument over who was going to get that particular room had gotten a little heated, and then a lot heated, and had finally resulted in an all out battle which had destroyed the room, most of the floor the room had been on, several staircases, and part of the dormitory's lobby.

And thus, Rin had moved in with the two of us. It had been cramped, and there had been a few arguments over space, but in the end I think all three of us were happier with the arrangement than we would have been otherwise.

Until it had all ended…

I shook my head to clear it once again. Don't think about it, Shirou, I told myself. Don't think about it.

Besides being small and calling to mind painful memories, my current room lacked two more important qualities. The first was that it was undefended. I wasn't too good at bounded fields and barriers in the first place, but attempting to use what knowledge I did have to erect a defense over a place that had several rooms and any number of visitors to any number of residents at any time made even my slight knowledge useless. The best I could handle right now was setting up a field that would let me know when a stranger entered, but with so many people coming and going it would be useless. There would be no way for me to differentiate who was just showing up to have a party at someone else's room and who was showing up to try and kill me in mine. The second problem was that such a small room had no place for a workshop. The workshop was the heart of a magi's research, the place where they trained in their magic, perfected their skills, and performed their experiments. Back in Fuyuki city my workshop had been my shed, a place where I had spent countless hours experimenting with my magic and working on my Projection and Reinforcement skills. Admittedly, I never got much really accomplished back then, not until Rin had started to pick up where Kiritsugu had left off, but it still had been my workshop. In London we might have been banned from the dormitory, but the Association had still provided locations for Rin and I to both conduct our studies, though my shop there had been a good deal smaller then hers due to my status as an apprentice. Now though I was forced to try and work on my magecraft in a cramped area, and had to ensure that nothing I did accidently exploded and cost me my security deposit.

I was dragged from my thoughts when a particularly cold wind hit me. With a shiver I drew my coat closer around me. It might be spring, technically anyway, but it was still early enough in the season that wind had chill bite to it, and when I glanced around I realized just how dark it was beginning to get. I must have spent most of the day wandering around either with Yasaka or by myself. With a grimace I resumed heading towards the nearest rail station in order to start my trip back home. It would take me a few minutes to get there by streets, so instead I decided to cut through the nearby park. It was getting late, so there probably wouldn't be anyone in there but couples and maybe a few muggers, but probably not much of either this early in the evening.

I was three steps into the park when I was hit by it again; the scent of honey and something else. I sighed. This was just getting ridiculous. How many things are in this city right now? I had thought that the only security I would get from moving to Shin Tokyo would be the fact that I had changed my physical location, but with so many magical things in here I was beginning to suspect that even if the Enforcers came looking for me I would probably be able to walk right by them on the street and they would never even notice me with all the magical pollution around.

With a grunt I ignored the scent, and instead focused on just cutting through the park and getting to the train station. Still, the second odor tickled my nose. I wasn't quite sure why, but I couldn't help but think that it smelt like ice. Not that ice really smelt like anything, not normal ice anyway. But there was something about it, something that was almost like wintergreen, almost mint, something that felt kind of like when a freezing wind struck you head on and it almost burnt your nasal cavity when you inhaled it, something that for some reason just called to mind snow and frost.

I tried my best not to pay attention to this new presence. I had already managed to locate one of them today, and that had almost resulted in the two of us doing something stupid in public, something I couldn't afford to have happen no matter what. I wasn't interested in coming face to face with another potential enemy that might force me to oust myself.

That was my intention anyway until I came into sight of the center of the park and froze.

The park wasn't deserted, not yet anyway. There were still a few travelers, a couple of mothers with their children, small groups of high school students or salarymen, and a few of the couples that I had expected. But no matter whom was walking in the park they all made a noticeable effort to avoid coming near the small section of railing that the woman was sitting on. She looked like trouble, and if there was one thing the Japanese people were good at it was ignoring things that looked like trouble.

She was curled up, her legs loosely folded in front of her, her arms hanging loose from her shoulders, and slouched back a bit to support her weight against one of the railings that were supposed to keep people from getting into the bushes. Her hair was light, almost like the grey that I had noticed on Kagari earlier, but even from the distance I could make out the blue highlights that were in her hair. The expression on her face made her look stoned or drunk; like she was distant from the world around her and that everything that happened in her sight was simply irrelevant to her. She was bare legged and bare footed, no pants, or skirts, or shoes, or socks on. As far as I could tell the only thing she was wearing was a half buttoned man's shirt, open in the front down to below her chest and gaping in a way that just barely managed to cover her modesty with the hem at the bottom covering her in much the same way, and what looked like a lab coat that was draped around her shoulder's.

My eyes narrowed as I took in the large stains that covered one side of the coat. Even in the gathering dark and from across the courtyard I could tell what they were: blood stains.

Without waiting another second I started marching towards her. It didn't matter that she was probably not human and that she might even start a fight with me. She looked like someone who had just had a fight with their boyfriend and had to run out of the house before they were hurt, or someone that had been dragged into a dark alley and been drugged and then taken advantage of.

She looked like she was someone who needed help, and from the way the rest of the crowd just ignored her, it looked like I was the only one willing to give her any.

"Miss," I called to her as I approached. She ignored me. "Miss, are you alright?" I asked her, kneeling in front of her when I finally arrived, looking up into her face, trying to see if she could focus properly.

"I'm broken," she whispered, not even bothering to glance at me, "a failure." My jaw clenched. That didn't sound good. That didn't sound good at all. When she didn't say anything else I leaned forward, trying to get her to look at me. It didn't seem like her eyes were dilated, but I couldn't see her arms to check for any needle marks.

"Miss, would you like me to call…" I trailed off and realized that I had no idea who to call. If she were a human than I could call the police, or an ambulance, but she wasn't a human. If I called a hospital then would they be able to tell that she wasn't normal? Would they report her to some secret government facility for experimentation or something? Or what if they tried to treat her but it turned out that her species had some kind of medical allergy to what they used? What would the cops do? What if whatever had happened to her involved something else that involved magecraft, or another of her species? Would they be able to track something like that? Did she even have a human identity?

Well, I knew the MBI had something to do with whatever she was, but then again, did she want to go back there? That was a lab coat covered in blood that she was wearing. Had something happened there and she escaped? "Would you like me to call some kind of facility?" I finally settled on, hoping that if she did need special treatment she would have some kind of number to contact the appropriate people.

"I can't," the woman murmured, her head finally moving as she looked down to study me. It seems that my persistence had at least warranted some kind of reaction to her. "I can't go back. I have nowhere to go. I'm a failure."

My jaw tightened again at hearing her talk like that. I still didn't know what was going on with her. Maybe this really was nothing more than something like a domestic dispute, or whatever it was her kind went through, or maybe there had been some kind of accident or something. Whatever the case was hearing her talk, the complete certainty of the hopelessness of her situation in her tone, it was enough for me to make my decision.

"Get up," I told her firmly, and she blinked, her eyes still focused on me as I spoke. "I'm not sure what happened to you, but there's no way in hell that I'm going to leave you out here on your own, not looking like that anyway." Her head cocked to the side, and her expression shifted from disinterest to uncertainty, but she obeyed, standing up like I had told her to. The motion caused the shirt she was wearing to shift upwards, revealing more of her legs than it had when she was sitting down and I flushed slightly before ignoring the inadvertent peek show and instead closed her lab coat and began buttoning it so that it would cover her adequately. "Put your arms through the sleeves," I told her and she immediately began shifting obediently as she complied.

Once she was properly covered I looked her up and down. There was no way I was going to be able to ride the train with her, not looking like this. She might be decent now, but she was still dirty and confused looking, and she still didn't have any shoes. "Your feet," I asked her, looking down. "Are they cold?"

"Cold?" she repeated, her head still cocked to the side as she kept her eyes focused on me. When she didn't say anything else I took that to mean that either she wasn't, or she was still reeling from whatever had happened to her. Whatever the case was I needed to get her off the street and somewhere she could clean up and collect herself enough for me to get answers. With the train off the list of options I pulled out my cell phone and began dialing for a cab.

"Don't worry," I assured her as the dial tone rang. "I'll take care of you."

"Take care of me," she repeated in a whisper, her eyes never once leaving my face.

*Scene Break*

"Go and sit by the kotatsu and warm up," was the first thing I said to the strange woman when we made it to my home. I hurried in, first turning on the lights and then bustling over to the heated table and flicking it on so that it would start warming the space beneath that was covered by the blanket. The blue haired female followed me slowly, and for the first time since I had told her to 'get up' she took her eyes off me. The entire time we had been waiting for the cab, and been in the cab, and climbing the stairs to my room, she had never once stopped studying me. I tried to tell myself that whatever reason she had for doing that was completely normal, maybe some kind of tradition for her species, and that I shouldn't be unnerved by it, but I almost sighed in relief when she finally stopped staring at me.

Immediately after I had the table prepared for her I set about making some tea, reminding myself of one more reason why I disliked my apartment. It was small, and by necessity being small meant that certain sacrifices in the name of space had been made in its construction. Unfortunately most of those sacrifices seemed to be centered on the kitchen. I didn't know what to call the space I was supposed to cook at in my apartment, but I had been in real kitchens before, and the mini fridge and two burner stove definitely didn't count as one in my book.

When I had a cup of tea prepared I went back to the main part of my apartment to find that the blue haired woman had obeyed my instructions and sat beside the kotatsu like I had ordered. She was still looking around the room when I entered, but the moment I came back she immediately locked her eyes on me and resumed focusing her entire attention solely on my person. Gently I placed the cup of hot tea in front of her and smiled, trying once more not to be unnerved by her attention. "Go ahead," I told her, indicating the tea. After another long second she looked down at it and slowly picked it up and took a sip.

"Warm," she said, her voice low as she spoke.

"I won't ask you precisely what happened to you, or what you are yet," I told her, and continued to move around the room, stopping by my small dresser and opening it so I could start picking out some clothes to loan her. "Not till you've had a chance to clean up and get comfortable…"

"Sekirei," she interrupted me. I glanced over to find her still holding the tea and still watching me. It was the first time she had shown any initiative since I had found her in the park, so I took that as a sign that she was starting to come out of whatever shock she had been in.

"Is that what you are?" I asked for confirmation. She nodded once, slowly. Sekirei. It was a species of bird, the wagtail if my memory served. I racked my brain harder, trying to think of any magical species that I knew about that had that name, but came up short in the end. That wasn't really surprising, seeing as there weren't many magical species left in the world. Not since the Age of the Gods had those kinds of things been very common in the first place, and as time moved on there were less and less species that could boast magic circuits in existence. "Do you have a name?" I prompted her.

"Akizu," she said, her voice still soft. At last I was beginning to make progress.

"Just Akizu?" I asked her. "No family name?" She shook her head in response. "Well then, Akizu," I continued. "For now let's get you in the shower so you can get cleaned up." I paused again. Man this was beginning to get awkward. "You do know how to use a shower, don't you?" I asked her, hoping I didn't offend her but not wanting to make any assumptions about her species. When she nodded I sighed in relief. I really didn't want to have to explain to something as obviously female as she was the specifics of washing herself. "I'll leave a change of clothes in there with you, so when you're done just come on out. Are you hungry?" I prompted her, and again she nodded. Slowly she put down the mostly empty cup of tea she had been drinking from and stood up.

Turning away I made my way to the door to the small bath and shower that my apartment boasted and opened it, flicking on the lights as I did so. I checked under the sink to find a clean towel, and put the change of clothes I had put together for her, just a set of my pajamas really, on the sink counter. Exiting from the bathroom I turned towards Akizu to let her know that it was ready for her and froze.

"Ah," I started, and the gulped hard, feeling my face start to redden as I blushed. Quickly I turned around so I was facing a wall. "Um, Akizu," I began again, feeling very uncomfortable. "In the future, could you undress in the bathroom? And not in the living room?" I felt the need to make sure she understood the last part clearly, seeing as she was currently standing buck naked by my kotatsu and seemed completely unashamed by it. I tried very hard not to think about just how pale her skin was, or the shape of her…

Stop it. Bad Emiya! Bad! Don't forget she's a potentially hostile creature that you could still end up fighting to the death! No hormones allowed at the moment!

Wait, at the moment? No qualifiers for your 'no hormones'! Think of Rin, think of Saber, think of Rin, think of Saber…

I desperately repeated that mantra in my head as I heard Akizu start to approach. "Why?" she asked, and from the sound of it she was most likely right behind me at the moment.

"Why what?" I got out, still blushing.

"Why in the bathroom?" she asked sounding vaguely confused.

Well, it appeared that whatever else a Sekirei was, it seemed that they had very little in the way of nudity taboos if Akizu was an example of the rest of them. "It would just make me a great deal more comfortable if you were to do so," I assured her.

For a moment she was quiet, and then she told me, "Understood." I heard her take several steps and when she was at last safely in the bathroom and I could hear the shower running I breathed a sigh of relief and turned around.

I promptly flushed again. "Ah, Akizu? Could you shut the door before you start taking the shower?"

"Ah," she said, still staring at me from under the stream of water she was standing in. She paused a moment, and then admitted, "I forgot."

Trying desperately not to stare at the sight in front of me, I reached out and shut it for her, then breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Sekirei really were dangerous, and not just in the way I had previously thought.


	3. Third Wing

In Flight: Third Wing

_Author's notes: First off it looks like there still a lot of curiosity over just what the situation with Shirou and the Clock Tower is. It looks like there's a lot of speculation over it, which is good for me since it means I've managed to get the attention of the readers. However, it's bad for the readers since that particular little gem isn't going to be explained till later in the story. Sorry! _

_Now, I know how much it upsets some people so for my comments on the chapter itself I'm going to go ahead and give a _

*SPOILER ALERT!

_before continuing._

_Let's see, three major points I want to bring up before the story begins. All three of them are coincidentally about three different characters. _

_First off, let me apologize for a typo last chapter. I was doing some research in the earlier chapters and episodes for a certain ice sekirei, and it turns out that some of the earlier translations were using "Akizu", when in fact it was later determined to be "Akitsu". So in that case in particular I've corrected it to the proper form and will use "Akitsu" for the rest of the story. Sorry for the earlier mishap. As for Akitsu herself, after carefully tracking down every appearance she makes in the comics and the anime I think I have a good enough grasp on her character to write her appropriately. For one thing, she can be surprisingly vocal despite the impression she gives of being quiet. For the other thing, I think I've managed to determine what they mean by 'scrap number', though since my interpretation will be plot relevant I won't go into it now._

_Second off, Yukari. That girl is a pervert, right down to her silly little core. Also prone to mood swings and has something of a brother complex as well. So much fertile ground to work with. I took a few liberties with her, mostly exploiting her tendency to completely commit herself to a course of action, like blowing off her previous life entirely the moment she gets a Sekirei, and to go completely overboard in her responses as well, as in her constant use of groin stomps on downed Ashikabi. Let me know what you think of how I handle her in this particular case._

_And finally, and this one really took some effort, Kagari/Homura. I had a plan for him in particular, most specifically his harsh reaction, and particular response to Shirou. But after I wrote the scene I couldn't help but feel like I was 'railroading' in his particular case. So then I went back and tried to touch it up to make it a little less forced. I think I managed to get it believable, but I'm asking for opinions on whether or not that's just an author being blind to their own faults or if I actually managed to do it properly. In the series part of his original resistance to being winged by Minato was the fact that he didn't really have a high opinion of Minato in any way except for his character. Homura found him to be a wishy washy weakling, at least that was the impression I got. In this case Homura doesn't know anything about Shirou, so he's more shocked that he actually reacted then disgusted with who he reacted to. Also in the series I think that Homura's willingness to die rather than be winged was attributed to the fact that he had accomplished one of his two big goals by that point: the protection of the unwinged sekirei. This time it's still in the early stages of the game, so one of the reasons I think he'd be more willing to take the risk and get an Ashikabi would be so that he could continue his self appointed task. As it stands right now the Shirou and Homura relationship is going to be pretty dynamic through the story as the two get to know each other better bit by bit. I won't say much else, but I felt I had to say at least this much in my defense. So like I said earlier, what do you think? Was it believable?_

_As always, if you like it, let me know. Any questions/concerns/complaints? Let me have those too. And of course, please enjoy._

*Story Start*

I was on fire again. The flames were hot, and the acrid smell of smoke saturated my nostrils. Despite my immolation, I found myself calm. As I gazed out at the world around me from behind a veil of flames, I saw that I was once more in a burning Fuyuki city. And though I burned, I did not hurt either.

Ah, I thought to myself distractedly. I'm dreaming.

Briefly, in the way that people do when they know they're dreaming but can't do anything about it, I worried about whether or not I was thrashing in my sleep again. If I was then I wouldn't be sleeping for long. Rin or Saber would wake me up shortly; Saber by shaking me awake and gently asking me what's wrong, Rin by just kicking me out of the bed for being so restless and disturbing her sleep.

As I looked around the familiar desolation that had been my hometown for so long I realized that I wasn't alone. There was a man, standing before me, and he too was on fire. Beneath his own flames his light grey hair shifted as though caught in the thermal updrafts of his own pyre. He wore dark clothing; his long black coat similarly disturbed by the wind, and covered his face up to his nose with a mask.

Beneath the concealing garment I saw his mouth move. "Why?" he asked me, sounding confused and angry. "Why you?"

*Scene Break*

I woke up slowly, the question the man in my dream had asked me lingering in my head. Grumbling in my mind I pulled Saber closer and burrowed in to her warm side. Rin would already be up and about no doubt by now. I would be worried that she was eating breakfast, but when it came down to it Rin was nearly as good a cook as I was, and she'd know better than to skip a meal. Next to me, in my arms, Saber lay still. She was always a deep sleeper, something I knew better than to tease her with, but she must really be out of it. Usually by now she'd have at least rolled over so she could hug me back…

As I sleepily opened my eyes to see what was wrong with her I found myself looking at someone who definitely wasn't Saber. Oh that's right, I wasn't in London any more. That meant I couldn't be holding Saber…

Wait, then who was I holding?

"Wah!" I yelped, rolling away from the person next to me and then frantically crab walking to the corner of the room and grabbing my chest as I tried to keep my heart from jumping out through my mouth in shock.

"Good morning," Akitsu told me slowly from where she had been laying next to me, apparently watching me sleep until I had unconsciously snuggled up to her. I took several deep breaths to calm myself down as she slowly sat up.

"Good morning," I managed to get back as the memories of last night slowly trickled back to my consciousness. That's right, I had found this woman, this Sekirei she called herself, in the park needing help. After she had a hot shower and some of the food I had prepared, I had been intending to interrogate her, but realized that even as I asked my first question she was already nodding off where she sat. I still wasn't sure what had happened to her to leave her in the state I had found her, so I had decided to just set out the spare futon and wait till morning; though I had been pretty sure that I had put a few feet between our respective sleeping pads the night before. A quick glance to where I had put her futon proved that the sheets were messy, indicating that she had slept there after all. So why had she been so close?

"Ah, Akitsu," I finally managed to get out, as she continued to sit patiently while I slowed my racing heart. "Did you wake up early and then lay down next to me?" It was the only reason I could think of for why she had been in my futon despite having slept in her own.

"Yes," she said plainly, nodding once while she did so. For a minute I could only boggle at her, waiting for her to explain, but she just continued to sit quietly seemingly perfectly content to just watch me without talking.

"Why?" I asked, trying to get more of an explanation out of her strange actions. She cocked her head to the side and a murmured an answer.

"You looked like you were in pain," she responded. I blinked, not having expected that kind of response.

"And you were trying to calm me down?" I double checked, trying to understand her motives. Was she really just trying to help me? So far the impression I had gotten of Sekirei in general didn't seem to indicate much of the species had capacity for things like 'kindness' and 'comfort'. Karasuba had been downright murderous in fact, Akitsu hadn't made more of an impression then just being a hurt and lost soul, and though it looked like Kagari had been sick he had also seemed more than ready to start a fight when I had touched him. Akitsu nodded in response to my question, and though I still found the idea that the strange girl had been trying to help me, I gave her a smile in response. "Thank you very much, Akitsu-san," I told her.

Akitsu looked at me for a second longer, and then surprisingly enough began to blush lightly. She looked down to avoid my gaze and whispered, "You're welcome," in response. I almost blushed in response. Was she embarrassed about having been thanked despite the fact that she had wandered around my room naked last night without even thinking about it?

And speaking of walking around the room naked…

"Akitsu, why is your top unbuttoned?" I asked, trying not to let the strain enter my voice. Though when she had gone to bed last night she had the pajama top fastened all the way to the top, when I looked at her now the shirt was unbuttoned down to her naval and once more fighting a valiant but losing struggle in an effort to preserve her modesty.

"Ah," Akitsu said, and looked down at her chest. After a second she cupped her breasts with her hands and hefted them. "Too tight," she explained.

"Grk," I managed to get out as I was distracted by the sheer size of the things she was currently holding, before managing to shake my head and realize what she meant. Of course, my clothes were men's clothes and lacked space in certain areas. Considering just how much space those must need, it must have been uncomfortable to keep her top closed. "Well," I began, and then realized I had no way to fix this particular problem. I'd stopped buying loose shirts a while back when it quickly became apparent that every time I did the garment would immediately be stolen by either Rin or Saber and become sleep wear for the two.

I was racking my head for some kind of answer to this problem when a noise managed to distract me. Glancing over to my dresser I saw my cell phone going off, gently rattling along the wood as the vibrate function tried to alert me to the fact that I was getting a call. Putting my current dilemma to the side, I stood up to go answer my call. A quick glance at the display on the front told me just who it was, and I winced. Looking over at Akitsu I put a finger to my lip to indicate that she should be quiet, and she nodded obediently in response. I opened the phone and put it to my ear.

Before I even had a chance to get a 'hello' out my hearing was assailed by an incredibly loud, "ONIIII-CHAAAAN!"

"Good morning, Yukari," I responded, rubbing my ear as I did so.

"Is it true, Onii-chan?" my little sister continued, sounding excited. "Is it true you failed your exam?" She was talking quickly and sounded eager to hear confirmation of my situation. If I had more emotionally invested in making it into the university this time around the joy in her voice at me not making it might have broken my heart. As it was I was barely able to contain a sigh at her eagerness.

"Yeah, I'm afraid I missed it this time," I told her. And here it comes…

"Ah, just a sec," she ordered me, and in the background I heard a clattering noise and then some frantic rustling. "Ah! Here it is!" She cleared her throat and began again. "'Stupid aniki! What do you think you're doing? What am I supposed to tell Naru-chan if she asks me about you? I can't have her know I have an idiot for an aniki!'" She shouted at me and then paused. "How was that?" she asked me seriously.

"I'm pretty sure you don't know anyone named 'Naru'," I reminded her, rubbing my head.

"Ah, wait," she ordered me, and once more I heard another frantic rustling noise. "'It's okay, Nii-tan,'" she told me, and this time her voice was comforting and sweet. "'I'm sure Nii-tan tried his best. I know you can do it next year!'" Once more she paused, "Was that any better?" she asked me frantically.

"Its fine, Yukari," I assured her in a rush. If I didn't cut her off now she would be at this for hours. "More importantly, I heard from Takami that you managed to make it into a university yourself," I pointed out. "Congratulations!" I smiled into the phone, despite knowing she wouldn't be able to see me. I was kind of proud that my little sister had managed to make it into a university in the city. Shin Tokyo was still a fairly new city, and besides boasting some of the frontrunners when it came to technological advances it also laid claim to the fact that every university in its limits was regarded amongst the best in the country.

"Ah!" she yelped, and once more there was a rustling noise in the background. "'Onii-sama," she said, and I cringed when I realized she was trying for a sultry voice. "'Since I made it in, will you make me a woman now?'"

"No!" I snapped, trying not to blush. "That one is completely inappropriate! Absolutely not!" I ordered her immediately.

"Ah," my little sister muttered, sounding disappointed. "But I really like that one."

"Absolutely not," I ordered again, hoping that in this case repetition would work.

"Well, if you say so," she muttered before apparently perking up. "So it looks like I'm going to be moving to Shin Tokyo soon too!" she cheered, sounding just as happy as Takami had when she had learned that I was willing to stay around where she worked. "You think if I find a place nearby we can spend some time together?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

"That sounds like a great idea," I told her, and meant it. Though things between me and Takami were often hard, for some reason it was really easy for me to interact with Yukari. I think it was because with Takami she kept trying to take the role of something I just had no experience with. With Yukari it was almost a though I could just treat her as friend with a strange nickname for me. I was a little more used to dealing with girls her age too for that matter then I was women Takami's age. Then my eyes glanced over to where Akitsu was still waiting quietly. She hadn't moved an inch since I woke up except to assume a sitting position.

Oh yeah. It might be just a bit awkward if Yukari were to come over and find Akitsu, that is if the Sekirei was still around by that point. Since I still hadn't had the chance to find out anything more about just what a Sekirei is, I still had no idea just how long she would be sticking around. As this sudden realization struck me my eyes drifted back down to where my pajamas were fighting a valiant battle against her rather spectacular assets, and I suddenly realized that I had the chance to solve two problems at once.

Let's see, how would Rin do this…?

"Hey, Yukari," I began, speaking slowly. "Do you think you might be able to come up today? I have a small problem that I think I could use your help with."

"Ah! My help?" Yukari yelped, and then I sighed as I heard rustling in the background once more. "'Well, aniki,'" she began, "'Just what would you be willing to give to get your amazing imouto to clean up your mess for you?'"

"Cut it out already, would you Yukari," I sighed, but then forged on with my plan. "You see, I have something of a problem here," I began. "A friend of mine recently had a fight with her boyfriend."

"Oh? A female friend?" Yukari began, sounding suspicious of where I was going with this particular story.

"Yeah. The thing is it looks like the fight was really bad. She won't say anything about it, but I think he might have been about to hurt her, and she had to run away fast," I continued, leading her on.

"Oh! You mean he was like 'that'?" she asked, and she sounded outraged at the imaginary boyfriend I was conjuring up for her.

"I don't want to ask and bring up any bad memories, but I think so," I continued seriously. "She showed up on my doorstep with nothing but a shirt on, not even shoes or pants, and in this cold weather at that."

"What! What kind of fiend was she dating?" Yukari shrieked into the phone, and I held it away from my ear so it wouldn't deafen me.

"Like I said, I don't want to bring it up around her, but we have a problem here. You see, I gave her some clothes and stuff, but nothing I have really fits her. Do you think you could grab some of your clothes," I trailed off and once more I eyed the Sekirei's chest, this time speculatively, "Well, actually I don't think she'll fit any of your clothes," I concluded. "Maybe some of Takami's clothes? We'll probably have to buy her some that will actually fit, but pretty much anything right now would be better than what I have."

"Hmmm," Yukari hummed. "Well, it's still pretty early in the day. I could grab the early train and be there by eleven and then grab the late train and be home before it got too late." She paused for a second and then let loose a grunt of approval at her plan. "Leave it to me, Onii-chan!" she declared, and then hung up on me.

*Scene Break*

By the time Yukari made it to my little apartment I had managed to get Akitsu and myself fed, and go over the plan for the quiet blue haired girl. She wasn't to mention at any time that she wasn't human, not in front of my sister. Akitsu was already pretty quiet, but if Yukari asked her anything about her past then the Sekirei was just supposed to say that she didn't want to talk about it. With the story I had told Yukari it was likely that my little sister would just attribute it to her not wanting to remember the imaginary abusive boyfriend, and I was pretty sure that my sister wouldn't pry too much into it.

Despite the fact that she wasn't human and we had only met yesterday Akitsu made no protest when I asked her to do anything. Instead she would nod instantly in response to any of my requests and say, "I understand." I wasn't sure what to make of her responses. The other two Sekirei I had met hadn't been nearly this docile, so I was pretty sure that it wasn't a trait of her species and more likely just her own nature to be this receptive. It meant that there was probably a great deal of diversity amongst the Sekirei, whatever they were.

When my doorbell finally rang at around half past eleven I opened it expecting to find my sister standing outside. It was definitely my sister that was outside, but standing was a bit inaccurate.

"Onii-chan!" she shouted, and launched herself into something that was half tackle and half hug the moment she had enough space to dart past the door. With a loud 'oof' I was forced to take two steps backwards in order to keep myself from falling over under the sudden assault. If it wasn't for the fact that I was in very good physical condition I probably would have been launched across the room with the force of my little sister's assault.

"Yukari," I managed to gasp out, trying to get a full breath in beneath her back breaking hug. A sharp noise accompanied her attack and I managed to see Akitsu out of the corner of my eye. She had raised one hand and taken a step towards me before seeming to stop where she was. Her eyes for once weren't focused on me and instead were steadfastly regarding my little sister attached to my waist. It was the most abrupt action I'd seen her commit yet. Even as Yukari continued to squeeze me Akitsu's eyes moved back up to my face and she lowered her arm till she was once more resuming her patient study of me, which seemed to be her favorite past time.

"Ah! Jeez, Onii-chan," Yukari huffed, finally letting me go so she could straighten up to pout at me. "You were supposed to fall down!"

"Was I?" I wheezed out, still trying to recover my breath from her unexpected ambush.

"Of course!" Yukari told me, putting both her hands on her hips and raising her chin to me seriously. Looking at her thin frame I couldn't help but wonder why it was that my sister had managed to inherit the typical Japanese body type whereas I had turned out being much taller and wider at the shoulders then just about every other Japanese male I had come across. Yukari was wearing her school uniform, a white blouse and black skirt with a tie bearing a cross on it, signifying she was attending a fairly reclusive all girls' school out in the country where she lived at the family home. Though the school issue shoes were the usual kind of flats that you would expect in any other school uniform anywhere across the country it was at the feet that Yukari chose to differentiate herself. She had instead chosen to wear thick platform boots which in turn significantly contributed to her height, putting her just below my shoulders. Since she wasn't attending school at the moment she had also added a thick leather belt which she perched across her hips as a fashion accessory. She had short black hair that she kept out of her face with a small brooch on the side of her head.

"See," she continued, turning away so she could dart back out the door to pick up the two bags she had set down for the purpose of her ambush and pulling them in. One of the bags was just a shopping bag for some kind of department store, and I assumed it was the one that had the outfit that Akitsu was going to use until she could find something that would fit her better later. The other bag was an all too familiar duffle bag that I never saw my sister far away from, and it caused me to sigh. Yukari riffled through the bag and finally triumphantly produced a small shoujo manga which she then flipped open so she could show me a particular page. "See," she repeated. "When a little sister hugs her older brother, they're supposed to fall over!"

Yukari had been raised knowing that she had a brother who had died. Every year she would go with Takami to the family memorial and pray at my grave, and there had been a small shrine for me apparently in the family room of the house where she had grown up in the countryside. From what Takami had told me it seemed that Yukari had always wanted to know what it would have been like to have an older brother, and would often get jealous of her friends if they did have one. After the third genetic confirmation of my identity, Takami had informed her that I was still alive, and the circumstances around both my original disappearance and my recent reappearance. Yukari had been ecstatic at the chance to finally get to meet me, and had apparently promptly decided to be the best little sister she could.

Unfortunately she had decided to research the role itself, and chose to use popular manga and anime as guidelines for how to act around me. And as I was becoming increasingly aware of it appeared as though pop culture had some pretty messed up ideas for how a little sister and her big brother were supposed to act.

I just prayed to the gods that she never decided to start using eroge as a source of inspiration.

"It's a manga, Yukari," I pointed out to her for what was probably the hundredth time. Yukari was a bright girl, very enthusiastic and cheerful, and I genuinely enjoyed having her as a sister. But it seemed that I finally understood what it meant for an older sibling to be constantly embarrassed by a younger sibling.

"I know that," she huffed, before finally realizing that there was someone else in the room. "Is this the girl….?" She started, and then trailed off, her eyes widening as she finally got a good look at Akitsu. For a moment, they both stood frozen, Akitsu turning away from me to study Yukari with the same intensity as she usually reserved for me while Yukari continued to stare at her in response.

"They're, they're so big," Yukari finally managed to get out, and I realized just what she was staring at and sighed. As though in a trance Yukari started to inch her way towards Akitsu with both her hands outstretched before her, her fingers twitching as though in anticipation.

My eyes shot open as I realized what she was about to do, and I started to shout, "Oi, what are you…?" but before I had even finished my question it was too late and Yukari had latched onto Akitsu's boobs.

"Fufufufu," Yukari cackled as she began hefting Akitsu's chest. "So big, so soft!"

"Ah," Akitsu said in response, looking down at where my sister was molesting her but otherwise not reacting at all as my little sister violated all reasonable bounds of privacy.

I closed my eyes and started to rub my forehead while trying not to call to mind just how big the things Yukari was now using as squeeze toys really were. "Yukari, is that really appropriate?" I finally managed to get out, unsure if I should be embarrassed or exasperated by the scene.

"Ah!" Yukari yelped, and seemed to realize just what she was doing in front of her brother. I opened my eyes expecting to find her looking apologetic, but instead I found that she was continuing what she was doing only with a sheepish look on her face. "Is this a little too stimulating, onii-chan?" she teased me with an evil look on her face.

"Actually Rin used to do that to Saber whenever she knew she was about to lose an argument that she really wanted to win," I admitted with a sigh.

"Rin? Saber?" Yukari repeated, and then seemed to remember where she had heard those names before. "You mean those two witches who dumped you so they could run off together!" she snapped, folding her arms as she fumed at the mention of my exes. It had been awkward enough trying to explain it in a way that would make sense to my mother without being to revealing, and apparently I hadn't done too good a job of it because at some point when my mother mentioned that I had recently broken up with two girls at once Yukari had somehow drawn her own conclusions about just what had happened.

"It wasn't like that," I assured her, defending the two reflectively. "There were certain circumstances at the time…" I began, and then stopped. There was really no way to explain what happened then, at least not to anyone who wasn't already aware of the world of magic. "You know what, let's not talk about that anymore."

"Hmph," Yukari snorted in indignant rage. "If I ever find the two that broke your heart like that…" she grumbled. I decided to take it as a further sign that all her attempted research into pop culture had somehow unhinged her ability to tell the difference between reality and fiction and let the topic drop.

"Anyway," I broke in before she could get stated. "If you're finished what you were doing, perhaps we could…" I began, trying to get this expedition back on track when Yukari suddenly snapped her finger and then clapped a fist against her open palm.

"Oh yeah!" she chimed in, and then rushed over to her open duffle bag full of comics and started shuffling through them again.

If this is what it would have been like growing up with her, I couldn't help but wonder just how sane I really would have turned out by the end of it. I gaped as she finally pulled out a particular comic and started flicking through it. "Did you use post it notes to mark the pages?" I couldn't help but ask as she flicked open to a particular section that had been tabbed with a red piece of paper.

"I researched what to do on the train ride up!" she reassured me, completely missing my original point. Finding the proper page she scanned it once and then nodded. She struck a pose with one hand, the one holding the manga, on her hip and the other pointing directly at Akitsu with both her feet at shoulder length apart. "'You! Strange woman! What are your intentions towards my aniki!'" she declared. I sighed again. She was even using the poses from the books now.

Considering how quiet she had been up till now it surprised me when Akitsu actually answered. "I want for him to be my master," she said softly, looking at me while she did so.

Wait. What?

The book tumbled from her hand as Yukari gaped at the blue haired woman standing nearby. "Huh?" was all she could get out. It was about what I was thinking as well as I stared at Akitsu who continued to watch me.

"Even though I am a failure, and cannot bare his mark, he still took me in. He is warm, and he is kind, and he told me he would take care of me. I wish to be his, forever and ever," she continued.

My eyes narrowed as I listened to her say more at one time then I think I had heard her speak before combined. Yukari seemed frozen to the spot and was trying to do her best to go completely white at the declaration, no doubt thinking that what was being offered here was something more along the lines of the beginning of a kinky relationship. I knew better.

After all, I had been a Master of another kind before.

"My mark?" I asked, and my eyes darted up to her forehead. I hadn't noticed it last night, partially because her hair had hung low over it, partially because it had been smudged with dirt, and partially because I had been more concerned with getting her cleaned up and fed, but there on her brow was a strange symbol. It looked like a ying yang with two sets of tomoe, little comma shaped symbols, on either side of it. Above the rest was a shape that looked like the silhouette of a bird in flight. "Like that one?" I asked still studying the red symbol.

Akitsu nodded once in return. "I cannot have an Ashikabi," she murmured, her expression intent on me. "But if I could, then I think it would have been you. Will you let me serve you?"

Ashikabi. The way she said that word was the way a priest would speak the name of the god they worshiped. I wanted to ask what it meant, both the word itself and what it would mean for me to be her Master, but I couldn't, not with Yukari around. She had asked me a question, and the way she stared at me while waiting for a response made me clench my jaw. I didn't know what it was she was asking, but from the sound of it, it was for me to be something for her that she thought she could never have.

I should ask more questions. I should try to understand just what was going on, just what she was asking of me, but instead all I could do was remember her words in the park last night. 'I am broken,' she had said. 'I am a failure.' 'I have nowhere to go.'

Rin would kill me for this. Then she would study the darkest of the necromantic arts just so she could bring me back so Saber could have a turn.

But just as I had so many years ago in the middle of the night, in a dark church, with no idea what was to come, I made my choice over whether or not to jump in headfirst.

In the end, she was someone who needed help, who had just asked me for it.

"Yes ," I told her. "I will be your Ashikabi." I tried not to stumble over the strange word as I accepted her request.

"Forever and ever," Akitsu repeated.

"S-s-s-she's like that!" Yukari stuttered. "And she just… And onii-chan just… And now they're…." she dived for her duffle bag. "S&M, S&M," she repeated as she frantically started to grab up books so she could glance at their titles before tossing them heedlessly over her shoulder so she could grab her next one. "Oh, I knew I should have brought my H collection," she wailed. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

*Scene Break*

It had taken nearly an hour before Yukari had calmed down enough to remember just what it was I had asked her to come up here for in the first place, but once she did she insisted that I stay behind while she helped Akitsu shop. 'There are some places a boy can't go, even if they're in THAT kind of relationship with a girl!' she had declared, and I had agreed.

Experience with Rin and Saber had taught me that the kind of places a boy can't go are also coincidently the kind of places boy doesn't want to go, especially if they're in the company of their girlfriends, and even more so if they were the ones who were going to be picking up the bill. Instead I had let Yukari borrow my MBI card that Takami had given me and told them to have fun.

I let out a breath as I collapsed down next to the kotatsu, and then winced as realized I had accidently sat on one of Yukari's mangas that she had thrown about earlier. I shifted enough to pull it out from underneath me and glanced down to the title.

"'Love love Onii-chan'?" I read out loud, mildly disturbed by it. It was one of the ones that she apparently consulted frequently because there were a number of tabs on it like the one she had been using earlier. Idly I flipped it open to one of them and then half gasped and half gulped at what I found. Frantically coughing, I started pounding my chest as I tried to recover from my shock. "Didn't Yukari say that she didn't bring her H collection?" I wondered out loud before shuddering and dropping the offending book onto the table. Ignoring the offending piece of literature I put my elbows on the table and dropped my head into my hands so I could collect my thoughts.

Let's see. It seems like I just established some sort of contract with one of the many creatures that wandered this town. While doing so I apparently convinced my impressionable younger sister that the two of us were in some kind of sado-masochist relationship. This would no doubt eventually reach the ears of Takami, who was in some way connected with whatever these Sekirei really were. And despite the fact that I was now apparently in contract with one of them, I still had no idea what the Sekirei were, or what they were doing in the city.

I'd almost welcome seeing that creepy priest Kirei at the moment as long as if he showed up he'd have some kind of explanation as for just what the hell was going on. Of course then I would be required to kill him on principle for what he almost did to Rin back during the war, if it wasn't for the fact that he was already dead.

Well, I would probably be able to get some better answers from Akitsu once she gets back, though from her usual reticent way of speaking there would be a good chance that getting them would be like pulling teeth.

When my phone rang next to me it startled me enough that my head slipped out of my hands and I just barely managed to stop myself from banging my forehead against the table.

Shaking my head I picked up the phone, glancing down at the display on the front, but I didn't recognize the number. Flipping it open I opened my mouth to say hello but was once more interrupted before I had the chance. "Why?" a voice ground out on the other end of the line. "Why you?" it demanded of me, sounding frantic.

I blinked, and suddenly remembered my dream this morning, the dream about fire that had been nearly forgotten in the rush of events afterwards. The figure I had seen in it, the question they had asked. "Why me what?" I asked, not quite understanding what the voice on the other end of the line was asking me. "Who is this?"

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the line, and then they spoke up again. "Excuse me," they said. "I didn't mean to be so rude. I've been under a lot of stress since yesterday, and it's impolite of me to take it out on you." The voice didn't quite sound apologetic, but it sounded like they were making an effort to be so. "This is Kagari. Do you remember me? We met yesterday."

Ah. That's where I heard this voice before. "Yes, the friend of Yasaka. You seemed a little ill yesterday," I continued. "Are you feeling better yet?"

"No," he admitted. "No I'm not. You see…" the voice started, and then trailed off. "What I mean to say is…." He tried again and once more seemed to not know what to say. "Look, I have a few things I really need to talk to you about, but it would be easier if we could meet in person," Kagari finally settled on.

"Hmmm," I hummed at the sudden request. "Actually, I wouldn't mind at all. I have a few things I'm curious about as well, and I think you might be able to help me out with them."

He was definitely less creepy then Kirei ever had been, that's for certain.

Though I still might end up killing him, depending how the conversation went.

*Scene Break*

"A karaoke bar?" I muttered, arriving at the location that Kagari had specified. Above the door leading in were brightly colored three foot tall letters proclaiming the stores title, and mounted in the windows were life sized cardboard cut outs of various anime characters posing. With a grimace I entered the establishment, and patiently took a spot in the line leading to the cashier. When it was my turn I asked her, "There should be a reservation under Kagari?"

The lady running the register paused and looked me over, before giving me a strange smile and telling me, "Last door on the right." As I turned to walk away she added, "Have fun," and gave me a wink.

I paused at that, and then sighed, scrubbing my hand through my hair.

The first thing I said when I entered the room to find Kagari waiting for me was, "You use this place as a hook up spot for your host club customers, don't you?" Then I caught sight of him and winced. "Oi, are you sure you're okay to be out here? You don't look very good at all."

"Yeah. Sorry," he apologized, apparently understanding just why I was distraught about what he usually used this room for. "And no, I probably shouldn't be out here, but I don't think I have much of a choice by this point." He was pale, so pale he was almost white, except for his cheeks and his forehead, which were bright red with what was probably a fever. His entire body was covered in sweat, and from just the first few seconds I was watching him I could already make out how harsh his panting was. He looked like he should be in a hospital, not like he should be waiting for customers or making secret meetings with strangers he met on the street a day ago.

"Not much of a choice?" I asked, sliding into a seat across from him. There was a serving plate with what looked like a selection of water, juice, and some sake on the table in the center of the room, and the untouched karaoke machine in the background had been muted and was currently showing a slowly cycling selection of songs it had prepared. "What do you mean?"

Kagari took a ragged breath before snagging a bottle of water from the selection in front of him, but halfway to getting it to his mouth he froze and his hand snaked out to clutch his chest again. He spasmed painfully, and I very nearly leapt from my seat to try and give him a hand before remembering how he had reacted last time I had touched him. I took a breath and waited for him to get control of himself.

"Sorry," he gasped once he was finished, and then finally managed to get the water to his lips. He gulped it desperately before wincing again and letting the arm with the water drop to his side in a tired motion. As I watched him drink I realized that the room was uncomfortably warm, and took a bottle of my own to sip on. "I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you to meet me here," he began but I simply nodded.

"Because karaoke booths are sound proofed and you don't want anyone to know what we're talking about," I supplied for him, and his eyebrow shot up as he gave me a surprised look. "It's probably one of the reason you have your customers meet up here, isn't it?" I asked, and very carefully did not think of just what he probably did with them once they were here. I just hoped that the cleaning staff was very thorough afterwards.

"Yeah," he admitted, and then paused. "I have something I need to tell you about. It's going to sound strange, but I assure you, what I'm about to tell you is completely true." He paused to give me time to consider that while he brought the bottle to his mouth again.

"Is this about how you're not human?" I asked him, and was promptly sprayed with the water he spit out at in surprise at my question. With a grimace I pulled out my handkerchief and started cleaning my face with it.

"You know I'm not human?" he asked, and now he looked more wary then he had before. "How do you know that?"

"I can tell," I assured him. "I've only been in Shin Tokyo for a few months but ever since I'd arrived I could tell that there were things that weren't human here. It was just every once in a while at first, but lately it's been more and more common."

"How can you tell?" he snapped at me, before grimacing. Without any prompting the temperature of the room seemed to drastically rise. "Are you playing some kind of game with me? I asked Matsu, and she said you weren't on the list as an Ashikaba yet. There should be no way that you would be able to…"

I cut him off. "You're a fire user of some sort, aren't you?" Kagari flinched back at my guess, and I knew I had gotten it right. "I can tell. I suppose you could say that I've always had a good sixth sense for that kind of thing. I can tell right away when your kind gets close enough. I've known for a while that you were here, but I always made it a point not to get involved. Before yesterday I only ever met one of you before face to face, and she didn't exactly strike me as entirely human friendly."

"Who was it?" he asked me, his eyes narrowed as he tried to decide whether or not to believe me. It seems like he didn't have much experience with people who were able to detect his kind. That meant he probably didn't have much dealing with magi in general. I decided that it might be a better idea for me to keep my status as a magic user a secret for now. Maybe he really was already aware of the existence of magi, but if he wasn't then it would just be one more reason for the Association to hunt me down that much harder. "The first Sekirei you met?" He didn't even notice that I had never once identified his species myself out loud.

"A grey haired womanl wearing black and with a grey overcoat carrying a sword. Karasuba I think her name was." Kagari flinched at the name, and I knew he recognized it.

"Her? That Karasuba?" he spat, like the name was something filthy in his mouth. "If that was the first Sekirei you met then it's no wonder you never tried to find any of the others." He grimaced again and clutched his chest once more. I was beginning to get genuinely worried about him. He looked like he might pass out on the floor at any moment. "Are there any others nearby?" he finally asked, studying me carefully. "Right now?"

I closed my eyes and lifted my head. I knew that it wouldn't actually help, but I took a deep breath in threw my nostrils. When I registered power it came to me as a smell. Since I tended to think of my detection skills as me simply tracking a scent, it had something of an enhancing effect when I acted as though I was trying to track through my nose. When magi used thaumaturgy the Aria, what the incantations for a spell were called, served as a kind of self-hypnosis for placing the magi in the proper state for manipulating their magic circuits. It was because of that that many magi would use entirely different Aria for casting what was essentially the same spell. In the same way deliberately inhaling helped me focus on the powers around me.

The closest was obviously Kagari, and being in his presence made it the most noticeable. If it were an actual scent it would probably mask any other one nearby. Since it was just me detecting magic on the other hand, I was able to make out the other sources that were near.

"Two of them," I finally concluded, opening my eyes. Kagari was studying me carefully, obviously trying to figure out what I was doing, or how I was able to do it. I took a second to try and figure out what the second scent that had been mixed in with the honeyed odor that I had come to attribute to Sekirei in general. It had felt like ozone…. "Lightning users I think."

Kagari nodded slowly. "Hibiki and Hikari," he muttered, studying me carefully. The room began to cool down a bit as he seemed to believe what my explanation for my knowledge of his inhumanity. "I've never even heard of someone who wasn't an Ashikabi being able to do something like that," he admitted. "Though if you're this powerful without having claimed your first wing, then it might explain why…" he trailed off glancing down at himself as he did so.

"My turn to ask a question: what are the Sekirei?" I narrowed my eyes. This was something that had been bothering me. "Gods? Demons? Psychics? Aliens?" When Kagari's eyes darted to the side and the room once again got warmer at my last suggestion I nodded my head. That would explain why there was so many of them. "What Type are you?"

"Type?" he repeated the last word, lifting the water still clutched in his hand so he could drink some down, his throat moving with each gulp.

"Never mind," I said, shaking my head and taking a sip of my own water. Type was the designation given to an alien species that was identified on Earth. So far I knew of only two, the Type-Mercury and the Type-Moon. Technically the Shinso, the True Ancestor race, was descended from the Type-Moon, but at this point I think that most of them were either dead or in hibernation. Both the two Types were in the same state. Whatever the Sekirei were, they were something new. And considering both the currently known about Types were infamous for being viciously anti-human, I doubt that the Sekirei were closely related enough to them for it to matter.

"Since you know this much, it should make things easier for me to explain," Kagari finally admitted, looking pained. "We Sekirei are naturally incomplete on our own. You already know that we have powers, but we can't use them effectively unless we can find our Ashikabi and get winged."

"Ashikabi?" I asked, wanting to get a proper definition for the word that kept being thrown around me today.

"For Sekirei, our bodies are different from humans," Kagari grimaced while he explained, but this time it looked like it wasn't in response to any physical pain. The room's temperature was beginning to rise again, and I was starting to sweat as I shrugged off my coat. "Like I said, we can't use our powers effectively on our own. Instead we need our Ashikabis in order to properly use them. When we're close enough to someone who is genetically compatible to ourselves, our bodies will begin to react with them. After we exchange genetic information then we'll be able to imprint on them, and afterwards we'll be able to use our full powers. That's what we call 'getting winged'. The ones that we're drawn to are what we call 'Ashikabi'."

I nodded slowly. Still, there was a lot of this I didn't completely understand. "What do you mean by 'react'?" I narrowed my eyes and leaned in closer so I could study Kagari. He really did look terrible. "Is that what you're doing right now?" I asked sitting up straight, horrified that if that was true than I might be the reason why the man I met the other day was apparently in such pain. "Reacting?"

Kagari grimaced. "Yes. It's not usually like this," he explained to me, pausing to drink more of the water before realizing his bottle was empty. Not only was it empty, but under my surprised eyes I realized it was starting to melt as well. When he started to shakily reach for another one I beat him to it, cracking it open and holding it in reach, careful to keep my fingers from accidently touching his. He gave me a shaky smile of gratitude. "I'm a little unusual, even among the Sekirei," he continued. "It was actually thought that I'd never be able to find someone to react to. My powers have always been hard to control. It was the reason I got a job at the host club in the first place. I wanted to expose myself to as many different people as possible so that I would have a higher chance of finding my Ashikabi."

"At a host club?" I asked, trying to sort out all the information that I was receiving. If it was just a matter of him reacting to me, then why was he apparently so upset by it? If he never thought he'd find someone he was compatible with, then shouldn't he be happy that he found someone to react to. My eyes narrowed as something he had said earlier came back to me. "Tell me. What does 'exchange genetic information' mean?" I asked, my voice carefully toneless.

Kagari snorted and gave me a level look. "What do you think it means?" he asked me in a dry tone.

"If it's my blood you're trying to get, Apostle, then I will kill you right now and burn this entire place down around me as I leave," I told him coldly. "And then I'll hunt down every last one of your wretched race and do the same to them."

"What?" Kagari snapped, looking at me like he was appalled at the thought. Without warning the shoulder of his suit started to smolder. "It means kissing, kissing! Not drinking blood!"

"Oh," I said, feeling sheepish over my earlier declaration at that. It was a perfectly logical assumption to make. The Type-Moon and the Shinso were the origin of the Dead Apostles, the source of the vampire species. It seemed a pretty logical conclusion to make that if an alien starts talking about needing genetic material than it would be blood that they were talking about. Then it hit me. "Oh!" I said again, this time realizing why it was that Kagari would choose a host club as an ideal place to look for his Ashikabi. It would have a constant inflow of new females for him to try and react to. Then it hit me again. "Oh," I groaned, rubbing my forehead. "Ashikabi are usually of the opposite gender, aren't they?"

"Yes," Karagi muttered, eyeing me distastefully. "Yes they usually are."

I grimaced again and continued rubbing my forehead. There were just too many unusual things in the facts that I was being presented. And the sad part was that none of it was particularly new or startling. Creatures of greater than human power requiring having a human to provide them with something they needed in order to be able to use that power? That sounded a lot like the Servants I was familiar with. And this part about needing to exchange genetic information? Well, that sounded like something I was doing quite frequently with a certain blond swordswoman up until recently. Though it seemed that this prana exchange ritual seemed a lot tamer than the one I was used to. I suppressed a wince. I think I had a pretty good idea where this conversation was going. At least the 'genetic exchange' that Kagari was describing was a little less…invasive then the type I was familiar with.

"So as it stands now, you managed to find someone that you were compatible with. When it turned out that that person was the same gender, you didn't like the idea too much. But then it turned out that since you're a special case among the Sekirei that if you don't, what was the phrase, 'get winged', then you might be in physical danger. So that was when you decided to call me up so you could try to explain the situation to someone who had no idea what was going on. Only it turned out I was aware enough of what was going on so that instead of having to convince me that you weren't crazy you instead had to explain the situation properly to me? Is that about how it stands right now?" I summarized for him.

"Pretty much," Kagari winced as he responded. "That and I'm really uncomfortable with the thought of being winged by a guy," he admitted. Carefully studying me he paused. "I have to ask. Are you, ya know," he trailed off, trying to figure out how to say what he was about to without being offensive. "Like Yasaka?" he finally settled on.

I snorted. I knew it. Looks like I wasn't the only one who suspected something about our mutual friend. "Honestly, since I broke up with my two girlfriends a few months ago I've been more focused on just putting my life back together. But I'd have to say that even with the time off it looks like I still prefer girls," I assured him.

Kagari studied me for a second, and then relaxed. "Two girlfriends? I understand. They expect that from me, since I work in a host club, but every once and awhile one of my customers starts getting a little jealous and things can get ugly," he managed a small smile, before shaking again, his hand coming up to his chest as he shuddered. "What happened? They found out about each other?" he gasped out. I'm sure that he was just trying to take his mind off of what looked like absolute agony, but I didn't like the implication that I would cheat on either Rin or Saber.

"Actually, it was all three of us together," I corrected him, trying not to let the fact that his comment earlier had offended me as much as it had. "And I'd rather not talk about how it ended right now."

Kagari seemed to realize just how deep he stepped in it with his last statement, and looked away. "Sorry," he said.

"It's alright," I assured him in a tight voice. "That wouldn't have been the worst thing I've ever heard anyone say about us when we were together."

"I'm sure it wasn't, but that doesn't mean it was alright for me to say that," Kagari insisted earnestly. Despite the fact that it was looking more and more like just breathing was an effort for him he reached out and managed to briefly touch my arm with his hand. I considered shaking it off for a second, but only a second. For a man who had already confessed how much he hated being touched, I had to acknowledge that his attempt at making peace with me was earnest. "It's just," and he scrunched up his face as though the next words to come out of his mouth tasted like lemons, "I'm scared," he finally admitted. When the shoulder that had simply been smoldering started to ignite, he shakily poured some of the water from his bottle on himself before taking another sip. His jacket steamed, and for a brief second a moisture spot spread across his clothes before the heat he was apparently emitting started to evaporate it.

"Why?" I asked, trying to figure out why he would be worried about this. From what I understood all it would take would be one admittedly awkward kiss and then we could both forget it ever happened and move on with our lives. He wouldn't have to be shuddering in pain in the middle of a rented karaoke booth anymore. From what he described it didn't seem like that much of a deal. He'd never had to establish a binding contract through a tantric ritual the night before he risked his life to stop a genocidal madman from unleashing all the hate of the world upon its populace through the use of a mystic artifact. Or had to deal with the tsun-ing girl he had contracted himself to immediately afterwards for that matter.

"I told you," he snapped at me, and then realized that he had told me a lot things and he couldn't blame me for not knowing precisely what it was he was referring to in particular. With a deep breath he explained. "When we get winged we imprint on our Ashikabi," he explained, his voice tight as he took another sip of water. "My body has already been reacting far worse than anyone ever thought it would." His lip curled into a disgusted sneer. "I mean, look at me." Even as he spoke I understood what he was talking about. More and more parts of his clothes were beginning to show signs of heat damage. I eyed him carefully, wondering if it would interrupt the conversation if I were to open a fresh bottle of water and douse him with it. "I don't know anything about you, Shirou Emiya. For all I know you could be the lowest scum on the planet and the only reason I'm reacting like this is because you just happen to be an unusually powerful Ashikabi. But the moment I'm winged, Shirou," Kagari's eyes focused on me with laser like intensity, "the moment I'm winged, unlike with other Sekirei, I'll have no other choice but to be absolutely obedient to you. If I let you wing me, then I will become whatever it is you desire. And I don't know if I can stand for that to happen."

Under the weight of his fears, I no longer felt as flippant as I did before. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them. "What will happen to you if you aren't winged?"

"I'll probably die," he told me bluntly, and he meant it. Just looking at him, slumped against the sofa, a water bottle desperately clenched in his noticeably weakening fist starting to melt despite the water inside, and with the furnace like heat his body was emitting, I had no doubt that this truly was a life or death situation for him.

I didn't like it. He had only met me yesterday, and yet apparently just us laying eyes on each other was enough to start the chain of events that had led him to this state.

"All right," I nodded. "Which would you prefer?" I asked him. He blinked at me, looking completely surprised by my question. I gulped some more of my water to try and make up for the buckets of sweat I was shedding and explained what I meant. "Would you rather live with the risk of what I might put you through, or die?"

"Like that's any choice at all," Kagari snapped at me, looking angry at the flippant way that I was treating his dilemma.

"It is," I told him quietly. When his eyes narrowed, I continued. "You're right. If you're going to react that strongly to being winged, then maybe you'd be better off not living. I'm not a normal person. That much must be obvious by the way I can sense your fellow Sekirei. I can't guarantee what will happen if I do become your Ashikabi." Honestly, he might be better off if he died right here and now rather than follow me. These Sekirei, they were a new species entirely. And they were magical, of that there could be no doubt, not with the way they set off my detection skills. If the Clock Tower got wind of them, there was no telling what might happen. I had been using their presence as a shield, but now I realized just how effective a shield they would be, and it set my teeth on edge. I suddenly didn't feel too good about my choice as using them as a smokescreen. It might be time for me to move on. These Sekirei didn't seem to understand just how dangerous their position was, and if me being here was enough to put them in danger, then it might be better for me to leave.

"You're serious," Kagari whispered, his eyes narrowed as he stared at me. "You're really serious." He shifted in his spot on the sofa. "You're honestly telling me that it might be better to die then get winged by you. You're not going to try and convince me that I have no choice, or that you're a good person, or even just wing me right now when I can't stop you."

"Yes," I told him, and meant it.

For several minutes Kagari said nothing, watching me carefully as he mulled over his options. I said nothing, letting him make his choice: to live, or to die. If he chose to die, then I would even help him accomplish it. In his present state, I couldn't help but feel that the quick touch of my swords might be better than the pain every second of his self combustion apparently was putting him through. Whichever choice he decided on, I would abide by it. Seeing him sitting in front of me, his face pale as the sweat poured down it, his breathing harsh as he panted for every breath, it made me want to help him. But whatever my personal preference might be, it didn't change the fact that no matter how I looked at it, I wouldn't be able to give him the aid I wanted to. Not without potentially hurting him even more than he was right now. Not unless he wanted me to. No matter how much I wanted to save people, sometimes the simple fact was that you couldn't save everyone. And sometimes there were people who just didn't want to be saved.

"I want you to make me a promise," Kagari finally said, breaking the silence.

"To do what?" I asked him, willing to hear what it was that he wanted.

"When I found out that I would probably never get winged, I decided that I would protect all the other Sekirei until they could," he told me, his voice harsh. "Since then whenever anyone or anything threatened an unwinged Sekirei I would stop them or it, no matter what. If I let you wing me, will you swear to me that you won't interfere with anything I do until all the Sekirei are winged?"

"So you're a protector of the innocent?" I murmured, surprised at hearing him say something that I might have said if the situation was reversed.

"Yes," Kagari said, his voice certain despite his pain.

"A hero of justice, eh," I couldn't stop myself from giving a soft chuckle, an act that seemed to upset Kagari. "How many Sekirei are there?" I asked him in response. That was entirely too general an oath for me to make, no matter how much I liked the sound of it.

"One hundred and eight," he answered immediately. Anticipating my next question he continued. "Right now there are seventy eight winged, and thirty left unwinged."

"How long do you think it will take for the rest to find their Ashikabi?" I asked next, trying to get an idea for how long a stay he was asking for.

"I don't know for certain, but my best guess would be three to four months," he reported.

It was my turn to be silent for a few minutes while I considered. The simple fact of the matter was that the longer I thought on the offered deal, the more I found myself liking it. By winging Kagari, however awkward personally it might be, not only would I be saving his life, but I would be potentially saving the lives of thirty other of his type.

Finally, I nodded. "I promise. Until the time when all the rest of the Sekirei are winged, or are rendered incapable of being winged, I will make no effort to impede your efforts to defend any of the unwinged Sekirei, nor will I make any demands upon you that might cause you to be negligent in your duty. Is that good enough?"

For another long moment Kagari studied me, and then he gave me a quick nod. "Yes." He tried to stand after giving his affirmation, but failed. "Ugh," he groaned as he found that he could no longer manage to get to his feet. I narrowed my eyes and stood up quickly.

"Kagari," I began, "are you alright?" No longer worrying over whether or not it would interrupt the conversation I began dumping the water on him. I had to shield my face as the liquid came back up as hot steam almost instantly.

He shuddered once, and then again. "Ugh," he groaned. "I don't think I can move anymore," he admitted, his breathing harsh. "I knew that my body was reacting too violently, but I didn't think it'd get this bad this fast," he panted.

I turned my face to the side and cracked open another bottle to empty on him as fast as I could. "Are you sure about this, Kagari?" I asked him one last time. "It's alright if you want to back out."

"No," he gasped, his body shaking. "It's fine. At least I know one thing about you: you're honest. Maybe it's just my body reacting, but I believe you." I carefully lifted his upper body from the sofa he was collapsed in. I clenched my teeth as it felt like I was pressing my flesh against a frying pan. However bad it might be for me, it must be even worse for him. Weakly, he clenched one of his hands against my chest, causing my shirt to blacken at his touch. "I am number zero six, Homura." With one final weak effort I felt him pull himself up to me, and felt his lips touch mine.

Fire. It erupted from him, launching away from him, seemingly emitting from a spot centered high on his back. It was hot, but it felt hot the way a match felt hot if you were to drag your finger across the flame too fast for it to really catch you. Great billowing pillars of fire, stretching away from his back erupted away from him, and when the pillars struck against the physical boundaries of the room, they reacted as though they were solid things with physical boundaries to their shapes rather than just directed flames. The pillars of fire arched forward until they surrounded the two of us, seemingly embracing us where our two bodies stood together.

The pillars looked like nothing more than giant wings of flame, and I finally understood why Kagari referred to the act of finding an Ashikabi as 'being winged'.

And during that moment I felt something else. Even as the wings stretched away from Kagari's back, I felt the circuits of my magic being drained. I could feel my od being siphoned away from me, a gentle pull that lasted no more than a moment, and took no more from me then a sip of my power, but for a moment it felt the same way as it had felt all those times I had been with Saber.

I had half suspected it, but it seemed that when the Sekirei winged it was in effect a much simpler, and more hygienic, prana exchange ritual.

For an endless moment the two of us were pressed together as feathers of fire moving too fast to burn caressed us, and then the moment was over and we both collapsed in an awkward pile on the floor.

I let out a muffled 'oof' as I fell on top of the smaller Kagari. He seemed to find my presence on top of him every bit as uncomfortable as I found his presence below me and for a brief second we both elbowed and kneed one anotherr in panic as we tried to get away from each other. After a few embarrassing moments we managed to separate enough for the two of us to breathe. The room was still uncomfortably warm, but I could already feel the temperature starting to lower as the booth's air conditioning finally managed to do its job without it being countered by the Sekirei's rampaging power.

Those few seconds turned into a lot of seconds as the two of us met each other's eyes, and then both turned away in embarrassment.

I know it was to save a life, and quite possibly as many as thirty more lives, but that didn't change the fact that I just kissed another guy.

Oh, dear gods above and demons below, please let Rin never find out about this. I don't know what would happen if she did, but I just knew it wouldn't be good.

Finally I broke the awkward silence. "Are you feeling better, Kagari?" I asked him, taking a second to look away from my careful and entirely reasonable study of the wall on the opposite side of the room from him to check his condition. In the time we both had been pretending the other didn't exist he had seemed to finally realize something and was now running his hands up and down his body as though to try and find weak spots.

"Yes," he admitted, sounding shocked by the condition. "I've never felt like this. It's always been hard to control, my power, but now," he trailed off, seemingly too awed by the difference in his new found state in comparison to his old one to be able to find the proper words to express himself, "now I feel like I can truly master it."

Despite my own discomfort I couldn't help but feel relieved. "Good." I paused, and suddenly found myself sniffing the air. There was something there… "Now," I said, "I think it's time for you to start earning that new control, don't you?"

Kagari flinched, turning a suspicious eye towards me and raising one arm in front of him. From the tips of his fingers a flame emitted, white hot where it danced on his fingers. "Shirou," he growled. "Are you going back on your promise?"

"No," I assured him hastily. "I just detected a new Sekirei. It feels like…" I trailed off, trying to find some way to describe the odd scent that was reaching my nose. "It feels like a bear. And it also feels like those two lightning users are chasing it."

For a second Kagari stared at me, not understanding what I was saying, and then suddenly his eyes widened. "Shit," he swore. He launched to his feet, and then suddenly paused, his eyes widening as he took in the state of the room. I followed his gaze.

Well, crap.

The room had been devastated. There was no other way to describe the level of damage our little impromptu ritual had unleashed upon this small space. The winging, obeying laws of physics or magic that I didn't properly understand at the moment had caused the wings of fire that had emitted from Kagari's back to abide by the rules of space and conform themselves to the small enclosure, and when they had done so they had effectively decimated the surroundings. The sofas were nothing more than shredded lumps, clumps of whatever they had been filled with still floating down slowly from where they had been thrown. The posters that had adorned the wall had been shredded, and in the corner that little karaoke machine that had been silently playing list after list of potential sing-a-longs was nothing more than a sparking box that could only barely retain its original cube shape.

Kagari seemed to hesitate, his eyes shifting between me and the shattered remnants of the furnishings and I sighed. "Do you have enough to cover something like this in your bank account?" When Kagari hesitantly nodded, I raised my hands and made a shooing motion. "Go on. You go help the Sekirei, and I'll explain the mess. Just don't be surprised if they bill you for it."

For a long second Kagari just stared at me, and then he smiled. It was the first honest and genuine expression I had seen on his face. Still smiling he darted out the door, rushing to do what he had sworn to himself he would do, protecting his fellow Sekirei till they could find their Ashikabi.

The moment he was gone I groaned and sank my head once more into my hands.

My mother thought I was a drug runner. My sister thought I was in an S&M relationship. And now I was apparently going to have to convince a karaoke bar that I was gay, and that my last tryst with a known playboy had been enthusiastic to explain the fact that I was soaked with sweat and that the two of us had destroyed an entire room.

And the sad part was that this STILL wasn't the most awkward day I ever had.

*Scene Break*

It was nearly an hour later before I managed to make it back to my apartment. Ten minutes of that time had been on the train, and the rest of it was trying really hard to explain to the karaoke bar's management just how Kagari and I had managed somehow to that much damage in such a short time.

I don't think it went over as well as I hoped, and I made a point to never go to that section of the town again. At least no one there knew my real name, but I really hoped that Shinji Matou never discovered just what rumors I had accidently started when I gave them his name as my own.

Then again, considering what I knew about Shinji, maybe it would be worth it if I could somehow arrange for him to find out.

It only took me a few seconds after I got back to confirm that Yukari and Akitsu hadn't returned yet. Considering how late in the afternoon it was getting I figured that they would be returning soon enough. Then again, past experience had taught me just how long a shopping trip could be extended if there was more than one double 'x' chromosome in the party, so it could be a few more hours before they finally managed to return. I was thankful for that fact since it gave me enough time to catch a quick shower and a change of clothes.

With nothing better to do now that I was officially out of prep school until the next semester started up, and not having bothered to get a job yet, I set about cleaning my room for a bit, hunting down the rest of Yukari's strewn about shoujo mangas and preparing some tea. Once more I found another reason to dislike my current place. When I had been growing up it had been one of my favorite pastimes to seat myself on the veranda by the shoji screen doors and sip tea peacefully. After the Holy Grail War Saber would often join me, the two of us sometimes sitting for hours on end quietly, usually until Rin would show up and then either bring conversation when she joined us, or excitement when she scolded us for spending the entire day so idly. The best I could manage to do in this cramped little dump was standing on the porch outside my door. It just wasn't the same.

Just as I finished preparing the first cup I felt it, the scent of Akitsu approaching the apartment. Well, it looked like they'd show up soon. I brought out a serving tray and two more cups, and set about preparing enough drinks for my sister and my Sekirei as well. I had just managed to finish them when the front door to my apartment slammed open. "Onii-chan!" Yukari shouted happily. "We're back! Look, look! Look at what we found for Akitsu!"

"Yes, yes," I said patiently, smiling at my sister's enthusiasm and picked up the loaded tray in order to offer them both a cup as I turned around.

Then I dropped the tray.

"Yukari!" I yelped, blushing bright red as I did so. "What the hell did you make Akitsu wear!"

"Do you like it?" Yukari asked excitedly, dropping a handful of bags nearby as she excitedly began to tug and pull at various pieces of Akitsu's new outfit as though to emphasize specific parts of it. "The man at the specialty shop said it would fit her perfectly!"

"Specialty sho…" I started to get got out and then flushed even brighter. "Did you take Akitsu clothes shopping at a sex store?" I half shrieked and half demanded.

It could loosely be described as a kimono, but only loosely. Actually, considering its fit, 'loose' could be used as an adjective for it as well. It was white with black trim, and was tied at the waist with a black obi bow in the front. However if it had just been a kimono it would have been fine. The garment she was wearing was open in the front, revealing pale white skin all the way down to where the hem of her garment disappeared beneath the sash she was tying it shut with. The top was spread wide open, nearly off her shoulders, revealing almost as much of her cleavage as she had been showing this morning. In fact, I think she was showing more. The only reason her breasts didn't just give up and pop out was because of the chains.

Yes. Chains. Stretching across her chest and apparently being the only thing from keeping her top from coming off completely was a thick steel chain that fastened to the edges of her kimono. More than that she had another length of chain wrapped around her neck, creating some sort of demented choker, and the edges of that chain were tucked so that they ran down the center of the valley of her breasts before disappearing under the obi as well.

The bottom of her kimono was equally provocative. It stayed closed only to about midway down her thigh before parting and showing large lengths of her shapely legs as well. On her feet were the only normal part of her outfit, rather elegant looking wooden sandals.

Akitsu stood calmly as I studied her, her legs slightly parted and her hands held behind her back, and with her enormous chest pushed up. I realized that I was staring, but it looked as though Akitsu didn't mind, and was in fact happy that I had been.

"Isn't it great?" Yukari gushed, still flitting around the unmoving Sekirei. "At first I was thinking about taking her to a normal store, but then I decided that instead I would support my brother and his unusual relationship! She might be just what you need to forget about those two witches! So instead I took her to this other store that was in a basement down a long flight of stairs and through a dark corridor! After I told the manager all about your situation, he was happy to help me pick out everything you need to get started." Yukari happily began groping Akitsu's breasts again as she continued to drive me into the depths of despair with every sentence that came from her mouth.

"Told the manager about me?" I asked, feeling light headed. "Everything I need to get started?" I think I felt the room began to spin.

"Yeah!" Yukari detached herself from my Sekirei's boobs and grabbed one of the shopping bags before hurrying over to give it to me. "I wasn't sure what most of them were for, but the manager said this was the basic equipment!"

With numb hands I took the offered bag and looked in. "Agh!" I shrieked in a manly fashion, and threw the bag to the corner of the room, determined not to look in it. "No more! Absolutely not! Completely inappropriate! Sisters do not buy sex toys for their brothers!"

"Well I thought it was a little weird myself," Yukari admitted, not looking nearly embarrassed enough for what I felt the scene merited. "But like I said, I support your unusual lifestyle completely!" She beamed up at me. And for a second I couldn't tell if I was happy that I had a sister that was trying so hard, or in complete despair that I had a sister that was trying so hard. Please, let this relationship eventually become normal. I think I was beginning to prefer the awkward air between me and Takami to this. I think I was beginning to prefer being found by the Clock Tower to this for that matter.

"And look!" Yukari continued, still sounding excited. "They had some really exciting panties that were just perfect for her!" Once more giving no regard to personal space my sister darted behind Akitsu and lifted her skirt so I could see the fruits of her mad genius.

I barely got my hand up in time to cover my nose before it started bleeding and I nearly fell as the room started spinning just that much faster.

Yukari seemed surprised at my reaction, so she looked down to see what it was that had apparently pushed me over the edge. "Akitsu!" she yelped, finally having the grace to blush as well. "Where are those panties you bought?"

Akitsu leaned over, looking for herself briefly, and then began to blush slightly as well. "Ah," she said before pausing. "I forgot."


	4. Fourth Wing

In Flight: The Fourth Wing

_Author's notes: Alright, much longer delay to this chapter than the first three. For that, sorry, but it's the holiday season and I'm doing some traveling. I've been sneaking in writing time in between other events, and I'm a bit annoyed it took me this long to get this chapter out, but I'm still at it, so probably expect the next chapter in about the same amount of time. _

_Now, onto some personal notes about this story in general. As I've been planning it out I've come to realize this is my most ambitious project so far. HoS was long, and I'm proud of it, but in the end it was very simplistic as well. It had two main characters, a handful of side characters who made repeating appearances, and a very episodic plot. The sheer number of characters that In Flight is looking to have will make it a labor of love to give all of them the attention they need. Not to mention that so far I've identified three major plots that the story will be focusing on: the Sekirei Plan, the Clock Tower, and Shirou's family. I'm looking forward to attempting to include all the things I want to in this story and still have it come out as enjoyable to you, the readers._

_Now, onto responding to the reviews. There have been a great deal of speculation about just what happened back in Britain, and though I originally planned on leaving it in the air, a reviewer pointed out that the longer it remains ambiguous, the more it comes across like me taunting the readers. On reflection, I came to agree with it. Therefore, while I won't say precisely what happened until its time, I will admit that amongst the speculation floating around the net there is one that was spot on. Which one it was I won't say, but if you're that desperate to know, feel free to try and figure it out in your spare time._

_Another point a lot of people brought up was their hopes that Musubi wouldn't make any screen time, or go to another Ashikabi. A lot of people seem to think that she brings absolutely nothing to the story as a character. I disagree. She brings one very important part to the story as a whole, and I'm not talking about fanservice. Alright, fanservice counts too, but that means she brings two very important things to the story. The second one is simple: Karasuba. And its for that, and the sheer amusement I'm going to have playing her against Akitsu, Musubi remains a member of Shirou's Sekirei._

_Now, on with the story. If you like it, let me know. If there are any comments/criticisms/complaints, also freely mention them. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"You know," I pointed out, trying to ignore the stares the two of us were getting as we walked down the street, "You don't have to wear that."

It was the day after Yukari had finished misinterpreting my situation and unleashing the quiet blue haired Sekirei upon me all decked up in her newly chosen fetish bondage gear. Though my little sister had left shortly afterwards, the fallout of her enthusiastic if misaimed attempt at being a good sister had continued through the rest of the night and most of the morning afterwards. I still hadn't managed to identify half the things Yukari had bought because a sex shop manager had told her they were 'The Essentials' and I don't think I ever would. At least, I hoped I never would. The array of strange things my little sister had bought for me had entirely too many items that either looked like demented medical tools, vibrated, had strange protuberances, or were some combination of the three categories. Those had immediately been relegated to the closet until a time when I could manage to sneak them into one of my neighbors' garbage cans a few minutes before pickup. As for clothing so far the only decent thing I had seen among the selection had been the kimono like garment that Akitsu had worn home. The rest looked like the kind of thing that might be more useful in restraining wild animals.

And I still didn't know what I was going to do with all the rope. Yeah, I wouldn't ever use it for the reason Yukari had bought it for me, but rope was just too useful in too many other ways to just throw away. Kind of like the candles for that matter. I never had to fear a power outage again considering how many of them I now had.

Akitsu was quiet for a moment before she asked me in that soft way of hers, "Would it be better if I didn't wear these?" The two of us were walking together down a semi-crowded intersection in one of the commercial districts of Shin Tokyo on our way to the nearby grocer. It hadn't been till last night when even after she had finished dinner her stomach had started growling that I realized that apparently Sekirei needed more food than a normal human would. After she finished the second plate of food I had prepared for her, and then the third, and then a fourth as well I had realized that I was going to have to start allocating a lot more money in my budget to food if this was going to keep up. Luckily I liked to keep a fully stocked fridge, though I had been down to my last piece of fish and a lonely apple by the time Akitsu had finally told me that she wasn't hungry anymore. It was because of that the two of us were now making an early morning trip to restock my fridge.

I nearly fell for the trap, but managed to catch myself before I did. "If I were to say it was would you start taking them off right here?" I asked her cautiously. When she immediately nodded I sighed. At least I was starting to understand the way Akitsu thought. "Then no, it would be better if you did wear them. But what I meant was would you prefer a different style of clothes? Maybe something a little," I paused to try to compose my next sentence as carefully as I could, "a little more modest?" I finally finished.

I had expected that Akitsu would take a moment to respond and sure enough she did. "No," she answered me. "I would prefer these."

I studied her out of the corner of my eye, trying to ignore the people around us as we passed them. While the two of us traveled Akitsu made certain to always stay a step behind me and to my left. She carefully kept her hands behind her back, a position that caused her already impressively displayed cleavage to strain against the fabric and chain that held it back. She kept her head slightly lowered as she walked, and her expression was always carefully calm.

"What is it about that outfit that makes you prefer it?" I asked her carefully. There was something about her stance that reminded me of something I had seen a long time ago, but I wanted to be sure of my impression before I acted on it.

"It means that I am yours," was her succinct answer. "That is why I prefer it."

"Because it means that you're mine?" I repeated. For all that Akitsu would answer any question I asked her she often seemed to leave out the important parts of her answers. I would think this a sign of deceitfulness, but all things considered from what I knew of Akitsu that seemed unlikely. I wouldn't go so far as to call her scatter brained, but it was definitely the case that she tended to get distracted easily and either forget things or just ignore them in favor of something she considered more important. Speaking of which. "You remembered your panties this morning, didn't you?" I asked her suspiciously.

After her customary moment of thought she looked down and without a thought to where she was she pulled apart her skirt to check. Then she nodded. "Yes," she assured me.

I sighed. Well, after the shocks of the last few days at least I was starting to get used to her antics. Some of the people around us started whispering while some of them gawked at the sight of Akitsu in a chest exposing dress displaying her underwear, and the rest of the bystanders made it a point to ignore us completely. "You can put your skirt back down," I reminded her and she did so immediately. "You really don't have any nudity taboos at all, do you?" I asked her as we finally made it to the store and went in together.

"I will if that is what you want, master," she supplied in response. I grit my teeth at that response. She reminded me a bit of what Saber had been like, back when we had first met. During the early days of the war the only thing Saber had been concerned about was fulfilling her role as a Servant. Every action she had done had been in some way related to battle or preparing for battle. Whenever we had walked somewhere together the blond swordswoman had always been in a position much like where Akitsu seemed to favor, behind me and to the side. The difference was that when Saber had done that it had been so she could better guard me from surprise attacks from behind. With Akitsu it was because it seemed to emphasize my position as her master. It was the reason that anything I asked of her, or even suggested for that matter, she would instantly obey; to the best of her abilities anyway. For all that she was trying her hardest to do everything I asked of her it didn't change the fact that she was apparently a little forgetful of certain things. Even just now she had said the reason she had chosen her outfit was because it indicated that she was in my service.

I asked her something that I was suspicious about from the night before. "Last night, was the reason you didn't tell me you were still hungry because I didn't ask?" Was she so determined to obey me that she was willing to even let her body suffer for it?

"Ah," Akitsu murmured, and from the corner of my eye I caught her blushing. "I forgot," she admitted in a tone that I was beginning to suspect was Akitsu-speak for sheepish.

I nearly dropped the shopping basket I had picked up at that. Sighing, I rubbed my forehead with my free hand. "Well, at least it's not just your clothes," I muttered. Still, I couldn't help but wonder just why it was that she was apparently so enthusiastically obedient. Was it because she was my Sekirei? While I couldn't imagine either Karasuba or Kagari acting like Akitsu was, that didn't change the fact that Kagari had mentioned Sekirei imprint on their Ashikabi. Judging from what Kagari had told me it didn't seem as though that made them instantly obedient, with the exception of Kagari himself. But more than that, I hadn't winged Akitsu. Which reminded me of a few things I still had questions about.

"Yesterday you said you couldn't bare my mark," I asked her, as I started loading my basket with fresh vegetables. Cabbage for the most part, with plenty of peppers and a few onions as well. My kitchen lacked the facilities for me to do my more fancy dishes, but with the way Akitsu ate I was probably going to have to rely on stir fry for a bit. It was a fast and easy dish, something I could make large quantities of without much hassle. I made a note to myself to pick up as much rice as I could carry as well. "What did you mean by that?"

"Since I am broken I cannot receive your crest," she answered me, her head lowering just a little bit as she did so. "Because of that, I can never be a true Sekirei."

"A crest?" I asked, my interest perking when I heard that word. "So when a Sekirei is winged they receive a crest? Like yours?" I inquired, my eyes focusing on her forehead once more.

"No," Akitsu shook her head slightly. "Not like mine. Mine means I am broken." That's right. After I winged Kagari yesterday nothing like that had appeared on his forehead. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to recall the specifics of the incident. There had been wings of fire, emerging from his back. He had been covered, but it looked to me like they had originated from a position near the center of his shoulders.

"Does the crest appear right about here?" I asked, indicating the area where the wings had emerged from on myself. Akitsu nodded in response. "So why is it that you in particular can't be winged?" I continued, trying to understand her situation better.

"Because I am a scrap number," Akitsu explained to me without actually explaining anything. I sighed and decided to just leave it be for now. I suppose I could always ask Kagari about it eventually.

Which reminded me of the next topic I had to bring up with the silent presence at my side.

"Yesterday," I began, and then paused as the scent of ozone filled my awareness. Sekirei nearby, though the presence I was detecting seemed familiar. When it was joined by another with the same feel to it I remembered that they had been the ones I had come across yesterday, when I was proving my ability to Kagari. Ignoring them for now I repeated myself. "Yesterday I was approached by a second Sekirei. They asked me to wing them, and I did so." I had considered not telling Akitsu about this little tidbit, seeing how I was uncertain about just how she would react, but experience during my time living together with Rin and Saber had proven to me that if you were in a relationship with someone and living with them then trying to keep a secret from them was impossible. I wouldn't categorize the relationship between Akitsu and me as being quite the same as the one I had with Rin and Saber, but we were living together and we were in some kind of master/servant relationship.

"Ah," Akitsu said. She didn't react in any other way besides to continue following me dutifully.

"Is that going to be a problem?" I asked her carefully. There were still a lot of things that I didn't understand about my current situation, but I didn't rule out the fact that what I did yesterday might complicate things.

I don't think I would have noticed it if I hadn't picked up another familiar power approaching. I don't know why, but the new scent had a strange musty, powerful feel to it, and though I had never actually been close enough to a bear to be able to compare the two, for some reason bear was definitely what came to mind when it approached. It was because I had half turned to try and focus on the scent that I was able to see Akitsu fully. She was still following me dutifully as I led the two of us to the checkout line, but her posture was different. Her head was bowed a little more than earlier, her eyes focused to the side rather than on me or straight ahead like she normally kept them, and I could make out the muscles of her shoulders as her body stood tensed.

"Since you have a winged Sekirei, will you now throw me away?" she asked me, and despite her usually monotone I could make out an emotion clearly this time: fear.

"What?" I gasped, caught completely off guard by her question. "Why on earth would I do that?" Was that reason she acted like she did? The reason she did everything she could to obey me, the reason she tried her hardest to show at all times that she was subservient to me? Because she was worried that I would get rid of her if she didn't? "No," I rushed to assure her, reaching out to put my free hand on her shoulder to emphasize my statement, "that wasn't what I meant at all! I told you that I would be your master, even if I can't be your Ashikabi. I meant I was worried whether it was wrong or unusual for two Sekirei to be following the same Ashikabi."

Akitsu froze as I reassured her, and for a moment I was worried I had overstepped my boundary with the sudden contact. However, instead of brushing my hand off she instead looked at it for a moment, and then said and then her cheeks started to get red. "Then no," she answered my earlier question. "It is no problem. The more Sekirei you have, the safer you will be, master."

I smiled in relief at her response. Beside me, a sudden coughing drew my attention to the fact that apparently most of the line behind me had been watching our little drama unfold. The cashier was coughing into one hand, trying not to look at the two of us directly while he tapped the screen indicating that my purchases were rung and they were awaiting payment.

I had gotten so caught up in the conversation that I hadn't even realized I was being rung up.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat, and fumbled out my MBI card and swiped it through the machine to pay for the groceries. I quickly gathered up the bags that were waiting for me and started heading towards the door, Akitsu following me dutifully. I was just leaving the door when something she said made me pause.

"Wait," I began nervously. "What do you mean by 'safer'?"

Before she had a chance to answer the scent of ozone spiked. Instantly I whirled around, relying on combat instincts carefully honed over the years from endless training with Saber and to a lesser extent Rin. I twisted to face the sudden surge of power and launched myself three steps backwards before I even verified what was causing it. Even as I moved far quicker than most humans ever think possible for themselves Akitsu was also in motion. From her place behind me her form blurred with the speed of her movements and she placed herself directly in front of me, both her arms still held behind her back and her posture ramrod straight as she faced the same direction I was.

Even as the two of us sank into a strange synchronicity I made out what was apparently attacking us. As I prepared myself I felt my heart racing. Had the Clock Tower somehow managed to find me? I had thought I'd have at least another six months, considering just how murky the politics of my situation was, and there was no way that I was being pursued hard enough for them to warrant attacking in broad daylight on the middle of a street.

Instead of a finding a team of grim faced Enforcers bearing down on me, I instead found a set of twins wearing maid outfits standing outside the supermarket. One of them was holding balloons that she had apparently been giving to children a few moments ago. The other had a basket filled with packets of courtesy tissues that she had probably been giving out to the adults that came by. The two looked like completely ordinary mascots being used to draw in customers. Ordinary if it wasn't for the fact that the one holding tissue's free hand was currently sheathed in a glove of crackling electricity. I eyed her carefully. This was the first time I'd seen a Sekirei demonstrating their power. Yesterday I had seen enough to know how dangerous they could be, but with Kagari what I had seen had been more along the lines of self destruction that him actually trying to accomplish anything.

"Oi! Dumbass," the one with the electricity pointed her crackling hand at me. "Get out of the way!" I realized that she wasn't pointing at me, but rather at behind me. Keeping my head angled so that I could keep the other two in my sight I checked my rear. Sure enough, the source of the bear scent was behind me.

Then my eyebrow twitched. It might have been a shrine maiden outfit. At least, it might have been loosely based off a shrine maiden outfit. It had the long white sleeves, as well as the obi complete with long flowing bow tied in back. The shoes were very normal looking flats, and the thigh high socks were nothing particularly special as well. It was the skirt that made me briefly wonder it maybe she too had somehow managed to have Yukari shop for her in the past as well. At least, I assumed it was a skirt anyway. It was short enough that it might have been nothing more than a ruffled belt. Maybe the actual bottom of her outfit had been stolen or destroyed at some point?

And for some reason the Sekirei had also for some reason included a pair of bright pink padded gloves, the kind used in professional fighting to protect the knuckles.

Whoever this bear Sekirei was it looked like she had been in the middle of running away, and had apparently tripped whilst in the middle of fleeing and was currently sprawled out on the ground behind me in an awkward way. She was arranged so that she was on all fours, facing away from me, her short skirt losing the battle in covering her panty clad behind as it stuck up in the air.

"Oi? How long are you going to stare? I said," and here the lightning user apparently lost her patience and pointed her crackling hand at where the Akitsu, myself, and the new Sekirei were standing and let loose a stream of lightning in broad daylight, "MOVE!" I tensed to dodge but realized that if I did so the fetish shrine maiden behind me would receive the brunt of the attack, so instead I placed myself directly in front of the attack and braced myself for the blow.

It never landed. Within one heartbeat and the next a half dome of ice erected itself out of nowhere, stretching to cover both in front of us and above us. My eyes tracked over to Akitsu. She was still standing ramrod straight with her arms behind her back, but now her head was raised and even as the dome of ice apparently shattered and melted of its own volition her eyes were locked onto the twin Sekirei that had just attacked.

Well, I guess now I know for sure what the blue haired girl's powers were.

"Eh?" the lightning user stuttered, gaping at Akitsu in shock at the sudden interrupting. Her eyes tracked up and focused on the woman standing in front of me's forehead. Both the lightning users took a step back. "A scrapped number? What's something like that doing out?" she gaped.

"Ah! I'm saved!" the Sekirei behind me cheered enthusiastically. I kept my eyes on the threat in front of me.

"Hurry up and get out of the way," the lightning user ordered me, now focusing her attention on Akitsu completely. "What are you, an idiot? You're going to get hurt if you stick around!"

"You will not touch my master," Akitsu spoke up, interpreting the warning as a threat. Around her, hovering in the air, shards of ice began to form, a glistening wall of daggers shimmering into existence in the air around her.

"Master?" the lightning user snapped? "What master?" Her eyes focused on me again, and then they narrowed. "That worthless looking guy? An Ashikabi? But that's impossible!"

The other twin finally got involved, tugging on her sister's arm. "Hikari," she said, her voice a lot more composed then her other half. "I think we should get out of here. This looks like its getting complicated."

"No! We finally have an unwinged Sekirei in front of us and that guy Homura is nowhere nearby! I'm not letting this one get away!" the louder one proclaimed, and her hand once more sheathed itself in lightning. The other twin sighed.

"Wait. Wait wait wait! WAIT!" I finally interrupted before the situation got any more out of hand. "All of you stop!"

"Huh?" the lightning users said in response turning in surprise at someone who wasn't a Sekirei getting involved in the confrontation, and Akitsu paused in her accumulation of icy death behind her to glance over at me obediently.

"You two," I said, pointing at the lightning users, and they pointed at themselves unconsciously in response to my assertive tone. "You two are Hikari and Hibiki, right?" I asked. The quieter twin had already called the assertive one by name, and the other name 'Hibiki' had been one that Kagari had mentioned yesterday when I had described their scent to him. "And you," here I turned to point at the Sekirei behind me. "You're an unwinged Sekirei, aren't you?" The shrine maiden had arranged herself into a kneeling position and was watching the unfolding situation with wide excited eyes.

"Yes! Number eighty eight! Musubi!" the girl cheered, raising one hand in front of her and making a fist.

"And these two are chasing you because you're unwinged?" I double checked, just to make sure that I properly understood the situation.

"Yes! Those two were bullying me while I was trying to find my Ashikabi!" the kneeling girl declared, puffing her cheeks up and waving her arms around to emphasize just how unfair she seemed to find this development.

Alright. I sighed, and rubbed my head as a headache over the situation started to build. "And you two thought it would be a good idea to start throwing around lightning bolts in broad daylight on the middle of the street?" I turned back to the twins who still seemed confused that by the fact that I not only seemed to understand what was going on, but was attempting to take charge of the situation as a whole.

"Oi," the brash user, Hikari snapped at me. "Don't think you can just show up and start…"

I interrupted her, my voice hard. "You two thought it would be a good idea to start throwing around lightning bolts in broad daylight on the middle of the street, when it's packed with innocent pedestrians?" I demanded again, narrowing my eyes and emphasizing the phrase 'innocent pedestrians' to make my point.

"Ah," the less brash twin spoke up, her tone apologetic. "We were going to be careful to avoid hitting them," she tried to assure me.

I took a moment to check the area, trying to see if I could locate Kagari's presence. He had apparently interfered in a situation like this yesterday, most likely involving these exact same participants, minus myself and Akitsu, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to be nearby. Then again, he had said there were still as many as thirty others that he was trying to look out for as well. He couldn't be everywhere at once. When I couldn't find his presence nearby I debated whether it would be a good idea to call him up and let him know what was going on. But then again even if he was nearby it wasn't like the twins would just sit around and wait for him to show up.

I guess I'll just have to take care of this on my own.

"Go home," I told the two lightning users. "Whatever your goal is here, you won't accomplish it. And if you absolutely have to attack someone, next time make sure that there are no bystanders around."

"Oi!" Hikari shouted at me, her face flushing red and a lightning covered fist shaking in rage at my audacity in giving her orders. "Who do you think you are to…?"

"Akitsu," I interrupted her. "Make them leave." It was already too late to try and conceal what had happened here. Too many people had already seen the girls around me do strange things. The only thing I could do now was try to limit our exposure: end this fight and get the hell out of here, quick.

"Yes, master," Akitsu answers me instantly. The rate at which the daggers of ice were forming around her doubled, and she finally moved one of her arms. Reaching out she pointed at the lightning users. The daggers behind her launched, striking the ground in front of her one after another as they closed in on the two lightning users, each blow closer than the last. In the place that every attack struck ice crackled to life, columns sprouting one after the other, interlocking fangs of frost that approached the now unnerved twins.

"Hikari!" Hibiki shouted, already dragging her sister away as the more level headed one started to retreat.

"Damn it! I'll remember this!" the more excitable one screamed at me as she let herself get pulled away.

I kept my eye on the two of them until they were out of sight, then made to shoulder the bags of groceries I was carrying higher. "Are you alright?" I asked, turning back to Musubi. I was a little unnerved when I realized she was staring at me, still kneeling on the ground, with wide open eyes that appeared to be glistening with unshed tears of joy. She had both hands clasped under her chin, and her face looked a little flushed. "You better hurry up and find your Ashikabi," I told her, preparing to leave. I didn't want to be around here when whoever that would be sent to investigate showed up.

"Yes!" Musubi declared, her voice exuberant. "My Ashikabi…" She trailed off, and for a moment I wondered if she was going to say anything else.

Then quite suddenly, like a wooden statue too top heavy to stay upright, she tilted over and fell onto her side, still in a kneeling position with her hands under her chin.

"Oi," I said, nonplussed by her strange actions. When she didn't say anything I started to get worried. "I said, oi," I repeated, now moving to check on the fallen girl. "Are you alright?"

I was suddenly greeted by a fierce rumbling noise. It sounded like some kind of beast preparing to attack, and I frantically searched the nearby scenery in order to find the source before I remembered where I had heard that noise before.

"Akitsu," I began, eying the quiet Sekirei who had once more resumed her vigil beside me. "Did you forget to eat this morning?" I was sure I had managed to get her to take the last pieces of food before we headed out. Was her metabolism really that fast that she was already in this state again?

"Ah," Akitsu cocked her head in thought, before shaking it slowly. "I remembered."

"Then…." I trailed off, and glanced down at the girl who was still lying in a kneeling position. Sure enough, she her eyes were now trailing sad little tears.

"I'm so hungry," she told me, sounding piteous.

I sighed.

*Scene Break*

"Thank you! You truly, truly are my savior, Shirou-sama!" Musubi told me, her eyes shining with tears of joy over her cheeks that were stuffed so full they looked like a chipmunk's. In front of her was a collection of plates stacked nearly a half foot high, and three empty cups of tea were splayed around her like forgotten monoliths in a desert. "First you come to save me, and now this," she continued, but whatever she was going to say was lost to the ages as her words became indistinguishable from the food she was continuing to shovel into her mouth at high speeds.

"Its fine," I assured her, trying to remind myself that I was helping someone. Yes, the very act of giving aid was more than enough to satisfy me. It didn't matter that with Akitsu joining her in the meal and forming her own stack of plates that I was going to be washing dishes for nearly an hour after this. It didn't matter that the two of them had just managed to completely exhaust the fruits of my earlier shopping expedition. It didn't matter that I had been so busy preparing food as fast as I could that I hadn't even had a chance to eat yet myself. "Just eat as much as you like."

If I could manage to endure even a starving Taiga, or even the normal eating habits of Saber, then I would be able to endure this.

"You're so kind!" Musubi finally seemed to satisfy herself, and put an arm over her face as the excitable girl continued to shed tears of joy. "You're so lucky to have an Ashikabi like him, Akitsu-san!"

"Ah," the ice using Sekirei said, putting aside her own final empty plate. "Yes. He is kind."

"It has been so hard since I got out!" Musubi continued as I finally managed to finish the last plate of stir-fry that I would be eating from. "First I lost my MBI card, and then I had to wonder through the freezing rain and fog! And those two meanies kept attacking me! And that strange man tried to take advantage of me! I had no idea finding an Ashikabi would be so hard."

"Lost your MBI card? Strange man?" I asked, trying to make sense of the little tidbits Musubi kept dropping as the conversation went on. "Have you been looking for your Ashikabi for a long time?" How long had she been searching for her to have had to endure freezing rain and fog?

"Yes! Three days now!" Musubi declared, clenching her fists as she told me just how long she had been apparently been wandering the streets desperately. I nearly fell into my food at the ridiculously small number.

"Three days? And in that time, all that happened?" I asked, trying to figure out how the shrine maiden could have been exposed to freezing rain and fog when the last three days had been admittedly chilly but mostly sunny besides that.

"Yes!" Musubi elaborated for me, nodding her head vigorously. "First those two mean Sekirei blew up a fire hydrant, and then I got wet, and since it was at night it got really cold! Then I got lost in the park, and a pervert dressed in white tried to wing me even though he wasn't my Ashikabi, so I had to run away, but he had this Sekirei with him that could make it all foggy so I got lost! Then when I got hungry I tried to buy some food, but realized that I had been in such a hurry to find my Ashikabi that I had forgotten the card I was supposed to use to buy things! And then I got lost in the city, and the two mean Sekirei found me again!" Throughout her excited explanation of her encountered tragedies she kept leaning closer and closer to me in order to be able to properly emphasize the horrors she had encountered.

Despite myself, I couldn't help but think that so much of what she had encountered seemed to have been the result of her getting lost or forgetting about things. I began to think that maybe the source of her problems wasn't the fact that fate was out to get her, and more that she might be a bit of an airhead.

"Well, at least now you have a chance to catch your breath before you start looking again, Musubi-san," I assured her, smiling reassuringly at the excitable girl. She nodded, and I suddenly realized that at some point in her explanation she had leaned in so close that her face was less than a foot away from my own.

"Yes," Musubi repeated, and I suddenly noticed how flush her face was. Her eyes were locked on mine intently, and across from the short distance between us I noticed how short her breath had become. She was nearly panting as she started to close the distance between the two of us, her lips coming near mine, slightly parted. "My Ashikabi," she whispered, her eyes narrowed in what I thought might be passion. "I think…" she began, reaching out for me to take me in her arms and…

"Wait!" I gulped anxiously, starting to scramble away as I realized what Musubi was about to try and do. The girl in the strange shrine maiden outfit didn't even seem to notice, crawling forwards to keep even with me, knocking my last plate of food to the ground as she did so. She looked almost like she was entranced, her entire gaze focused on my lips, and I saw her swallow slightly as she began to pant even harder. "Wait just a second!" I tried again, and instead of listening she started to crawl even faster towards me. Finally, I resorted to my fall back method. "Akitsu, can you stop her real quick?"

"Eh?" Musubi said, finally seeming to notice what she was doing even as the snow woman who had been watching the situation obediently followed my command. "Eh!" gulped again, and suddenly her wrists and knees were bound together by spontaneously formed shackles of ice. "Eh!" she yelped as she fell over onto her side, effectively hogtied where she was.

"Thank you, Akitsu," I managed to say, anxiously breathing hard at my narrow escape.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Musubi wailed, realizing what she had been about to do. "I don't know what came over me! I was looking at you and suddenly my body began to get so hot! I didn't mean to do that!" she cried piteously, her eyes once more looking enormous and dewy as she tried to apologize.

"Its okay, Musubi," I told her, comforting her as I tried my best to let her know that I wasn't upset. "That just caught me by surprise for a second." I took deep breaths to try and calm myself down. While I pretty sure I had an idea about why Musubi had acted like she had, it didn't change the fact that it had been unnerving. The sight of Musubi crawling towards me on all fours, her face red, her breath short, her mouth open…

I glanced down at her chest involuntarily, and gulped at the way her positively enormous breasts were currently being squished about due to the position she had been bound in.

Yeah, that had been dangerous with a capital D.

"Just a second, Musubi," I told the piteously whimpering Sekirei. "I have to make a quick phone call. Akitsu, could you keep an eye on her for a second?"

"Yes, master," the snow woman responded, from where she was still kneeling at the table patiently, with one arm remaining outstretched in Musubi's direction.

I quickly snatched up my phone and took a step towards the kitchen so I could have a little privacy. It took me nearly a minute to figure out how to find my 'calls received' log on the complicated contraption, but finally I managed to hunt down the number I was looking for. I immediately dialed it and began to tap my foot impatiently as it began to ring. "Come on, come on," I muttered, drumming my fingers against the back of the phone as I waited.

Finally the other end picked up. "Is this Shirou?" the voice that answered me asked cautiously.

Finally. "Kagari," I started immediately. "I have an unwinged Sekirei in my room, I think she's reacting to me, and I have no idea what to do."

For a second I could only hear something that sounded like a strangled, "hrk". Finally after a few seconds the flame wielder managed to get out a strangled, "What?"

"She had lost her card or something, and was being attacked by those two lightning users you seem to be familiar with," I went on explaining, trying to get the situation explained so I could hurry up and get some answers. "I stepped in and gave her a hand, and was getting her some food when suddenly she just dropped everything and started to come at me. Is that normal?"

"What?" Kagari asked again, and I had the distinct impression that if he was here in person I would be able to see his eyebrows twitching.

"I managed to restrain her, but it was like she had suddenly had a switch hit in her or something," I continued, trying to explain just why I was so unnerved by Musubi's sudden actions. "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now. Why is she reacting to me? I've already winged you, haven't I? Shouldn't I be off the Ashikabi market now?"

"Wait," Kagari finally managed to get out. "She was reacting to you? And you restrained her? How did you manage to do that?" from Kagari's tone he was finding this whole conversation to be both entirely too sudden and entirely too confusing in general.

"I had Akitsu do it," I told him, preferring to focus on why I had nearly been jumped by the girl I had met a few hours ago then on how I had managed to keep her from following through on what I was strongly suspecting was something amorous.

"Akitsu?" Kagari asked, his tone now completely puzzled. "Who is Akitsu?"

"I think the lightning twins called her a 'scrap number' or something," I explained to him, and then suddenly realized that why I had brought up Kagari with the snow woman, I still hadn't mentioned Akitsu's presence to the flame user.

"A scrapped number!" Kagari shouted, both outraged and suddenly afraid. "What are you doing with a scrapped number?"

I took a deep breath, and tried to get a handle on my panic. "You know what," I began, much calmer. "I think we need to have another long talk like we did yesterday. Could you come over real quick? If it wouldn't get in the way of your duty?"

"You're damn right I'll be right over there," Kagari swore. At the very least this will be a good chance for me to get some more information on just what the hell was going on.

As I was about to give him my address, a loud rumbling noise suddenly echoed through my small apartment. I froze, and glanced over to where Akitsu and Musubi were still waiting. The ice Sekirei blinked, cocked her head, and then looked over at Musubi. Musubi blushed, looked down at her stomach, and then seemed to realize something, and looked over at me curiously. I looked over to where the last plate of food had been spilt, and then down at my own stomach which had apparently attempted to recreate the noise of an engine backfiring in order to remind me that it was still empty.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. "When you come over, do you think you could bring some take out?" I asked Kagari, feeling sheepish.

*Scene Break*

"So let me get this straight," Kagari muttered from where he sat at the table, his eyes clenched shut as he massaged his forehead with one hand, his other hand supporting his arm at the elbow. I sat across from him, finally being able to fill my stomach with the take out beef bowl he had shown up with, trying not to appear sheepish. At my left was Akitsu, kneeling with her arms hanging limp at her side, once more doing nothing more than watching me. I was beginning to get used to her constant attention, and was able to mostly ignore it. The problem came from on my right side. Musubi had finally been released from her ice shackles and was kneeling at the table as well. Rather than patiently sitting still like the snow woman, the shrine maiden was fidgeting restlessly. Her cheeks were still flushed, and she alternated between giving me longing looks and glancing down at the table quickly when she realized that I had noticed her watching me. "Not only have you winged me, but now you have another Sekirei who wants you to wing them?"

"Yes! I know for certain that Shirou-sama is my Ashikabi!" Musubi declared instantly, her voice filled with absolute conviction. "He is so kind! I know for certain that he will be kind to me and love me!"

"I should have seen this coming," Kagari muttered. He was currently dressed in a strange outfit. Instead of the usual business attire he was wearing all black. His pants, his shoes, his gloves, and a long flowing coat as well all in the same color. To top it off he was also wearing a face mask that stretched up from his neck to cover his features up to his nose, though at the moment that was pulled down to under his chin to reveal his face. At the moment he looked like he was teetering on the border between being exasperated and being resigned. "I knew you were a powerful Ashikabi. That something like this would happen should have been obvious."

"What do you mean, Kagari?" I asked him between mouthfuls of rice. "Isn't this unusual? I would have thought that once a human became an Ashikabi then they wouldn't react any more, or that other Sekirei would be able to tell and look for different partners."

"I forget that you still don't know much about us," Kagari admitted, grimacing as he did so. "And please, my real name is Homura. I only use Kagari when I'm working or around people who don't know about the 'Sekirei Plan'."

"'Sekirei Plan'?" I asked, my eyebrow raising at the strange term. "What's that?"

Kagari, or rather Homura I suppose, looked surprised at that. "What do you mean what's that? Haven't you received a phone call yet?"

"Phone call? From who?" I countered, still confused by what my first winged Sekirei was talking about.

Homura grimaced, and then shook his head. "Never mind for now. I'm sure you'll get it soon enough, and I don't like talking about it in the first place." Homura instead turned to glance at Musubi. "So this girl is reacting to you as well?"

"Yeah," I admitted, also turning my attention to the fidgety girl on my right. "I was only intending to get her away from her pursuers, but then she told me about how she hadn't eaten in a few days so I decided that I could at least get her a meal before she went out. But then, well, afterwards," I trailed off awkwardly, not sure I should mention about how Musubi had looked when she had been coming on to me.

"Well, first of all, I think I should thank you for helping her," Homura admitted, giving me an honestly grateful look. "I know that I said it was my duty to do so, but there are many Sekirei out there right now, and I can't be everywhere at once."

"It's no problem," I assured him, and meant it. "I was happy to help. In fact, I think what you're doing is a good thing, and if you ever need a hand, then I'll be happy to give it."

Homura was quiet for a second, studying me, and then he smiled slightly. "I'll think about it," he answered my offer to help, but then seemed to focus on the other situation. "As for why she reacted with you, well, it's unusual, but in your case it would make sense."

"What do you mean?" I leaned forward intently. "Isn't it a bad thing for an Ashikabi to have more than one Sekirei?" I glanced at Akitsu and amended my statement. "More than one winged Sekirei I mean."

"It's unusual, but not bad. Now that I think of it, in your case it would probably be more likely that by the time all the Sekirei are winged that you'll probably have several," Homura grimaced a bit at the statement for some reason.

"Why? What's so special about my case?" I really wanted to know just what it was that Homura kept referring to. I couldn't for the life of me see what it was that he was trying to say. The only thing special I could think about me was the fact that I was a magus, and there should be no way that anyone in this town knew about that, not yet anyway. If someone did, they most likely would have already contacted the Mage Association and I'd have been fighting Enforcers off already.

"I told you before that you were an unusually powerful Ashikabi, didn't I? That was probably the reason you were even able to get someone like me to react," Homura reminded me. "Well an Ashikabi's power increases after winging. It's not common, but sometimes after having made their first wing, Sekirei that earlier wouldn't have responded to them will be able to. Considering just how powerful you are, I'm actually surprised in retrospect that you haven't already winged another few Sekirei before coming across me."

"Well, I have been going out of my way to try and avoid you all up till yesterday," I admitted. I narrowed my eyes in thought. "And Musubi originally didn't respond to me until we were up close." Of course, after she did it was like she had lost all control in an instant.

"I noticed something," Musubi admitted, pushing her fingers together sheepishly. "It was why I trusted you and followed you home. But when you got so close I just couldn't stop myself anymore."

Homura thought for a second, before giving a nod. "It was like that for me as well, though a bit less intense. I could feel your presence, but it wasn't until I identified you face to face that my body started to react so harshly."

"Is that common?" I asked.

"More or less," Homura admitted. "Sometimes it takes someone pointing something out before they'll notice something. Like when a child doesn't realize they skinned their knee until a parent tells them."

"So now what?" I asked, feeling a little overwhelmed by the situation. "I mean, now that I know that the situation is normal, what happens? Is it just that my power is overwhelming her because I'm so close to her? Am I somehow getting in the way of her finding her real Ashikabi?"

I had an awkward moment as both Homura and Musubi paused to stare at me. Combined with Akitsu's constant attention it meant that everyone in the room was looking at me, with two out of three of them like I was an idiot.

"You're worried that you might be getting in the way of her finding her real Ashikabi?" Homura finally asked, her voice sounding contemplative. "You stopped her from kissing you because you didn't want to accidently keep her away from the one she was supposed to be with. And then you called me because you wanted to find some way to fix it so she could be with them instead."

"Well, yeah," I admitted, wondering why Homura sounded so confused. I was about to say something else when I heard a whooshing noise and suddenly found a wall of ice between me and Musubi. Apparently the shrine girl had attempted to leap at me as soon as Homura had finished talking. Musubi had her arms outstretched as though she was trying to hug me, and it looked like her lips had been pursed in order to kiss me.

"Ah! Hewlp! Shyiwrou-samwa! Musu'i's lip awe suck do da ise!" the Sekirei on my right wailed, and it took me a minute to interpret her slurred statement.

"Did you just try to kiss me and get your lips stuck to the ice?" I asked her nervously. When Musubi's head started to wiggle as best she could with her mouth held immobile by the wintery protection around me Homura started to chuckle slightly.

"She was probably overwhelmed to hear you say something like that and couldn't stop herself anymore," he explained to me. The look he was giving me was still contemplative, but it was touched with a hint of warmth as well. "It is rare to find someone who would willingly try to help a Sekirei like that, instead of just taking advantage of the situation to wing them instantly. In fact, there are people in this city who have learned of the Sekirei's existence and have started trying to find others so that they can forcibly wing them instead."

My eyes narrowed. "Wait, there are those who are doing things like that? Forcing the Sekirei to imprint on them despite the fact that there are others more compatible?" I demanded, my voice getting harsh with anger. Homura seemed surprised by the viciousness of my response. Then again, he didn't know certain things about me.

Like how I had once had a Servant, one who I respected and admired, who I worked well with, and who had been dragged forcibly away from me due to the greedy machinations of an insane witch.

"Yes," Homura admitted, seemingly unnerved by the vehemence of my response. "It is one of the things I try to protect the unwinged ones from."

"My earlier offer still stands. Though I have promised not to interfere, please, if the need comes, accept my offer of help," I told him. After a moment he smiled again.

"You know," he said, studying me gently. "I think I'm beginning to see why it was that I reacted so strongly to you." His hand came up to rub at his chest awkwardly for a moment, and then he continued. "And as for your earlier worries, it's not that you're interfering in Musubi's efforts to find her Ashikabi. A Sekirei will react to the one most appropriate for them regardless of whether or not they already have another winged one with them. You simply are the one most appropriate for her, that's all."

"I see," I said slowly. I don't know why, but I had been under the impression that the only Sekirei I would have to worry about were Homura and Akitsu, the former because I had winged him and the latter simply because I had chosen to accept her. I suppose that since the situation had been so similar to the Servant system that I had started to make assumptions.

"Ef ish o'ay 'ow, Shyiwrou-samwa," Musubi spoke up, still stuck to the wall of ice next to me. She had put both her hands up to try and pry herself free, but apparently found that prying herself free was putting her tender lips in danger of losing skin, so she had ended up deciding to wait to free herself. "'Ay ah 'et 'aiy 'ings 'ow?"

"What?" I asked, not being able to understand her. I glanced at Akitsu and nodded my head. "Could you let her go now, Akitsu?"

With a small motion of her head the ice cracked, scattering around the imprisoned shrine maiden. "Ow!" Musubi muttered, falling backwards onto her backside as she was suddenly freed and the backwards motion she had been putting immediately lacked the counter force for her to stay upright. "I said, if it's okay now, Shirou-sama," she repeated, rubbing her lips with one hand as she once more showed me dewy eyes, "May I get my wings now?"

"Are you sure?" I asked her once more, wanting to be absolutely sure that this was what she wanted first. Musubi nodded her head furiously, like a puppy eagerly trying to get their owner to scratch their ears. When I looked at Akitsu to try and see if she had any problem with me winging another Sekirei she blinked at me, but gave no negative impression in response. I glanced at Homura as well, but he simply smiled in response. It looked like the conversation we had just finished had seemed to relieve him about a great deal of his anxiety about me. "Alright then," I sighed. It seems like I was already in the thick of things as it was, so I might as well follow to see what would happen. If worse came to worse I could always claim them as my contracted familiars. While the most common variety of familiars were simple things that magi create out of base materials, it wasn't unheard of for some magi to establish contracts with various spiritual beings. As aliens, these 'Type-Sekirei' would qualify.

That was, if I were to have to defend my actions to the Clock Tower, which seems immensely unlikely considering that I was already on the run from them. Pretty much anything I'd do at this point would simply be seen as further reason to hunt me down.

If I were to have to defend this to Rin and Saber, well, that could end up being awkward. It probably wouldn't be the best idea to form too many more contracts after this.

"Yay!" Musubi cheered enthusiastically, throwing her hands up in the air as she did so. I couldn't help but smile at her exuberance as I kneeled next to her. My presence near her seemed to intensify her reaction to me, and her breath once more grew short as I leaned towards her. "I am number eighty eight, Musubi," she told me, and then leaned forward to meet my lips with hers.

Wings of purest light erupted from her back. They stretched away from her, strands of what seemed nothing more than luminescence given solidity, first arching away from her back to stretch the length of my small apartment, and then curling forward to wrap around me. I felt it again, like I had with Homura, the drain of my od as the contract was established, and this time I paid more attention to it, not as overwhelmed with the experience itself as I had been the first time. I could feel it pulling away, sinking into Musubi, feel it centering in the small of her back, between her shoulder blades. As Musubi pulled away, her eyes closed as the sensation raced through her, I saw the same sigil that graced Akitsu's forehead glowing behind her, hovering above her skin for a moment before slowly sinking down to imprint on her flesh.

Musubi moaned at the sensation, and I tried to ignore how pleasurable the sound seemed to indicate the sensation was for her.

Finally, the light died away, and Musubi sank to her knees in front of me. "Forever and ever," she said, looking up at me with warm captivating eyes filled with happiness.

"Congratulations, Shirou, Musubi," Homura spoke up, sounding touched by the scene before him.

"Congratulations, master," Akitsu also added. It was faint, but I heard a trace of bitterness in it.

Homura noticed the tone as well, and since the winging was over he now focused on the silent spectator of the snow lady. "Now that that's dealt with," he began, his voice sounding harsher than it had been during the earlier conversation. "What is THAT doing here?" he asked me flatly, glaring at Akitsu. She accepted his accusation wordlessly, not responding in any fashion. She seemed to accept it, almost agree with the scorn, as though she somehow felt that she was due it.

I narrowed my eyes, my attention taken from the still exuberant Musubi who had curled next to me, nuzzling her face into my chest. "What do you mean by 'THAT'?" I asked, my tone laced with warning.

"The scrapped number," Homura explained, still glaring at the snow woman.

"I keep hearing people say things about her," I responded, the warning still there. "About how she's a scrapped number, whatever that is, or that she's broken, or that she's a failure, but no one has told me what that means yet."

Homura seemed loath to stop glaring at Akitsu, but pulled away long enough to give me a look, apparently catching onto the fact that I wasn't taking his hostility well. "It means that she spontaneously winged herself," Homura explained.

"Spontaneously winged herself?" I asked, trying to understand what that meant. "How? How does something like that happen? What does it mean?"

"It means that her power grew so great that she reached a point where she was unable to be winged," Homura nearly hissed an explanation. "She's reached a level of strength so great she can no longer bare a crest, and without an Ashikabi to help her control it she's nothing more than a danger to herself and the world around her. She should have never been allowed out. So why," Homura snapped at Akitsu. "Why are you pretending that Shirou is your Ashikabi?" Homura brought his hand down on the table as she shouted her question at the blue haired Sekirei.

For a moment the room was quiet, and then Akitsu answered. "Because he is warm, and he is kind, and he told me he would take care of me," she said in that soft and deliberate way of speaking she used. They were the words she had told spoken when she first asked me to become her master, but this time she continued, addressing Homura who looked taken aback by her response. "He wasn't my master after becoming an Ashikabi. Since I was accepted by him, I have a master, is what I think. Even though I am broken, he said he would care for me. Even though his crest isn't engraved in my body, he accepted me. Because of that, he is my master."

"Yes!" Musubi chimed in, and it was as though she hadn't even noticed the serious mood the room had sank into. "I can feel it in him too: his kindness. It is why he was chosen to be my Ashikabi. Can't you feel it to, Homura-san?" the shrine maiden asked, her head tilted the side as she beamed a smile at the fire user.

Homura turned his face to the side, and his hand rose to his chest in a seemingly unconscious movement. Finally he stood, and turned away to head towards the door. "I'm leaving now," he said abruptly, turning to look over his shoulder at me as he pulled his make back up to cover his face. "Even if you weren't after you winged me, you should be contacted soon. And in my current state I don't think I could hear that man's voice without burning something." Without waiting for a response he stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him as he left.

"I'm sorry," Akitsu finally spoke, and I realized that I had been glaring at the door where my Sekirei had just left. "It is because of me, master." I turned my attention to the ice user at my side. She was still in the same position she had been for the rest of the meeting, sitting still as a statue by my side.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I didn't understand. I didn't understand Homura's seemingly uncalled for animosity to the snow woman. It just didn't make sense to me. Wasn't he the self proclaimed protector of Sekirei? Wasn't Akitsu one of the unwinged numbers that he desired to protect? Then why? Why was he so clearly turning his back on someone that had done him no harm? Why was he so angry that though he had, I wouldn't?

In the end, right now it didn't matter.

I opened my eyes and gave a reassuring smile to the woman beside me, reaching out to rest a hand on her arm in what I meant to be a comforting gesture. "Please, Akitsu. Call me Shirou."

Akitsu paused, and then she slowly looked down to where my hand rested on her forearm. Slowly, a blush started to color her cheeks. "Ah," she said, pausing. "Shirou-sama."

It wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but it was a start.

"It looks like we'll be working together," Musubi chimed in from my other side, reaching out so she could grab my other arm. Casually, she leaned against me, and I was reminded of just how big her cleavage was as it enveloped my arm entirely. "I'm number eighty eight, Musubi! Pleased to meat you!" she introduced herself to the other Sekirei.

Akitsu turned to regard Musubi, her cheeks still flushed, and then she nodded once. "Akitsu," was the only she said for her introduction.

"I'm glad to be working with you, Akitsu-san!" Musubi gushed. "You're so strong! Together we can keep Shirou-san safe!"

Her particular phrasing reminded me of a time earlier today when I heard Akitsu say something similar. "Safe?" I cut in, hoping that this time I would get an answer. "Safe from what?"

Just as Musubi began to respond my pants began to vibrate. It was so sudden that it caused me to jump, banging my knees into the bottom of the table and making me lose my balance enough to fall over with a yelp. As I fell I instinctively grabbed onto Akitsu to support myself. However, instead of getting the support I had hoped for the snow woman instead obediently followed my tug, allowing herself to be dragged down on top of me. Musubi, who was still latched onto my arm 'eeped' before tumbling down along with the two of us.

"Damnit," I swore, as I realized that the vibrating in my pants was my phone. Awkwardly I tried to get into my pocket to pull the offending appliance out when I felt something squish as I moved.

"Shirou-san! It's so sudden!" Musubi chirped, as she wiggled in her position halfway on top of me. I froze as I realized something that in my haste to answer my phone I had overlooked: the fact that I was now mostly buried beneath the bodies of two very attractive females.

"It's not like that!" I proclaimed instantly, trying to defend my innocence. "I was just trying to get the phone!"

"Ah? That's it?" Musubi asked, sounding disappointed for some reason. Rather than take the hint that maybe she should get off she instead just waited patiently for me to fumble around at my pocket to get my phone.

"Would you mind getting off me?" I finally asked her directly as I awkwardly managed to get the phone up to my ear.

"Oh! Good idea, Shirou-sama!" she yelped, as apparently the idea to actually move actually hadn't dawned on her.

"And you too, Akitsu," I reminded the patiently waiting ice Sekirei was simply waiting on top of me and taking advantage of the closeness to study me much more carefully than she usually did. With the two of them finally in motion I was able to get the phone to my ear.

"Dun dudu daaaa!" a voice shouted in my ear from the speaker of the phone. It sounded like someone had just shouted a victory sound effect from a videogame, or imitated a winning bell from a television show. I flinched away at the sudden assault from my ear, nearly fumbling the phone again. "Congratulations!" The voice continued, sounding a little softer than it was before, but still entirely to loud for polite conversation. "When we received word that even someone like Homura had been winged so early, we could scarcely believe it. But with your second wing you have proven that it was no simple error, and instead talent that allowed you to accomplish this feet. Consequentially, you've been magnificently chosen to be the partner of not just one but two Sekirei!"

"I'm sorry," I broke in, still holding the phone to my ear gingerly. "But could you talk a little quieter? I'm having trouble understanding you."

"That's because you're holding the phone to your ear like an idiot! It's on speaker/video mode right now," the voice told me, sounding amused.

"Speaker? Video?" I repeated, feeling confused. "What are those?"

"You hold the phone away from your face and point the camera at you and then we can both talk and see each other at the same time," the voice told me, starting to sound annoyed at the delay in the conversation.

"That's ridiculous," I told him, feeling quite certain of this. "A phone is supposed to be held to the ear. How am I supposed to hear you if it's away from my head?" Then I paused. "And what's this about a camera?" I asked him suspiciously. "Why would a phone have a camera?"

"How bad with technology are you really, Shirou Emiya?" the voice asked me, sounding appalled by my belief that a phone should be used simply for talking and listening and not all these other functions he was insisting they were also capable of. "That's not something to be proud of in this day and age! Now pull the phone away so we can hurry up and get this conversation going."

Feeling silly for trying something so ridiculous I did as he said, and was surprised when I saw that the display was indeed showing something other than the generic background image I had chosen as its default. It now had a man in a white suit and a white coat with an enormous collar stretching up and around his face. He was seated with both his hands casually clasped in front of him. He had hair every bit as white as Takami's and thick glasses perched on his face.

"Ah!" Musubi chimed in, leaning over my shoulder to see the screen. "Professor! Hello!"

"Ah! Number eighty eight, Musubi. Are you doing well?" the stranger asked, apparently a professor.

"Yes! My Ashikabi is very kind!" Musubi enthused, throwing her arms around me in a spontaneous hug.

"And what's this? The scrapped number? Have you found a third Sekirei as well?" the professor asked, his voice sounding immensely amused by the situation. "Very well! While she was supposed to remain in the labs, I shall allow it! However, since only winged Sekirei can participate in the Sekirei Plan, she shall have to remain on the sidelines!"

"The Sekirei Plan?" I asked, confused. This conversation was moving entirely too fast and in entirely too many directions. "And who are you, anyway?"

"You don't even know who I am? At least read the newspapers from time to time," he scolded me, sounding disappointed that I really didn't know who he was. "And the Sekirei Plan is the name of the contest you have entered upon winging a Sekirei. The rules are simple. There are one hundred and eight freed Sekirei in the city right now. These Sekirei fight, and fight, and fight, and fight! And the Ashikabi of the last remaining Sekirei is given permission to ascend."

I stood very still. "Fight, and fight, and fight," I said, my voice surprising me by its calmness. "Are you telling me this 'Sekirei Plan' is a battle royal to the last one standing?"

"Exactly!" the man Musubi had called 'Professor' crowed triumphantly.

It only took a second for me to digest that fact before I was rattling out questions. "What are the rules of engagement? Is there a boundary to the combat zone? What are the conditions to victory? And what do you mean by 'permission to ascend'?" I should have seen this coming; all the similarities that I kept noticing to my previous experience with master/servant bonds, and I didn't once make the next step of logic. I cursed myself for not realizing it before. I thought I was done with this kind of thing. I thought that I wouldn't ever have to go through this again. But here I was, once more without ever realizing what I was getting involved in, jumping in head first.

A war. I was in another war. I could only pray as a lump settled in my guts that it was different from the Holy Grail War.

My sudden influx of questions seemed to surprise the man on the other end of my phone. Slowly, he began to smile. "Well, for all you lack in technological experience, it seems that you make up for in decisiveness. You catch on pretty quick, now don't you?" His expression seemed delighted at my sudden intensity. "You'll have to ask your questions to your Sekirei. It wouldn't be fair if I told you when I didn't tell any of the other Ashikabi, now would it?" he leered at me.

So that was the way it was going to be. "Who are you?" I demanded of him next. "You're obviously some kind of administrator. What organization do you work for?" He didn't seem like he worked for the Mage Association or the Church. Those two groups had been the ones that claimed the most responsibility for the Holy Grail War. But despite the fact that the Sekirei were obviously Types, it didn't change the fact that so far nothing I'd seen had indicated any knowledge of the existence of magi. Was there a new organization involved, or perhaps it was only being arranged by one of the smaller association of magi that were only loosely associated with the Clock Tower and the other two organizations that made up the core of the Association.

Then something he said earlier sprung to the forefront of my mind. "How do you know my name?" I asked. If they were associated with the Clock Tower in anyway, then I would have to leave now. Not tomorrow, not tonight, but NOW. I'd probably only have hours to get to one of my planned escape routes. I would have to cut ties with Takami and Yukari, maybe even the three Sekirei I had managed to find myself with, but there would be no choice. Better I disappear from their lives completely than risk them get caught up in what would come.

"You don't even know who I am?" the man asked, seeming disappointed by that fact. "You should pay more attention to the news. And as for how I know you, MBI knows everything that happens in this town."

My mind raced as I tried to place the face looking up at me expectantly from the phone. MBI, he had said. So he was affiliated to MBI. Once that little tidbit had a second to set in, recognition only took a moment. "You're the CEO of MBI, aren't you. Minaka. Hiro…"I tried to remember his full name. Hiro-something Minaka," I finally finished, not able to remember completely.

"Hiroto Minaka," the identified director of MBI completed for me. "Though you seem to have a better idea than many of what you've found yourself in, I still feel I should warn you that the Sekirei Plan is something that is being kept in the strictest of confidences. As a participant you have a responsibility to keep it a secret. In the case that you leak information, MBI will retaliate against you with all the force at our disposal."

Though I had the feeling that this had been meant to be an ominous warning, I instead felt a thread of relief instead. "So the ongoings that happen during this 'plan' are to be kept secret from all those not involved? I presume to assist in this it is against the rules to overly endanger innocent bystanders?"

"Indubitably," Minaka crowed, leaning forward. "It's wonderful to see someone as sharp as you joining the Plan," he cheered. "If you continue to be so insightful, then perhaps it will be you to welcome in the new Age of the Gods," he taunted me, trying to arouse my curiosity.

"The Age of the Gods is over, and mankind is better off without them," I told him with certainty. Minaka flinched back as though my statement had come as a genuine shock to him. "If you're not going to be offering me any more insights, then I'm afraid I'll have to cut this call short. I need to start questioning my Sekirei on what I can expect."

"Bye bye Professor!" Musubi waved over my shoulder at Minaka as I started to close my phone.

"Hey! Wait! I wasn't fin…" was as far as he got before I hung up on him.

For a minute I continued staring at the phone, letting my thoughts settle as I tried to work through the rush of revelations the day had brought me. Finally, I sighed and raked the hand not carrying my phone through my hair to try and shake off some of the stress. "So that's what you meant when you two mentioned keeping me safe," I muttered to the two Sekirei dutifully watching me.

"Yes! With Akitsu and Homura and I we'll be sure to make Shirou-san the one who makes it to the ascension!" Musubi declared, clenching her fists in front of her as she beamed up at me.

"I'm sure you will," I smiled at her, her enthusiasm brining me out of my dark thoughts. "But for now, why don't you tell me everything you can about precisely what I can expect during this plan?"


	5. Fifth Wing

In Flight: The Fifth Wing

_Author's notes: Let's see. Here's the fifth chapter. For those of you who've been waiting for some violence, well here's your first taste of In Flight style Badass!Shirou. There seems to be a lot of confusion among the reviewers, so I'll make sure to remind everyone again. In Flight Shirou is completely different from Hill of Swords Shirou. The two stories are related only in the fact that they're both crossovers with Fate/Stay Night. Consequentially, expect a great deal of difference between the combat in the story. For those of you already hoping to start a Noble Phantom count for IF, you'll probably be disappointed. This is a Shirou firmly in love with Kanshou and Bakuya. He might pull out a few extra swords or blades, but for the most part his combat abilities are going to be more reliant on his magic, and most importantly, several unexplored aspects of his Reality Marble: Unlimited Blade Works. _

_As for the chapter specifically, no major points here yet. Besides the fact that Musubi and Akitsu will almost certainly drive Shirou to an early grave if they keep up like they have been! Also, if the next few chapters take a bit longer than usual for me its because I've been rerunning the Unlimited Blade Works route on the game to double check a few facts and to help with characterization for Shirou._

_If you like the story, give me a shout. If there are any questions/concerns/complaints, let me know. And as always, above all else enjoy!_

*Story Start*

I was in a forest. Not the kind pathetic collection of trees and a few shrubs that most people who were born in a city and knew nothing of wilderness besides the few domesticated parks cultivated therein and called a forest. This was old growth, the trunks of the trees surrounding me thicker around then my shoulders, the rough bark thick with the age of the plant. There was very little in the way of undergrowth, the interlocking branches of the titans around me so thick that they blocked out the sun. Yet despite the lack of sun, I could still see. It was as though the few plants that did manage to creep up among the roots of the giants around me were somehow blessed with some kind of manifest luminescence.

As I walked through the eldritch scenery, I realized once more, just as I had two nights ago, I was dreaming. So, unafraid, I slowly made my way through the strangely lit darkness.

I was following something; a noise, which echoed quietly from in front of me. It was the sound of someone crying. It was the sound of someone who needed help. It was the sound of someone asking me to save them.

After a time which might have been a few minutes, but could just as easily have been a few days, or maybe a few years, I discovered the source of the crying. Perched above me on one of the tree limbs like small sparrow was a girl. She was young, maybe as much as eight years old. She was wearing a white simple sundress, and had dirty blond hair, long and flowing down to the back of her knees. She was curled into a ball, as though the fetal position would somehow protect her from the strange dangers which might live within this unusual forest.

She was lost, and crying, and scared.

"Are you alright, little one?" I called to her, standing below her as I did so. Shyly, a face peaked up to look at who had disturbed her crying. Large light brown eyes the color of honey peered down at me from behind one of her knees. "Are you lost?" I asked her, smiling as reassuringly as I could. She nodded at me hesitantly. "Well, would you like some help? I'll keep you safe until we find your parents." Again the girl nodded at me, this time with more certainty. Still smiling, I held up my arms to her. "Well, then. Let's get you down from there and get you home."

The girl looked at the tree limb she was sitting on, and then down at me. With fidgety little movements she managed to get her feet under her, and after a second more of hesitation she leapt from the limb, trusting me to catch her. She fell through the air like a drifting feather and without effort I caught her securely in my arms.

"Well then, little girl. What's your name?" I asked her, as she curled up into my arms, reaching out with one hand to clutch at my shirt while keeping the other under her chin as she looked up at me.

"Kusano," she whispered. She looked down shyly as I smiled at her again.

"Well then, Kuu-chan," I said confidently. "Shall onii-chan take you home now?"

For a second Kusano glanced down again, blushing lightly. Then she turned her face so she could beam up at me, her smile like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. "Yes! Onii-chan!" she told me happily.

Still holding the girl safely in my arms, I turned around to walk back into the darkness of the forest.

*Scene Break*

"Kuu-chan," I murmured, waking up slowly, feeling the girl cradled in my arms as I returned to consciousness slowly. The girl moved against me, and I realized that for a little girl she sure was heavy. In fact, she wasn't as small as I thought she had been. Truthfully, she seemed quite big. I had my arms spread apart, and yet I could feel weight in both of them as I lay on my futon.

Wait a second. Futon? Wasn't I just in a forest? With the sudden discrepancy in my memory, I came more to awareness of where I was.

"Hrk?" I managed to get out at the scene I found myself in. On my right was Musubi, curled up against my chest and snoring. She had kicked the blankets down at some point, revealing that she was sleeping in much the same outfit as Akitsu had the first time I had woken up with her in my house. She was clad in her white modest panties, and wearing a pair of my pajama tops that had been unbuttoned down to her belly in order to keep her chest from popping the buttons off them during the night. She was drooling lightly as she sawed logs, a small puddle already soaking through the pair of pajamas I was using. But if she was on my right, then why did it feel like both my arms were trapped?

I turned my head to the left, and found that sure enough Akitsu was there, wide awake and watching me as I slept. I turned even redder as I realized what she was wearing. Apparently she had dug through the collection that Yukari had provided her with during their shopping trip to find something to wear to bed when I had suggested she get ready to sleep. It could only vaguely be referred to as clothing, seeing as it was mostly composed of strips of what looked like black satin and silk which stretched across various places of her body seemingly at random. Though it managed to cover the important areas, it left wide swathes of pale flesh revealed as it did so, and somehow managed to push up Akitsu's already impressive bust into a shape that was somehow even more prominent than it usually was.

I know that I had set up places for both of them to sleep, though it might have been a bit cramped seeing as I was running out of guest futons. Yet somehow they had managed to once more migrate during the night from their original resting places to find themselves in mine instead. The futon stretched out across the room looked ruffled, so I know that at some point they had slept in it. However, after whatever point in the night they had decided to abandon it in favor of mine I had apparently reached out in my sleep out of habit to wrap my arms around them and pull them closer, something that the two of them had apparently taken advantage of with impunity. It was an old habit from the time when Saber and Rin had slept with me, and it seemed like having two more bodies in my bed had awoken it from where it had gone dormant during my time alone.

"Ah, Akitsu," I said, flushing red but managing to suppress my original flight reflex, my heart still hammering at the sudden proximity of the two spectacularly built girls. "Was I restless again?"

She paused in thought, and then nodded. "Yes." She shifted against me, to get more comfortable I told myself, trying to ignore the way it brought her body in contact with me as she did so.

"Well, thank you," I told her, doing my best to tell myself that she was just trying to be helpful and that she had no ulterior motives for doing so. I tried to sit up, and found myself still pinned down by the two Sekirei sleeping on top of me. I looked expectantly at Akitsu who stared back at me patiently. After waiting for a second I suppressed the urge to sweat drop. "Akitsu, would you mind letting me sit up?"

The snow woman looked down at the arm still pinned beneath her body. "Ah," she said, "I forgot." Finally she slowly sat up, assuming a kneeling position at my bedside as she did so. With her body more fully displayed I turned even redder at the effect of her unusual bed wear being more clearly visible. When I tried to sit up myself I found yet another impediment as Musubi let loose an upset sound and shifted her hands till she was latched onto my waist. When I tried to pry her loose she just tightened her grip till it reached the point where I was starting to have trouble breathing and muttered in her sleep. Finally I just sat up with the shrine maiden still latched onto my waist and shifted to try and relieve the stiffness in my shoulders that the night of apparently restless sleep had instilled in me.

"Are you all right, Shirou-sama?" Akitsu spoke up beside me, watching me patiently. I glanced over surprised that she had spoken up without prompting. I took it as a sign of her growing more comfortable with my presence for her to start showing initiative. I gave her a grateful smile for her concern, which caused her to flush gently without showing any other reaction.

"Yes, thank you, Akitsu," I reassured her, my mind turning back to the dream that had brought the two girls to my side during the night. It had felt so real, the murky atmosphere of the forest, the quiet solitude of the darkness within it. Even more than that the girl at the end, Kusano: she had been like a faerie, some kind of wood nymph that had escaped from the realm that those spirits dwelt in. Her weight in my arms had felt so real, and her voice had been so clear and memorable. I didn't usually have dreams like that. Most of my dreams were of Rin and Saber, of the times during the Holy Grail War, Fuyuki city, and on occasion of Kiritsugu. To randomly dream of a person, to so clearly hear a voice speaking to me, and to remember it so perfectly after waking was unusual for me. Well, there was two nights ago, when I dreamed of…

I paused in my musings. It was just like that; the night I dreamed of Homura asking me 'why?' I hadn't had much time to think on that particular dream, not with the excitement of the day after. But it was similar, not in the dream itself, but in the dream's intensity, in its clarity.

"Mwaaaa," I heard a voice beside me murmur, shaking me from my thoughts. I glanced down in time to see Musubi release me with one hand to start rubbing her eyes as she made her own transition from sleep to awareness. She rubbed her face with the back of her hand before sleepily murmuring again, "muuuuu," before burying her face into my side and nuzzling me sleepily. Finally she managed to open her eyes completely and look up at me blinking sleepily. When her eyes settled on my face she blinked twice and then seemed to remember who she was looking at. "Ah! Shirou-san!" she chirped up at me happily. "Good morning! Did you sleep well?" she asked, sleepily getting into a kneeling position so she could beam a smile at me.

"Yes," I told her, happy to have my waist back in my own control again. "Thanks for asking, Musubi-chan."

"Of course, Shirou-san!" she told me, still smiling in her normally cheerful fashion. Finally free to get up properly I stood and finished stretching. A quick glance at the clock revealed that it was nearing seven thirty, nearly an hour and a half later than my usual wake up time. Still shaking the sleep out of my limbs I turned to head towards the refrigerator, grateful that I had managed a last minute restock last night during the conversation that I had with the two Sekirei about the Sekirei Plan and what it meant.

The information the two of them had provided me with had been both intriguing and frustrating.

I had originally thought that the Sekirei were simply heavily affiliated with MBI. It made sense, in a way. If MBI had managed to contact the aliens first, then it would explain their sudden rise in technological and medical prowess. I don't think there had ever been an occasion where a purely mundane institute had managed to deal with a non-mundane species without the institute ending up destroyed by the creatures out of hand. If MBI had managed to convince an alien species to work with them then it would provide them with unbelievable developing in medical knowledge due to the differences in magical creatures and normal creatures.

Instead the revelations I had yesterday indicated that the connection between the Sekirei and MBI went far deeper than just a contractual relationship. Not only were the Sekirei in cooperation with MBI, they were in fact subservient to it. The idea was so radical and shocking that it had stunned me for nearly a full five minutes.

At some point in the past the now director of MBI, the eccentric Hiroto Minaka, had stumbled across not just a few individual members of the species, but an actual SPACESHIP containing the entirety of the species, all one hundred and eight of them. The idea of an alien race using a spaceship was so fundamentally wrong to me that I could barely comprehend it. The two species I knew of, the Type-Moon and the Type-Mercury were creatures of such immeasurable power and were so different biologically, so alien at a fundamental level, to humanity that they required no such technological feats to manifest themselves on Earth. I don't even know how the other Types managed to arrive, whether they used their own powers to cross the vastness of space to arrive, or if they just manifested themselves whole upon the surface of the Earth without even physically noticing the distance between their home planets and this one. But if the Sekirei were a species that required technology to travel through the void of space, that made them something even more different from what I was used to.

And not only had Hiroto managed to find them, mostly in a helpless embryonic state, but he had also managed to find the technology that they used. And he had been able to reverse engineer it to a fantastic degree. With that information MBI's unreal advances in technology became not only comprehensible, but expected.

Several times in the past I had heard mention of labs and MBI from Sekirei, and now I finally understood why; they had almost entirely all of them been raised in the private facilities of the super conglomerate known as MBI. Suddenly the irregularities I had noticed in the behaviors of Musubi and Akitsu became a great deal more understandable. If their actions were at time unusual by the standards of Japanese culture, it was because this was the first time either of them had ever come across any other culture or lifestyle, or even other people, that wasn't in some way related to the MBI facilities where they were raised.

Unfortunately, that was the majority of the useful information I got out of either of the two of them. While much of the information they provided was useful in knowing of the Type-Sekirei in general, it was far less useful for how the Sekirei Plan itself was to be run. Akitsu had been designated as a scrap number, and simply hadn't been told much of what to expect out of a plan she was never supposed to take part in. Musubi on the other hand had simply focused on the 'fight, and fight, and fight,' aspect of the plan. The only thing she was concerned about was finding other Sekirei to battle with now that she had a proper Ashikabi so she could start proving her worth in battle.

Somehow, the fact that the cheerful and friendly shrine maiden Sekirei was in fact an insatiable battle junky was almost as endearing as it was unnerving to me. I think that if it wasn't for the fact that I was no stranger to battle, and was in fact partial to it myself as well, then I might have found her simply disturbing.

"So what would you two like for breakfast?" I asked, moving to the fridge to begin preparing a morning meal. Due to the simplicity of my kitchen, combined with the simple quantity I would be required to prepare, I was leaning towards a simple miso soup, with small pot of pickled vegetables, and plenty of rice. It was a very basic breakfast, but it would be easy to prepare, and provide enough energy for the two to make it through the most of the day. I could make something fancier for dinner.

"Whatever you want, Shirou-san!" I heard Musubi chirp from back by the bed where I had left her behind. I turned to check to make sure that she would really be fine, and dropped the bag of rice I was brining up to the table top.

"Musubi!" I gasped, trying not to stutter as my cheeks turned bright red. "What are you doing?"

"Oh?" Musubi blinked at me from where she was currently taking her shirt off. "I was giving you back the pajamas you loaned me." Without a thought for her state of dress she disrobed until she was wearing just her panties, fastidiously folding the pajamas she had been wearing and putting them to the side.

"Ah," I managed, trying not to stare as she continued to kneel by the bed in her undressed state without a thought to her modesty. "Is that so?" I managed to get out, before something caught my eye. Glancing to the side, I had to put my hand to my nose to stop the bleeding that was about to erupt. "Akitsu! Why are you getting undressed too?" Opposite where Musubi was doing her best to give me a heart attack, the snow woman was also beginning to undress, though considering the nature of her sleep wear it might be more accurate to say she was unwrapping more than anything else.

"Because Musubi is," the blue haired woman answered slowly as she carefully removed the strange contraption she had been wearing.

"I could understand Musubi doing it," I tried my best not to scream, or to let my voice crack in embarrassment, but it might have been a losing battle. "But I think I remember asking you to do that kind of thing in the bathroom.

Down to just the piece of her night clothes that preserved her modesty below the waist she paused. "Ah," she said, and then looked down at herself, then over at where the door to the bathroom was open. She began to blush. "I forgot."

"The bathroom?" Musubi chimed in, looking confused. "Why would Akitsu change there?"

"Because it would make me much more comfortable if the two of you were to do so," I supplied again, not trusting that an explanation about 'modesty' and 'mixed company' would make an impression on the slightly scatter brained brown haired girl. I took a deep breath, and managed to control my blushing to a more manageable level. "You two really don't have any nudity taboos at all, do you?"

"Nudity taboos?" Musubi asked, cocking her head to the side and putting a finger to her mouth in thought. "What are those?" I did not look at what the position of her arm did to her chest. I most certainly did not look at it.

I sighed. 'It's not their fault,' I told myself. 'They were raised in a lab. They really do have a good excuse.' "Please, just put on some clothes. I'll explain some ground rules to you later on," I ordered her politely. When Musubi blinked again, I pointed at the closet. "Anything will do. Just make sure that you're wearing both a top and a bottom, okay?"

"Alright, Shirou-san!" Musubi chirped, bouncing to her feet in excitement. I caught my eyes following her movements before I forced myself to be a gentleman and turn away. Unfortunately that meant I was looking at Akitsu when she stood up and turned to the closet as well, apparently without remembering that she was mostly disrobed at the moment and just as the last few pieces of her clothes began to slide down her leg. With a gulp I abandoned all dignity and raced to the front door.

"I'll just wait outside while the two of you are finished getting dressed," I half shouted in panic as I slipped out the door and into a space that wasn't filled with quite so much danger.

I took several deep breaths, trying to get my heart back into its proper place in my chest as the cool air of the spring morning helped keep me from overheating. Even Saber hadn't been this bad. She had understood the concept of 'modesty' even if she didn't always ascribe to it. In combat she would completely disregard her state of dress if giving it consideration would have compromised her position, just as she would ignore it completely if it interfered with her duty. When she was working, then she wasn't a woman anymore, she was simply a weapon. But when she wasn't preparing for or engaged in combat she was always scrupulously careful about what she was wearing, almost prudish in fact. Rin had always had so much fun embarrassing Saber, who when she wasn't in action mode was nearly bashful with her body. It was always adorable to Rin and I when we set about seducing her to see her react as we…

I shook my head roughly, dragging my thoughts away from those times. It would only hurt to think of them. It would be better to think of the two unconscious nudists in the door right now then to think about them, no matter how awkward it might be; anything not to think about what I had been forced to leave behind in Britain.

"Oi, is that you, Emiya-kun?" a voice snapped me out of my reverie, and I turned to it eagerly as a way to distract myself. "What are you doing out here this early in the morning and in your pajamas?"

"Just getting some fresh air, landlord," I assured the man as he came up the stairs, glaring at me suspiciously as he did so. The landlord for the little complex that I was currently living in could best be described as a bitter old curmudgeon. He was an older man, well on his way to being bald, who walked with a stooped over gait, and spent most of his time waxing poetic about the good old days when he was a child and kids respected adults. I think one of the reasons that his rooms were so cheap in his complex was the fact that living there meant having to put up with him.

Still, my personal relationship with him was better than what most of the inhabitants at his building could boast. I had a tendency to speak respectfully to my elders, and had on more than one occasion volunteered myself to help him with some maintenance that his old building might need. I had personally rewired one of the rooms after a less respectful inhabitant had thrown a party resulting in a hole being punched in a wall and screwing up the wiring to half the room, and on more than one occasion he had called on me to fix a few of the older appliances like the heaters and the dishwashers when age and hard use had caught up with them. He had grudgingly offered to give me a discount on my rent for the services, but I had declined, telling him truthfully that I was happy to help.

"Hmmm," he grunted, eying me suspiciously. I paid his glare no mind. He glared at everyone, and more than anything else I got the impression that it was simply his nature to do so, and not a sign of him looking down on me. "I've been meaning to talk to you, Emiya-kun," he began, climbing the stairs that led to my second floor room. "The last few days I've noticed you having a lot more company than before. You haven't been disregarding your studies to go around partying like some of the other examinees, have you?"

I grimaced, remembering something that had been shoved to the back of my mind with the events of the last few days. "I'm sorry sir," I began, bowing to him as I did so. "The results have come back recently, and I'm afraid that I wasn't able to make it in this year."

"Hmph," he grunted again, looking to the side awkwardly. "A shame. You were such a studious renter. Are you going to try again next year?" he asked me, glancing to the side as he did so. I think this was the most concerned I'd ever seen the old man in the months I had been staying here.

"Yes," I told him truthfully. "But the next session for cram school doesn't start for several months. Until then I'm not certain what I'm going to be doing."

"Hmph," the landlord grunted again, which seemed to be his fallback response to everything, though this time he sounded uncomfortable. I already could guess why. He made a good living off of renting out to examinees and students. In general whenever someone proved to be neither one he would find an excuse to kick out the resident so he could rent out to someone who was. He preferred having a quiet building, and people who were busy studying generally were people who weren't being loud and disturbing the rest of the residents. "I've noticed that most of the people I've been seeing in and out of your room have been women," he pointed out, and I suppressed a wince. "You know this room is for singles only, right?"

"Yes, sir," I acknowledged, knowing where he was going with this. In fact, he was being unusually lenient. Normally he would just launch a surprise inspection to catch the person who was sneaking in their significant other in the act. I opened my mouth, but I wasn't sure if I was going to deny any allegations or confess to them. On one hand, this was a good cheap place, but most of its utility revolved around my life as a student. If I wasn't a student, and in fact had just discovered myself in a situation where potential property damage became a factor and defensibility came into play, then this room became less and less appealing. Besides that, I just didn't feel right trying to deceive the landlord.

Fortunately or unfortunately my moral quandary was resolved for me as Musubi called through the door. "Shirou-san! I'm dressed, but I found something in the closet I'm not sure about."

The landlord instantly fixed an accusing eye on me and moved to open the door so he could confirm what he already knew. I sighed, surrendering to the inevitable. Still, something Musubi said tickled the back of my mind for a moment.

Something she had found in the closet?

My eyes shot open and I darted towards the door to try and stop the landlord, but it was too late, he had already opened it and now stood statue still and white as a sheet. With a swallow I looked to confirm what I already suspected myself.

Sure enough Musubi had gotten into the bondage gear that Yukari had picked up for Akitsu with only the best of intentions and the worst of results. I'm not sure what she was wearing was supposed to be used for, but it was mostly constructed out of leather, buckles, straps, and fierce looking hooks. It also completely defeated the purpose of wearing clothes as rather than concealing her breasts they simply lifted them for better presentation. She was holding something in her hand, something from the bag that I had been determined to destroy at a later and more convenient time. I wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed to be some form of primitive torture device more at home in the dungeon of the inquisition then in a modern bedroom. Akitsu was standing beside her, and was in the process of finishing wrapping the chains around her neck and tucking them into her cleavage. She had one leg propped up on a chair where she was fitting her foot into her sandals. The position of her legs caused her kimono bottom to be hanging open.

I sighed. Well, at least now I had the chance to look for a better apartment. But before that…

"Panties, Akitsu," I told her. "Panties."

The blue haired woman looked down, and blushed. "Ah," she said.

*Scene Break*

"I'm so sorry, Shirou-san," Musubi told me, her eyes dewy with unshed tears as she clutched her hands together in a pleading gesture. She was once more safely dressed in her shrine maiden outfit as her, Akitsu, and I all walked through the streets of Shin Tokyo, drawing more than a few stares as we did so. With both the submissively dressed Akitsu and the just plain odd way that Musubi was garbed the majority of the stares were at me due to the normalness I presented to the three. I was wearing simple jeans with a patterned long sleeve shirt under a thick hip length denim jacket. I could almost see the gawkers wondering just what was wrong with me to look so normal when surrounded by such oddly dressed persons.

"It's alright, Musubi," I assured the penitent Sekirei. "That room was getting too small for us anyway. This way I have an excuse to look for some place more spacious."

"Are you sure, Shirou-san?" the shrine maiden asked me, looking up at me hopefully. I smiled at the girl again, reassuring her. I had only known Musubi for a short time, but I was growing more and more certain that I understood her personality with every passing minute. She was cheerful, almost irrepressibly so, and contained within her a straightforwardness that I found charming. She was also an optimist, her overwhelming positive outlook on life so strong that it was almost contagious.

"I'm sure," I repeated for her sake. "This time we'll find some place bigger, someplace more comfortable." Someplace with a kitchen, preferably Japanese style like I was used to, and most importantly this time someplace with space for me to establish a workshop. I had been lax in my research for too long, relying on staying under the radar long enough for me to let the heat die down, but I couldn't do that anymore. I had been living a peaceful life these last few months, but if I were to be in a war once more, then it was time for me to prepare myself for battle. I knew battle, I understood battle. In some ways, it could be said that I had been born for battle, been forged for it.

Despite how much I enjoyed the quiet lifestyle I had indulged in, I enjoyed battle as well. I hadn't at first, but the more and more I had participated in it the more I had understood that part of my life.

After all, my body was made of swords.

"Right!" Musubi cheered at my statement, throwing her hands enthusiastically into the air. "Someplace with a pool! And a gym! And a buffet!" she continued, adding onto the list of attributes our future home would have. "And a volley ball court! And a beach!"

"Well, we might have trouble with those ones," I told her dryly, "but I'll see what I can do."

As Musubi ignored me and continued to list more and more improbable additions to our future home, I tensed and glanced to the side. Another scent of power had made itself known, off to the north. It had been moving fast, almost too fast for me to track it, but I had definitely noticed it. It hadn't been the first one either. Ever since we had left the apartment with the ultimatum that we had one week to move out I had been finding more and more traces of Sekirei. Their powers had been different each time, their strengths varied and numerous, but so far there had been one thing that had impressed itself on my notice.

They had all been moving north. My eye narrowed for a moment. I'm not sure what was happening, but there was definitely something occurring that was drawing more and more of the Sekirei in the same direction that we were heading.

"What is it, Shirou-sama?" Akitsu spoke up, her careful and constant study of me letting her pick up on my lapse in attention even as Musubi continued to describe just which animals she wanted in the zoo that would be attached to our new house.

"Shirou-san?" Musubi interrupted herself, curious as to what Akitsu had seen that had made her speak up.

"There are a lot of Sekirei heading north right now," I told them both, concentrating.

"Really? How do you know?" Musubi asked, accepting what I said as the truth even as she wondered how I knew it.

"I can tell," I told her easily. "Just be ready. I'm not sure what's going on, but we might end up getting involved in a battle."

"Oh! I'm excited!" Musubi squealed, clenching her fists in front of her in excitement. "I can't wait!"

I still hadn't decided how I would react to the Sekirei Plan. I still didn't know precisely what kind of war it was going to be. For now, I had decided to play a reactive strategy. Until I knew more I wasn't going to go looking for trouble. But if past experience revealed anything, well, there was always the chance that trouble would find me instead.

*Scene Break*

It wasn't till an hour later that I had my first clue as to just what was going on in the North.

I was sitting with Musubi and Akitsu in the realtor office, listening to the agent describe what my options were for dwelling places. I had only told him that I was interested in a Japanese style home, spacious and private, and that I wanted to hear the whole list before I told him what my price range was. In truth, I wasn't sure if I even had a price range. Takami hadn't ever told me if there was one on the card she had given me, just telling me to use it for any expenses I might need. Even if there was, I might be willing to start tapping into my private bank accounts if it was necessary, though there was also the option of simply getting a job. I was still new enough at the being on the run thing to not know the best ways to keep myself off the radar. I had the feeling that it would be a learning experience, and if my learning curve wasn't quick enough then I wouldn't have to worry about it for long.

It was as the agent was listing the different buildings they had in their lists that I happened to glance at the television the realtor agency had playing news on in the background for those awaiting a consultation that I saw a story about the rampant growth currently going on in the Shin Tokyo Botanical Gardens.

It was like a dagger was being driven into my brain; an agony, sharp and intrusive, but strangely painless. It felt as though the back of my skull was being pried off so that something could get in.

"ONII-CHAN! HELP ME!" I heard a voice that cut through me, desperate and afraid. It was familiar, and for all the fact that it was overwhelming it was also gentle, like the voice of a small child.

My sight filled with green, and for a moment I saw the image of a girl, very young, blond with honey brown eyes, and scared, so very scared, and she was calling to me, and I had to go help her, I had to GO, NOW, or something would happen and she would be hurt…

"Shirou-san!" a voice brought me back, and I gasped out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I felt cold, and my hand was shaking where it was clenched against my skull, squeezing my hair. I panted, feeling cold sweat on my forehead, and a pain in my jaw made me realize I was clenching my teeth so hard they were grinding. Musubi was next to me, looking scared, and Akitsu was beside her, staring at me intently as she tried to find what it was that was causing me pain so that she could stop it. Behind the two of them their chairs had been knocked to the ground at the force at which they had launched themselves to my aid. "What is it, Shirou-san?" Musubi begged me desperately, holding my other fisted hand in hers, trying to help me with the contact.

"Sir, are you alright?" the agent asked, looking worried that I was having some kind of seizure. "Do you need me to call you an ambulance?"

"No," I grit out, and took a deep breath, forcing my body to relax. It took a great deal of my self-discipline to do so, but I was a magus, and I knew my body better than most did. It took me a few more seconds, but I finally managed to unclench my fists and unlock my jaw. I could feel strands of my hair in the fist that had been on my forehead, and my scalp hurt slightly from where I had pulled them out. "No," I breathed again, this time sounding surer of myself. "Sorry," I told the agent, and he cautiously started to relax. "It seems I'm not feeling too well at the moment. Would you mind if I took the list and came back at a later time?"

"That's fine, sir," the agent told me, looking torn between trying to do more for me and getting me out the door before I started having another fit and scaring the other customers.

With one last glance at the television, still playing the story that had set off my episode, I took the list, crumpling it slightly as my hands clenched involuntarily around it, and set off without another word. Akitsu and Musubi followed me instantly, not even sparing a glance at the forgotten agent or the disrupted furniture.

"Shirou-sama," Akitsu said, the question in her voice obvious, even beneath the concern that was unusually present in her normal monotone.

"We're going to the gardens," I told her and Musubi. "Be prepared. We'll probably have to get in a fight or two."

"Yes, Shirou-san," Musubi told me, her voice back to being cheerful but laced with earnestness as well.

"Yes, Shirou-sama," Akitsu echoed, her voice returning to its usual monotone.

*Scene Break*

The closer the three of us got to the Botanical Gardens, the more and more I began scenting the power of Sekirei in the air. First one, then two, then four, then eight. By the time we were in sight of the garden itself there were nearly sixteen presences nearby. It was confusing, to feel so many inter-lapping powers. With the great number it was nearly impossible for me to discern anything about them save that they were there and that they were Sekirei. The surrounding area had been deserted, evacuated if the announcement being played over the local loudspeakers was to be believed, under orders of MBI.

It looks like Minaka had been serious in his statement earlier that measures were being taken to both limit exposure of the Sekirei's existence to the populace, and to ensure that the populace was in return protected from the war that MBI had instigated with their 'Sekirei Plan'.

"What now, Shirou-san?" Musubi asked me expectantly. She looked excited by the prospect of battle, and had both her fists clenched in the air near her head as she began hopping up and down excitedly.

"We need information first," I told her, eying the armed guards that were patrolling the wall of the garden. Behind the bricks that circled the park it appeared as though the garden had been somehow spontaneously transformed into a jungle from the deepest pits of the Congo. Trees, thicker and wilder then should be present in a cultivated attraction arched around each other, their interlocking branches providing a wall far stronger and more secure then the pitiful bricks that circled them. The sheer quantity and intertwining of the trunks themselves made even the space beneath them into a labyrinth of curves and false leads.

I took another deep breath, concentrating my attention on the powers around me. Emanating from the jungle that had spontaneously found itself in the middle of the city was a power, one that was clearer and greater than most of the others in the area. It was like the honey scent of Sekirei, but beneath it was the deep scent of rich earth, of fertile soil. As I continued to try and figure out what was going on, another scent made itself known, also stronger than most of the others in the area: smoke.

"We need information," I repeated, turning my head to the source of the last power, "and I know where to get it."

Homura wasn't as easy to find as I had hoped, but I tracked him down eventually. My ability to sense his presence made finding his general location simple, but that didn't change the fact that there were any number of alleys or rooftops that he could be skulking in, combined with the fact that he seemed to be moving constantly. From what I was able to tell he was patrolling the area. It helped me to confirm what I had already guessed: there was an unwinged Sekirei in that maze of branches, and from the feel of the powers gathered, there were probably more than a few Ashikabi who were hoping to get their hands on it.

"We need to get to the roof," I finally decided on. If Homura was patrolling than all I needed to do was get somewhere he would notice me and wait till he finished his lap of the premise.

"Okay, Shirou-san!" Musubi chirped, and obediently reached out to grasp my hand.

"We should be able to get up there by one of these buildings' stairs," I began, trying to figure out which was the best place to get on top of so we could keep an eye out for the moving Homura, when Musubi jumped, still holding my hand firmly, and nearly yanked my arm out of the socket when she leapt far higher than I had thought she could. With one jump she managed to reach the top of a six story building, trailing me behind her like a puppy being dragged by its leash.

"Oof," I gasped out as she landed, and I fell flat on my butt, completely unprepared for both the jump and the landing after. "Musubi," I muttered, rolling my shoulder to try and get feeling back in it, "could you please give me some warning next time you do something like that?" I had known that Sekirei had powers, but so far I had assumed they were limited to some kind of elemental control. I should have suspected that they would also be physically superior to humanity as well.

"Ah! Sorry," Musubi apologized; putting her hand to her mouth as she realized that she hadn't warned me about her actions in time for me to prepare myself. Behind me Akitsu landed on the roof as she too cleared the roof edge to land easily beside the two of us, her kimono flaring about her legs as she did so. She stood ready where she landed, her hands once more held slightly behind her in what I was beginning to recognize as her ready position for combat. The snow woman stood still, her head slightly lowered and her eyes directed in front of her, slightly unfocused.

"You," a voice interrupted, and I looked up to find that we had managed to find Homura. He was once more in his work clothes, the dark jacket and mask present. "Did you come here because of the text too?" he asked, his voice hard.

"Text?" I asked, pushing myself into a standing position and brushing my pants off as I did so. I rolled my shoulder, making sure that it was once more in working order. "Like a manuscript?"

"Manuscript?" Homura repeated, his eyes narrowed at me. "Don't play games with me, Shirou. I meant the text message that bastard the director sent out."

"The director?" I repeated, now feeling a bit confused. "The one who called me yesterday? No, I haven't received a letter yet. If he was going to send one wouldn't it take a few days to arrive?"

"I meant on your phone," Homura snapped again, looking aggravated. "Don't try to tell me you don't know about it."

"On the phone?" I had no idea what the flame user was talking about, but thought back to this morning. "Well, I received a call earlier, but when no one was on the other end I assumed it was a prank and hung up," I admitted, not understanding what he was trying to get at.

"I meant the text on your phone!" Homura insisted, looking aggrieved at what he perceived as me being dense. I felt a little insulted by that. He was the one not making any sense.

"Please," I snorted, feeling my own temper rise. "Everyone knows that you can only talk on a phone. Who ever heard of being able to receive some kind of letter on one?"

I waited for him to acknowledge my point but found that he was staring at me, and that the roof had gone silent. I glanced at Musubi to find her also looking at me in surprise, and then when I looked at Akitsu she too had turned her attention to me.

"What?" I asked, feeling a little unsettled by the stares of all my Sekirei. "What did I say?"

"Are you trying to tell me you don't know how to send a text message?" Homura got out, his voice incredulous as he stared at me.

"That's pretty basic, Shirou-san," Musubi chimed in, nodding her head as she did so.

When even Akitsu nodded I sighed.

"Well, fine," I defended myself lamely. I pulled out my phone, and opened it. After staring at the screen for a second I finally scratched the back of my head. "Um, how do you find these 'text messages'?" I asked, feeling incredibly stupid as I did so.

Homura gaped at me for a second, his open mouth visible through the cloth of his mask before he marched over to me and grabbed my phone out of my hand. "Like this, you idiot," he snapped at me, pushing a few buttons on my cell and then holding it up so I could see what he had pulled out.

"You don't have to be mean about it," I muttered before leaning in to see what it said. To my surprise it actually did have a written message displayed on the screen. "'There is a cute Sekirei in the Botanical Gardens,'" I read. "'First come first serve! You might be the one to give it wings. Colon. Parenthesis.'" I paused for a second, puzzling over the last two symbols, before focusing on the message itself. "What the hell is this?" I asked, having a suspicion and not liking what it was.

"You really didn't know," Homura muttered, putting his head in his hand and shaking it in disbelief. "That bastard sent out a message to all the Ashikabi. It's his idea for making the 'game' more exciting." Homura paused, and then gave me another suspicious glance. "If you didn't know about this, then why are you here?"

I paused, considering how I was going to explain just why I had come. "You know that the night before I winged you, I had a dream about a man on fire asking me 'why you?'" I told him, and Homura drew back a bit, surprised. "Last night I had another dream. I was in a dark forest, and a girl was asking me to help her. She told me her name was Kusano. Later today when I was looking for a new house I had another vision. It was the same girl, only now she was screaming at me for help." I studied Homura carefully as Musubi looked surprised at just what it was that had caused me to react at the realtor agency, and Akitsu simply turned to continue staring at nothing. "Do you know why something like that would happen?"

Homura was quiet for a second, studying me, trying to see if I was telling the truth, then he shook his head slowly. "I shouldn't be surprised by this either." He sighed and then rubbed his gloved hand through his hair. "I'm sorry for being so short with you," he apologized, sounding much less hostile than earlier. "It's just that I've been out here for hours keeping number one hundred and eight safe."

I nodded. "So it's true. There is a Sekirei in there. Is she the one from my dream?" I asked intently.

Homura nodded. "Yes. Number one hundred and eight, Kusano. She was on a day trip from the lab when her adjuster was attacked by an Ashikabi who tried to wing her right afterwards. She is the one responsible for that," Homura nodded at the jungle we were standing near. "Rather than try to control the situation, that bastard the Minaka just poured gasoline on the fire."

I nodded again. It seems like Homura had a strong dislike for the eccentric man that had called me yesterday. If this was the way he was acting as an administrator for the war then I didn't blame him. "But why is it that I'm having visions of her? I know that there's a good chance she's reacting to me, but wouldn't she need to be near me for that, like you and Musubi?"

Homura shook his head. "That would be the way for most, but as you can probably all ready guess number one hundred and eight is stronger than most. We Sekirei have a bit of psychic potential, much like you seem to, but with the Green Girl it's more than just a bit. It's possible that she has already decided that she wants you as her Ashikabi, and now she's actively trying to draw you in."

"So it's unusual, but not impossible," I concluded, turning to regard the jungle as we spoke. "So what do you recommend, Homura?" I asked him directly.

"What do you mean, Shirou?" he questioned me, moving to stand beside me as he did, looking at me askance as he did so. Musubi bounced over till she was standing at my other side, though she was kneeling so she could put her arms on the edge of the roof as she peered at the jungle as well, probably in anticipation of the battles to come. Akitsu moved till she was standing in her usual place behind me and to my left, patiently waiting for her orders.

"You're the Guardian of Sekirei, aren't you?" I pointed out. "It might be like you said, and that Kusano is calling out to me. Is there another possibility that I'm simply receiving her without her intending to? You've already said I'm unusual for an Ashikabi. Could that be what's going on here?"

Homura paused, turning to face the jungle directly. "It might be," he admitted, sounding dubious. "But it's unlikely." Homura glanced at me again quickly, before turning away and rubbing his chest a bit. "You really do care about us, don't you?" he asked, sounding as though the revelation was something he had never expected.

"I just believe in helping people," I told him honestly. "And Sekirei are people who just seem to need more help than most."

Homura paused at that, and then started to chuckle. "Yes, I suppose we are, aren't we?" he said half to himself.

"Shirou- san is just kind is all, Homura-san!" Musubi asserted, before pausing briefly. "So are we going to fight soon?" she asked eagerly.

I opened my mouth to reply, when the stillness of the deserted cityscape was punctuated by an explosion. My eyes darted to where a cloud of smoke was beginning to waft skyward.

"Shit," Homura swore, starting as he too turned to the source of the sound. Without waiting for a response he jumped, darting to the next rooftop and rushing towards the explosion.

"Musubi," I snapped, "follow him and help him!" She'd be able to travel faster without carrying me, and she looked like she was about to pop if she didn't get any excitement soon.

"Yes!" Musubi cheered, already darting off to where the black clad man was disappearing to.

Once she was gone, I turned to Akitsu. "Can you support me?" I asked her and she stepped up obediently.

She nodded at once. "Yes, Shirou-sama," she assured me.

I breathed a sigh of relief. As much as Musubi's cheerfulness was endearing, her impulsiveness had its moments where it was significantly less so. Still rolling my shoulder from where she had nearly torn it out of my shoulder I put one arm around Akitsu's shoulders. "Put your arm around my waist and let's go," I told her. She looked at the hand for a moment, and then began to blush. Wordlessly she followed my instructions and a second later we were leaping after my other two Sekirei.

The scene we arrived at was one of devastation. Armored vehicles bearing the MBI logo lay strewn about like shattered toys as they burned in the late afternoon light. Homura was livid, pacing the destruction with a back as arched as an angry cat.

"Unbelievable," he swore, his fists clenched in anger. "Who would have the nerve to just go in through the front?" Musubi was also darting around the wreckage, her fists clenched in front of her as she hopped like a little kid on a sugar high.

"Wow! They must be strong!" She wheeled on me, her eyes misty with unshed tears. "Shirou-san! Are we going to be able to fight them? Please Shirou-san?"

Wordlessly I stood with Akitsu at my back and studied the wreckage. The cars looked like they had been hacked apart. Long clean gashes had been carved through most of the armored vehicles. From the spread of the fire it seemed as though the ruptured gas tanks had spread before coming across electronics that were still sparking and ignited. As I stood there an old smell made itself known. It was potent, heavy, like burnt pork. It was something familiar to me, from my oldest memories.

The smell of burnt flesh.

Whoever had come through here hadn't been too concerned about the damage they had done. They had only been concerned about getting through quickly. It was callous, the complete disregard for human life, even if they had been trained soldiers apparently in the employ of MBI. At my side, I felt my fist clench until my nails dug into my palms.

"Yes," I promised Musubi, my voice hard. "Yes we will, Musubi." I tore my eye from the hellish scene and focused on Homura. He too seemed enraged by the senseless loss of life present before him. "If you continue to guard the gates, I will take care of the ones that got in."

Homura hesitated, then nodded finally. "It's a plan." I turned to enter, Musubi still bouncing beside me as I did. "Shirou," the flame user in black spoke up suddenly, and I turned to see what he wanted. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then nodded. "Thank you for your help," he told me.

I nodded in response. In my head, in an imaginary place that I went to whenever I used my magecraft, I felt as though an invisible gun had just been cocked. The hammer clicked, as it was pulled back to its firing position. Then it with a thought it was released, driving down on the imaginary bullet in my mind.

Trace on.

Swiftly od, the internally generated magic of a mage began to leak from my magic circuits, the pathways through which my power naturally flowed through my body. It flooded through my body, sinking into my flesh, making me faster, stronger. It was a technique called 'Reinforcement', and was the fundamental of most of my combat abilities, the root of many of my magical skills. With it I could strengthen anything, to a limit, even myself.

Ready for whatever I might find within the heart of the jungle, I raced forward, Musubi and Akitsu at my heels.

*Scene Break*

It was dark in the new jungle that had sprung up in what had once been a tamed and cultivated place for couples to go on dates and school kids to go on field trips. Thick roots teamed over the shattered cobblestones that had once been walkways for the visitors to view blooming flowers and exotic plants. It was a treacherous maze to negotiate, where every step could result in a caught foot or a rolled or broken ankle, where every turn could cause whoever it was to wander in to lose their way and be forced to stumble through the tunnels of roots and tree limbs for however long it took for them to once more find the light.

Through this dark path I raced, moving faster and with surer footing than anyone other than a magus with reinforced eyes and limbs could hope to do so. Beside me my two Sekirei darted along, easily keeping pace with me as we ran. Musubi darted in front, jumping from limb to limb, only to fall behind as she would find herself pausing to find the next place for her to jump to, seesawing between leading and following the group. Akitsu kept pace behind me, following in my footsteps in order to maintain her footing and keep herself near me at all times.

"You're amazing, Shirou-san!" Musubi commented, sounding happy. "You're going so fast that I almost can't keep up with you!"

"Musubi-chan," I commented, my eyes darting in front of me as I traced the path. "Stay focused." I was not wandering these woods blind. The moment I had stepped within the confines of the Kusano's power I had felt her presence. I could hear her, calling to me in fear and worry, and sometimes in the dark at the edge of my vision I would see a luminescence surrounding a phantom limb, like a hand disappearing behind a tree, or a foot shuffling beneath a root. "Are you calling to me, little one?" I whispered to myself under my breath. "Are you leading me to you even now?"

"Ah! Right!" Musubi responded to my order, and knuckled her head while sticking out her tongue in a silly little gesture. Despite the carnage of the front gate, and the danger of the forest, I found myself fighting a smile. That stopped when I made out three figures in front of me, following the same path that I was, albeit at a much slower pace.

"Musubi, Akitsu," I snapped, and in a disturbing display of synchronicity that I would expect out of a heavily trained military unit and not out of people who had only met each other a handful of days ago the three of us stopped at the edge of a small clearing opposite the other people on the path.

"Oh? What's this? Another Ashikabi?" one of the figures drawled, sounding amused. I studied the figure carefully, not speaking as I did so. He was a man, nearly as tall as I was, wearing a leather coat over a white t-shirt over blue jeans and boots. He had a necklace on, with some kind of dog tag on it. "Come looking for the Green Girl too?" he asked with a leer in his voice.

My attention turned to the two other figures by his side, and it only took me a second to recognize their features. I had felt their powers earlier, but with the confusing mess of so many Sekirei around I hadn't paid much attention to it. It was the two lightning users, Hikari and Hibiki, the same ones who had been threatening Musubi when I first met her. They weren't wearing their maid outfits anymore, having traded them in for a strange collection of leather straps that would have looked right at home amongst the things Yukari had loaded on me earlier. The two of them seemed to recognize us after only a moment.

"Ah! The conceited shrine maiden, the scrapped number, and the scruffy Ashikabi!" the louder twin, Hikari, declared, pointing at the three of us in outrage.

"Ah! The mean lightning sisters!" Musubi shouted back, pointing at the twins in response, puffing out her cheeks as she did so in outrage. "You two nearly kept me from finding my Ashikabi!"

"Eck," the loud twin responded, glaring at me. "So you did end up winging her," she snapped at me, raising a clenched fist sheathed with lightning at me as she did so.

I ignored the two completely, focusing instead on the man across from me. He was watching the on goings with an amused look on his face, lazily leaning against a tree.

"You weren't the ones responsible for the mess at the gates," I said finally. The man's eyebrow rose at my proclamation.

"Oh? Are you so sure about that?" he asked, his voice taunting as he did so. My eyes narrowed at his flippant response.

"Those cars were cut," I said, studying the two lightning users. "And I already know what those two can do." I turned back to the man, and decided to ask him directly what I wanted to know. "Why are you here?"

"You mean am I a vulture like you trying to get himself a new Sekirei?" the man asked, snorting in contempt. "Sorry, but I already have enough girls for me," he drawled the last bit, sneaking up behind the twins to throw his arms around their shoulders. "I just saw the mess at the gate and decided to investigate." My eyebrow twitched as he sneakily snaked his hands down to grope the lightning girls as he did so.

"Oi! Seo," Hikari protested, blushing as she wiggled under his hands. "Stop it!"

"Ah," Hibiki chimed in, blushing just as much as her sister was, though her voice was more embarrassed than angry. "Not here," she scolded him.

I looked on impassively at the display. Maybe I might have been embarrassed if I wasn't currently more worried about Kusano, and the increasing urgency I felt in the psychic cries emanating from her, or if I wasn't focused exclusively on the potential for conflict emerging.

I guess I might have more in common with Saber when it comes to modesty than I thought.

Finally growing outraged by his increasingly bold movements the two twins turned as one, and electrocuted him simultaneously. At that I finally let myself relax a bit.

"I believe you," I told him, and the slightly charred man coughed a bit before looking at me curiously. "About you not having ill intentions." I don't think that a man that would forcibly wing Sekirei would stand for having those same Sekirei attack him at will. "But that doesn't mean I can let you go any further," I continued, my voice serious.

"What makes you think that it'll be you letting me doing anything? I was kind of wondering if maybe I should stop you before you get to the Green Girl yourself," the man, Seo, drawled back. I smiled slightly. At his side the two twins stepped forward, the two holding hands together, with their free hands outstretched in a threatening pose.

"So if I were an unscrupulous Ashikabi you would stop me right here?" I asked, just to get confirmation.

The man's smile turned feral. "That's right. I'm afraid I won't let you take one more step forward." He stood straighter, placing his body directly in the path and behind his two Sekirei. He seemed serious about his proclamation.

I let loose a small grunt of approval. "Seo, was it?" When he cocked an eyebrow at me, I smiled slightly. "That's a good sentiment," I told him, and he raised the other eyebrow in surprise. "However, I can no longer stand around and talk. There's at least one more Sekirei in here, and I doubt they're as altruistic as you." His eyes narrowed and his eyes darted to the side. He knew this too, and I had little doubt the fact was eating away at him even as he did what he could to stop me. "Since we have only just met each other, and in circumstances like this, I don't think there's anything I can do to convince you about my character," I continued. "However, I can feel Kusano's fear, and it's getting stronger. I can no longer afford to delay here either. Musubi, Akitsu," I said without taking my eyes off the three across from us.

"Yes, Shirou-san!" Musubi chimed in eagerly, and I felt Akitsu move as she turned her steady gaze away from the trio standing opposite us in anticipation of my orders.

"Delay them," I ordered my two Sekirei. "If they seek to retreat, let them go and come find me. If it seems like you may lose, retreat as well."

"Ah! But Shirou-san!" Musubi protested, sounding unhappy. "That's not how a Sekirei battle is supposed to be! It's supposed to be one on one and to defeat!"

"This isn't a Sekirei battle then," I told her firmly. "This is about saving another Sekirei that's in trouble. If you still want to battle later, then maybe we can arrange something," I eyed Seo as I gave my orders, and he seemed surprised by them.

"Oi," he spoke up, his eyes narrowed. "What makes you think I'll let you go past in the first place?"

"What makes you think you can stop me?" I returned, my face once more hard. Without another word I turned and darted to the side. A wall of roots stretched in front of me, and with my reinforced body I leapt, nearly a dozen feet up, to find purchase on the first of them, and from there I bounded even further into the darkness of the wooden labyrinth. From behind me I heard a shout or outrage, and a second after I passed two trunks a wall of ice sprang into being behind me. Less than a heartbeat afterwards I heard an enormous cracking sound as what I assumed to be lightning impacted against the defensive structure.

As I heard the sound of fighting erupt from behind me, I turned my attention instead to the forest around me. I hadn't been lying when I said that I could feel Kusano getting more and more frantic by the second. Wherever she was, she was scared, and getting more so by the second. I increased my speed, and as I closed in on where I could feel the phantom cries coming from I could see more and more of the ghostly image directing me. The hands that had been disappearing behind trees became arms as well; the feet were now glimpses of pale legs and the hem of her white dress. I was close.

Finally, there was one last apparition, that of the girl I was coming to save, half hidden behind a tree, her eyes wide with panic that disappeared an instant after I laid eyes on it, and then I realized the voice that I had been hearing, egging me on, had been replaced by a real one.

"No! Kuu-chan is scared!" Her voice was just like it was in the dream. She sounded young, and the warble of terror I heard there set my teeth on edge.

"You little brat," another voice chimed in, venomously. "I went out of my way to meet you, and this is how you act?" The voice turned into a vicious sounding leer. "Looks like I'll have to punish this bad child."

I broke into the clearing, just in time to make out what was happening in one crystal clear moment. Kuu-chan was there, pushing herself backwards, her white dressed stained with dirt as her face was stained with tears. She was desperately trying to force herself backwards into a root that was cutting off her escape, and she had her eyes clenched shut and her hands above her head to defend herself. Above her stood a much older girl, a Sekirei, dressed in a white dress with a black corset and bow on. In her hands was clenched an enormous scythe, black handled and with a gleaming blade that stretched nearly three feet in length, and she held the scythe above her as she prepared to strike at the child huddled at her feet in fear.

The feeling in my chest that was setting my teeth on edge was no longer fear. Now it was anger.

Trace on.

Even as I launched myself from the gap in the trees that I had approached from, two gleaming pian-dao, enormous Chinese sabers, appeared in my hands. The one in my left hand was black, so black that it seemed to drink in the dim light of the forest, another shadow amongst shadows. The one in my right was gleaming white, so bright that it was like a moon beam carving its way through the night. They were Kanshou and Bakuya. They were Noble Phantasms artifacts of age and legend, incarnations of power given shape by the dreams of man, accumulated through the ages. They fit into my hands like missing pieces of my body, simple extensions of my limbs.

I don't know what gave me away, but somehow the Sekirei that was about to strike Kuu-chan seemed to realize that her life was in peril. She had only a moment to glance up in surprise, and another after that to shift her scythe from offensive to defensive positions, and then I was on her. The strike that would have cut her into thirds was stopped, but only barely, and the force of it rocketed her across the clearing as the full weight of the blades, with the force of my strike, and the momentum of my leap, all combined to pure crushing force even after the edges of the blades were stopped.

The shriek of pain and surprise from the Sekirei that had been about to strike her made Kuu-chan flinch away, and then she peaked her eyes out from between her tiny fingers. When she saw me, she gasped, and slowly her arms lowered till they were clasped in front of her mouth as though she was too shocked to believe that she had been saved, and yet too grateful to disbelieve it either.

"Onii-chan?" she whispered uncertainly, taking in the sight of me standing before her, between her and her aggressor, and with two enormous Chinese blades held firmly in my grip.

I smiled reassuringly at her, trying not to frighten her anymore. "Are you alright, Kuu-chan?" Still wide eyed as though she couldn't believe her fortune, she nodded at me. "That's good," I told her, my voice warm. Across the clearing from where the two of us stood a noise alerted me to the fact that the battle wasn't over. "Kuu-chan, could you do me a favor? Could you close your eyes for me? I promise that when I ask you to open them again then everything will be alright, okay?" She nodded again, this time eagerly, and obediently closed her eyes, putting her hands over them to make sure that they were properly covered. It was as though my words were a magic charm that she could only hope to believe in, that by doing so then all that was wrong with the world would disappear and she'd finally be safe.

The thought of a girl as small as that needing such reassurances caused my teeth to grind together. I was no longer simply angry. Now I was enraged.

"You insolent dog!" the Sekirei who was only now standing up shrieked, her voice high pitched with her own temper. "How dare you! How dare you interfere with the business of my Ashikabi!" She was wobbling on her feet, and I could see traces of blood leaking down her face from where she had impacted with the tree with all the force of my blow behind her.

I should have said something about how if she left now I wouldn't pursue her, or that if she surrendered I'd be merciful. I didn't. They would have been lies. The fear of the girl behind me had been so great, and to have seen her just moments ago poised to strike her with impunity was an act I couldn't bring myself to forgive, not did I want to in the first place. More than that, the blade in her hands looked sharp. Sharp enough to carve through even the armored plates of the vehicles that had littered the entryway to this garden, vehicles that were full of the burning dead.

I wanted blood, a dozen drops for each tear that Kuu-chan had shed, and dozen more for each man that would never see another dawn. If I had to drain her body dry to do it, then so be it.

Instead I charged at the Sekirei, angling away from Kusano so that she wouldn't be directly behind me. With all the power in the air I couldn't be sure of just what abilities my opponent had. I could gamble on her being faster and stronger than any normal human, but so far just about every Sekirei I had come across had some kind of elemental power to boast as well. The only ones I couldn't be certain about had been Karasuba and Musubi since I hadn't seen either one of them fight yet. The last thing I wanted was for this opponent to launch an attack and have it hit Kuu-chan just because I had been standing in front of her.

The Sekirei seemed enraged that I was attacking her, and raised her scythe in order to meet my attack. "You arrogant human," she growled, her voice thick with her rage. "I will cut you down like…"

Whatever she was going to compare me to was lost to the times as I finally got close enough for our blades to meet. She brought her scythe down hard, counting on her power and speed to overwhelm me. Instead the attack met Kanshou. I grunted under the force of blow, nearly losing my grip on the black blade as the shock of it shook my arm like bomb, but I managed to withstand the force somehow long enough for me to launch a counter attack. In the second where her eyes widened in shock at having been repulsed by a mere human, Bakuya took her turn, and the white sword launched at her chest in a straight attack meant to pierce her heart. She shrieked in fear and launched herself backwards. I continued, pressing my attack. Every strike blended together, an endless stream of combos, each blow leading to the next, my power and speed too great for her to effectively force me away or regain the initiative. Her eyes got wider and wider as I slowly drove her into a corner. She was retreating fron my fury, and soon she would have nowhere left to go. The battlefield was too small, too constrained, and when she finally found her back against a tree there would be nowhere left for her to escape.

And as she realized it, her eyes began to show something other than anger. Now they were showing fear.

"No!" she shrieked, and when she was merely a step away from checkmate she unleashed the wind. It was the stirring of the breeze behind her, and my own experience fighting other wind users back at the Clock Tower that allowed me to prepare myself. By the time the attack was launched I was already leaping away, Kanshou and Bakuya crossed in front of me in a defensive maneuver. The force of it further drove me backwards, and I barely managed to move my head aside as something sharp penetrated the top of my block. I felt an invisible blade trace across my cheek, opening the skin, and a drop of blood began to leak down my face.

So that's what her trick was.

"No! No! No! Get away!" the wind using Sekirei shrieked, still panicking. The pressure on her had unnerved her, and it was showing. She frantically swung her scythe in front of her, despite the fact that I was nowhere near her, and gusts of air followed each movement. Now no longer on the offensive I turned and ran, aiming for the forest around us. I barely made it behind one of the enormous roots before my impromptu cover splintered as a blade cut halfway through the knotted mass of the wood. I didn't stay behind it, using the second it had bought me to move to the next piece of cover before the first one shattered under a second attack. I began circling, a step ahead of each razor wind as it crashed behind me.

"Get away! Get away! Get away!" the Sekirei kept shouting. It wasn't the actions of a person used to battle. It was more like that of a girl who had just come within a step away of being carved into pieces by two enormous swords. Still, the speed and strength that had allowed her to match my own enhanced abilities spoke immensely of the latent physical power she possessed. Add onto that her current attempt to carve me into pieces from across the clearing and it didn't change the fact that she was a dangerous opponent. My advantage lay in the fact that for all her power, she was still inexperienced, almost naïve it would seem, with combat, and the fact that for every other area that she exceeded me, I had more skill. In comparison between the way she used her scythe and wind, and the way I used my swords there was only one conclusion I could reach: I was better.

I had circled half the clearing, the screaming Sekirei still following my path a step behind me when I launched my next attack. As I darted around her, I put an enormous tree between the two of us. Even as she continued doing her best to cut me in half, rather than keep running I braced myself and kicked out at a tree limb in my path. Using both my feet to slow my forward momentum I came to an abrupt stop. I grit my teeth as the suddenness of my arrested movement put incredible strain on even my reinforced limb, before I kicked off it. The trail of wind blades continued trying to track my original trajectory, but I was no longer in front of them.

Instead, with the Sekirei too panicked to realize it in time, I was now coming from the same side that I had went behind in the first place. Even as she seemed to realize the fact that she was attacking something that was no longer there, even as she began to desperately search the clearing to find me again, I was covering the ground towards her, the hand holding Kanshou drawn back.

The moment her eyes found me, I threw the black sword at her.

Kanshou streaked across the darkened clearing littered with broken clumps of wood and still raining sawdust and splinters, an ebony disk in the shadows. The Sekirei managed to bring her scythe up in time to block it, but the force of the blow was so great that her scythe was torn from her grasp, the two weapons ricocheting off each other and flying away from where she stood. Even as she turned to try and track where her scythe was going to fall, it was too late. I was behind her, Bakuya drawn back for the finishing blow.

It was only because of the fact that Kusano was still in the clearing that I used the back of the white sword and not the blade. The poor girl had suffered through enough, and the last thing she needed was to see her savior come back to her covered in blood. Instead I used the blade as a bludgeon, and crashed it with enough force to crush the skull of a normal human into the back of the Sekirei's head.

The wind user had still been next to the root I had nearly backed her into only moments ago. The force against the back of her skull smashed her face into the same barrier I had planned on pinning her against in the first place. A sickening crack echoed through the clearing, and the Sekirei collapsed like a marionette without strings.

The entire battle had taken less than two minutes.

I was breathing hard; recovering from the strain combat at that speed had put me through and studied the fallen girl in front of me. The blow I had launched at her would have left a human with a caved in skull, and the force of her head meeting the tree should have left her face a completely flat gory mess. Instead she simply looked as though she had taken a blow strong enough to knock her out without any permanent damage. She shifted where she lay, and I brought Bakuya up, prepared to deliver a finishing blow if I needed to.

"Master," she whispered. I waited, sword posed to end it, but instead of getting up, a flare of light began to emerge from the back of her neck. It lasted for a few seconds, and then once it was gone, and the Sekirei collapsed, motionless with her eyes closed.

I waited patiently a few more moments to see if this was some kind of ruse. When she made no more motion I kicked her, hard in the floating ribs. If she was faking she would double up, unable to breath as unsecured ribs dug into her lungs. If she were unconscious it might just force her back awake, and then I could knock her out again, this time by aiming at the kanto slam region, the area of nerves around the base of the neck that could render anyone unconscious with enough force. Despite the cruel blow she laid still, not reacting at all. I frowned, and leaned down to check her pulse. It was still there, strong beneath my fingers, but she continued to lay unresponsive.

The flare, right before she entered this state. What was it? Reaching up I pulled the collar of her dress down, exposing her back, right around the region that had flared up. I found nothing but smooth skin there. It took me a moment before I realized how odd that was. She was a winged Sekirei, she had mentioned her master before she became like this. She should have a crest where there was nothing but unmarked flesh.

Whatever the case was, she was gone now, no longer a member of this war anymore. I stared down at her still form, and despite the fact that I had earlier been filled with murderous rage, now I felt nothing. 'Get away,' she had shrieked. 'Get away.' What was that? Why had she panicked? That wasn't the act of a veteran, of someone who had entered a war prepared to kill or be killed, of someone that was ready to risk their lives on the chances of battle, someone who had already killed dozens of men just to enter this garden earlier.

That was the sound of a scared girl realizing she was in over her head. Her last words, 'Master', had sounded like a desperate plea, like a cry for help at the pain she was feeling, or for forgiveness for her failure.

I shook my head quickly, banishing those thoughts. There were other things to worry about now. With a thought I banished Bakuya, still in my hand, and Kanshou from where it had embedded itself after it had spun free after disarming my opponent. Turning from the fallen girl, I made my way towards where Kusano was still waiting.

She was exactly where I had left her, her hands still tightly clenched over her eyes as she huddled fearfully, partially covered by the root of the tree she was trying to fit herself behind. When she heard my steps approach she shrank herself smaller, as small as she could make herself.

My heart clenched at the sight of such a small girl shrinking. "Kuu-chan," I said, forcing my voice to be gentle, despite the adrenaline still coursing through me. "It's all better now. You can open your eyes."

Slowly, as though she was afraid that this was all a dream, her little hands moved down till they were covering her mouth instead. Her eyes were wrinkled with the pressure she was using to keep them shut, but those wrinkles disappeared slowly, and her honey eyes opened. When they settled on me, they widened, and her breath hitched. "Onii-chan," she whispered, and then her eyes darted around trying to find where the Sekirei that had been threatening her was. When they found me alone in the clearing, she said it again, this time louder. "Onii-chan!" she cried, and she desperately crawled her way out of her nook in order to run towards me with outstretched arms. Kneeling, I let her throw herself at me, hugging me tightly as she buried her face into my shoulder.

"Shh," I hushed her. "It's alright now. I'll protect you." She clutched me tighter then, and then her body went limp. Worried, I checked her, only to find that she had fallen asleep, the stress being too much for her as she let herself fall into unconsciousness. "It's all right now," I repeated. "I'll protect you."

I stood, Kusano's sleeping body against me, and turned to start making my way out of the labyrinth when I heard voices approaching.

"That was amazing, Akitsu-san!" I could make out Musubi gushing though I couldn't see her yet. "I didn't know you were so strong! I wish I could fight you some time!"

"Unreal," I heard another voice speak up, this one sounding shaky. "I can't believe she managed to defeat our norito." I hesitantly identified this one as Hikari, though the voice sounded shaken, much less confident then it usually was.

"We knew she was a scrapped number, Hikari," a third voice said, sounding resigned. I took this as confirmation that I had been correct in the second voice, and that this must be Hibiki.

"Now now," a final voice spoke up, this one male. "I guess it was a good thing that Ashikabi of theirs told them not to finish us off, now isn't it?" Seo started to laugh, and before any more conversation drifted to my ears, I was confronted by a blur of blue and white, and Akitsu was standing before me, back straight, arms behind her, and eyes locked firmly on mine.

"Did everything go well, Akitsu?" I asked her, keeping my voice down so as not to bother the sleeping child in my arms.

"Is there an enemy?" she asked, her posture rigid as she stood on guard, ready to leap to my defense in a fraction of a second if I was being threatened. Behind her, from the same alcove that she had emerged from I saw Musubi jog out. Whereas Akitsu looked as clean and untouched as she had this morning, Musubi bore more evidence of the battle that I had trusted to her. The top of her outfit had been shredded, and the edges of it were scorched, no doubt from the lightning of her opponent.

"Ah! Shirou-san!" the cheerful girl jumped up to wave at me with one hand as she rushed forward. She kept her other hand carefully in front of her chest, concealing her breasts which were otherwise completely bare to the world. "Look!" she exclaimed, and moved the arm covering herself, the action making her very bountiful chest shake as a side effect. "I preserved my modesty!" she declared happily, beaming up at me.

"That's good, Musubi," I told her, happy that my lecture after the fiasco with the landlord had stuck. The last three voices I had heard finally emerged as well. The twin lightning Sekirei had a dazed look on their faces, and the moment Hikari laid eyes on Akitsu she flinched. Her hair was bone white, apparently so covered in frost that its natural color was concealed beneath it. Hibiki had a resigned look on her face, and Seo seemed to be finding the development as a whole to be immensely amusing.

"Yo! Shirou, wasn't it?" the gregarious man waved at me like we were old friends. "Those are some girls you got there. I mean, look at their chests!" he continued, gesticulating in front of his chest in an exaggerated manner as he waggled his eyebrows at me. Beside him his girls both twitched, and suddenly a small bolt of lightning struck out of an otherwise clear sky, somehow missing all the branches above us to hit the grinning man squarely on the head. "Ouch," he coughed, grimacing at the minor assault for his impropriety. "So, it looks like you managed to find that Green Girl in time," he continued, eyeing Kusano where she slept in my arms. His eyes widened slightly as he took note of the back of her neck, bare from where her dirtied dress hung loose on her thin frame. "You haven't winged her yet?" he asked, his voice mostly unconcerned but with a hard edge of curiosity beneath it.

"She's had a long day," I said, keeping my voice soft. "She deserves a chance to get some rest and some food before she decides what to do."

"Hmph. Well, can't argue with that," the other man admitted, scratching the back of his head as he grinned. He blinked, seeming to remember something. "Wasn't there supposed to be another Sekirei here?" he asked, his voice casual as he glanced around the clearing. "Guess you got lucky and they got lost." He threw his head back and laughed at that.

"No," I corrected him, my voice hard. "She's over there."

Akitsu was moving in an instant, racing in the direction I had indicated with my head her eyes intent as she instantly rushed to confront the enemy she was expecting to find. She stopped in her tracks when she found the body.

Musubi had been trailing behind her, eagerly rushing to confront another enemy, but when she saw what it was that Akitsu had found she gasped, staring with wide eyes. Then she turned back to me, and I could swear that I saw her eyes dewing up and sparkling. "Shirou-san! You defeated a Sekirei! That's amazing!" she proclaimed, sounding like she was overjoyed at the idea that her Ashikabi was strong enough to fight on her level.

"Defeat a Sekirei?" Hikari spoke up, sounding incredulous at the very idea. "That scruffy guy? No way! That's impo…si….ble…" she trailed off as she too finally caught sight of the fallen wind user.

Seo leaned over till he could see what all the others were looking at. He let loose a low, impressed whistle when he realized that there really was a defeated Sekirei present as well. He paused, glancing around the clearing. "Looks like there was quite a battle here," he admitted, taking note of the decimated clearing, enormous gouges from where the blades of wind had ripped large chunks of wood apart and spread them wildly. "What happened?" he gave me a measuring look. His eyes seemed to notice something and they narrowed again. "Looks like you took a wound yourself."

"Ah! Shirou-san! Your face!" Musubi yelped, noticing the trail of blood on my cheek now that it had been pointed out. There was another blur of blue and white, and Akitsu was beside me again. If the other Sekirei had moved as fast as the snow woman did, then I don't think I would have done nearly as well as I had.

"It's nothing," I assured the snow woman, who was standing so close to me that her chest was brushing my arms as she put her face inches away from mine, studying the trail of drying blood. I shifted enough for Kuu to rest in one arm, and used the other to wipe away the red stain on my cheek. Beneath there was nothing but smooth undamaged flesh. "Not even a scratch." Not anymore anyway.

*Scene Break*

"You two again," was the first thing I heard as our motley group managed to make it to the edges of the garden. With Kuu-chan in my arms I had to move a bit slower, and though Musubi and Akitsu had slowed down to stay near me, Seo and his Sekirei had pulled ahead. "You're still not tired of chasing unwinged Sekirei?"

From the sound of it Homura was still standing attentive guard outside and the lightning twins had made it to the exit.

"No way," Hikari spoke up, "We're done. The Green Girl already found her Ashikabi, and I'd rather not have anything to do with someone scary like that."

"Me either," Hibiki chimed in sounding eager to get away.

"Now, now, girls," Seo spoke up, laughing as he did so. "I kinda like the guy. Seems really dependable!"

"Unlike our Ashikabi," Hikari growled, and I heard the noise of lightning striking the same place for the third time in a day. Right about then my Sekirei and I pulled free from the mess of trees to once more be able to see the sky unimpeded again.

"Shirou," Homura spoke up, his voice sounding relieved. "So you managed to get to her in time?" he asked, his eyes drifting down to the sleeping girl in my arms.

"Yes! It was amazing!" Musubi gushed her eyes sparkling in admiration. At some point we had managed to maneuver Kuu enough for me to shrug out of my denim jacket so that Musubi could once more walk around without fear of accidental exposure. The excitable shrine maiden darted over to grasp Homura's hands in hers while she continued to babble excitedly. "While Akitsu-san and I were fighting those two meanies, Shirou-san managed to fight and win against a Sekirei all by himself! I knew he was gentle, but I didn't realize he was strong too! We're so lucky to have an Ashikabi like that!"

"What?" Homura asked, not understanding what Musubi was saying, and trying unsuccessfully to free his hands from his fellow Sekirei's grip.

"Don't worry about it," I told him, more concerned with getting the girl in my arms somewhere where she could rest up after her ordeal. "We need to be getting this one someplace where she can sleep peacefully."

Homura carefully studied Kusano where she slept, his eyes fixing on the same place that Seo's had, and the flame user paused. "You haven't winged her yet?" he asked cautiously. He didn't seem to know what to make of the child's current state.

"Now really isn't the time for things like that," I told him, trying not to be sharp. I remembered the kind he was more used to dealing with, the ones he had to protect others of his kind from, and I know that our first meeting hadn't really given either of us the chance to get to know the other, but I was still offended by the implication that the first thing I would do with an exhausted and scared little girl is try to kiss her. "What she needs now is a chance to clean herself off, get some rest, and get some food as well."

"Yes!" Musubi agreed, still seeming to be riding on the excitement that her first taste of combat had left in her mouth. I still didn't even know how that had turned out. Judging from the state of her clothes it must have been an intense battle. "Ah!" Musubi suddenly froze, her hands clasping to her mouth as she seemed to remember something that shocked her. "Shirou-san," she turned, and her eyes filled with tears, her lower lip trembling as she did so. She looked all the world like nothing more than a kicked puppy at that moment. "I'm sorry! I was holding the apartment list when I got hit by lightning and now it's gone! Now we have nowhere to move to!"

"It's fine, Musubi," I patiently assured the passionate Sekirei. "We still have a week to find a new place. A day to make sure that Kuu-chan is alright won't matter either way."

"Wait," Homura chimed in, finally free of Musubi's leach like grip. He shook his hand gingerly, while his other snaked up to rub his chest again. "What's this about needing a new house?" he asked, sounding like he was trying his best to keep up with the conversation and despite his best efforts he was still coming up short.

"Well," I began awkwardly, and then paused as Kuu let out a little snore before shifting herself so that her face was more firmly buried in my neck. "My old apartment is a single, and my landlord found out that I wasn't living alone anymore."

"I'll say," Homura snorted, glancing at my two fully grown Sekirei, and then once more at girl in my arms. He seemed to hesitate for a moment and then spoke up hesitantly. "If you're looking for a place to stay," he began slowly, "I know of one," he admitted. It looked like a second later he had second thoughts, but then he shook his head briefly as though to clear it and reaffirmed his earlier statement. "I definitely know a place that is open to renters."

"Really?" I asked, perking up despite myself. "Where?"

"It's the inn I'm lodging at," Homura admitted. "It's called the Izumo house."


	6. Sixth Wing

In Flight: Sixth Wing

_Author's notes: Let's see, what to say about this chapter. Well, not much really at this point. So far there's been no real major points of curiosity in my reviews except for what happened back at the Clock Tower, and I've already mentioned that I'm going to be covering that later. As for the chapter itself, I will admit to feeling like so far most of what I've been doing is laying the framework for the rest of the story. Is anyone else feeling like most of this story has been nothing but exposition so far? I've been trying to keep it entertaining, using fan service and humor, though I've also been trying to add character insight and development as well. So far only one real piece of action, but most of that is planned for later on when things start to pick up a bit. Honestly, it feels like I've mostly been concentrating on bringing in all the appropriate characters. _

_Well, the next few chapters should see the story going away from that direction. Now that a good number of the cast has been gathered and put in the appropriate place, I think I'll start to be able to work with them a little better._

_I am curious about responses to my own impressions. Anyone else feeling the same? Think its alright anyway? As always, if you have an opinion by all means speak it up, but it positive or negative._

_And as always, please, enjoy._

*Scene Break*

"Is this where you live?" I asked Homura as the two of us walked side by side towards the old Japanese style building on the corner of the street. It had taken us less than half an hour to arrive here from the Botanical Gardens by foot. It would have taken less time if we had used the roofs as Musubi had wanted to, but with Kuu in my arms, still sleeping peacefully, I had vetoed that plan.

"Yes," Homura admitted, sounding nervous. He was still wearing his work outfit, the black suit and mask that he seemed to favor when he wasn't pretending to be Kagari, the host club worker, and was instead being Homura, the Sekirei guardian. "I've been renting here since I first left the labs. I knew the landlady from back then." The flame user looked like he wasn't certain about whether or not he wanted to go through with having us live in the same building as he did.

"Which one is she?" I asked, scenting the air as I did so. "Are all the Sekirei here winged by the same Ashikabi?"

"All the Sekirei?" Homura asked, sounding unnerved by my proclamation before he winced. "You can sense them all, can't you?" he said, sounding even more nervous now.

"Well, I can sense three of them," I admitted, trying to identify the exact nature of the powers I was feeling. "I don't know if that's all of them, but that's all of them there at the moment."

"I don't know why I forgot about that weird ability of yours," Homura muttered, rubbing his head as he did so. "Maybe it would be better if you found someplace else?"

"Eh?" Musubi chimed in, sounding excited. "More Sekirei? Are we going to get to fight again already?" She bounced excitedly, her hands fisted against my coat that she was still wearing as she did so.

"No!" Homura almost shouted, looking panicked at the thought. "There's no fighting at Izumo House. If you try, a scary Hannya will come and get you."

"Hannya?" Musubi asked, putting a finger to her lips as she tried to place the odd word.

"It's a mask representing a female demon commonly used in Noh plays," I told the bubbly shrine maiden. I turned my attention back to Homura who still looked nervous at the thought of someone starting trouble at his home. "So the Ashikabi there doesn't like battle? Is he not participating in the Sekirei Plan yet?" It made a certain sense to me. In the Holy Grail War there had been all kinds of participants, from those who actively sought battle, to those who merely waited at a defensible location to plan their actions before moving. Caster had chosen the Ryuudouji Temple as hers originally, and the Master of Berserker, Illyasviel von Einzbern, had chosen her families estates on the outskirts of town for hers. To a lesser extent the Emiya estates had been Rin and mine after we had joined forces.

"No, there are no Ashikabi at Izumo House," Homura admitted, wincing as he did so. "Only one of the Sekirei there has one, and I don't know where her Ashikabi is. The other two…" Homura trailed off, looking uncomfortable. "The other two are in complicated situations."

"Complicated situations?" I prompted, trying to get any information so as not to enter the situation blind.

"Very complicated situations," Homura elaborated. "You might be better off if you just pretend that you can't smell Sekirei," he told me, giving me an earnest look.

I was about to agree, though more on the principle that I shouldn't be letting potential enemies know my capabilities when Homura and mine's impromptu strategy session was interrupted.

"Eh! Shirou-san can smell Sekirei?" Musubi burst in, looking excited. She hopped over to me and began to study my nose intensely, as though by being two inches away from me would let her determine just what it was about my olfactory organ that allowed me to do something so unusual. "That's amazing!"

From behind me where she had been patiently following in her usual position Akitsu spoke up as well. "I smell?" she asked, and her voice sounded mildly embarrassed. I glanced back to confirm that she was blushing slightly at the implication.

"Well," I began dryly to Homura, "I'll try, but I'm suddenly doubting the effectiveness of attempting to conceal that information."

"They didn't already know?" Homura asked, surprised as he glanced at his fellow Sekirei. He looked abashed as he realized that he had just given away something I had been keeping secret. "Ah," he muttered, scratching his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"Its fine," I told him with a sigh as we finally closed in on the front door to the Izumo house. "It probably would have come out eventually anyway."

The five of us approached the entrance, a shaded porch like area with a sliding shoji screen door leading into the building proper. I paused at the front, not sure if I should knock first, but Homura simply opened the door and walked in and Musubi followed without hesitation. I hesitated a moment longer, but then I finally followed, Akitsu at my heels as always. The entrance opened into a small alcove that had a step up to the house proper, a place for visitors to remove their shoes and exchange them for proper house wear. Homura had already removed his shoes, stepping into a pair of dark comfortable looking slippers. There were a few extra pairs laying about, meant for guests no doubt, and after a moment's struggle I managed to kick my shoes off and step into a set.

"Miya," The fire user called out as he waited for me catch up with him. "Are you there? I have a few people interested in renting," he stood near the center of the hallway that the entrance opened on, by a set of stairs leading up to the second floor.

"Ara," a melodic voice called out from down the hallway of the first floor, "people interested in renting?" From the end of the hallway a bustling noise followed by a screen door opening was the only warning I received before IT walked into my sight.

IT was a female, of slightly taller than average height for a Japanese woman. She was dressed in a traditional outfit, a shrine maiden outfit much like Musubi seemed to favor, though in the newcomer's case she seemed to favor the more traditional length for her skirt, a ruffled purple cloth that came to right above the top of her feet, which were clad in traditional tabi, thick two toed socks. She had an apron on, one of the older kinds that had sleeves to cover the entire front of the body and secured in the back, coming down to just above her knees. Her hair drawn back into a high ponytail, secured by a length of ribbon before it poured like a waterfall down to the below her back.

Her hair was also a light purple, the same shade as her skirt, and if I hadn't been able to feel her power then that right there would have been a big clue that whatever she was, she was most definitely not human.

I had become more and more used to the power of the Sekirei that I had been coming across, and identifying their primary scent and their secondary scent was starting to become second nature to me. But the power that this figure across from me was different, more complex, then any of the others I had come across. There was the honey traces that I've come to expect from the Sekirei, but it was stronger, headier, more potent than any I had come across. Interlaced with it was not just the usual tinge I got that gave me some inclination of a Sekirei's nature, but several intermingled odors to it. There was a bitter taint, something that was pungent, unnerving, something that evoked a feeling in the small of my guts. The only word I could come to describe it was 'remorse'. It was as though something had happened to her that she regretted so fiercely that the emotion had come to flavor her very nature so profoundly that even her power was affected by it. I couldn't say for sure, but I suspected the other scent she carried with her might be related to such an intense emotion: blood. Even more then the first Sekirei I had ever met, the grinning Karasuba, this figure before me reeked of spilled blood.

"Hello," the apron wearing alien said, her voice calm as she smiled at the motley crew in front of her. "My name is Miya Asama. I am the landlady of this place, the Izumo House. Are you friends of Kagari?" she asked, as she approached, wiping her hands clean on the apron as she did so.

"Kagari?" Musubi asked, putting a finger to her mouth and cocking her head to the side. "Who's that?" Beside her, Homura nearly tripped and fell over despite the fact that he had been standing still and leaning against a wall. The movement seemed to trigger Musubi's memory. "Ah! You mean Homura-san!" Musubi chirped, her expression happy as she figured out who Miya was talking about.

Miya raised an eyebrow, apparently interested in why the girl in front of her was using the flame user's real name and not the fake name he usually wore when he was in public. "Ara? You must be very good friends with Homura-san if he lets you use his real name," she commented, sounding curious.

Homura seemed to have some flash of insight over what was about to happen and hurried up from his position on the wall. "Wait, Musubi," he began, his voice panicking as he tried to interrupt the bubbly shrine girl, but he was far too late by then.

"Yes! Homura-san and Musubi both have the same Ashikabi, Shirou-san!" she declared to the confused looking landlady. Homura flinched, and looked away, scratching the back of his head and flushing slightly.

"Ah! What a cheerful girl you are, Musubi-chan," Miya smiled and seemed to disregard everything Musubi said that involved anything to do with Sekirei, putting a hand to her cheek as she did so. She looked very gentle when she smiled, her eyes crinkling nearly shut with the gesture.

For some reason she reminded me strongly of Karasuba at that moment. With the scent of blood hanging on her, the way her eyes squinted, and the way she seemed completely amused by the scene in front of her the resemblance wasn't so much physical as it was in the way their actions coincided.

Disregarding the interplay between the nervous flame user and the oblivious shrine maiden, the purple haired landlady turned to the rest of the group. "So who is this then?" she asked, giving a curious look as she did so. Her eyes lingered, opening slightly when they settled on Akitsu, and the crest on her forehead. I stepped between the two as unobtrusively as I could, not sure how she would react to the snow woman. I spoke quickly to draw her attention away from my first Sekirei and to myself instead.

"My name is Shirou Emiya," I introduced myself with a bow. "This is Akitsu," I nodded behind me, "and Kusano," I shifted the sleeping girl in my arms and Miya's eyes settled there, lingering for a second on the back of the young girls neck before coming back up to my face. "We've recently been evicted from our residence," I explained the situation as clinically as I could. Not only would this determine whether or not we would be allowed to rent here, but considering how radically different Miya's nature seemed to be to every other Sekirei I had met it might well determine whether or not whatever the landlady was would become hostile. So far she seemed very polite and gentle, but I didn't know her nearly well enough to accept that as the truth. "When Homura heard of that he told us about this place. May I ask if there are rooms still available?"

For a second Miya's eyes settled on my face, and despite the fact that I could make out no change in her expression it felt like during the Holy Grail War, the first few times I had been in the presence of Berserker. The weight of this creature's presence, the overwhelming feel of pressure as her attention pushed down on me, was enough to nearly make me hold my breath. I had to force myself not to step back or retreat as she studied me.

"My husband was someone that would never refuse shelter to someone who needed it," she finally said, and I felt my breath come easier as it seemed like I passed some kind of unspoken test. She tilted her head to beam up at me before continuing. "If you'd like, we can see to the paperwork…."

She was interrupted by a sound remarkably like two dogs fighting. Her eyes opened in surprise, and I blushed in embarrassment, before looking over at Akitsu. She met my gaze for a second before shaking her head slowly and looking at Musubi. I turned as well. Musubi blinked at the two of us in confusion as we both stared at her, and then blushed herself and looked down at her stomach quickly before quickly raising her head and shaking it frantically, bringing both her hands up to deny the unspoken accusation. "It wasn't me! I'm still fine!"

"What are the three of you…?" Homura began, looking perturbed at the strange interaction between the three of us, while Miya put a hand to her mouth in confusion, before he was interrupted by another rumbling.

"Onii-chan," a sleepy voice reminded us that there was another suspect for the origin of the noise. "Kuu-chan is hungry…." The girl in my arms looked up at me with a miserable expression on her face as she tugged urgently at the collar of my shirt.

"Of course," I assured her, giving her a reassuring smile. "I'll get you something to eat right away." I scolded myself for not having considered it before. The poor girl had been dirty and exhausted after her ordeal. Who knew how long she had been in that forest without food before I had managed to reach her? I turned back to Miya and bowed in apology. "I'm sorry, but could we do the paperwork later? I have to take this one somewhere where she can get some food."

Miya stared at me for a second, before smiling at me again, this time wider. "No, by all means. I was just preparing some dinner. Won't you all please join us, and then afterwards we can talk business?" she invited us in, stepping to the side so that we could pass her towards the dining room.

"I hate to impose," I began, hedging. It would be a lot more convenient to eat here, rather than wander around town until we could locate a restaurant that wouldn't throw the four of us out on the spot for the way we looked, but it felt rude to just walk in and impose ourselves on them like this.

"No," Miya said, shaking her head as she clucked her tongue. "It wouldn't be proper for me to turn you away like that when you're hungry. Please," she tilted her head again, gesturing with one hand towards the hallway once more. "I insist."

*Scene Break*

The moment I sat down to the meal Miya had prepared I knew that even if she was some kind of penitent blood soaked murderous alien that alone wouldn't be enough to stop me from wanting to live at Izumo House. It had been maybe a quarter of an hour before the dinner that the landlady had been preparing was finished, and during that time Homura had briefly shown my Sekirei and I around before excusing himself to head to his own room. The moment I had saw the polished wood floors beside shoji screen doors that opened up to a modest courtyard I had been hit with a profound sense of nostalgia. It had been nearly three years since I had left behind the Emiya estates to Fuji-nee's grandfather to look after and in that time I had been living in cheap cramped apartments, first in Britain and then back here in Japan. I had almost forgotten what it was like to have room to move around in, to actually have to walk more than six steps to get to anywhere in the place I was living.

The feeling was only cemented once Miya called that dinner was ready. The landlady had gone all out, preparing a traditional meal of rice, fish, pickled vegetables to the side, and a simmering vegetable hotpot in the center for the residents to dig into whenever they wished.

"Ah! This looks delicious!" Musubi declared, her eyes sparkling with joy as she stood awestruck staring at the feast prepared.

"Thank you," Miya responded demurely, a hand over her mouth once more as she accepted the praise gracefully.

Kusano stared at the meal with the intensity of a hawk about to swoop down on a mouse while making an audible, "jiiiiiii," noise as she did so. She had refused to let me put her down during our tour of the inn, and whenever either Miya or I had suggested that she walk around she had instantly buried her face in my neck and started to shake her head 'no' violently. Now though, when faced with the chance to fill her aching belly, she began to fidget as her stomach let loose another plaintive noise demanding that it be filled.

"Are you ready to get down yet?" I asked the child patiently. She waffled between burying her face in my neck and turning to stare at the food on the table I was standing next to. I smiled patiently. "Why don't you sit next to me while you're eating?" I supplied. She turned her face up to me, and gave me the most adorable wide eyed pleading look I had ever seen.

"Can I, Onii-chan?" she asked, her voice tinged with hope as I seemed to supply a solution to her dilemma of staying near me and eating.

"My, my," Miya said from where she was bustling about the room. "Little Kuu-chan sure seems to like her big brother!"

"That's because Shirou-san is kind!" Musubi piped in.

"Yes," a voice behind me reminded me that Akitsu was still following me the entire time. Speaking seemed to draw Miya's attention back to the quiet kimono clad woman following me.

"If you don't mind me asking," she began, her eyes lingering on Akitsu's forehead. "That's an unusual mark to have in such a prominent place." The landlady seemed unsure of the snow woman's presence, and I could hazard a guess as to why. Even if she felt mostly like a Sekirei, Miya definitely had a mark of distinction about her. I had no idea why her scent was so much richer and complex then the others of her kind, she definitely wasn't ordinary. So far most of the Sekirei I had come across had instantly recognized what the symbol on Akitsu meant, and if Homura's reaction was anything to judge by it wasn't something most other Sekirei were comfortable with.

"What's an unusual mark?" a new voice chimed in, and I turned as the dining room door slid open again to let yet another female into the room. "Man, Miya, something smells good," the newcomer said before realizing that there were strangers in the room. "Oh? Who's this? Are we having guests over?"

The newcomer was definitely a Sekirei, and she seemed to share some of the beliefs that Akitsu and Musubi had in regards to fashion, if her state of dress was anything to judge by. With long dark hair pulled up into a ponytail that hung off the side of her hair she was wearing a pale shirt that was frilly, had no sleeves, and was probably part of some kind of lingerie set along with a pair of panties and nothing else. I flushed and made sure that I was looking in some other direction as the barely clad girl padded into the room without a thought to her state of dress.

"Some of Homura's friends that will be renting here soon," Miya explained our presence easily, busying herself at the table preparing a portion of food. "Now, why don't we start eating before the little one gets any hungrier?" Eagerly from where she was still hanging onto my neck with one hand Kuu started nodding, her other hand up to her mouth as she watched the food sit temptingly in front of her.

"Let's!" Musubi declared, throwing one fist in the air excitedly.

I introduced myself as I took a seat at the table, trying not to stare as the new girl studied us curiously. "Pardon the intrusion. My name is Shirou Emiya, and that is Musubi," I nodded at the cheerful girl as she started to move to take the seat next to me. She was nearly there when the spot to my left was taken by Akitsu, who knelt down next to me the moment I had chosen my spot. "This is Akitsu," I nodded to the snow woman sitting patiently at my side. Musubi pouted as she realized that her destination was filled, and turned to the other open spot next to me only for Kuu to finally release my neck long enough to wriggle off my lap and into the spot nest to me. Miya stepped up to retrieve the chopsticks that had been in that spot and replace them with a small spoon which the green girl immediately latched onto with one hand, while her other reached down to take a flap of my jean's leg to hold onto and without waiting another second the starved girl started to shovel as much food into her mouth as fast she could. "And the hungry one here is Kuu-chan," I finished the introduction.

"Ahhh," Musubi moaned disappointedly. "I wanted to sit next to Shirou-san!" Musubi settled herself at the end of the table with a sulk on her face.

"Heh, what an exciting bunch," the newcomer commented with an easy grin. "I'm Uzume up in room two oh three. Nice to meetcha." She gave a little saucy salute with one hand, before settling in easily at the opposite side of the table from Musubi. The newly named Uzume took another glance at us, this time studying our faces, as she reached for her chopsticks so she could start eating but fumbled with them as she finally got a good look at Akitsu's face and saw what it was that Miya had been asking about when she came in. "Is that a…!" the newcomer started, before freezing and glancing at me nervously.

Akitsu seemed to bear the constant attention her crest was getting her with quiet resignation, and for some reason that seemed to irritate me. The way that she was being treated, especially by her own kind, it reminded me a little too much of when I was a kid on the playground and a few of the older kids would start picking on the younger and smaller ones. Back then, when confronted by bullying, I'd usually just hit the bully. Since I was probably going to be living here that wasn't the best option. But that didn't mean I had to sit here and do nothing.

"Is there a problem with Akitsu?" I asked bluntly, trying not to be too confrontational but getting the feeling I was failing.

Uzume glanced aside, scratching her head nervously. "Ah, no, it's not that…" she paused and seemed to try to find the words to explain her unease. It looked like she wanted to warn me about something, but didn't seem to know how to put it into words. After a few seconds of her struggling to find a way to respond she was rescued by the return of Homura.

"If it's about her being a scrap number, then don't worry, Uzume," the flame user said as he came into the room, straightening a tie as he did so. He had taken the time to change into a more normal outfit, a suit like he usually wore when he wasn't in his coat and mask, but this time he had added a tie to the mix. "He's an Ashikabi, and he already knows what she is." He took a second to give the ice user a brief glance, but refrained from adding anything more. Uzume gave a sigh of what I guessed was relief at not having to explain to what she had thought was an uninformed human just what he was sitting next to and why he should be afraid. "I still don't understand why, but she has decided to serve him regardless of the fact that she can't been winged by him." Homura paused, giving Uzume a once over. "I thought I told you not to come out dressed like that anymore, Uzume," he scolded the only partially dressed Sekirei.

That seemed to get a reaction from the two other residents. Uzume blinked, seeming to find the idea that a scrapped number would be willing to serve a human without being winged something bordering on incomprehensible for her. Miya on the other hand merely cocked her head, glanced one last time at the crest, and then apparently dismissed the topic completely. Instead she turned to Homura.

"You're dressed to go out," she noted casually. "It's been a while since I've seen you wear a tie."

"There's an unusually important client tonight," he excused himself, shrugging slightly as he did so. "I'll probably not be back till morning."

"Oh my," Miya sighed, placing a hand to the side of her face. "Then will you not be eating anything tonight?" Homura gave her a crooked smile, stepping up to take one of her hands and bowing over it to brush his lips against her knuckles. I blinked, surprised at the move. I had never seen him do anything like that before. Then again, I suppose most of our meetings have been in less than optimal situations. This might have been the first time I have ever seen him in a situation which wasn't directly related to Sekirei business.

"I'm afraid not," he informed the landlady. "But if you could save a plate of something good once this luxurious working man gets back, then I would be forever in your debt." He gave her a charming smile before turning to head towards the door. I had known he worked in a host club, but seeing him casually flirting with Miya was a sight that made me uncomfortable. I'm afraid that when it came to being charming I had very little in the way of experience. My first real relationship hadn't exactly been based on my ability to sweet talk. It had been based on my ability to face life and death situations in a calm and decisive manner.

"Wow!" Uzume finally chimed in, "So you're an Ashikabi then?" Her eyes tracked over to Musubi and then Kusano. "Are you two his Sekirei as well?" she asked, sounding interested. "Not bad, bro!" she chimed in, giving me a wink as she did so.

"Yes! Musubi is really lucky to have found an Ashikabi like Shirou-san!" Musubi added her two cents to the mix in between her third and fourth bowl of food.

"Well, Musubi is anyway," I chimed in answering Uzume's original question, glancing down at where Kuu-chan was still clutching my leg even as she continued to shovel food into her mouth with the spoon Miya had provided her with, though it looked like her pace was quickly diminishing. "I just helped Kuu-chan out of a bad situation. She isn't winged yet."

"Kuu-chan is Onii-chan's Sekirei too!" the girl chimed in, stopping her eating so she could turn to give me a determined glare. The effect was greatly diminished by the fact that the full belly combined with the day's stress seemed to be conspiring to send the young girl back to sleep. Even as the green girl glared up at me for implying that she wasn't my Sekirei her head nodded and her eyes drooped, before she shook her head valiantly to try and stay awake long enough to continue her case. She brought both her fists up to under her chin in order to try and convey her seriousness to me, but her attempt at being stern was diminished by the fact that she was still clutching her spoon in one hand and had grains of rice dotting her face from her earlier haste at stuffing herself.

I gave her a gentle smile and put a hand on her head. She scowled up at me and ducked her head as I ruffled her hair. "Tell you what, Kuu-chan. Why don't you get some sleep first, and if you still feel like that in the morning we can see what we'll do then?"

Still ducking her head she gave me a warning look. "Promise?" she demanded of me, pouting.

"Promise," I told her. Kuu hesitated another second, and then she gave loose an enormous yawn which seemed to be the deciding vote in the matter.

"It looks like someone's ready for bed," Miya spoke up, covering her mouth to conceal her smile as she did so.

"Heh, tell you what Kuu-chan," Uzume spoke up, looking like she was trying to hold back a grin of her own. "Why don't I get you a change of clothes so you can get some sleep while you're bro there goes and talks with the landlady? The sooner you get to bed, the sooner you can see you're onii-chan in the morning, right?" Kuu gave a little mumble at that, but it looked like she was more concerned with making my leg a comfortable pillow as she started to slip into sleep again.

"If you'll take her up to my room, she can rest there, and I can show you to the room you'll be renting so you can see it before we finish the paperwork," Miya suggested, rising to her feet as she did so.

"That sounds like a good idea," I answered her, and gently lifted Kuu back up into my arms so I could carry her there.

*Scene Break*

I woke the next day to discover that just as before sometime in the night Musubi and Akitsu had abandoned their own futons for mine. This time I managed to restrain my initial reaction to let loose a manly scream and run away at the feel of their bodies against me, but I still couldn't stop myself from blushing a bit. I wasn't an innocent seventeen year old anymore after all. I had more than a little experience with not sleeping alone. It didn't change the fact that coming out of a slumber to find myself embracing two very feminine figures when I had gone to bed the night before alone was still something that took a bit of getting used to.

A glance to my right confirmed that the girl snoring at my side and doing her best to cover a quarter of my shirt with her drool was the deeply sleeping Musubi again. She had snuggled down into my arm when I had wrapped it around her in my sleep, and was lightly clutching my torso with both her hands. Looking to my left revealed that the just like was her habit Akitsu on the other hand was wide awake, watching me sleep. She had propped her head under one arm to serve as a cushion, and the other was hovering over me, as though she wasn't certain if she should take the last step and touch me of her own initiative.

I yawned sleepily, glancing at the window of my room to affirm that it was still dark out, only the faintest traces of dawn touching the eastern horizon. I didn't have a watch handy, but if I was any judge of time I'd say it was barely pushing six in the morning. Despite how lazy I had become the last few months, it seems that just being in a traditional house was enough to awaken dormant instincts once more.

With a bemused smile I silently flexed the arm that Akitsu had claimed, trying to indicate that she should get up. Akitsu looked down in that slow way of hers, waited a moment and then wordlessly stood. I tried to do the same, but Musubi gave a discontented muttering noise, tightening her fists in my shirt.

Fortunately I had experience in dealing with grabby sleepers. Rin, for all that she usually forced herself to be an early riser hated getting up before noon. On those few days when she was allowed to sleep in, she hated anyone near her getting up early too. Though I usually performed this maneuver with Saber's sleeping body, and then afterwards took a secret joy at her embarrassment at being used as a giant teddy bear, I managed to pull the pillow free from under my head without disturbing the resting shrine maiden and in a complicated maneuver that had taken me months to perfect the sleeping Sekirei was now cuddling the pillow and I was able to rise and get the day started.

Now free to leave the happy pillow cuddling behind to start the day I padded out of the room, Akitsu a quiet shadow at my back. We had been placed on the second floor, the first door on the hallway, labeled room two oh two. I scented the air, feeling the presences of the inn. It felt as though Homura had returned at some point, his room on the first floor. I could make out the distinct feel of Uzume, the green earth smell of Kusano, and the final Sekirei who I hadn't met yet somewhere nearby. Laced throughout it all was the final feel of power, and the person I was going to see now.

I found Miya in the kitchen, peeling and dicing vegetables as she prepared the morning meal for her residents. Even though I had come down with business in mind, the mere sight of the room was enough for me to pause and give out a happy sigh. The kitchen was large, even larger than the one I had grown up with. Big enough to fit a table in the center and still have room for three people to move comfortably in it, the enormous fridge in the corner and the spacious stove at the side was enough to make me warm with anticipation.

"Good morning, Emiya-kun," the voice of the landlady interrupted my blissful inspection. The purple haired woman had turned at the sound of my entrance to smile at me benevolently.

"Good morning as well, Miya-san," I returned, and without waiting another second I made my way over to stand next to her. She had been in the middle of dicing one of the peeled vegetables, a daikon radish. She had two piles of vegetables near her, the pile on her left consisting of unpeeled ones, and the one on her right carefully organized stacks of fully prepared and ready to cook portions. I took the paring knife that was nearby the waiting pile on the left, picked up a potato, and began to peel it without another word, the knife expertly flicking in my hands as I quickly began to divest it of its skin.

"Oh?" Miya spoke up, raising an eyebrow at the skill I brought to my self-appointed task. "There's no need," she began, and I cut her off gently.

"Please. I've been cooking since I was seven," I told her. "I like cooking. My old place was too small for me to do any proper meals." As though to punctuate my statement I placed an expertly peeled potato down and went to pick up the next vegetable, a carrot and began on it as well.

"Well," she said, studying the vegetable as though it was an exam and she was a professor. When she found it without flaw she gave me another gentle smile. "Thank you very much, Emiya-kun." She began dicing the potato expertly, and I found myself impressed by her own skills in the kitchen.

We worked together in silence a few minutes before Akitsu stepped up. She took a place on the other side of me, and began to take the vegetables and run them under the tap to wash them before handing them to me. In this way we quickly worked together to prepare breakfast.

In the lessening dark of the early morning, I felt inexplicably calm. The last few days had been hectic, starting with my failure at the exam, and from there it had been a whirlwind of events; meeting Homura, finding Akitsu, then Musubi, now Kuu. Standing in the calm of the kitchen it was as though my brain finally had a moment to catch up. It was still stuffed with new information and new worries, and the old worries and fears were still there as well. But the simple act of peeling vegetables, hearing the birds begin to chirp as the spring sun finally peaked over the horizon, the slowly growing rustling from the other inhabitants of the inn, they all conspired to make me believe that whatever was going to come, I would be ready for it.

It felt a crime to break the comfortable silence so I held off on my other reason for finding Miya this morning until the vegetables were comfortably stewing in a large pot on the stove.

"Asama-san," I began, once the landlady was wiping her hands off on her apron as Akitsu and I cleaned our hands in the sink. "You know that I am the Ashikabi of Homura, don't you?"

"Hmmm?" Miya responded absently, tilting her head to the side in feigned confusion. "Ashikabi?" she asked, and she was so innocent that if I couldn't still smell the scent of blood on her I might have believed her.

"He says that the reason that he was able to react to me is because I'm an unusually powerful Ashikabi. He was quite surprised to learn that not only was I able to cause him to react, but that I could tell even before he spoke up that he wasn't human." Miya stilled, and I turned to face her, watching her carefully as she stood still, patiently waiting for me to finish. "In fact, I can tell a lot about things that aren't human. I can feel them from some distance, depending on how powerful they are. I can tell that there's definitely one more Sekirei here. And I can tell that whatever you are, you're not quite Sekirei, and definitely not human."

"Oh? That's a bold thing to say," the landlady said softly, still not reacting.

"It's no business of mine, what your nature is," I began, feeling the full extent of her power resting on me as her attention focused on me with the intensity of a laser. "The only thing I need to know, if I'm going to stay here, is if you will ever be a threat to my Sekirei." Beside me, Akitsu stood near, her back straight, her gaze intensely focused on Miya as the quiet snow woman stood ready to defend me in a heartbeat if needed.

"And if I were to become one?" the landlady asked, her eyes no longer crinkled, opened and regarding me with the same look Karasuba had given me after I had thrown a knife at her head. "What then?"

I was silent for a moment, and my own eyes were hard. Despite the intensity of the power being focused on me, I stood ready. "If you were to become a threat to my girls, then I would stop you myself." It wasn't a threat. It wasn't even a promise. It was simply the course of action that I would take, something as inescapable as the tide.

Miya was still for a moment more, studying my resolve, and then she smiled again, her eyes crinkling up as she did so. "There is no violence at Izumo House," she told me, her voice pleasant. "And all who stay here are under my protection. You're Sekirei, and yourself as well, need not fear me so long as you remember that."

I let out a breath of relief at her assurance. I had been serious about my actions if she were to be a threat, but that didn't mean I was at all sure of my success if that was how things turned out. I had fought against some powerful enemies in my time, some of them human, some of them not, but that didn't mean I was at all certain how a battle between Miya and I would end. I might be able to match her for a bit, and maybe even surprise her enough to wound her or drive her away, maybe even win if I was lucky. But surviving the battle? That I wasn't certain about at all.

*Scene Break*

After Miya and I finished preparations for breakfast, the purple haired landlady excused herself to take a bath while it was still early enough that the other residents wouldn't disturb her. Seeing as that left the only other people in Izumo House awake Akitsu and I, I decided that now was as good a chance as any to indulge in one of the fantasy's that had been dancing through my head since I first laid eyes on the courtyard.

It was the work of minutes to prepare a pot of tea, and even less time than that to locate a set of pillows from the hallway linen closet. Izumo House's corridors along the outer edges of the house were all lined with sliding panel doors, and for the first time in years I was able to relax, kneeling quietly in the hallway as I overlooked the yard, Akitsu kneeling wordlessly as well and sharing the pot of tea. The early morning air was cold enough for my breath to frost in front of me as I sat, a blanket that I had liberated from the linen closet wrapped around my shoulder to help stave off the chill. Akitsu had chosen to sit herself at my side, but as was her habit a little behind me as well.

"Akitsu, if you'd like, would you sit beside me?" I prompted her. I understood her dedication to her role as my servant, but having her behind me like that just made the otherwise peaceful scene seem awkward. Besides, I was probably blocking her view of the yard.

Akitsu waited her customary length of time before answering my question. "Yes, Shirou-sama," she said slowly, and I heard her scrabble a bit before catching sight of her from the corner of my eye as she pulled even with me. She was wearing her kimono again, not having had anything to change into the night before when we had all gone to bed after the paperwork was finished. I was too for that matter, and I was looking forward to making the first task of the day going back to my old apartment and getting a quick shower and a change of clothes before packing everything up for the move here. I eyed the snow woman's shoulders, noticing just how much of her upper torso was bare. The Sekirei seemed to pay the cold air no mind as she sat patiently, her gaze fixed steadfastly out onto the courtyard, just as mine was. I didn't know if the ice user even felt the temperature, considering what her powers were. Nonetheless, prior experience had shown me that if Akitsu was uncomfortable she wouldn't bring it up unless I did first.

"Would you like to share the blanket?" I asked her, lifting the corner of the sheet I had draped around my shoulders at my offer. Akitsu slowly turned her eyes to study the sheet, and then glanced down at her knees where her cup was resting.

"Ah," she began. "Yes." She finally admitted, her voice soft. I tugged until I had a bit of slack, and then carefully tossed the edge over shoulders. When it landed on her it settled slightly askew, not really covering her bare skin like I had intended to. I waited a moment, but when Akitsu made no move to adjust it herself I let out a sigh and leaned over to do it for her. She looked at me briefly while I was settling the blanket properly, and then she began to blush slightly. "Thank you," she said, turning to resume her study of the yard.

"You're welcome," I answered her, doing the same.

The tea was warm, and with the extra body under the blanket the chill of the early morning barely reached the two of us as we sat. With the early spring birds running rampant with their singing and the weak light of dawn touching the slightly frosted dew that graced the yard, it was easy for the two of us to lose track of time enjoying the scenery.

It was just as I was able to make out the rest of the house starting to make serious efforts to get up themselves that the two of us were graced with a visitor. It was the soft pitter patter of feet which alerted me to their presence, and when I glanced over to confirm I found Kusano was up. She was standing from the edge of the hallway at the foot of the stairs. She was standing half behind the banister of the railing, her hands up to her mouth. She was wearing a large shirt that came down to below her knees. Miya had managed to convince the girl to change so that her normal clothes could be washed. She was studying me from across the hall, as though trying to decipher my strange nature so that she could approach me safely.

She was also still clutching the spoon from last night tightly in her hands.

"Would you like to sit over here?" I asked her, and she immediately began nodding vigorously, her still knotted and dirty hair shaking around her as she did so. I held the edge of the blanket up so that she could get under it as well and she immediately scampered over, her hands held down by her side with her fingers splayed out as she ran. When she closed within the last dozen feet or so she dropped onto all fours, crawling over like an excited kitten till she was kneeling by my side, her small shoulders touching mine as I dropped the blanket around them. She was shivering in the still slightly cold early morning, but once she entered the sanctuary of the sheet she stopped almost immediately.

For a few more minutes I continued looking out at the courtyard, but the girl at my side began to fidget. When I looked down at her I caught her sneaking tiny glances up at me before immediately looking down and shifting her legs where she kneeled on them. When I caught her giving me a glance she looked down immediately again and began to blush. It looked like she had something she wanted to say, but was either too nervous to say it, or too young to know how to say it.

"You called to me, didn't you?" I finally broke the silence for her. "I could hear your voice," I continued, somewhat lamely in my opinion, but I was trying more to prompt her then to carry the conversation myself. It seemed to be enough, and Kuu nodded once before mustering the nerve to look up at me without turning away afterwards. She still didn't seem to know what to say so I asked her again. "Why did you call for me, Kuu-chan?"

"Kuu-chan was scared," she said. It seemed to be enough for her to gather momentum. "Kuu-chan had asked Takami-nee-chan to let her go out and see the flowers. But then the bad man showed up and hurt Takami-nee-chan and tried to kiss Kuu-chan, so Kuu-chan made him go away. But then Kuu-chan was all alone, and she was scared. Then she heard Onii-chan's voice. She could hear lots of people's voices, but they all wanted Kuu-chan because she was Kuu. Only Onii-chan wanted to help Kuu-chan just because he wanted to help."

I smiled down at her, but then something she said caused me to stiffen. "Kuu-chan," I began, trying to keep my voice calm. "Did you say 'Takami-nee-chan'?" I asked, trying not to be short as I felt a cold pit settle in my gut. Kuu-chan nodded, and I forced myself not to immediately go for my phone. It's just a coincidence, I told myself. There must be plenty of Takamis in Shin Tokyo. It's not that uncommon a name, right? I mean, there must be dozens of Takamis. That worked for MBI. That were familiar with Sekirei…

Shit. Who was I kidding? With my luck there was zero chance that my Mother was not involved in this somehow. The last few days had been so hectic that I hadn't even thought to call home. I felt my fist clench around the cup of tea in my hand till my knuckles turned white.

Focus. There's nothing you can do right now. Focus on the girl next to you. Don't let on that her words had almost put you into a panic. It's not Kuu's fault, so don't take it out on her.

I had to call her as soon as possible to see just what the hell was going on though.

"Well, I'm glad Kuu-chan's safe," I managed finally, smiling down at the girl. She blushed and ducked her head, peeking at me from beneath the bangs of her hair. "If I had let such a sweet little girl get hurt, then I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself." It was the truth. Looking down at Kuu reminded me of the first time I had failed to save someone her age. I hadn't known Illyasviel well. In fact, the only other time that I had ever met her was when she was trying to kill Rin and me with Berserker. But that didn't change the fact that I had watched the small pale haired child die, her heart ripped out of her chest with Gilgamesh's bare hands, and that even though I had stupidly charged in to try and help there had been nothing I could do to save her. At least this time I had managed to make it.

Kuu's blush deepened even more. "Ne, Onii-chan," she began, looking up at me with an intense gaze, her blush getting deeper. My eyes widened as I realized that the reason she was so red wasn't just childish embarrassment. She was reacting to me. "Please become Kuu's Ashikabi," she asked me, and then stood up so she could grab my cheeks with her little hands and give me a chaste kiss on the lips, saying, "Chiu!" as she did so.

Green wings of light grew from her back, organic in shape and texture as they erupted to spread behind her. Just as it had the last two times I felt my od siphon away from me, flowing out through the contact and into the small girl who called me her brother. As the ephemeral wings twisted and shook, perhaps in response to some intangible breeze that only they could detect, or maybe in response to some unconscious command from the girl herself, the yard erupted into riotous growth. Marigolds, dandelions, and violets bloomed, and the cherry trees which lined one edge of the property bloomed, and began shedding their sakura leaves weeks before the rest of the country would catch up with them.

"Ah!" a voice came from behind us and I glanced over to see that Musubi had managed to wake up and had come down to join the rest of us. Last night, after it had been revealed that the reason she had been wearing my coat was because her own clothes had been shredded in battle, Uzume had volunteered to find her something to wear as an apology for her earlier misstep with Akitsu. Right now Musubi was wearing a pink and purple shirt with a star on the front, something that despite being so tight still managed to fit the shrine maiden's incredible bust without bursting. "It's so pretty!" the excitable Sekirei exclaimed as she fisted her hands beneath her chin and stared with sparkling eyes at the scenery in front of her.

Kuu giggled, and then sat herself in my lap so she could hug her onii-chan. "Forever and ever," she told me, burying her face into my chest as she did so.

*Scene Break*

"Shirou-san!" Musubi called out cheerfully from where she was rummaging through the closet. "What should I do with…" she began before I cut her off.

"Garbage," I told her instantly. Musubi gave the thing in her hands one last curious look before obeying my instructions as she continued to rummage through the closet of my old apartment, helping with the packing. On the other end of the apartment Akitsu was packing up the things in the shower. She would pick up each individual item, be it a toothbrush or a towel, study it carefully, carry it over individually and then carefully pack it away in a cardboard box I had designated for that room's things. She had been at it for nearly an hour now, her careful and methodical method of packing stretching a task that should have taken twenty minutes at the most into an ordeal she was only half finished with. Musubi had dedicated herself to cleaning out the closet, a job I really should have taken for myself in order to ensure that all the various embarrassing things Yukari had gotten for me would be properly disposed of, but the only other tasks available would have been dissembling the kotetsu and packing the kitchen, both of which involved delicate touches I wasn't certain the cheerful though overenthusiastic girl would be able to handle without breaking something at some point.

After breakfast had been finished back at Izumo House, I had gathered together the two Sekirei in order to give me a hand cleaning out the old apartment so that I could let the landlord know we were properly moved out. Though Kuu had wanted to come along now that the girl was feeling better Miya had been insistent that she have a bath first to get rid of the dirt her ordeal had left her covered in. The girl had pouted, but I had sternly told her that good girls needed to clean up, and she had sulked but obeyed. Homura had slept straight through breakfast, though Miya had assured me that was normal. Being a host at a club meant that he had to carry different hours than most and he had apparently only gotten home a few hours ago in the first place.

"What about…" the shrine girl who once more looked like a shrine girl started to ask before I again interrupted her by pointing to the garbage can wordlessly. At some point during the night a package had arrived at Izumo House, one that we stumbled over just as the three of us had been leaving. Whoever had delivered it hadn't bothered to come any closer then to the entrance of the gate. Originally I had intended to bring it in and let Miya take care of it, but I had discovered that it had been addressed to me from MBI. It had ended up having several sets of Musubi's and Kuu's outfits, specially tailored to their exact sizes. I was at first only a little unnerved that the company seemed to be keeping track of me closely enough to know not only exactly which Sekirei I had winged, but also where I was moving to the day I moved there. Then, after Musubi and Kuu had departed with a set of clothes to change into, I discovered that there also were multiple sets of Akitsu's outfit in there, complete with matching lengths of chain for each one, and then I was very unnerved by the situation.

"How about…" Musubi tried one more time and I once more pointed at the garbage while trying to unscrew the leg of the kotetsu so that it would be easier to move. "But Shirou-san," Musubi protested, sounding sad, "this one looks really comfortable!" I dragged my eyes up to see what toy Musubi was declaring as 'comfortable' only to discover that she was holding up an outfit instead.

"Is that a set of bloomers and gym shirt?" I asked, not quite sure what I was seeing. Where on earth had Yukari gotten that? Did they actually sell that kind of thing at specialty shops? Was there that big a fetish for the things?

"Is that what they're called?" Musubi asked, studying the fetish piece of clothes. "They look like they'd be easy to fight in!"

"Well, they are intended for school girls during their gym period," I admitted, scratching my head as I did so, somehow not surprised that the criteria Musubi used when judging an outfit's functionality was its combative potential. "I suppose they'd make okay sleep wear if you really want to keep them."

"Thank you, Shirou-san!" Musubi beamed at me, her eyes bubbling with repressed joy. "Now how about this one?" She held up the contraption that seemed to be made of nothing but silk and lace straps that Akitsu had worn to bed just the night before.

"That one can be thrown out," I declared, eying the piece of lingerie nervously. Musubi made to obey when a noise from the bathroom interrupted us.

"Ah," Akitsu began, pausing. "I like that one."

"You do?" I asked, unnerved by the idea of the snow woman once more appearing in my bed while wrapped in the racy piece. When she nodded, I tried to force myself to tell her to throw it away anyway, but found I couldn't. It was so unusual for Akitsu to make an assertive statement that I found I didn't have the heart to shoot her down once she did so, even if the garment in question made me incredibly uncomfortable. I sighed. "Alright, you can save that one too."

"How about…"Musubi started again, and this time I held up a hand to forestall her.

"Look," I began, "You've already gotten everything out of there except for the clothes, right?" When Musubi nodded I went over to the box that contained the exotic instruments my sister had bought me. "Why don't the two of you go through the rest of the outfits and see which ones you like. Just remember, it has to completely cover anything that a normal set of panties or bras would cover, understand Musubi?" I looked at her specifically, recalling her attempt to put on the bondage outfit for normal wear yesterday that got us kicked out by the landlord in the first place.

"You mean like this?" Musubi offered, pulling out a new outfit that I could only stare at, face red.

"What the hell is that?" I managed to get out, not able to believe that something like that existed in the real world. "Is it a set of zippers that tore off of another outfit? Where's the rest of it?"

Musubi studied it carefully, her expression intent as she chewed on her lip in concentration. "No," she finally declared firmly, nodding her head decisively. "That's all of it!"

"That one is definitely not appropriate," I declared, making an 'X' out of my arms in order to emphasize just how not appropriate it really was.

"Ah," Akitsu said again, looking disappointed. "I liked that one also."

I stared at her, and for a split second I imagined what she would look like wearing it, and then I promptly pinched my nose to keep myself from getting a nosebleed. "I," I began, not knowing what else to say. "I'm going to go throw these out now," I finally finished, grabbing up the box of toys destined for the garbage, paused long enough to firmly wrap it closed with duct tape to keep it from spilling open and embarrassing me any further, and then without any delay ran for the door. "You girls just finish packing up the clothes so we can hurry up and finish the move," I called over my shoulder before the door shut behind me, delivering me from danger once more.

I paused to catch my breath once I made it down the stairs to the garbage can and threw away the box, thankful that it was still cold enough out to cool me down before I overheated. I had to put my hands on my knees while I did so, still a little light headed from my Sekirei's sneak attack.

"Emiya-kun," a voice came from behind me and I yelped in surprise, straightening like a cat that had its tail stepped on. "What are you doing out here again?"

"L-l-landlord," I stuttered, trying to get my racing heart back in control as I turned around, one hand against my chest. "When did you get here?" I asked, trying to regain my composure.

"I've been hearing a lot of noise from your apartment," the grumpy balding man pointed out, eying me suspiciously. "I came to make sure that you were looking for a new place and not wasting your time playing around with those two girls of yours." He glanced up to where my apartment door was, from which indistinct feminine voices could be heard where Musubi was most likely holding a one sided conversation with the much quieter Akitsu.

"Actually," I began, happy for the distraction, "we managed to locate a new place already." The landlord's eyes opened slightly in surprise. "It's about a half hour away on foot," I continued. "We're packing right now. After we have everything put away, we should be able to get the room cleaned up this afternoon before we leave." I bowed low to him, continuing. "Thank you very much for the time we spent in your care," I said to him formulaically .

The landlord turned to the side, looking away and scratching his balding head as he did so. "Well, you were at least polite. Even if you ended up being the kind of guy that would wait outside while his women packed for him," he grumbled. I narrowed my eyebrows, not happy with the generalization he was giving me.

"Sir," I began, wanting to defend my good name. "There are some things that a man should just not be nearby when his girlfriend packs, especially if he has two of them." The moment the words were out, I regretted them. Those weren't my girlfriends. They were magically empowered members of an alien race that just so happened to require a contract in able to fully utilize their abilities. We were in a mutually beneficial relationship for the purposes of competing in a war, nothing more, nothing less. The reason I had instinctually referred to them like that was an old habit from back when I actually did have two girlfriends.

"Hmph," the landlord grunted, not being privy to my internal monologue but responding to my defensive declaration instead. "That sounds like an excuse to me," he muttered. "What kind of things could it possibly be better for a woman to pack when the man of the house is around?" I grimaced, not knowing how else I would be able to explain the fact that I was currently outside in order to keep from being overrun by the rampant disregard for modesty that the two tended to display. I was about to let the matter drop when the door to my room opened and Musubi leaned out.

"Shirou-san," she called, heedless of the landlord's presence. "Akitsu wants to keep this one, but I don't think it's properly 'modest'," she declared, holding up what looked to be the shattered remains of a chainmail vest and panties, after they had been hacked at by a battleaxe for a few hours. "I'm not too sure about what 'modest' is," the shrine girl admitted, scratching her head and sticking out her tongue, "so I thought I'd double check with you first!"

I sighed, and sank my head into my hand as the landlord turned bright red when confronted by the contraption that was supposed to be clothes. "Tell her that she'd only end up hurting herself and everyone around her if she wore that. It has entirely too many pointy ends to it."

"Okay!" Musubi cheered, finally noticing the landlord. "Hello Mr. Landlord!" she called, waving the hand still holding the pseudo garment around in greeting. The landlord twitched as though he was trying to be polite and wave back, but couldn't take his eyes off the swinging thing about to be thrown out and Musubi was already bustling back in to continue packing before he could move enough.

"W-w-what was that t-t-thing?" the landlord muttered, looking horribly embarrassed at the occurrence.

"One of those things a man should not be nearby when his girlfriends are packing them," I told him, and he nodded stiffly, apparently finally understanding why I was out here hiding and not in there helping.

"Anyway," I continued, trying to change the subject. "We'll be out of here by late afternoon, early evening at the latest."

"Right," the landlord eagerly latched onto the new topic, deliberately setting aside Musubi's last escapade. "Listen, Emiya-kun," he began, sounding grumpier than usual. "I was going to have you take a look at them later, but now that you're gone it didn't seem right to ask you about it. The plumbing in room six has been causing problems lately, and the heaters in five and seven have both been on the fritz. Not to mention the refrigerator in two and eight."

"Well," I began, scratching my head and recalling what I knew of the various appliances. "I could probably take a look at a few of them before I head out, but it would set me back a day or two for moving out myself. Maybe if I came back later to give you a hand…"

The landlord waved his hand irritably at me. "I'm not talking about you giving a hand, son," he roughly corrected me. "You're a fair hand at repairs. Now that you're not living here, I was thinking of hiring you on for that kind of thing. As a way to help make ends meet until you get into your university."

I blinked, surprised at the offer. "But sir," I protested, not liking the idea that I had to be paid to help another person. "I can take care of them fairly easy…"

He cut me off again, still looking away and grumbling. "The average rate for a good repair man is about twenty five hundred yen per hour," he continued, ignoring me completely. "And if you do a good enough job I know a few other owners in these parts who've been having trouble finding reliable help. I'll tell them your rates and give them your phone number so you can start making appointments with them as well." I opened my mouth once more and he turned a glare at me. "Now, you've always been a good renter," he snapped at me. "Don't go making me think you're a damn fool now, you hear me boy?"

I hesitated a moment longer, considering. It might not be a bad way to make ends meet while I'm in between testing, and if I'm my own boss I could arrange my schedule to give me time off to study as well, and not just study as in getting ready for my entrance exams. Finally I sighed, fighting off a small smile as I realized that the bitter old man was trying to help me in his own way. "Well, if you're sure I'll be up to it," I conceded. It was modesty, and it might even have been dissembling as well. I had a distinct advantage in my magecraft when it came to fixing appliances. There was a reason I had been able to scrap together the old equipment that this complex still boasted, even when it had been at least a decade or two since their manuals had been lost and forgotten.

"Good," the old man snorted, acting as though he hadn't just forced me into accepting his money for something I would have done for free. "Now you take care, boy. Those girls of yours might be a bit wild for my taste, but it's a man's job to take care of their ladies and treat them right."

Without another word my former landlord walked off, bent over and bow legged as he turned away to go bedevil one of his other renters.

I gave a small amused sigh, before bracing myself. It was time to head back in and risk whatever dangers my two immodest Sekirei had gotten themselves up to in my absence.

*Scene Break*

"You know," I began, eying Musubi curiously as she lifted the entire content of my apartment onto her back easily. She had somehow managed to find an enormous paisley patterned blanket, and after careful arrangement she had used it to secure all of my belongings into a bundle resembling what a hobo would use on the end of a stick to carry their things, if that bundle was twice Musubi's height in diameter. "I know the basics of all my other Sekirei's powers, but I still don't think I've seen yours, Musubi-chan," I pointed out.

Rather than be offended that I had taken so long to ask her the question, Musubi just smiled and brought a fist up in front of her face, leaving her securely supporting my entire apartment with just one hand easily. "I'm a power type!" she explained, clenching her hand until her knuckles popped.

"Oh?" I asked, interested in what she meant by that. "So you don't have any elemental abilities, like Homura, Akitsu, or Kuu?"

"Nope!" Musubi enthused. "I fight with my fists and my heart!" she declared.

"So how did you do yesterday?" I asked, using the time we would spend walking back to our new home to question her on her combat experience yesterday. I knew how my opponent had fought, and I knew the abilities of the two Sekirei that I had left Musubi and Akitsu to delay. I was curious how a fist fighter would measure up against an element wielder.

"If it wasn't for Akitsu I would have lost completely!" Musubi declared happily. She knuckled her forehead again, giggling despite her proclamation of loss. "I'm still too inexperienced!"

I nearly tripped at her flippant dismissal of her near failure. "Wait, what happened?"

"I was able to keep up at the beginning," Musubi explained, nearly skipping along as she debriefed me. "But then the other Sekirei were able to use their Norito since their Ashikabi was there. But Akitsu-san was amazing!" she gushed turning to smile at the silent Sekirei trailing me, and nearly knocking a nearby pedestrian into the road as the bundle on her back swung wildly behind her. "She was so powerful! Even when they used their Norito she was able to stop them completely!"

"Norito?" I asked, my mind halfwayl trying to get over Musubi's blasé attitude and her casual use of unfamiliar phrases, while the other half was analyzing the scenario for future reference about Sekirei combat.

"Yes," Musubi nodded her head emphatically. "When a Sekirei is about to use a large amount of power, or destroy another Sekirei's crest, they have to use their Norito first. It's a phrase the Sekirei has to chant beforehand."

"It's an Aria then?" I realized I had used a word as unfamiliar to the two Sekirei as the one they had been using was to me and corrected myself. "An incantation?"

"Yes!" Musubi nodded, and I caught Akitsu echoing the gesture from the corner of my eye. "But even though the two lightning meanies used their strong attack Akitsu was able to beat them anyway!"

"How does a Norito work?" I focused on the mechanics of the ability, wanting to be able to study it academically and compare it to the more familiar magecraft that I was used to.

"Well, first the Sekirei has to kiss their Ashikabi," Musubi explained, ticking off her fingers as she went over the process. "Then they have to recite their Norito. After that they can use their strongest attacks!" She nodded her head sagely at having summarized the rather straightforward process.

"I see," I muttered, not even registering the kissing part as embarrassing as I usually would have. I was in full combat mode now, going over the implications of this new information. "So in a Sekirei fight it's beneficial for the Ashikabi to be nearby in case the Sekirei needs the power?" I grimaced at the arrangement. It put the Ashikabi in entirely too much danger from their exposure. Back in the Grail War the best place for a Master to be was as far away from the combat as they could be. If a Master carelessly stuck their head out without a Servant nearby, then they'd do just as Rin had that first day I had returned back to school after I got involved in the War and try to cut that head off. "That would put the onus on the Sekirei to both defend their Ashikabi and to defeat their opponent at the same time?"

"Oh no," Musubi explained hastily. "The Ashikabi doesn't have to worry. It's against the rules for a Sekirei to attack one."

I stared at the naïve girl, unable to believe that she had been able to say that with a straight face. It took me a moment to realize that she hadn't just been attempting to make a joke and had been absolutely serious. I cast an eye back at Akitsu to see if she agreed with the idea of attacking an Ashikabi to be completely inconceivable.

She met my eyes back and said simply, "I will protect you, master."

It seemed the snow woman was a great deal more practical in her assessment of the situation.

Still, there was another thing I wanted to know about yesterday's events. "You mentioned using the Norito for an attack," I pointed out, "but you also said something about destroying another Sekirei's crest. What did you mean by that?"

"There are two ways for a Sekirei to win a battle," Musubi explained, once more bringing up her fingers for emphasis. "The first is that a Sekirei will automatically shut down if they receive a set amount of damage." A second finger came up. "The other is for a Sekirei to recite their Norito while touching the other Sekirei's crest. If they can do that the other Sekirei will automatically cease to function."

I nodded slowly. "So the other day after I managed to damage the other Sekirei enough that was why her crest disappeared and she lost consciousness?"

"Yes! It's so amazing that Shirou-san managed to beat a Sekirei all on his own!" Musubi turned sparkling, wide, admiring eyes on me as she said that. "Shirou-san must be really strong to be able to do something like that!"

I let that slide, more concerned in getting the details then in accepting praise. "What happens afterwards, when a Sekirei is defeated?"

"After that it's the Sekirei who won's job to take watch over the other's body until MBI…" Musubi began, and then gasped, nearly dropping the enormous bundle on her back as she put her hands to her mouth in shock. "That poor Sekirei! We left her behind! Oh, I hope MBI got to her in time."

"Ah," I began, noticing how genuinely unhappy the shrine maiden was at the idea of one of her sisters-in-species being unguarded after they fell. "Sorry," I told her, not really meaning it. I had no sympathy for the fallen scythe wielder, who had nearly cut up Kusano for no other reason than the child being scared and had murdered dozens of men for the opportunity to do so. Still, I suppose it made sense that MBI would take it upon themselves to collect the bodies of the fallen. Considering the close ties they held with the race they would no doubt want to protect the bodies from being scavenged by other organizations.

"Musubi is so ashamed of herself," the distraught Sekirei continued to moan, swinging back and forth and threatening all in her wake with the enormous sack flopping around behind her.

"Tell you what," I proposed to her. "Next time you can stand guard when I take out a Sekirei, okay?"

As Musubi cheered up at the idea of being able to stand guard over my kills, I was busy going over the new information carefully in my head. There were so many useful gems in that conversation alone that it was hard to keep track of them all. The use of incantations, Akitsu's power, the rules of engagement that were supposed to be adhered to in regards to Ashikabi, and the most interesting piece of all: the Sekirei Crests.

A potential weak point, a one hit instant kill spot for any Sekirei, no matter how powerful. But it was more than that which held my interest on the subject.

After all, magi used crests of their own as well. I wonder how many similarities, if any, did the two similar symbols posses?


	7. Seventh Wing

In Flight: Seventh Wing

_Author's notes: Alright, lets see. A bit longer then I usually like when I'm writing, but a combination of traveling, visiting the folks, and just outright being sick seem reasonable enough for me to not feel too bad about it. And now I get to take a moment out of my time to make comments about the chapter._

_First off, responses to reviews. I've noticed several trends popping up and have decided to address them here._

_First off, I've had several people comment on how I should lay off the fan service and focus on the chapter. I'm of two minds of this. On one hand, i can see where they're coming from. Fan service just seems lacking when it comes to the written word. It doesn't have the gratuitous feel of satisfaction that that seeing the same scene drawn out would have. So on that hand I can see where a lot of people are coming from. On the other hand, I kinda feel an obligation to stay true to the original works, even if I'm crossing over. For F/sn, that means me researching a great deal about the mechanics of the nasuverse. For Sekirei on the other hand, well, half the series is about fan service. Since I just can't get the same 'whoza!' effect, I've instead used the implied scenes to add a touch of comedic value to the piece instead. What do you all say? Is it working? Too much? Over the top? Just enough? Go ahead and give me a shout._

_Next up, I have another shameful announcement. My research has once more betrayed me, just as it had when I did the whole Akizu/Akitsu snafu earlier. I have previously described Kusano's eye color as being 'the color of honey'. This was the result of me using google image searches and finding the clearest picture. However earlier when i was re-watching the episodes, they have her eyes being as green. Oops. From here on out if they come up again they'll be using the anime's color, so don't be confused if you noticed that little flub._

_Finally in response to reviewers, I've heard a pretty big outcry for people wanting introspection episodes from other characters, kinda like I did with the dream sequences during HoS. Looking back on it, I have to admit the idea is pretty tempting. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to go into it, but if I did I could already see how a few chapters would go about. On the other hand I'm wrestling with the idea of keeping this strictly first person, and trying to describe other characters thoughts and opinions through their displayed actions instead of just waving the author wand and giving them away. I still haven't come to a decision which way I'm going to go, but for all of you who want 'intermission chapters', be assured that I'm considering it seriously._

_Now, as to the chapter itself here._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_Uzume is the one I want to call attention to. I'm not quite sure if I'm right or wrong, but the impression I got from translations and my own limited skill at Japanese is that Uzume has a bit of an accent, so you'll notice me dotting her dialogue with things like 'bro' and gigantic contractions like 'aint'cha' and such. Beyond that, the impression I got of the cloth Sekirei was that she was a bit more worldly then most of the ones who ended up getting stuck with Minato originally. I was hoping to have her come off that way, but let me know what you all think in that regards as well._

_Another thing I want to call attention to, which will probably be mentioned a lot more in future chapters, are the points where I'll be trying to translate complexities of Japanese into a purely English script. I'm sure most readers are aware of things like how Japanese names are made out of Kanji that have individual translations. Like how I mentioned in the first chapter how Shirou's name was spelled with the symbols for 'Professional' and 'Department'. In this chapter I make the distinction between 'sayonara' and 'ja matte' as farewells. I'm going to try and not go over the top here, but I do want to impart some of the complexities of the language as I write, so I might use a bit more scenes like that later on. It would make trying to convey a subtle conversation more interesting, at least in my book. For instance, are you aware that Japanese doesn't have any swear words? At least as far as I know. Things like 'shit' are actually translated from 'shimata' which is more accurately translated as 'that is regrettable'. Heck, Japanese doesn't even have a way of saying 'you should do that'. The best they can do is 'it would be bad if you did not do that', or 'it would be good to do that'. I'm not making that up either. Ridiculously polite language, Japanese is. Anyway, let me know if you the reader are interested in me trying to keep that complexity later on.  
_

_And of course, Shirou gets his first taste of the infamous 'Hannya of the North' here. Yeah, he's going to be obsessing over that for a while._

_As always, if you like it, give a shout. Any questions/concerns/complaints, let me know too. Always be sure to enjoy. And also, happy new years to all the readers out there._

*Story Start*

"Shirou-san," Musubi cried piteously, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "I got stuck! Whenever I try to move the door creaks! I think I might break it."

It was an unreal sight. We had managed to make it all the way back to Izumo House without Musubi knocking more than three people into the road, which I considered a success considering the way the irrepressibly cheerful Sekirei was casually swinging the gigantic bundle containing all my apartment's possessions. Our return to our new living place was met with Kuu waiting impatiently at the doorway and immediately launching herself at my legs in a seemingly unbreakable hug and Miya waiting patiently to show us once more to the room she had been cleaning while awaiting our return. Somehow Musubi had managed to maneuver the massive package on her back up the flight of stairs and to the doorway to our new room, but once she tried to walk in she had found herself in her current predicament. And so, unable to advance properly into the room, and with the idea of backing out apparently not occurring to her, she turned to me for advice with teary eyes.

I tried to suppress a sigh, but couldn't quite keep it in completely. "Musubi-chan," I began, trying to keep my voice reasonable. "Why don't you just put the bag down now and we can move everything into the room from the hallway?" I proposed logically. From her position attached comfortably to my leg Kuu-chan nodded authoritatively as emphasis for my suggestion.

Musubi's eyes lit up in wonder at the simple solution, and she wiggled in place excitedly. "That's so smart, Shirou-san!" she gushed, and I tried not to be embarrassed at having such a simple idea be called 'smart'. Miya, who had come into the room with me and ahead of Musubi giggled gently, covering her mouth with her hand as she did so. Musubi wiggled a bit more, and then her happy expression fell again. "Shirou-san!" she was wailing again. "I can't back up! I think Akitsu-san is trying to help push me through and she's too strong!"

"Wait, what?" I gaped, and heard the creaking of the doorframe increase ominously. "No, Akitsu! Stop, it's alr-" was as far as I got before the snow woman who was trying to be helpful and apparently couldn't hear me through the mass of belongings blocking the door frame put one last effort into getting the bundle through the doorway. I had a brief warning as the door frame let loose a desperate groan, and then I could only watch in alarm as my belongings within the bundle shifted in response to the pressure being put on them. Like watching an enormous water balloon being forced through a small crevice, the bundle began to bulge through, forcing a surprised looking Musubi forward as the pressure lifted her up slightly.

Then, like water bursting from a damn, the combined forces became too much for the simple knot holding the front of the bundle closed. I could almost imagine a 'ping' noise as my belongings burst free, launching Musubi forward with a startled 'eep!' as clothes, pots, dissembled furniture, and unrolling futons came down into the room like an avalanche.

"Shit!" I managed to get out, trying to dodge out of the way. The weight of Kuu nearly threw me off balance, and the green girl gave a scared 'waa!' as she too stared at the oncoming rush of debris. I managed to push my back flat against the wall, to escape the oncoming wall of things, but Musubi who had been dead center of the package and had held onto it as best she could despite the bursting wasn't so lucky.

"Ow," the shrine girl whimpered plaintively from amidst the wreckage that was my belongings. Musubi pushed herself up from where she was sprawled on the ground, and I blushed and looked away. The avalanche had left her disheveled, and her already short skirt had become askew, causing her modestly panty clad rear end to be poking in the air.

"It's in," Akitsu reported from the doorway, surveying the rubble with a blank gaze as she did so.

"My my," Miya proclaimed, and I noticed that despite having stood in the center of the room there was a space a foot around her in all directions where the floor was untouched by the mess which spread across the rest of the room. I hadn't been paying attention seeing as I was too busy trying to keep myself and Kuu from being swept up in the incident, so I hadn't even seen her move. "What a mess! Akitsu-chan," she scolded the snow woman at the door to the room, "next time, please be more careful."

"Ah," the ice using Sekirei said. "Sorry." She didn't appear to understand quite why she was being scolded, but accepted it nonetheless.

I sighed, and decided to take charge of the situation. "Musubi, are you alright?"

"Yes!" the cheerful girl waved from the floor where she had regained a kneeling position amidst the chaos.

"Well then," I began, surveying the mess as I did so. "Akitsu, come on in so you can help. We'll start by organizing everything into piles. Clothes go over there, furniture and pots can go over there," I indicated where the two piles should go, still surveying the rest of the mess. "Miya-san," I began, addressing the landlady where she was watching me as I began giving orders. "I know you already have some, but once I have them organized would you like to look through my cooking utensils? I might have some things that could be useful for you."

"That sounds lovely," the purple haired woman said to me, covering her mouth as she did so. "By all means. I will be beginning dinner in two hours or so, so if you can be finished by then I might be able to use them tonight."

I took special note of when she would be starting to cook, and began planning on how I could get myself involved. Maybe if I was lucky I could convince her to start splitting the chore with me. It might take a bit of time, seeing as most chefs were very territorial when it came to their kitchens, but if I could get on her good side I might be able to start with breakfasts and work my way up.

"We should be done by then," I assured her, turning to where Akitsu and Musubi had already started diligently rifling through the mess on the floor, starting the two piles where I had pointed. I felt a tug at my leg, and looked down to see that Kuu had unlatched herself from where she had been clinging to me so she could look up at me with determined eyes.

"Kuu will help too!" she declared, folding her arms and nodding her head vigorously.

I smiled down at the girl. "Well, why don't you help Musubi with the…" I started to ask her to start helping find clothes, but then I saw Musubi unearth one of the garments that her and Akitsu had packed while I had been out talking with the landlord, and decided that the girl was just too young for that kind of thing. "Actually," I corrected myself, looking for anything she could start searching for that wouldn't be age inappropriate for her and found my gaze settling on one of the testing books that I had been using during the prepatory school. "Why don't you start finding all the books and putting them over on the counter?" I suggested to her. Kuu beamed up to me and then put both her hands up to shield her eyes as though she were looking over a long distance and began studying the wreckage around her.

"Mumumumumu," she muttered as though the intense effort she was putting into it would be more effective if she were vocalizing somehow, before one of her hands shot out and she declared, "Ah!" She instantly scampered over a table leg to tug the first of her find out from beneath a pot before putting it on her head and holding it there securely as she started trotting off to the desk.

"Right," I muttered to myself, rolling up the sleeves of my long sleeve shirt as I prepared to dive in myself. "The sooner I get this done the sooner I can take over the kitchen."

*Scene Break*

With the combined effort of three of my Sekirei and me it took an hour to finish setting the room to rights. Honestly, if it had just been me it would probably have taken half the time. That wasn't to say that the three girls were ineffective in their efforts to clean. As a matter of fact, they were quite enthusiastic. It was simply a matter of there being four moving bodies in a small room. Akitsu maintained her slow methodical pace, picking up each item individually, studying each one for no less than a minute before determining precisely where it should go, and then deliberately walking over to the pile and placing it gently there. Musubi on the other hand was a bouncing ball of energy, grabbing up several items at once each time and shuffling them into piles in her arms before trotting over to where whatever items she had gathered were supposed to go. Kuu would stand stock still in the middle of the room, sometimes with her hands over her eyes, sometimes with them clenched into tiny fists that she would put sternly on her hips as she surveyed the room around her. Whenever she would find one of the books among the pile, she would yelp in excitement and race around and between the legs of whoever was in her way before picking up her prize and marching over to put it on the desk again.

It was a lively affair, with Musubi and Kuu chattering away, people running into each other, and occasional fits of laughter as collisions occurred. I found myself loathe to interrupt it just to hurry things along, and instead found myself getting drawn into the mayhem as it occurred.

"Well aren't you all a lively bunch," a voice from the doorway pointed out, sounding amused as the last article of clothing was being folded and placed in a drawer by Musubi and Akitsu was carefully placing the last pen on the desk next to a pile of books. In the still open doorway the other resident Sekirei that we had met last night stood watching the shenanigans and grinning. Uzume was fully dressed this time, in a bright purple and pink shirt like the one she had lent Musubi last night and a pair of jeans that rode low very low on her hips.

"Ah! Uzume-san!" Musubi greeted, turning to wave at the visitor. "Good morning!"

"Morning?" the onlooker said, sounding amused. "It's almost evening by now. I was trying to get a nap next door but you all sounded like you were having so much fun that I had to come over and see what was happening." Uzume glanced around the room, taking it all in casually. "So you finally all moved in, bro?" she asked, sounding curious.

"Just about," I admitted dusting my hands off as I surveyed the fruits of our efforts. The kotetsu had managed to fit, taking up a good portion of the open space of the room while it was set up. I had taken care to keep a wall mostly clear of clutter so that when it was time to sleep the table could be propped up on its side against it and the futons spread. Under the east facing window a small bookshelf had been assembled, providing a space for my library of text books to be shelved. Next to that was a medium sized cardboard box that I had used to store some of my more esoteric tomes. I had been a bit nervous the first time my Sekirei had laid eyes on them, but I was lucky that they were for the most part written in English or other older languages. Musubi had just looked at them curiously, Kuu had been more concerned with the fact that they were objects of her impromptu treasure hunt then what was in them, and Akitsu had been too busy focusing on her detailed study of the rest of my belongings to pay much attention to them.

"Looks good," Uzume complimented us, grinning as she did so.

"Thank you," I told her, and then gave her a sheepish smile and a small bow. "Sorry if we interrupted your nap," I apologized.

"No worries!" the young woman dismissed. "I think it's a good opportunity to introduce myself to my new neighbors formally." She grinned broadly at the statement, striking a pose with a hand on her forehead as she did so.

"Ah!" Musubi clapped happily. "Introductions!" She stood straight and bowed at the hip, her hands on her knees as she did so. "I'm number eighty eight, Musubi!" the shrine girl Sekirei proclaimed proudly. Uzume paused, her face going into a sardonic half smile.

"You're pretty direct, ain'tcha?" she noticed, cocking her hip to the side and putting a fist on it as she grinned at Musubi. "You should be more careful though," Uzume admonished my Sekirei, as I moved to the corner to start gathering the utensils I figured Miya might be interested in. I already knew for a fact that she had equivalents to most of the pots I owned, but I did have a very nice set of carbon steel carving knives. Nowadays it was cheaper and easier for companies to use cast steel to make that kind of utensil. However, even if it was more cost efficient it didn't change the fact that modern carving knives were harder to sharpen and didn't hold an edge nearly as well as the carbon steel knives did. Since they aren't made anymore except by specialty companies it had taken me a month of hunting through flea markets and yard sales to locate the set I did have. I was hoping they'd make a nice peace offering to Miya for when I started elbowing in on her territory. Uzume continued as I started collecting the knife set. "I mean, what if I hadn't been a Sekirei?" the girl in the star shirt pointed out. "Then you might get in trouble if you start mentioning The Plan too casually."

"Oh?" Musubi tilted her head to the side, surprised at the logic being presented her. "But Shirou-san said that there were three other Sekirei living here already," she argued back. Uzume blinked at that, looking surprised the fact that I had already known the number of her Type present.

"Three?" Uzume asked, sounding like she wanted confirmation, and then she froze, and her face turned a little pale. "Wait, how did you know that?" she demanded, turning to give me a suspicious look. "And what do you mean by three?" she continued, sounding nervous, and her eyes glanced quickly to the side in the direction of the courtyard before locking back on me insistently. "You mean me, Homura, and who?"

I started to speak up before Musubi cut in innocently. "Ah, I don't mean Homura, Uzume-san," the excitable girl corrected our very nervous looking neighbor. "Homura is already Shirou-san's Sekirei, so he doesn't count." The brown haired shrine maiden put a finger to her lip as though suddenly realizing something that confused her. "Wait, Shirou-san," she began, counting on her fingers. For some reason she brought up both her hands and started rapidly ticking away at them. "So far there's been Uzume-san and the landlady. Where's the third Sekirei?" she asked innocently.

"T-t-the landlady," Uzume gulped at that proclamation, and judging from the beads of sweat forming on her forehead it looked like maybe I should take some steps to keep from letting the situation go any further out of hand.

"Well, it looks like I was mistaken," I corrected the confused Musubi, and started heading for the door where Uzume looked like she was about to break and run like a scared rabbit. Considering I had an idea just what Miya was truly capable of, I think I could make a guess or two why. "There are only two Sekirei here: Uzume-san and one other. I'm absolutely certain that Miya-san isn't a Sekirei." It was a mostly true statement. I was certain she wasn't a Sekirei, but that didn't mean I thought she was human either. It looked like my admittance seemed to relieve Uzume, because she breathed a barely noticeable sigh of relief, and then suddenly she tensed back up, eying me warily.

Musubi may have missed on Uzume's reaction, but she had been paying close enough attention to her Ashikabi to pick up on the facts I was explaining to her. "So there's someone else living here?" she asked, sounding hopeful. "I can't wait to meet them! Do you think they'll be home by dinner?"

Judging by the closeness of the scent of the so far unidentified resident at Izumo House they were probably not only still here but hadn't left in the first place. Still, last night Homura mentioned that the other residents here were in, his exact words, 'complicated situations'. If whoever the final resident of Izumo House was hadn't revealed themselves yet it was probably for a good reason. Still, considering just how bad Musubi had proven so far at keeping secrets it might be better if I didn't mention the fact that the other Sekirei was already here. "I think they might be like Homura and have strange hours. It'll probably be best if we just let them be. I'm sure they'll introduce themselves when they have the time," I told the clueless Sekirei as she followed me as I left the room and headed down the hallway. Akitsu was as always a constant shadow to my left, but Kuu was scampering beside me, looking up at the armful of cutlery I had with a curious expression on her face. I interrupted my own excuse making to chide the girl before she got ideas. "Now Kuu, these are very sharp and potentially dangerous, so I don't want you playing with these, understand?" The little blond haired girl nodded dutifully, skipping beside me as I made my way down the hall

"So just how do you know all this anyways, bro?" Uzume asked as she jogged until she was standing in front of me and began walking down the hallway backwards so she could give me a suspicious look. "Did Homura tell you?"

I tried to find a way to answer her question that wouldn't reveal the fact that I could sense Sekirei to someone who could potentially be an enemy later on in the war, but Musubi once more put a dent in that plan. "No! Shirou-san can smell us!" I sighed, and decided to have a long talk with the excitable girl later on about the meaning of the word 'discretion'. To be fair, maybe her upbringing in a lab had left her as equally unaware of it as she had been of 'modesty'.

"Ah," Akitsu spoke up for the first time since we had started organizing our room. "So I do smell." A quick glance confirmed that the snow lady was once more looking discouraged while blushing slightly.

"It's not really smell," I corrected Musubi, feeling tempted to rub my forehead in order to relieve the building pressure there at my third Sekirei's constant inability to conceal anything but refraining from doing so since my hands were currently full of sharp and pointy knives. "I just have a very strong six sense," I continued, deciding to leave it a bit vaguer than me telling them my magical detection skills were unusually perceptive. "It's just that my mind happens to interpret it as one of my other senses, and it usually ends up being some kind smell for me."

"That's amazing, Shirou-san!" Musubi cheered, clapping her hands as she did so. Kuu-chan, still skipping beside me decided to follow her lead and began clapping happily as well as the green girl beamed up at me.

"A sixth sense, bro?" Uzume seemed a little more skeptical. "I don't think I've ever heard of something like that." She was still walking backwards in front of me, somehow managing to navigate the stairs casually despite the fact that she wasn't looking at them. It looks like she wouldn't buy my story as easily as the rest had. In retrospect I was kinda surprised that Homura had, though his belief might have had more to do with him hurrying to try and figure out if he would rather let me wing him or die.

"And until a few days ago I never heard of an alien race that physically bonded with humans and then set about fighting every other member of the race immediately afterwards, and here we are now," I pointed out, opting to try and switch the attention away from my own abilities and onto the situation at large.

Uzume pursed her lips at my point, but still looked skeptical. "So you can smell a Sekirei then?" she said slowly, scratching her chin as she casually avoided the banister despite still walking backwards. "So what do I smell like then?" she challenged me, folding her arms under her chest and cocking her head to the side as she did so.

I paused, closed my eyes, and tried to focus past the powers of the other Sekirei in order to identify hers specifically. It was getting difficult to make out individual scents, due in part to the fact that there were currently five other Sekirei nearby, plus the overwhelmingly noticeable scent of blood that Miya added to the mix, but after a few moments concentration I was able to identify Uzume's in particular. "You smell like," I began, and then paused. I had been able to locate her individual power, but my brain was still having trouble figuring out just what it felt like. I leaned in closer, my nostrils flaring as I tried to place it…. "You smell like clean linen," I finally decided on, opening my eyes.

Uzume's jaw dropped at my proclamation, and she stared at me. "Wow," she finally said, sounding shocked. "Well, maybe you do have a sixth sense."

"Maybe," I answered her doubtfully, resuming my trip to my destination. From the feel of her power, combined with what sounded like her voice coming from the courtyard, I was narrowing in on Miya's location so I could present my offering. "But I'm still not sure what it means," I continued, trying to puzzle out just why an alien would smell like laundry of all things. "I'm beginning to think that it might not be useful for anything except avoiding ambushes."

"That's still pretty cool, all things considered," Uzume insisted, rubbing her chin speculatively as she did so.

Musubi chose that minute to chime in, raising her hand and waving it like a kid trying to be called on in class. "Oh! Me too! What do I smell like, Shirou-san?" she insisted, staring at me expectantly.

"Kuu too!" the girl still skipping at my side also raised her hand up, happy to get in on the game.

I smiled down at her, shifting the knives into one hand so I could ruffle the little girl's hair. She pouted at the action and the hand she had been waving tried to come to her scalp's defense. "Kuu-chan smells like a garden," I told the girl, and it made her happy enough to be willing to put up with my friendly tussling. "As for you, Musubi," I began, pausing as I tried to figure out how to tell her what her power felt like without it being offensive. Girls don't generally like it when you tell them they smell like large hairy animals. "Well, you remind me of a bear for some reason, Musubi-chan," I finally settled on.

Rather than get offended, the bubbly shrine girl paused and put a hand to her chin, tilting her head to the side in puzzlement. "A bear?" she asked, sounding confused. I shrugged helplessly.

"That's the only impression I can get," I affirmed. Musubi pursed her lips in thought, but finally shook her head, apparently forgetting about the train of thought completely as she did so.

Akitsu spoke up again. "I smell," she repeated, sounding disheartened by the thought.

"Well," I began, giving her a glance, "you smell like…" I paused, realizing that she hadn't really been asking a question, just making an observation. I studied her carefully for a second, before realizing that despite the fact that the rest of the Sekirei were simply treating the conversation as something interesting but not really important only the snow woman was taking it to heart. It took me a second to put together what I knew about the usually quiet ice user and then I sighed. "Akitsu," I began, "would you like to take a bath?" It had been nearly two days since her, Musubi, and I had had a chance to get cleaned up properly, and one of those days had included fighting in a pseudo-jungle while the other had involved packing all my belongings and then cleaning all the dusty corners of my old room.

"Ah," Akitsu began. "Yes."

I sighed. Looks like I was going to have to have a long talk about how certain activities she should feel free to attend to on her own without waiting for me to notice no matter how much she was trying to be perfectly subservient. Eating, sleeping, and bathing would be at the top of the list, but I had an idea that by the time the list was finished it would be quite a bit longer.

"Well," I began, glancing at the knives still in my hand. "Give me a second to drop these off and then we can figure out where the baths are and we'll get one run for you."

"Oh! Musubi would like…one…too…." the loose lipped shrine girl started out enthusiastically, and then slowly started to trail off, her eyes getting wider and wider with each word. I followed her captivated stare and found that she had managed to locate Miya.

The landlady was standing still as a stone in the courtyard, her eyes closed and her hand on the hilt of what looked like a slim guard-less cane sword. The trees were still shedding the unseasonably early sakura blossoms that Kuu's winging earlier this morning had spawned. Even as I laid eyes on her I paused. Despite the looseness of her body, she had the air of the edge of a knife, like a blade about to be drawn. Even as the analogy came to me, the purple haired alien made it a reality, withdrawing her blade in a practiced movement, the well polished steel blurring into an arc of silver as it raced through the air in front of her. In its path, despite the profusity of the falling blossoms, only a single one was touched, splitting evenly in half lengthwise as it continued its tumbling path. The sword arched back across her body, avoiding a repeat cut on the trip, and was sheathed in one fluid motion.

Throughout the entire course of the attack she never once opened up her eyes.

I was officially impressed. It wasn't the most skillful attack I had ever seen. After three years of training with Saber, and more than just a few actual battles fighting beside her, it would be hard for me to find something that could surpass the blond knight's swordsmanship in the backyard of a Japanese inn. Truthfully, the selection of a single target among many and the unsheathing and resheathing after the attack were both skills I could have managed myself. I wouldn't have been able to do it without opening my eyes though, not against a simple mundane petal.

I glanced away from the landlady's sword practice to see if Musubi was still staring at her and discovered that in my moments inattention the shrine girl had fisted both her hands beneath her chin and her eyes had started to sparkle. "That's so amazing!" Musubi pronounced, wiggling in place with excitement as she did so. Uzume looked over to the spectacle as well, and then grinned.

"Cool, ain't it?" the ponytailed girl said, sounding like she was boasting. "Miya's something else with a sword."

"It's pretty impressive," I admitted, studying the landlady as she repeated the feat from earlier, and this time there were two blossoms that split into absolutely even halves. A movement from my side alerted me to Musubi hopping off the porch steps and into the courtyard herself.

"Landlady!" she cried out, waving her hand excitedly and standing on the toes of her feet as she did so. "Please, let me spar with you!"

"Ara?" the purple haired lady's eyes opened, turning to regard her audience as though surprised at our presence. It didn't fool me for a second, but then again it was her show so I didn't mention it. "Emiya-kun, are you finished setting up your room?" she asked me, putting a hand innocently on the side of her face as she did so.

"Yes," I nodded, trying to ignore the way Musubi was bouncing in front of me in her efforts to get Miya's response to her request. "I noticed you already had most of the types of pots that I had, but I thought you might appreciate a new set of knives," I told her, holding up the armload of cutlery so she could see them. Her eyes traced down to my offering curiously, and then her face lit up a bit.

"Why yes," she exclaimed, tilting her head to the side, still framed with her hand, and beaming at me. "I've been looking for a set like that, but you must know how hard they are to find."

I nodded sympathetically, remembering just how long and how much effort finding the set had been. "If you'd like I could get them set in the kitchen, and then maybe start preparing dinner for you," I suggested, trying to make it sound like I was just offering to be helpful and not like I was desperate to start working in a proper food preparation area again.

"Why, that sounds very nice," she told me, and then glanced over at where Musubi was giving her enormous pouty eyes as she fidgeted while waiting for a response to her request for a spar. "I suppose if you want to get started, I might be able to spend some time sparring with Musubi-chan," she conceded, and Musubi instantly straightened up, throwing her hands in the air in excitement.

"Yay!" she cheered, and then bowed enthusiastically at the smiling landlady. "Please, take good care of me!" she intoned formally, before straightening and getting into a fighting position.

"And me as well," the landlady returned, but then she paused, and turned a disapproving eye on where the rest of us were standing. "Excuse me," she began, her voice holding a note of chiding in it. "Akitsu-san, what do you think you're doing?"

Uzume glanced behind me at Miya's sudden change in focus, and then the ponytailed girl yelped, stumbling backwards.

I was beginning to turn towards the commotion myself, Kuu just starting to glance curiously behind her when I felt a chill of premonition down my back. It wasn't so much an indication of my magic, or some supernatural phenomenon. Instead, it was just my insight into Akitsu's character flashing to the front. Instantly I clapped a hand down on Kuu-chan's head, stopping her from turning any further. The girl fidgeted in surprise and I shushed her gently.

Still facing out into the courtyard I spoke in a patient tone of voice. "Akitsu," I began, "Are you undressing right now?"

"Ah," the slow snow maiden started, and now that I was paying attention I could hear the rustle of clothing that had been at the edge of my hearing stop, accompanied by a clinking as of chain links on chain links. "Yes," she finally answered.

I sighed. "Akitsu," I chided her. "Remember what I said the first day we met? About changing in the bathroom and not in the rest of the room?"

Another pause, and then, "Oh." Followed shortly by, "I forgot."

"Wait, seriously?" Uzume spoke up, staring at the undoubtedly immodest Sekirei behind me. "You forgot?"

"Now, now," Miya spoke up, her hands on her hips as she glared at me sternly. "There are no immodest acts permitted in Izumo House, regardless of the way you might have done things before coming here."

I sighed, and then bowed an apology. "I apologize for Akitsu's actions," I began formally. "She has only recently left the MBI labs, and she seems to have had some difficulty adjusting to certain customs the rest of us take for granted." Miya gave me a look that said she had trouble believing that was the case, but was willing to let it slide this once.

Uzume had gotten over her shock at suddenly being confronted by what was either a naked or nearly naked Sekirei appearing out of nowhere, and was now running a speculative eye up and down at the figure behind me. "He-heh!" she chuckled, and then gave me a sly grin. "Not bad, bro," she whistled, nodding her head at where Akitsu was probably standing. "But what's with the chains? That your hobby or something?"

I sighed and was about to try and figure out how I was going to explain the series of events involving my sister and a misunderstanding about what being a master meant, when Akitsu answered for me. "No," she began. "I like them."

If anything Uzume seemed to find that even more amusing, and her grin widened. "Is that right?" she asked cheerfully, and then flounced behind me. I purposely did not look back, and kept Kuu from turning too. I know the young Sekirei was the same gender, but I didn't want the impressionable child to start getting ideas about what were appropriate places to change ones clothes. "Tell you what," the ponytailed girl said from behind me. "Let me make up for how I treated you last night by showing you where the baths are?"

"Ah." A pause. "Thank you."

I heard footsteps starting away from me, but spoke up again, interrupting their departure. "Akitsu?" I began, and waited for a response.

"Yes, Shirou-sama?" was the immediate response.

"Get dressed first before you start walking around the house," I ordered her, and I heard a rustle of movement.

"Yes," the snow woman responded, and from there I could hear more clinking of her chains and the shifting of cloth.

"And Akitsu," I began again, and there was another pause. "Don't forget to bring a change of clothes and panties as well." I emphasized the importance of the undergarment, and a moment later the snow woman responded.

"Ah. I'll remember."

As the two finally managed to leave, hopefully with both of them properly dressed, I heard Uzume start to speak up. "And speaking of panties, that's a pretty racy set. Any reason you're wearing something so kinky?"

"I like them," was the last I heard, and I tried very hard not to imagine exactly what Uzume meant by 'kinky'. Unfortunately, as well as starting to be able to predict the scrap number's social faux passes, I was also starting to be able to predict her choice in undergarments, and thus I was unable to escape the blush which hit my cheeks as several possibilities came to mind.

"Onii-chan," a voice from my hip spoke up, and I glanced down to see that Kuu had folded her arms and was glaring up at me from beneath the hand holding her head immobile. I gave her an apologetic smile and finally let her go. She turned her head to the side quickly and huffed, pouting away from me.

"Sorry, Kuu-chan," I apologized to the girl. "Did you want to go up there with them and take a bath too?"

Kuu stomped her bare foot angrily, and her pout grew even more sullen. "Kuu-chan already had a bath!" she declared, reminding me that most kids take a little while before they start properly appreciating the chance to soak rather than considering cleaning themselves to be a chore.

"Right, right," I assured the girl, trying to appease her before she had a tantrum. My hasty response seemed to offend her even more and she stomped her foot again, lifting her nose even higher into the air as she did so. Luckily before I could further stick my foot into my mouth Musubi interrupted the conversation from the yard.

"Landlady!" she whined, sounding like a child herself. "Are we going to spar then?"

Miya had been studying me carefully, watching the interaction between me and Akitsu, and it looked like she couldn't quite tell if the whole thing had been staged or if the snow woman really was as clueless as she was acting. At Musubi's voice she seemed to decide that she'd hold off on judgment for now, and turned back with a smile to the eager shrine maiden opposite her.

"Of course," the similarly clothed older woman assured my eager Sekirei. "But you better be careful. I don't hold back!"

"Then here I come!" Musubi proclaimed, and launched herself at the landlady without another word. It was the first time I had seen my third Sekirei in action, and I raised an eyebrow at the speed she was moving with; to my currently unenhanced sight she was nearly blurring, her speed simply too fast for my eyes to follow appropriately. Racing across the trimmed grass of the courtyard I could see the force her feet were putting in each step to get that speed distending the earth beneath her, small shockwaves on the packed earth which ripped clods of turf into the air with each step.

This was something entirely different from the scythe wielding Sekirei I had already crossed blades with. Yeah, that one had been fast, too fast for most humans to match up with, but not enough to outmatch me. Considering how fast the battle with the scythe wielder had gone there hadn't been much of a chance for me to judge her overall capabilities, but it seemed like the weapon using Sekirei had been more reliant on that strange cutting wind technique of hers. Musubi on the other hand didn't seem to have an ability like that. Instead it looked as though she was simply faster and stronger overall.

Faster and stronger, but in the end as my experienced eye traced the red and white blur as it closed in on the patiently waiting landlady it was ultimately unimpressive. Even as Musubi's chambered fist launched, her equally unimpressed opponent simply swayed to the side. The force of Musubi's punch caused her to take a faltering extra step, putting her side in alignment with her opponent, and just as though she were reaching out to pluck groceries from a shelf Miya rapped the handle of her undrawn sword against the startled shrine girl's head.

"You're side defense is weak," Miya scolded, and despite how soft I could see the blow being Musubi cringed and rubbed the spot where she had been struck.

Recovering from the mostly theatrical tending of her wounds Musubi clenched both her fists in front of her and nodded eagerly. "Yes!" Without another word she launched herself once more into the fray.

To the untrained eye it would seem like Miya was showing amazing skill, weaving out of the way of every strike and retaliating gently each time, but the truth of the matter was it was less a matter of Miya's skill and more Musubi's lack of it. Despite her innate abilities, the simple fact was that Musubi was just as she had proclaimed to me before: she was simply too inexperienced.

Watching as my third Sekirei flailed around clumsily I recalled once more my battle with the scythe user. 'Get away!' she had begged of me as I was about to cut her down. She hadn't been very good at fighting with that weapon of hers, despite the fact that it let her use her abilities apparently; even when I had been dodging her stream of wind blades she had fallen for something as simple as me reversing my direction when out of sight. Had she been the same way? Was that why she had been so scared when my blades were driving her into a corner? I had seen the bodies she had left in her wake, and the willingness to use force on Kusano, but in the end had it been less the actions of a coldblooded killer and simply the fact that she was so inexperienced that she didn't understand the consequences of her violence?

I shook my head briefly. It didn't matter in the end. When it came down to it, we had both simply been on the wrong side of the battlefield from each other. Even if we hadn't met then and there, so long as no one else cut her down then there would inevitably have come a day when the war would have put us in the same position eventually.

"Come on, Kuu-chan," I said to my side, turning to head towards the kitchen. I made it a half dozen steps when I realized that I was walking away alone. "Kuu-chan?" I said again, turning to see what the girl was up to.

"Jiiiiiiiiiiiii," I heard her humming, and I blinked in surprise when I saw what she was up to. She was standing right where she had been, both her hands under her chin again and she was leaning forward in order to be able to study better her two sparring housemates.

"Kuu-chan?" I began, wondering what she was doing, and she turned briefly to give me a full dose of her beaming wide sparkling eyes. I was blinded for a moment by how bright her smile was. Swallowing, I collected myself and began hesitantly, "Would you like to stay here and watch Miya-san and Musubi-chan for a bit?" Instantly the girls head began wagging up and down so fast I was worried she might dislocate it. I tried not to twitch at how completely adorable she looked while she did so. "Would you like me to fetch you a pillow real fast so you can sit while you watch?" Again, Kuu nodded her head so fast that she ended up flipping some of her hair up and over her forehead and into her eyes. She immediately began frantically scrubbing at her face to get the strands clear as she turned back to where Musubi was trying to put an axe kick through Miya's forehead and Miya was instead poking the sheathed blade into her aggressor's thigh.

"Jiiiiiiiiii," Kuu began to hum again, staring unblinkingly at fast paced battle in front of her, and I stifled a sigh. I wonder, are all Sekirei as obsessed with battle as Musubi and even little Kuu seemed to be?

Still, I felt a bit of relief as I made a detour to the linen closet beneath the stair to pick up Kuu a seat cushion. I wasn't certain how I was going to get enough time alone for what I was about to do next.

*Scene Break*

It took three rings before the phone was answered. After the first one I nearly cracked one of my teeth gritting my jaw. It was the longest it had ever taken her to answer the phone, and for a moment I was scared that her injuries might be more severe than I had thought they were.

When my call was finally answered, I heard someone in the background clearly shouting, "Oh god! Run! She left the safety valve unmanned! We're all gonna-" before a whooshing noise indicated that some kind of door had shut itself and cut off the rest of whatever the man in the background had been saying. And then there was silence except for the faintly audible sound of someone breathing on the other end of the line.

This was a far cry from just four days ago when she'd pick up halfway through the first ring and would be saying my name the moment she did.

"Good afternoon, Takami," I began simply. I heard the breath on the other end catch, and then my mother finally spoke up.

"Good afternoon, Shirou," she responded back, her tone cautious. "I didn't expect to hear from you so soon," she continued, sounding as though she was forcing the words out as casually as she could in order to hide an undercurrent of stress there.

"Well," I began, and then hesitated. Finally, I decided to dive right in. My time with Rin might have helped me become a bit more tactful, but it didn't change the fact that I was by no means discrete or capable of excessive politicking. "Kuu-chan mentioned you had been hurt and I was hoping to hear how you've been doing."

Another pause, and then Takami spoke up flatly. "Kuu? Who's that? I can't recall anyone by that name."

I pursed my lips to the side, wondering who she thought she was fooling. "Small little girl? Long blond hair? Absolutely adorable? Able to spontaneously cause the rampant growth of nearby shrubbery? That ring any bells?"

"No," she said flatly, and I heard a distinct click sound, followed by a strong inhalation.

I sighed. "You're smoking again, aren't you Takami?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, I'm not," she disagreed with me instantly. I grimaced, rubbing my forehead. Takami sounded like she had already prepared herself to go on the defensive since even before I had called her, and had already had the opportunity to firmly entrench herself.

"Well," I began, and then paused as I realized I had no idea what to say next. I barely knew how to speak to her on a normal day, when I was just trying to deal with her as a mother. Now I was trying to determine if she was on the administrative side of the newest war I'd found myself in, and so far I was finding that even harder. The last administrator, Kirei Kotomine, who had been responsible for the war I had already fought in had been a contestant in the previous war and had managed to preserve his original Servant for all the years until the next one started. Then he had killed a participant in cold blood before the war even began properly, stolen their Command Sigils, and used the newly acquired Servant to feel out the competition and manipulate things from behind the scene before finally discarding it when the proud Servant couldn't stand acting so shamefully any more.

Which was a shame, really. I had actually kind of liked Lancer. Sure, he stabbed me through the heart once, and tried to kill me again almost immediately after I managed to survive the experience, but he had been an all right kind of guy beyond that. He had been straightforward and as honest as he could be, given his circumstances, and when he had been working with Rin and I after the two of us had lost our own Servants he had been very reliable. In the end he had just come from an age where they had much higher acceptability of violence is all. Plus he had been great at teasing both Rin and Saber, a skill I was lacking in at the time.

As the silence on the phone grew longer, I felt my spirits fall. Takami wouldn't say anything, not now that I was apparently involved in the same kind of things she was. And now that she wouldn't say anything I didn't know what to talk about myself. There were already so many topics that neither one of us wanted to bring up, her and her involvement with the Sekirei, me and my involvement with the Mage Association. The only thing really left to us were the things other mothers and sons would talk about, but I just didn't know much about those kind of things up.

Finally, I gave a resigned sigh. "Well," I began again, trying not to sound disappointed. "As long as you're alright." Internally, I was scolding myself for letting this affect me. So what if it was over now? Yeah, having a mother had been strange, and at times awkward, but it had been nice in its own way to have someone worry about me like Takami had. It had been kind of good to have someone I could call up, turn to for advice for the little things like getting adjusted to city life or who would ask me if I had been eating right despite the fact that I was certain I was eating better than she had been. Despite all that we were in the end just two strangers who happened to share a few bits of genetic information. That alone wasn't enough to base a relationship on, not without years of association to go with it. "Well," I said one last time. "Goodbye." I used the final form of the word, 'sayonara', to indicate that this would be our last meeting rather than a more open ended term like 'ja matta', which meant more along the lines of 'until later'.

I hesitated a moment longer, reluctant to push the 'call end' button, and just when I had worked up the nerve to do it Takami spoke up.

"Shirou! Wait!" she snapped, her voice sounding panicked. I paused, patiently waiting for her to get her own goodbyes in as well. "Ah," Takami continued, sounding lost but like she was desperately trying to think of something to say. "So I hear you moved?" she finally asked, her voice quick and uncertain, as though she were forcing the words out without thinking.

"Ah," I began, feeling a bit tongue tied myself at the sudden change of topic. "Well, yes," I began finally, pausing before I tried to elaborate. "After I made my," I hesitated. I didn't want to use the word 'Sekirei' or anything else that had to do with the whole affair we both seemed to be caught up in, not if it meant that Takami would clam up again. "new friends," I decided on as the euphemism for the aliens whom I had bonded with, "the landlord found out. Since the studios are supposed to be singles I had to find a place for me and my new friends to stay."

I heard Takami breathe a sigh of relief. "Yes," she muttered, "new friends." She seemed emboldened by her success and continued. "Well, I heard about where you're staying now," she continued, either not noticing or not caring about the implication that she was spying on me a little more closely then mothers were supposed to. I let it slide. "And it's a fairly decent place. A very safe part of town, too." Takami sounded very satisfied with my new residence. "Are you going to need any more money?" she asked, sounding cautiously hopeful that she'd have the opportunity to help support me if I needed it. "I know how much it can take to keep your new friends in good health."

I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. It looked like just so long as we avoided talking about them specifically then we could keep our association. Despite the fact that I had been willing to acknowledge that our relationship was over, I felt a tight spot in my belly relax. I might have been willing to let it go, but if I was being honest with myself it looks like I had really hoped that we would be able to continue getting to know each other better. "Well," I began, focusing on the conversation and feeling giddy as I did so. "With prep school not starting for another month or two I was thinking about getting a job. I had helped the old landlord out a few times in the past, and he has offered to give me a decent wage and recommend me to some of his associates if I were to start working as a repair man for him."

"Hmph," Takami snorted, and just like that it was as though the first part of the conversation had never happened. "Repair man," she muttered, sounding cross. "I suppose it's decent until you get into school and start working on your medical degree."

I sighed. "Takami, I don't really think I would do too well in that program," I informed her. "I think I prefer working with machines more than bodies." It wouldn't be the first time she had tried to tempt me into following in her footsteps when it came to a career.

"Well," she admitted, sounding like she still didn't agree but might be willing to acknowledge that maybe I should find my own path. "I suppose being an engineer wouldn't be so bad either," she allowed, and I felt myself smile a bit.

"Actually," I corrected, and managed to fit the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I began to open cabinets and pull out pots and pans for the evening meal I was about to start. "I always felt a great deal of fondness for metallurgy."

"Well, we'll see," Takami snorted again, and I got the impression that if all else in the world were to become off limits in conversation, this one would somehow find its way back to the front anyway. Her voice grew sly as she continued. "You know," she needled me, "I got an interesting call from Yukari the other day."

I paused, wondering what she meant by that, and then I groaned. "What is it with you two?" I muttered. "Do the two of you have some kind of reporting system for whenever you have a conversation with me without the other present?"

"Yes," she told me bluntly and without a trace of guilt. "Now what is this I hear about you having a sex slave?"

I groaned again, louder this time, and tried to decide that if I were to bang two pots together if it would be enough for me to fake having a bad connection.

*Scene Break*

"He-heh!" Uzume chuckled, giving a low whistle as she did so. "I gotta say, Miya, you really outdid yourself this time!" she proclaimed, patting her stomach contentedly before giving out an unfeminine burp. Rather than seemed embarrassed by it she just grinned broader.

"Uzume's right," Homura chimed in, dressed once more in his more normal clothes of a white button down and black slacks. "This really is quite good. Is there some special occasion I wasn't aware of?" The flame using host had joined us for dinner, though apparently he had woken up around noon while me and the rest of my Sekirei had been at my old apartment packing.

"My my," the purple haired landlady began, putting her left hand to her cheek and blushing. Her right hand was holding a piece of fish that she was nibbling on daintily. "There's a mistake, you two. This was prepared by Emiya-kun," she informed her two long time residents before resuming her tasting of the meal I had prepared.

There was a brief second where the information set in, and then Uzume turned to gape at me, surprise on her face as she did so. Homura seemed taken aback, but then he gave another speculative eye to the meal he was eating and simply resumed eating, this time more slowly.

"Really?" Uzume chimed in, cocking her head to the side in surprise. "You're the one who made this?" she asked again, sounding just as suspicious as she had this afternoon when she had been questioning me on my detection abilities.

"I've been living on my own since I was about nine," I explained, taking a bite of my own. "Along the way I had to pick up how to cook for myself or I would have been eating nothing but instant dinners my entire life." Beside me on my left Musubi was busy shoveling food into her face as fast as she could, while on my right Kuu-chan was doing the same. Immediately next to the youngest Sekirei, at the head of the table, Akitsu was also eating, though she was doing a surprisingly spot on imitation of the way Saber ate: slow, methodical, and unrelenting, clearing away everything in front of her with the unstoppable force of a creeping glacier. Originally Akitsu had taken the spot on my left, but when Musubi had started pouting I had suggested that the two take turns. Akitsu had been disappointed, but had obeyed and moved away so the exuberant shrine girl could have her chance to sit next to me.

"Itsh sho ghoood!" Musubi proclaimed through a full mouth, shedding tears of joy as she continued eating. On my other side Kuu gave a 'Hm hm' noise as well, indicating her own agreement with her fellow Sekirei's assessment of my skills.

I couldn't quite contain a proud smile at the sight of so many people enjoying the fruits of my labor. They were such satisfying people to cook for that it was almost like I was feeding the hungry Tiger once more.

"Musubi-chan," Miya spoke up, leveling a disapproving look at the shrine girl. "It's impolite to talk with your mouth full!" she chided sternly.

Musubi flinched and looked down in apology. She started to say something, but then paused, and chewed a few more times before audibly swallowing. "Yes, landlady!" she agreed, looking properly chastised.

"He-heh!" Uzume chuckled again, before once more belching in satisfaction. "Well, I gotta say bro, this is pretty impressive!" Beside me Kuu nodded again, before putting down her spoon and patting her belly like Uzume had before taking a deep breath and letting loose a thunderous belch as well. I gaped at her, Uzume began laughing again as Kuu put on a proud look at having imitated one of the adults around her successfully.

"Kuu-chan!" both Miya and I exclaimed at the same time, before pausing to give each other a look. Miya seemed to hesitate for a second, but then I nodded at her, giving her permission to go first. It was her house, and she did pull of a much more maternal image then I did. She smiled at me and then turned a chiding look on the still proud green girl. "Kuu-chan!" she scolded firmly again. "That is not proper behavior for a little girl! If you keep that up you might turn into a lazy lay about like Uzume-chan."

"Oi, oi, Miya," the labeled 'lazy lay about' proclaimed, looking mildly put out. "That's a little harsh, don't you think?" Uzume complained. Beside her Homura snorted into his bowl, maintaining a casual distance from the conversation even as he watched with amusement. Uzume glared at him, and then stuck out her tongue. Instantly a pair of chopsticks flew across the table and hit her point first on her forehead between her eyes. "Ow!" the ponytailed Sekirei whimpered, rubbing her forehead.

I looked, surprised at the sudden attack, back at Miya to see her with one hand over her mouth and the other extended in a throwing motion. "Now now," the landlady chided the whimpering Uzume. "If you keep that up you'll teach Kuu-chan even more bad habits!"

I'm not sure what happened after that. If I had to describe it I would say that Miya somehow managed to focus the entirety of her, well it wasn't quite killing intent but it was definitely something similar, at the flinching girl in front of her. I was no stranger to feeling powerful creatures directing their malevolence at me, but even though I wasn't the target I still felt the force of the alien landlady's power nonetheless. For a moment I could almost see an illusory mask in the shape of a demon glaring over the still smiling Miya, its horrible focus directed at the gulping Uzume, who instantly began waving her hand in an attempt to calm down the frightening landlady.

"I understand, I understand!" Uzume cried, shivering under the weight of the demon mask's stare, which I noticed was in the shape of a hannya. "Just cut it out Miya!"

The illusion maintained for another second, and then it disappeared and there was nothing but an innocently smiling landlady sitting once more. She had somehow managed to produce another pair of chopsticks from somewhere, and was calmly resuming her meal.

It took me a second to realize that I had dropped my chopsticks at some point during the manifestation of malice, and that Musubi and Kuu had both latched onto my arms, trying to tuck as much of their bodies behind me and between them and the hannya as possible. Akitsu had frozen in mid bite, staring at the space where the mask had been moments ago. Homura was grimacing and looking away while trying to use the bowl as a mask to shield his face from the weight of the demon's stare.

Finally, I shook myself free of the brief paralysis that had hit me. "Okay, seriously, what the hell was that!" I managed to get out, my voice slightly high pitched in surprise.

"What was what?" Miya asked, sounding absolutely befuddled by my question. I didn't buy it for a second.

"That mask!" I declared, pointing at the space where it had been. On the other side of the table Homura began frantically shaking his head in a 'no' gesture, before glancing at Miya and flinching away to stare innocently at anywhere else. Uzume shuddered, and hunched down lower, apparently trying to make herself a smaller target. Judging by their reactions this wasn't a unique occurrence, which only made me even more interested. "Can I see it again?" I asked, and there was a massive flinch by everyone at the table except for Miya and I.

"You want to see it again?" Homura asked, his voice sounding slightly forced as he did so.

"My, my," Miya said, cocking her head to the side in feigned confusion. "A mask? Whatever are you talking about?" she asked, dismissing me completely in favor of helping herself to another piece of fish.

"That thing you just," I began, before pausing as I tried to describe what she had just done and found that I couldn't even begin to figure out what it was. "Just a second ago," I began again, and then I felt a sharp kick under the table which caused me to yelp and cut myself off. Homura was glaring at me, shaking his head 'no' once more. I twisted my lip into a grimace and decided to let it go for now. I might not be the most studious of students of magic, but under my three years of tutelage with Rin she had made sure to pound at least the most rudimentary of curiosity into the different types of magecrafts out there into my head. Considering just how strange the manifestation was I couldn't help but feel discouraged that I hadn't figured it out by having seen it once. Something so unorthodox must have some kind of trick to it.

"Never mind," I finally sighed. Simultaneous echoes of that sigh came from everyone else at the table but Miya, and once more the others present began to resume their meals. This wasn't over yet, not by a long shot. I was confident that I could let it rest for now, but next time, next time I'd figure just how she had done that.

"Wow, Shirou-san!" Musubi piped up from next to me, gazing at me with wide worshipful eyes. "You're so brave!" On my other side Kuu began to nod eagerly, letting loose an echoing 'Hmm, Hmm!' noise as well.

"If you wanted to see THAT again," Uzume muttered, glancing to the side, "then you must have stones the size of bowling balls." Homura glanced at her, and seemed about to nod his agreement before catching sight of Miya and just sitting quietly.

"What was that, Uzume-san?" Miya asked, and I leaned forward eagerly to see if there would be a repeat performance, but Uzume was instantly waving her hands in apology.

"Nothing, nothing!" the ponytailed girl hastily assured the suspicious looking landlady.

Musubi didn't seem to notice the ongoing drama around her and seemed to be too busy gushing. "Shirou-san is so amazing! He's kind, and he can cook, and he's brave, and he can even fight a Sekirei on his own! We're so lucky to have found an Ashikabi like him," she proclaimed, fisting her hands under her chin as she did so. Beside me on the other side Kuu put her hands on her hips where she was kneeling and began to nod proudly, her eyes closed smugly as she echoed Musubi again with her customary, 'Hmm Hmm!'

"What?" Homura asked from across the table, his entire body going still as he did so. Uzume gave Musubi a startled look herself, and Miya raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"What 'what'?" Musubi asked, putting a finger to her chin and tilting her head in curiosity. I sighed, already having an idea of exactly which part of the shrine girl's exclamation had caught the attention of the rest of the room.

It's official. I must never again let Musubi know anything that I'm not comfortable with the rest of the world knowing as well. I had been hoping to keep this particular bit of information to myself.

"I mean what was that about Shirou having fought a Sekirei on his own," Homura snapped, the information apparently setting him on edge. His hands holding his chopsticks had gone white around the knuckles and he was glaring at me with an accusing look in his eyes.

"Ah!" Musubi figured out what her fellow Sekirei was talking about and started to wave her hands excitedly at her side, nearly knocking me upside the head as she did so. "It was so amazing! When we were going to rescue Kuu-chan he was so fast! And then, after we had finished fighting those mean lightning sisters when we caught up with him to try and help him with the other Sekirei he had already taken her out on her own!" Kuu nodded again, interjecting her emphasizing, 'Hmm Hmm!' at the end of Musubi's un-descriptive narrative.

"Wow," Uzume muttered, giving Musubi a strange look. "You let your Ashikabi go off on his own while you were fighting, and then he got into a fight of his own?" She gave the shrine girl a disapproving glance. "That's pretty reckless," Uzume declared, putting a hand on her hip grimacing as she did so.

Musubi seemed to realize that the story wasn't so much garnering me the attention she seemed to think I deserved and was instead making her look careless. "Ah!" the shrine girl gasped, and then looked aghast. "You're right!" The excitable girl knuckled her head, looking mournful as she did so. "Just because Shirou-san can fight doesn't mean he should!" Uzume seemed relieved that her point was made while Musubi continued, clenching her fist in the air in front of her as she vowed, "I must get as strong as Shirou-san so I can fight beside him next time!" The ponytailed Sekirei was so startled that the arm that she was leaning back on gave out and the girl in the star shirt fell to the ground.

"That's not the point at all!" Homura snapped, looking honestly angry as he did so. "He shouldn't be fighting at all! He's just a human! What if he had been hurt, Musubi?" the flame user growled, slapping his hands down on the table hard enough to rattle the dishes on it. Musubi flinched back, cowering in front of my first Sekirei's anger. "And you!" he turned, snapping at Akitsu who had resumed eating already and was continuing to do so even as the rest of the room degenerated into a shouting match. "What were you thinking? Didn't you say he was your master? How could you let him get into danger like that? Are you at all serious about serving him?"

The snow woman seemed unperturbed by the accusation. "Shirou-sama ordered us to delay the enemy," she said, none of her usual pauses or hesitation. "Whatever it is my master orders me to do, I will."

"Even if it means letting him go into danger?" Homura growled, his anger at the events which had happened outside of his knowledge making the poised and flirtatious character he'd been showing since we had moved into Izumo House disappear entirely. "Where were you when he was being attacked?"

Akitsu paused, and deliberately looked up to meet the angry flame user's glare. "Where were you?" she threw back, and it was the coldest tone of voice I had ever heard the snow woman use. Homura flinched at the accusation, and then turned away angrily.

"I was guarding the gate," the only other male in the room ground out.

"And I was guarding his back," Akitsu continued, and appeared to reach the end of her unusual verbosity. Without another word, the snow woman went back to eating, apparently considering the conversation over.

"So you did manage to defeat a Sekirei all on your own?" Miya broke in, her voice sounding curious. When I glanced at her I saw that for all her gentle tone her eyes were once more fully open, studying me carefully. "That was quite a feat, Emiya-kun!" she exclaimed, her tone at odds with the intensity of her regard. "However did you manage to do it?"

I was prevented from answering for myself by yet another of my Sekirei, though this time it wasn't the still chastised Musubi on my left and was instead the excited Kusano on my right. "Onii-chan had swords!" the girl proclaimed, holding her hands under her chin and staring up at me with wide worshipful eyes. "The mean nee-chan was going to hurt Kuu-chan, but Onii-chan came and made her stop. And onii-chan had swords that were thiiiiiis," the young girl extended the word and stretched both her tiny arms as wide as she could in order to emphasize the size of my armaments as best she could, "big!" Kuu-chan shivered a bit, the memories of just a day ago still too new and frightening for her to be completely unaffected by them. "And then onii-chan told Kuu-chan to close her eyes and he would make everything better, and Kuu did, and then onii-chan told her to open her eyes and it was all better."

When Kuu finished her narrative she curled up next to me, latching onto my side once more and pulling one of my arms around her shoulder for comfort as a brief silence stretched across the table.

"Swords?" Uzume spoke up, looking confused by what the youngest resident had described.

I decided to give my own answer as to how I had won. The only person who had any clue just what had really occurred in that clearing was Kuu, and even she had only had one glimpse of me before I had her close her eyes. There might have been evidence of battle left behind as well, but the only ones who had seen that clearing were Akitsu and Musubi. Akitsu would hold her tongue, and I don't think Musubi had the experience yet to be able to judge a battlefield appropriately.

"I snuck up behind the other Sekirei and hit her on the back of the head with a blunt object," I summed up my confrontation with Kuu's aggressor, and that seemed to be enough for the rest of the table to work with.

"Ah!" Uzume chimed in, relaxing as she did so. "So you managed to get the drop on her?"

That was technically true, although the first time I had surprised the enemy she had managed to block, and the second time when I had managed to defeat her had been when I had manufactured a situation where she would be looking away. "Yeah," I agreed calmly, "pretty much."

Some of the stiffness went out of Homura's angry posture. "That was reckless, Shirou," he snapped at me, still sounding angry but apparently satisfied that I hadn't done something as crazy as deliberately confronting an enemy Sekirei on my own. "What would you have done if your attack hadn't been enough?"

Well, my first attack hadn't been enough. "I would have probably run away and hid," I assured the flame user. That was also technically true to what had actually happened. My response seemed to relieve the flame user enough for him to finish relaxing, and he grimaced and reached up to rub his chest when he did so.

"Oh my," Miya broke in, sighing as she did so, and gently rubbing her forehead. Despite the innocent act she was putting on her eyes were still wide opened and studying me, a fact which both Uzume and Homura apparently noted and found slightly unnerving. "If Emiya-kun is going to continue to be so reckless, maybe he should spar with me a bit as well."

Judging from the simultaneous flinches the two other long time residents had, this was intended to be some kind of ominous threat. However, Musubi latched onto it instantly, her previous discomfort at being yelled at replaced with excitement. "That's a great idea!" she cheered. It seemed that the battle fanatic part of her couldn't understand how any kind of fight could ever be considered a bad thing by someone else.

I was silent for a moment, my own eyes locked onto the purple orbs studying me carefully. It had been several months since I had last had the opportunity to spar. I had made sure to maintain my training regiment, an expanded set of exercises designed to keep my body strong and flexible like the one I had practiced in my youth, but that really was no substitute for combat experience. The creature in front of me threatening me with simulated combat was no doubt far faster and stronger than the Sekirei I had fought before, and judging from what I had seen earlier Miya did not lack in experience like Musubi seemed to.

But then again, the same could be said for Saber, and I had spent the last three years training my sword techniques against her.

"You know," I began, trying not to smile at the thought of it, "I think that sounds like a good idea too."

Judging from the gulp that came from Homura's direction he didn't quite agree with me.

"Stones the size of bowling balls," Uzume muttered, giving me a pitying look. "Bowling balls I say."


	8. Eighth Wing

In Flight: Eighth Wing

_Author's notes: Let's see. Another chapter, ready and delivered. I'm sensing a particular change in my writing style, or at least a departure from Hill of Swords anyway. For HoS I had to frequently extend chapters, sometimes to massive proportions in order to keep up with my planned dream sequence plot points. In Flight seems to be developing with all the chapters ending up pretty much the same length. Moreover, whereas in HoS most of my chapters were rather episodic, allowing for a sense of finality at each one, In Flight gives me the chance to start utilizing a new and sadistically enjoyable experience: the Cliff Hanger! Mwahahahahaha!_

_Now that I got that out of my system, a few specific notes that people have been bringing up in reviews. First off, I'd like to call attention to my frequent use of the term 'types' in reference to aliens. First, a bit of back history. One of Nasu's earlier works, 'Notes' I believe it was called, involved a future time period where humanity ended up destroying the Earth's ability to sustain itself, and in vengeance the Earth asked the other planets to wipe them out. The other planets did that by manifesting giant alien/magic thingies called 'Aristotles' which then went around killing be for fun and profit. They were identified by calling them 'Type-whicheverplanetitwas. That's actually where the phrase Type-Moon comes from. Nasu kept these around when he made his later works. I've never actually read 'Notes' so I'm a little hazy on the details, but I had originally thought that the Shinso, descendants of the original Type-Moon Crimson Moon Brunested, were also considered to be Type-Moons as well, which was why I originally started calling the Sekirei Types as well. I'm not as sure now that I was accurate in my assumption on whether the Shinso were Type-Moons, but since I've already started with it I'm going to continue doing so. Sorry if I'm wrong, but it gives me something to call them besides just 'aliens' and 'Sekirei'. Helps break up the monotony a bit and all._

_Now, as for a few notes for the chapter. Not really a spoiler, but if you want to skip down and read it all first before coming back here, go on and do so. I'll be waiting._

_First of, this chapter and the next few are going to be a big part of me defining Shirou's abilities and personality for the story. I've already mentioned that he's an UBW Good ending model in In Flight, but he's had a few years development, so I figure it might be best if I go ahead and help shape him up for the reader. As I mentioned before I went back and replayed the original game on the route to give me ideas for his abilities, so I like to think I'm going to do a good job, but I wouldn't mind feedback on what the rest of you think as well._

_In specific regards to his fighting style, I spent hours watching youtube videos of proper 'Nitou-ryuu' demonstrations and spars trying to get a hand on being able to write them. Then I researched different type of Bokutou. Then I reread the fight scenes from the Fate/stay night game itself. I think this was the longest researched fight scene I've ever written. Hope it was worth it.  
_

_The other big part of this chapter, and I think the hardest part over all, was Miya. Miya has a lot of potential as a character, but sometimes its hard to pin it all down. She's completely anti-violence when it comes to Izumo House, but in the story she was completely willing to kill Minaka if anyone had just asked her. She's willing to help and look after her residence, but if one of them goes against her will or house rules, she'll kick them out without hesitation. The more I researched her, the more the impression I got was that she's kind of like one of those retired life long military hardasses you hear about sometimes. The kind that know they're not in the service anymore, and try to make allowances that the people around them are civilians, but they are also so firmly set in their old habits that they continue trying to run their lives like they were still in the military. The impression I got was that when she was still active she was a ruthless disciplinarian, and it wasn't until she fell in love with Takehito, her husband for those unfamiliar with Sekirei, that she started to loosen up. After his death she tried to continue living by his ideals, but it doesn't change the fact that when it comes right down to it she can and will slaughter hundreds without blinking an eye. Consequentially, I can't guarantee that my representation is perfect, but I think I managed to at least make her believable as a character. Once more, let me know if you think I did an okay job or if I flubbed her completely._

_Those are the big things, so I'll just let the rest go for now and let you all get to reading. If you like it, give me a shout. Any questions/concerns/complaints, feel free to voice them. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"Shirou-san!" I heard Musubi's excited voice call from outside the shed. "It's time! It's time!" That was all the warning I got before the door was yanked open and she stuck her head in. "Hurry, Shirou-san!" If the girl was a little less excitable I might have mistaken her imperative for an order. As it was she sounded so eager and desperate that it seemed more like begging.

"Coming," I told her, taking a second to finish hitting the nail into the corkboard. After bringing the hammer down next to the half driven sliver of metal so that I could arrange a second one a few inches away I brought the hammer back up and did the same with the new nail as well. After placing the hammer on the two nails so that it would hang just right I glanced over the rest of the board and 'hmmed' appreciatively. There were numerous similar nails placed along its length, and each set cradled a different kind of tool.

"Shirou-san" Musubi whined piteously, upset at the delay as she bounced in place. With a last glance at the hanging implements, I shuffled till I could step off the table top I had been kneeling on, stretching as I did so to relax my slightly stiff legs.

"Alright, alright," I assured the fidgeting and impatient shrine girl, who instantly clapped her hands together and wheeled out of the room.

"He's coming!" she shouted happily back up to the inn. It had been four days since I had agreed to have a spar with Miya, and ever since poor Musubi had been desperately waiting on the edge of her seat. I was certain she had been anticipating the match even more than the two of us who were going to have it were.

Originally the two of us were going to have our spar the afternoon of the next day, with the morning being already slotted for Musubi's second chance at the landlady. However, the next morning I had received the promised call from my ex-landlord concerning the long list of repair jobs he had waiting for me. I had originally thought that it would only take me a few hours, and that I would make it back in time for the match, but when I had shown up with Akitsu in tow the landlord had grumpily told me the tools he usually lent me were for residents' use only and to come back when I had my own.

It had taken me until lunch to find and purchase a number of good tools and a box. When I had let Miya know that I might be a bit late due to work over the phone she had told me to concentrate on my job, or I would end up as a lazy freeloader like Uzume. From the loud noises in the background I think she had made sure the ponytailed girl was in the room before telling me that. I had managed to finish most of the repairs that my ex-landlord had listed for me by that evening but the set of heaters he had me trying to repair required me to get a specialty part, something that would have to hold off till the next morning.

After hunting down the part the next morning while Musubi and Miya were at it again and finishing the repairs themselves by early afternoon I had returned in time for us to have our spar only to discover something that Miya and I had completely forgotten about: Miya didn't have any bokuto, the wooden practice swords I favored while training. With the nearest sports store that would carry that kind of thing nearly three hours away by foot and forty five minutes by bus I had proposed we put off the fight one more day, only for Miya to inform me that the next day was the anniversary of her husband's death, and that she would be spending the day at his graveside praying.

I hadn't even known she had been married.

So instead of fighting, while she spent the day in the graveyard I had instead managed to do something I had been eagerly anticipating for months:

I began creating my workshop.

It had started the first night after we had agreed to have a spar. I had brought home the broken piece that I was going to have to replace from the decrepit old heaters in the vain hope of being able to tinker with it enough for me to get it to work again. When Miya had seen me sitting at the dinner table with a jeweler's microscope and a pair of tweezers fidgeting away with my open tool box next to me she had declared the dining room a place for dining and not working. However, since it was in essence a part of my job and if I couldn't work then I couldn't pay rent, she had volunteered to me the small shack on the property nearby. It seems that when her husband originally bought up the Izumo Inn he had also acquired the lot next door as well, a place that had once housed a second building, one with a number of extra rooms that was to serve as an addition to the original Izumo House complex. Both the original buildings had been in a state of disrepair when he had purchased them, and only the current Izumo House had been deemed fixable. The second house had been demolished, and the lot fenced off. The plan was to wait until the contractor bill for the refurbishing of the first building was under control and then hire a company to rebuild the second house at a later time.

Unfortunately, this plan was interrupted by Miya's husband passing away. As it stood now while Miya had the financial capabilities to continue running the current inn, she just didn't have either the funds or the will to see the second building completed. The second building had been her husband's dream, his pet project that he would pour all his spare time into, and she just couldn't bring herself to continue with it. And so the lot had languished, a weedy square of packed dirt with a medium sized storage shed taking up a corner of it that she used as a place to keep extra bags of rice, the small hand pushed lawnmower she used to keep Izumo House's modest courtyard intact, and a few other knickknacks and things she didn't have anywhere else to put.

Once she had proposed the idea to me and I had seen the place, I knew instantly it was just what I was looking for. It was nearby but not attached to Izumo proper, making it both easy to get to while keeping the main inn safe if one of my experiments went a little haywire. It had been two years since the last time I had accidently caused an explosion, but I had learned my lesson about doing magical experiments in a place that I didn't want to risk to fire after that. Considering what Rin had done to me after I burnt down a significant portion of her own workshop back when we were still in Fuyuki City I was not eager to go through something like that again. More than that though was that the shed could afford me some privacy in comparison to Izumo Inn proper. The inn itself was now housing seven people, eight with the mysterious other guest I still hadn't met with, and with three of those people constantly trying to be around me it just wasn't feasible for me to practice my magecraft or perform my experiments there. Not only that but setting up the proper defenses on my workshop would have drawn too much attention and questions from the rest of the people, or aliens as the case might be, that I was currently living with as well. Using it as a place to do my repair work as well would also help camouflage my workshop, and if I simply told my Sekirei that I need some peace and quiet while working I would be able to get several hours a day of study in solitude.

I gave the decent sized shed one last look, checking on the progress I had made in converting it to my purposes before flipping off the light switch and shutting the door behind me. So far I had done nothing to it besides organizing my tools so that they could hang orderly above a small worktable and organizing the various articles that Miya was storing in it, just things to make it a suitable place for me to do my repair work in, but soon I'd be ready to start converting it into a proper laboratory for a magus.

"Shirou-san!" Musubi called again, her voice plaintive as she urged me to move faster.

"Coming, coming," I assured her, starting the short walk back to the gap in the fence that allowed passage between the inn and the lot. Musubi paused only long enough to make sure that I really was leaving the shed behind before she bounced away back into the courtyard proper. I shook my head at her excitement. Was it really worth getting that worked up about? It's not like the shrine girl didn't have her chance to train with the landlady daily as well. When I finally crossed over back to the inn I drew up short in surprise.

"What is going on here?" I asked, a little unnerved at the sight of nearly the entirety of the inn's residence gathered together on the little patio looking out on the courtyard. The sliding doors that usually enclosed the balcony had been pulled open, leaving a generous stretch of the hallway open to the still somewhat chilly spring air.

"Yo, bro!" Uzume was the first to speak up, giving me a wide grin as she waved a hand at me. She was kneeling on a purple cushion on the far left of the group, a large tray with a teapot and few cups next to her. The ponytailed Sekirei had an already full cup in her hand, steam rising from it gently as she took a sip. "I just had to make sure you were really gonna do it."

"Do what?" I asked, confused by what she was referring to. Beside her, on her left on another pillow Kuu was also sitting, her white dress fisted in her hands above her knees, a similarly steaming cup of tea beside her. Her wide green eyes were staring at me with the sort of intensity that she usually reserved for Musubi during her training with the landlady. On Kuu's left Musubi had taken her place in the lineup, though it appears that sitting still was beyond the excitable shrine girl. Musubi was instead on all fours facing the corridor, her eyes sparkling with anticipation as she wiggled like a dog trying to shake its tail. Behind them all, perched coolly against the wall was Homura. He had chosen to stand and was leaning back, his arms crossed and one leg propped up, a scowl on his face.

"The fight, the fight!" Uzume chimed back in response, her grin widening. "I mean, no one would blame you if you had to 'work' again." She wiggled her eyebrows at me, and now I was scowling like Homura was. "You've already shown you got giant stones so there's no reason to do this just to prove something," she assured me in a teasing voice.

"First of all," I began crossing my arms so I could scowl at her. "I was not using work as an excuse to try and get out of this. I was working for the same reason that everyone else works for: to get enough money to pay rent." I was not at all appreciating the girl's teasing remarks about me trying to run away from a fight. "And second of all, stop talking about things like 'stones' in front of Kuu-chan," I scolded her, flushing slightly at the ridiculous topic. Uzume wasn't one to mince words, and I was already starting to figure out that despite her ridiculously voluptuous figure she was something of a tomboy. If she had been a normal human, and maybe a decade younger, I could easily imagine her throwing a doll away so she could run onto a field full of boys playing soccur, forcing her way onto one of the teams, and then being the best one on the field as well.

"He-heh!" Uzume chuckled, rubbing the back of her head as she did so. "You might be right there. I wouldn't want Miya mad at me again." Behind her Homura gave out a grunt, his scowl widening.

"This whole thing is pointless," he pointed out stiffly, glaring at me as he did so. "There's no reason for you to go through with this, Shirou," he asserted, narrowing his eyes. "There's nothing to prove with you having a match with Miya. It's good that you managed to survive against a Sekirei once before, but it's not something that should ever happen again. It's just too dangerous for an Ashikabi to get in the middle of a Sekirei fight."

"Oh?" Uzume said, her grin transforming into a sly smirk as she gave a look over her shoulder. "Sounds like someone's a little worried. Getting a little possessive of your Ashikabi, Homura?" Homura's face went red for some reason at the accusation, and he quickly turned his head to look to the side, scratching his chest as he did so. It seemed a little odd to me, to get embarrassed about being concerned for his Ashikabi's safety. In the Grail War it had been rare to not see a Servant that wasn't devoted to their Master, or at the very least to regard it as their duty or obligation to guard them. For some reason ever since Uzume had found out that I was Homura's Ashikabi she had seemed to take delight in teasing him that I was male.

It made me a little uncomfortable whenever she did so. It seemed rude. He had explained to me on the first day that while it was more common for Sekirei to bond with members of the opposite sex his own situation was unusual. I had seen for myself just how close he came to immolating himself due to his powers going haywire, and if the only way for him to stabilize himself was to make a contract with a partner that was a bit unusual by normal standards then it seemed cruel to mock him for it. It seemed almost as inappropriate as mocking Akitsu for not being able to wing at all. The two of them just happened to have unusual situations in regards to controlling their abilities.

"Now, now, Uzume-san," Miya spoke up for the first time since I arrived. She had been standing patiently in the courtyard underneath one of the cherry trees that was by now mostly bare of their earlier unseasonable blossoms. "There's no reason to pick on Homura-chan," she scolded the ponytailed Sekirei, using the diminutive suffix for the only other male present as she did so and indicating that rather than coming to his defense she was instead joining in on the teasing.

"Not you too, Miya," Homura groaned, burying his face in one hand as he did so to hide the fact that he was embarrassed by their good natured mocking. He seemed inured to the teasing nature of his two housemates and the groan he let out was less of humiliation and more of longstanding suffering.

Still, its best that I come to his aid now rather than let this continue too long. He was the only other residence here that I had met that had testosterone in him. The gods know what would happen if the females got to used to always being on top of the teasing food chain. "Well, now that we finally both managed to get the free time," I began, speaking loudly to draw the attention away from the still blushing Homura and over to me, "are you ready to get started, Miya-san?" I asked her politely.

"Fufufufu," Miya laughed, concealing her mouth with the back of her hand as she did so, giving me a crinkled eye smile. "Someone seems quite eager!" Then she glanced away, her hand still up and concealing her lips. "Perhaps if they hadn't spent the last few days making excuses…" she trailed off her tone of voice suggesting that just like Uzume she had been suspecting I was trying to find a way to back out of the fight after agreeing to it.

If she expected me to get shook up over such a simple comment, she obviously hadn't ever had to deal with Rin when she was in one of her teasing moods. Now there was someone who knew how to find a weakness and then shamelessly exploit it till her target was a stuttering mess of embarrassment.

"Well, if you'd rather I be late on the rent," I suggested back dryly, reminding her that while I might have had to delay this moment, that delay had yielded a big fat paycheck that had covered both this month and the next for both me and the three Sekirei I had brought along. Even though my ex-landlord had insisted I get my own tools and had grumbled all the while about how I should have finished everything the first day and not have had to come back the second, when it came time to settle the bill he had ended up paying me for two ten hour days, plus expenses for equipment. When I had tried to protest that it was simply too much for what I had actually done he had scowled at me, slammed the door in my face, and then turned on what had sounded like a scratchy ancient record player so that he could ignore my frantic knocking as I tried to return the check.

I couldn't help but get the impression that for all his grumbling he was a big softy at heart.

"Oh my," Miya shook her head, letting the teasing go to rest. "No, that simply wouldn't have done," she surrendered, removing her hand so she could smile at me. "Well then, shall we begin?" She lifted the sheathed sword at her side slightly, as though to indicate her readiness to use it.

"Just let me get the bokutou," I told her, preparing to head up to my room to get the two practice swords. I paused, giving a glance at the assembled Sekirei, and noticed someone missing. "And where's Akitsu?" I spoke up, trying to figure out where the quiet snow woman who was usually as inseparable as my shadow was. I had asked her to stay out of the shed, mostly so that when I started requiring privacy for my magic studies everyone would be used to not interrupting me while I was in there, but the fact that she hadn't come down with the rest was a little unusual for her.

"Here." When I suddenly heard her voice from right behind me I nearly jumped in shock. A quick glance behind me showed that she had apparently been waiting at the edge of the fence for me all along. I hadn't noticed her standing so still there when I first came in and was ambushed by the fact that the scheduled spar had apparently become a house wide spectacle.

"Ack," I coughed, nearly swallowing my tongue as the snow lady patiently held up her arms, indicating the two bundles she was already carrying. Like some kind of fetish squire or faithful household servant from the days of the shogun, the kimono clad Sekirei presented the two bokutou I had bought two days ago, wrapped in the cotton carrying cases that they're meant to be stored in. I cleared my throat, trying to play off the fact that I had no idea she had been there. "Thank you, Akitsu," I told her accepting the two practice swords and pulling the draw string loose on the first before tugging the practice weapon free.

When I tucked the first one under my arm and started to unwrap the second one as well Miya spoke up. "My, my," she chime in, putting one hand on her chin as she smiled peacefully at me. "There's no need for both," she chided, tsking as she did so. "If it's no problem, I think I would prefer using this," she hefted her sheathed blade, indicating that she intended to fight me with her normal blade.

"I know," I assured her, pulling the second one free as well. "They're both for me," I explained, and then took the grips of the two wooden swords and gave them both a simultaneous practice swing.

"Two sword style?" Miya asked politely, her usually crinkled eyes opening a sliver as she studied the familiarity with which I swung the two practice swords.

"Something like that," I responded concomitantly. Miya's smile was very gentle in response.

"Perhaps it might have been better if you had the store keeper assist you in picking out which ones would have been appropriate, rather than choosing for yourself," she suggested, and I frowned back at her.

"Alright," I said, annoyed. "Now you're just being condescending." I glanced down to the two practice swords in my hands, knowing precisely what she was referring to. There are several different types of practice swords available. The ones most people thing about are the bokken, which are wood swords produced in the same basic proportions as a sword, though the sizes may vary depending on what type of sword a practitioner is attempting to use. Though a bit lighter than an actual blade they are sufficient for most to be able to imitate proper techniques with, and are most suitable for contact training and sparring. The two bokutou I was currently using were of a different variety called 'suburitou'. While the handles were the appropriate size in order for the grip to remain firm the blades themselves were enlarged significantly. Suburitou were meant to be used in line drills, the extra weight at the blade a means for strength training. They weren't traditionally used for sparring at all. Moreover in the traditional two sword style it was more common for only one of the blades, usually the one in carried in the dominant hand, to be katana length. The other is usually a short sword, a wakizashi, and used in the off hand.

I was well aware of all this, despite Miya's attempt at insinuating that I had just chosen two bokutou at random, most likely for the reason she assumed was that they looked impressive. That was something I found more than a little insulting. I knew that she wasn't human, and that most likely she had the typical inhuman distain for the majority of humanity. It's not exactly an uncommon assumption for many of the different types of creatures, spirits, or entities out there to hold humanity in general in low regards. For the most part, they're perfectly justified in doing so. The vast majority of people out there just aren't dangerous to them. Most humans have never been in a serious fight, relying on others to survive, depending on rules and civilization to allow them to exist in a reasonably comfortable fashion. Even Saber, whom I love quite dearly, tended to favor that particular train of thought. In the early days of the war she had lectured me quite extensively on how a human could not hope to match a Heroic Spirit like her, and how the place of a Master was in the back of the battlefield, out of the line of fire.

And then Souichirou Kuzuki, the Master of Caster, had nearly carved in her throat with his bare hands during their first meeting.

Sure, he might have been receiving a magical boost from that insane Servant of his, but in the end it didn't change the fact that while he might have needed assistance to match Saber's sheer physical capabilities, it had been his own skills with his unusual fighting style that had allowed him to surpass her own swordsmanship

Even I, with the assistance of a contract with Rin to supplement my own limited magical reserves at the time, had been able to match and defeat a Servant. It's true that most of the responsibility for me being able to defeat Gilgamesh laid in the fact that my own unique skills had made me his natural enemy, but it didn't change the fact that for all that the majority of humanity was unprepared for dealing with the supernatural powers that some of the other creatures in existence might have, there still existed those that counted themselves as human that could match them, or even defeat them if the situation was right.

"Ah?" Miya made a curious sound, her hand still covering her mouth as she did so, responding to my calling her out on her tone of voice. "Is that how it sounded?" she asked, sounding innocent of her guilt. She most likely had intended it to be genuine advice to me, much the same as the corrections she frequently gave the still inexperienced Musubi. "I'm sorry," she apologized, bowing as she did so. "Perhaps it would be a good time for us to begin then?" she suggested, most likely intending to prove her point to me about my chosen bokutou the same way as she made her points to Musubi, with a sharp rap to the head.

"Let's," I answered, still miffed at her attitude but knowing that in the end she had no reason to suspect that I deserved otherwise. I bowed formally and intoned, "Please, treat me well."

"I, as well," Miya bowed in response, and assumed a simple fighting stance. I took my own, raising the wooden sword in my right hand above my head, angled towards my opponent as I extended my left hand with the wooden sword pointing up, the traditional stance for two sword style. It wasn't a position I used very often, and I knew that it was shaky, but it should do for the moment.

"Yay!" I heard Musubi cheer in the background, and could imagine the excitable girl throwing her hands up in celebration. "Go, Shirou-san!" she cheered. "Go landlady!" The battle fanatic Sekirei had been anticipating this match for the better part of the week, and was already thrilled at the thought of watching two, by her definition, strong opponents fight. After all, Miya was directly responsible for training the shrine girl, and in my case I had already defeated another Sekirei, something that Musubi had not yet managed to do herself.

"Onii-chan!" I heard Kuu chime in, "Fight on!" she cheered excitedly, using the term 'ganbatte' which could equally mean 'good luck' as well.

"He-heh," Uzume threw her own two cents in. "This will be fun!" Homura 'tsked' in the background, but otherwise stayed silent.

Even as the gallery continued to toss encouragement or cheers, my attention was firmly locked on my opponent before me. She had assumed a casual stance, her posture straight as she held the sword low to her side with both hands, her grip light as she did so. She stood patiently, no doubt waiting for me to charge in and begin the spar. For a moment, neither of us moved. My own personal fighting preference was to allow the opponent the first move as well, but it looked as though this time I might have to take the lead, at least until Miya began taking this a bit more seriously.

With awkward steps, still maintaining the traditional two sword style stance, I closed in until I was close enough to take my first swing at her, my overhead hand bringing the practice sword down at her head. She dodged it casually, nothing more than moving her head to the side, not even bothering to respond further. My second strike was treated the same, and the third as well. I felt myself begin to grow annoyed, but stifled the emotion. For all that she was coming off as condescending and dismissive, I was aware enough to know that she was most likely trying to prove a point. When Musubi had come to her for training, Miya had fallen into a stern teacher persona almost instantly. It could just be her nature to try to be the aloof instructor, and was waiting for me to tire out so she could show me the error she assumed I made when I had chosen the heavier practice swords rather than the more typical ones.

That was too bad. I hadn't agreed to this spar because I wanted instruction. I had agreed because I wanted to fight against an experienced Type-Sekirei or whatever the hell Miya was if she didn't count as one. I wanted to see what I could expect from the more powerful of her race. I wanted to know if it really would be suicide for me to fight them, or if the skills I had developed would be enough for me to be able to reliably hold my own in combat.

It was time for me to be the one proving a point.

My footing still awkward, I took another swing at my opponents head, the motion clumsy, and then another. The awkward position of my legs combined with the ungainly movements of my arms exposed my sides; I wondered how long the harsh taskmistress I had seen Miya be during her spars with Musubi could ignore such an obvious flaw.

It took two more awkward strikes, the lavender haired landlady swaying like a reed in the wind, before she finally couldn't stop herself from slipping into authoritative instructor mode.

"Your sides are open!" she barked at me in the same tone of voice she frequently used on Musubi, and she stepped around the final swing meant to tempt her patience and moved to give me what would have been a painful slap against my ribs.

She almost missed it when the sword in my left hand which hadn't moved from its traditional guard position the entire spar so far stabbed beneath my own awkward swing with my right hand, moving far swifter and surer than any attack I had thrown yet. With my own right shoulder and arm concealing the left's movements it closed in, I sought to deliver my own painful chastisement to her diaphragm. Her own leisurely blow was slow in comparison, and she only has a fraction of a second between when my left handed strike emerged from beneath my sleeve and would have found her chest to move. Her relaxed posture tightened in that moment and she shifted, once more swaying away from my attack, though this time her previously halfhearted attitude towards the spar betrayed her and her stance was awkward. My own footing, so unwieldy when using the traditional two sword style, was suddenly surer than her own as my right arm, previously overextended, was now positioned perfectly for a fast and ruthless follow up, slicing through the air towards her own unguarded head.

She dodged this new attack as well, but not completely. As she took a hasty step back, her torso bent to bring her skull out of harm's way, her hair trailed behind her in a purple waterfall. In the hyper-awareness that comes thanks to adrenaline in battle, I noticed the three strands of her lavender mane that were caught by my attack, sticking to the grainy quality of my weighted practice swords and were subsequently plucked from her scalp.

The both of us were still moving then. Off balanced, unprepared, Miya took another step back to open up space. The force of my backhanded right hand swing caused my left foot to step towards her as I pivoted on the ball of my right, which let me extend my original left handed stab. Somehow finding herself in full retreat under my unexpected onslaught Miya was now backpedaling, her sword still gripped by the hilt, blade downwards, and unable to retaliate properly. Instead she brought the hilt upwards to strike at the flat of my blade, forcing my left handed attack high and I missed her with it. Then I stepped with my right foot, already primed to force me forward, and the blade in my right hand which had ended its swing behind me arched, swinging downwards, past my legs, and then up in a cut that would split a person in two from groin to shoulder if it had been real steel and had connected. No longer unprepared but still off balance, Miya used her own downward pointing sword to drive my attack to the side, the speed of the strike causing a line along her clothes to ruffle under the wind pressure left in my blade's wake. With a movement quicker than anything I had seen her display so far she took a wide step back of her own, finally righting her position and leaving her with solid footing once more. The sword, once loosely held was now tightly gripped, pointing behind her and down, but held in preparation of attack instead of casually like her previously discourteous pose.

Rather than attempt to press my offense, I simply allowed my right hand to come down from its earlier position above my head, it and my left hand settling into a new stance, arms loose at my side, blades up.

To the side, the three strands of hair, only halfway finished with their descent to the earth after they were plucked from her scalp, fluttered and drifted slowly down until they reached the end of where gravity would take them.

Somewhere, in the background where I couldn't see and wouldn't risk taking my eyes off my opponent to double check, I heard what sounded like an overjoyed 'SQUEEEE!' noise. Despite the inarticulate nature of the sound, I was fairly certain that it had been Musubi who had emitted it.

"That," Miya declared, none of her previously feigned ignorance or humor present in her voice, "was not two sword style."

"Not Japanese two sword style," I corrected her, and her fully open eyes studied my blades for only a moment before she understood. There was a reason that the blades I had chosen had not properly resembled traditional katana. Just as Miya preferred to practice with her own sheathed blade in order to familiarize herself with the weight and length of her normal weapon, I had selected the normally unsuitable to a spar suburitou because the greater size and weight more closely resembled my own chosen weapons. Whereas someone who would practice a traditional style would be thrown off by the awkward sizes the two bokutou had, for me their dimensions were in fact more familiar.

Miya's eyes, now fully opened and set in a face that was no longer smiling, traced up and down my frame, her eyes studying my stance. My footing, with the new position of my swords, was now no longer awkward. It only took her a moment to do so, then she changed her position, moving her sheathed sword until she was holding it upright beside her head, no longer in a reactive position and instead in an offensive one.

It looked like she was finally ready to be serious.

This time it was Miya who made the first move. Fast, faster than most humans could ever dream of moving she struck, her sheathed weapon driving towards my forehead. The sword held in my right hand intercepted it, and the one in my left counter attacked. With the inhuman speed of her species she avoided my attack at her neck, a response that was partially her shifting her own body and partially her using her superior speed to shift my strike away with her returning sword. Her next attack came at my heart. This time my left hand was the one that intercepted, and my right was the one that struck at her, aiming low towards her inner thighs, at the femoral artery. One of the biggest blood vessels in the body, responsible for pumping blood down to what amounted to nearly a fifth of one's body mass, it was a strike every bit as fatal as the one she had launched at me. She intercepted that one too.

Back and forth we returned blows. Every attack she launched at me would have been a fatal one if she had been wielding an unsheathed blade, and if she had connected. Every attack I returned would have been equally fatal, if the same conditions applied. Despite the severity of our blows, the battle continued.

The exchange had only lasted for two minutes so far, and I had already lost track of the number of attacks she had unleashed at me and I had returned in kind. Each attack she launched was just a bit quicker than the one before it, slowly increasing the intensity of our duel. At the two minute mark, that ever increasing speed reached a point that I was certain that no human could match. What had been intended to be a simple spar, a chance for the two of us to see what the other was capable of, had reached an intensity that would have resulted in the death of one or both of the participants if either had been a simple human.

Neither of us were, and so it continued.

Despite the potential lethality of every blow she threw at me if this had been a real battle with bared steel, I could see no malice in Miya's eyes. If anything, her expression could be described more accurately as 'interest'. Or maybe, 'wonder' might be a better choice. Despite the fact that she was moving at speed which surpassed human capabilities, I was still managing to defend myself. My breath was harsh in my throat as I gasped for it, but despite the pressure she was putting on me, I had still so far refrained from using any magic to augment my physical abilities.

I was fending off a creature that surpassed humanity with strictly human abilities, and the inhuman entity that I was battling was, to the best of my ability to tell, absolutely captivated by that fact.

The reason that I was holding her off wasn't because of my speed, or my strength. It was because of my skill.

I don't honestly think Miya would have thrown a lethal attack at me, even in a spar, if the situation was normal. In the beginning, she hadn't done so anyway, but that was mostly because she was treating me like a glass statue and trying to deal with me as though I were a civilian who had just happened to find himself surrounded by the super human. The fact that I had managed to cut three hairs from her head had changed that. It had forced her to regard me as a serious opponent, even if I was still physically less capable then her. With the knowledge that I actually had enough experience to know what I was doing, when she had studied me she had seen the holes in my defensive stances and had afforded me the respect of attacking them seriously, even if she was still limiting herself at the beginning to what would be considered a human's physical capability.

The reason she had launched lethal attacks in that case was simply because those were the only holes that she could find. And the reason they were there was because I put them there deliberately.

The principle was simple. If I knew where the attack would come, then even if I couldn't see it, I would be able to move accordingly to defend myself. With a weapon in each hand, and foreknowledge of where the next strike would come, not only was I able to defend myself but I was able to counter attack as well. By deliberately giving my opponent the target, I was able to limit their ability to attack it.

It was an insane style. Every blow against me, if it connected in a serious battle, would be a lethal one. It was a style that deliberately assumed my opponent would be faster than me, stronger than me, better than me, and it arranged the flow of battle to specifically let me circumvent those disadvantages.

It was a style designed to let me fight against creatures that surpassed humanities capabilities.

It was the style I had inherited from Archer during the Grail War, and then perfected, inch by painstaking inch, with the help of an inhumanly powerful and skilled entity. An entity which was also one of my girlfriends, and thus more than willing to help me perfect the skills I might need to survive. In fact, Saber had been rather motivated personally to see to it that I was the best I could be when it came to having steel in hand.

In the fifth minute of the spar between me and Miya, I called on that experience to try and win the exchange. With the limitations I had put on myself, not being able to use magic to allow me to reach the next plateau of ability that I would need to keep up the insane speed of this match, I would either win or lose in the next thirty seconds. No match after this would ever be as fair a display of my potential against the Sekirei in hand to hand combat. Miya had already figured out my style. The only reason she hadn't tried to circumvent it was, from what I could tell, unbridled curiosity. 'How long could I keep this up?' I could see her wondering. By now she even surpassed Musubi's impressive natural speed and showed no sign of having reached the limit of her potential. I was giving ground, being slowly forced backwards as I was made to supplement my blocking skills with dodges as well, half step retreats that I tried my best to keep from backing me into a structure or obstacle that would finish me off.

I was simply reaching the edge of what a normal human could hope to accomplish against a member of her species, and unless I was willing to cross the line myself, then I would lose.

It was time for me to make my final attempt at ending this.

It was between strikes, during the infinitesimal moment between when Miya's snaking blade was at full extension and when it was chambering for the next faster attack that I launched myself forward, a strangled gasp being twisted from my burning lungs as I forced my body to respond, feeling my muscles quiver as the stress put on them reached a level where I was certain I'd notice a sprained muscle or torn ligament later on. As her sheathed blade was pulled back, I followed it, and then it was my turn to put her on the defensive. Just like when I had fought the scythe wielding Sekirei, I forced my attacks on her, each strike followed by a new attack from the opposite hand, a well practiced combination that was designed to leave none of the openings that had defined my style earlier. This sudden assault was meant to change the pace of battle, to force the previous offensively minded opponent to have to switch themselves to a defensive mindset, hopefully in a move too quick for them to be able to keep up with, leaving them open long enough for me to finish the job they had been unable to finish themselves.

At some point the battle had moved close enough to one of the nearby trees that dotted the courtyard, and it was that tree which did me in. Even as I launched my endless combo at Miya, her own inhuman speed still present and maintained at the level which her final attack had been at, managed to dodge. The suburitou in my hand missed her, and instead struck the unnoticed cherry tree behind her.

There's a reason beyond just the extra weight that my over sized practice blades weren't used in contact sparring. All that mattered to most of the manufacturers of weapons like these were the extra weight. They were typically unvarnished and untreated for hardness as well. The thickness of the grain of the wood was unimportant too. Ultimately, suburitou were not used for sparring because they were simply to fragile. When the blade in my right hand with the full force of my strength behind it hit the tree it gouged out a small chunk of wood, the shattered chunk exploding into green sawdust under the force of my attack. But in return the tree shattered my practice sword as well. I flinched and had to close my eyes to protect them from the spray of sharp splinters the much drier wood of my bokutou released when it exploded under the pressure.

When I opened my eyes, a half a second later, Miya was gone from my sight. The only thing my eyes could make out was the last of the cherry blossoms that my attack had dislodged beginning their descent to the ground.

Not thinking, just reacting, I twisted. The hilt in my right hand was useless, and Miya was skilled. She'd be behind me, simply taking advantage of an opening at this point. She'd be aiming at my back. I heard the hiss of air as her stab, aimed at my heart from behind, dragged across the clothes on my back as I wheeled out of the way. With my right arm up the barely avoided strike went under my armpit, emerging in my line of sight from the front like some kind of Hollywood death scene. The kind where it's only the position of the camera that prevents the viewers from being able to see that the sword had actually gone between the 'victims' torso and bicep and the actor was only pretending to be stabbed. I clamped my right arm down, trapping the blade between it and my side as hard as I could, locking the blade, and swung back with my left hand, hoping that the bokutou still whole grasped in it would find my enemy. Miya leapt back, getting out of range….

The sound of a blade being unsheathed caused both of us to freeze.

We stood there, frozen by the sudden noise that promised an escalation from simulated violence to real bloodshed, surrounded by the last of the falling cherry blossoms, both of us wondering where the newly bared steel had had come from, before reality caught up with me and I collapsed. I fell to my knees, panting hard, flushed with exertion, barely able to keep conscious as the sudden lack of enough oxygen that had been building up in me the entire spar nailed me in the back of the head like a black jack. As I panted, gasping desperately for enough air to remain conscious, I finally figured out what had happened. Beneath my arm, still locked from my attempt to catch it was the sheath of Miya's katana. When she had dodged back to avoid my retaliation she had inadvertently pulled free the steel which lay underneath.

A glance at the still captured wooden shell under my arms told me all I needed to know. With a sigh, finally feeling like I wasn't about to pass out as oxygen began reaching my brain, I acknowledged it. "You win."

"Ah," Miya began, her voice sounding strange. I managed to focus my eyes on her, and found her frozen, staring at the blade in her hand. Then her eyes shifted to the sheath trapped by my body, and her face paled slightly. "Ah," she began again, and then seemed to shake herself and some color returned to her. "No," she finally got out, her voice subdued. "It was my mistake which caused me to shamefully draw my blade. I concede this match to you, Emiya-kun," she finished, her composure regaining slightly.

I shook my head. "No," I insisted, the position of her sheath making me certain of this. "This was my loss."

Trapped beneath my arm, the sheath was being held lengthwise. When she had struck at my back, she had been holding it so the flat of the blade was parallel to the ground, and the edge directed inwards towards my body. It was positioned directly between my third and fourth rib. If the blade had been naked, the edge of it would have slipped cleanly between them, and most likely have cut me all the way through to my spine. I even had a moment to be impressed at the certainty of the kill strike. In modern days, most hobbyists who tried to learn the sword arts would have made the strike so the blade would have been perpendicular to the ground, simply because it would have been more comfortable a position when they attacked. They didn't realize that the human ribcage was more than just an accessory. It was almost as good as the skull when it came to protecting the organs within. A blade perpendicular to the ground might have bounced off a rib, or scraped off to the side and been deflected.

No. The strike she had landed on me wouldn't have an uncertainty in it. I would have died for sure if it had been real steel there.

And Miya knew it as well.

Her scent, the strange mixture of honey and blood and regret grew stronger, and the bitter aroma of her remorse invaded my nostril, thick enough to nearly make me gag. "No," she insisted, her face composed once more, settled into a sad smile. "This was not my victory."

Saying nothing, still too busy trying to deal with the change in her power, I wordlessly offered her back the sheath of her blade. That same bitter, mournful smile on her face, she accepted, and once more concealed the naked blade that had been in her hand. With a bow not to deep to be ingratiating, but deep enough to be sincere, she excused herself. "If you don't mind, Emiya-kun," she said deliberately, "I'm afraid that I must call this session short far earlier than I had hoped. I'm afraid there's a small matter which I must attend to."

I gave the shattered bokutou in my right hand a dry look, and bowed back, still kneeling on the ground where I had fallen after the exertion of the intense battle caught up with me. "I thank you for the match," I responded evenly. "Please, see to your business."

With a swish of purple hair and purple skirt, Miya turned around and briskly walked towards the doorway back to Izumo House. Without a pause to acknowledge the onlookers still cluttered there, she swept in and disappeared into its corridors.

Leaving me to deal with the onlookers alone, I might add.

Uzume was sitting in much the same position she had earlier, back straight and both hands held in front of her to hold her tea. Except that at some point, her fingers must have gone numb because though her hands were still there, the cup of tea must have been dropped at some point, staining her lap with the hot beverage and then rolling off to the side. The ponytailed Sekirei's eyes were wide, and her jaw was gaping as she stared at me. Behind her, Homura was still leaning against the wall, though he looked similarly shell shocked. He was positioned as though he had half tried to push himself off the wall, his body leaning forward as though he had stopped halfway through straightening himself. He had one hand on the wall, his fingers rigid as though he had been trying to grab something for support and had found nothing to get purchase on, and the other hand was on his chest above his heart, clutching his chest as though he was having a heart attack. His face was white, paler then Miya's had been earlier, and though his mouth was pressed into a tight line his eyes were nearly as wide as Uzume's currently were.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, whereas the first two residents looked close to collapsing from shock, the other two residents were another matter. Maybe it was because the two of them had already believed that I had enough combat potential to match a Sekirei, unlike the original three residents of Izumo House, but whatever the case their reactions were more excited than shocked. Kuu-chan was beaming up at me, and was applauding happily with wide strokes of her hands in an exaggerated motion. Musubi on the other hand…

The shrine girl had finally sat up from her on all fours position earlier into a proper kneeling position. She had both hands clutched tightly beneath her chin so tightly that their knuckles were probably white under her gloves. She was beaming at me with a look so worshipful it made me very uncomfortable, her eye unashamedly shedding what looked like tears of joy. "Shirou-sama! Landlady-sama! Shirou-sama!" she was gushing my name and Miya's title continuously, and looked like she was hyperventilating with excitement as she did so.

I sighed, and interrupted the fight maniac's apparent battle-gasm. "Breathe, Musubi," I reminded her. The shrine girl nodded her head furiously, and started concentrating on taking deep breaths as I had recommended. That seemed to be a cue to the rest of the crowd that it was all right to react again.

"Yay, onii-chan!" Kuu proclaimed, scampering down from her perch on the porch to charge me with wide open arms, determined to give her big brother a reward for a fight well done. I tried to stand so that I could receive her hug, but discovered that my legs were still deciding to ignore me after the abuse I put them through so when the girl managed to get close enough to tackle me she threw me off balance and I fell to a laying position with the girl in white perched firmly on top of me. After giving me my reward hug, she sat on my stomach, her hands held up in little fists as she proclaimed excitedly, "Onii-chan has swords!" and began waving her fists around as though she too were clutching imaginary blades while making 'wsk' noises.

I took another deep breath, and finally managed to get my respiration under control. For all that I had waited four days for it, the spar had only lasted at tops ten minutes, and even then it felt like I had put my body into a washing machine and turned it onto the most violent setting possible. My arms still feeling like noodles, I lifted them so I could see the state of my bokutou. The one in the right was nothing more than a handle with a few sharp looking splinters attached to it, whereas the one in my left was not much better. It was still in one piece, but the awesome force that Miya had been putting behind her blows had left it dented, splintered in some places, and laced with cracks in others where it had been about to give out as well.

"Not any more I don't," I muttered, letting my arms drop to the side and releasing the ruined practice swords. It looks like I'm going to have to do some shopping before I try to get Miya to give a repeat performance. It wouldn't be the same next time. She'd know my style by then, and she hadn't been the only one who had been studying her opponent. Her own style was unique as well. It had held elements of traditional Japanese swordsmanship, but it had been too loose, too raw, to really qualify. If I had to identify it I would say that she had developed her style herself, the same way I sort of did. It was too dependent on her own speed and strength, leaving openings and wasting movements in a way that would only be acceptable in a real battle if she knew that she would be able to accommodate for them with her own natural ability.

As I lay there contemplating the information a shadow fell over my face, even as Kuu continued to bounce up and down on my stomach and excitedly imitated her big brother by swinging her imaginary swords around. I glanced up to find that Akitsu had approached, with the cloth sacks used to cover the now useless bokutou draped over one of her arms. She stood patiently by my head, looking down expectantly as she waited for me to give her orders.

I looked up for a moment before realizing that the angle gave me a clear view up her loose skirt, and then flushed and awkwardly looked to the side. At least she seemed to have gotten in the habit of wearing panties regularly.

"Give me a hand up, Akitsu," I told her, reaching out with a still limp arm for her to give me her hand. She did so obediently, and I managed to struggle to my feet. When Kuu realized she was about to be dislodged she just wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my hips and attached herself like a barnacle. I tried to help support her weight with my other arm, but it was still doing a sincere noodle impression so Kuu ended up having to hold herself up on her own for the most part. When I finally reached a standing position I almost listed over, my legs still feeling like rubber, and I had to throw my free arm over Akitsu's shoulders in order to support myself. I gave the snow woman an apologetic glance at forcing her to support my weight, and found that she was blushing even more deeply at the contact than I had when I had gotten a look up her skirt. I felt the arm next to my side move, touching my back hesitantly, and then she looked away, her blush increasing, and wrapped it around my waist to help support me.

As I finally managed to start the short but hard trip to the veranda where the others sitting, Uzume finally seemed to reach a conclusion. "The size of bowling balls," she declared, still staring at me. "Giant, brass, bowling balls."

I scowled at her. At least she didn't identify what she was talking about in Kuu's hearing this time. "And you have tea on you," I told her dryly. Uzume stared at me for a second, not understanding, and then gave her hands a startled glance and realized they weren't holding anything. Her gaze shot down to her lap, and when she saw the stain on her pants her already wide eyes blinked, and then she launched herself to her feet.

"Hot!" she declared, frantically brushing at her thighs in order to try and alleviate where she was apparently just now noticing the hot tea on her tender skin. "Hot, hot, hot!" Kuu began to giggle at the display the older Sekirei was giving, and I calmly stole the dancing girl's seat cushion, letting myself collapse down on to it tiredly. Akitsu seemed disappointed at the loss of my proximity as I let her go, but then obediently began to pour me a cup of tea from the still warm kettle that Uzume had brought out with her for the show.

The proximity seemed to snap Musubi out of her fugue state. "Shirou-sama!" was the only warning I got before she put her hands on the floor, arched her back like a cat, and then pounced so she could imitate Kuu in giving me a reward for the show.

"Erk!" was the only thing I could get out before my attempt to relax after a hard battle was interrupted by a second set of arms around my neck and two soft things the size of melons squished against my face, the force of the tackle-hug once more knocking me over.

"That was so amazing!" Musubi gushed, wiggling back and forth in excitement as she smothered me with affection. Literally. "Shirou is so strong! And so is the landlady! Musubi is lucky to be able to be surrounded by such strong people!" She squeezed me harder, and I tried to squawk in surprise, beforerealizing that opening my mouth in such a position was a bad idea, and flushed even brighter.

As Musubi continued to squish herself against me I finally managed to get my mouth clear enough to call for help. "Akitsu," I gasped out, turning to the patiently waiting snow lady who was holding a cup of tea and waiting for the chance to give it to me. "Help!" I begged her.

"Help?" Akitsu asked slowly, cocking her head to the side, pausing a moment, and then nodding. "Help," she affirmed and put down the tea carefully. I sighed in relief, knowing I could count on the loyal Sekirei to get me out of this when she climbed up to kneel beside the squirming mass of me and her fellow two Sekirei.

"Akitsu," I stuttered, suddenly nervous. "What are you doing?"

"Helping," she assured me, and then hefted her own chest in her hands and started to close in. She paused; waiting for an opportune moment in Musubi's wiggling to get her own claim at a portion of my head with her breasts.

"Not that kind of help!" I yelped, realizing what she was about to do. Desperately I tried to find a new source of aid, and saw that Homura was still there. As a fellow man, I could count on him to give me assistance, couldn't I? "Homura," I begged as Akitsu's weapons bore down at me. "You'll get me out of this, won't you?"

My pleas for assistance seemed to be enough to shake him out of his own shocked state. Fortunately, his response was enough to derail my imminent death by asphyxiation. Unfortunately, that was mostly due to the fact that he seemed absolutely enraged. "Shirou," he finally managed to get out, his voice furious, his tone more a growl than actual words. "What the hell were you thinking!" he shouted, loud enough to make Musubi and Kuu flinch and Akitsu pause.

As Musubi's flinch backed her up long enough for me to get a proper breath, I let loose a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Homura," I told him honestly. He didn't seem the least bit amused by the flippancy I was treating the situation with, and with a growl he knelt down next to the mass of Sekirei hovering over me or already on top of me, and almost violently dragged Musubi off of me. He fisted one of his hands in my shirt around the collar, ignoring Kuu and Akitsu completely and dragged me off the ground till I was being held in front of his angry face.

"Don't give me that," he snapped, his scowl trembling with the force of his anger, his eyes narrowed till they were slits. "What the hell kind of fight was that? What the hell convinced you that fighting like that would be in any way okay?"

It took me only a second to realize what he was referring to. Calmly, as though I wasn't being shaken by an enraged alien, I responded. "So you were able to see through my technique, were you?"

"Your technique?" Homura snapped, letting loose a strangled snort. "Is that what you call that reckless attempt at getting yourself killed?"

"Homura," Musubi began, looking cowed by the flame user's fury, but she shrank down when he spared her a glare of her own before he continued to berate me.

"Do you have any idea how many times you almost died just then?" he snapped, his voice fraying at the edges as he recalled the fight he just saw.

"I lost track after the first fifty," I told him honestly, my tone disinterested at best. I had managed to get my arm under me enough to add my support to the position he was holding me in. I reached out with my other arm to try and reach the cup that Akitsu had poured me before betraying me in favor of Musubi's plan to send me to heaven, figuratively and literally.

"Fifty," Homura growled, obviously not expecting me to have an answer to his rhetorical question. "Fifty," he ground out again. I didn't tell him that the number fifty only included the first minute of Miya and mine's simulated death match. Including the other nine minutes the actual number was probably closer to five hundred. "You know what that style was?" he seemed unable to believe that I had been willingly supplying the lethal holes in my defense that Miya had been striking at.

"I should," I told him. "I helped make that style." Technically, I DID make that style, though it was a different version of me that hammered the moves together on his own, shaping them out of his own recklessness and the uncountable battles that he had endured before his death and ascension to the ranks of the Counter Guardians. When the Counter Guardian Emiya had been summoned by Rin as the Archer in the Grail War, he had already been changed into a different form of existence. It was thanks to that the two of us didn't inadvertently cause a paradox when we met. But even if we were different entities, we were still the same person. Watching Archer battle, fighting him myself, just being near him, it was as though our proximity gave us opportunity to synchronize, like two wavelengths of the same type but in different periods of their motion that had slowly grown closer and closer together. It was because of this that memories of his life, his techniques, his magic, slowly at first but with greater and greater speed the longer we were together, all of those things had begun to drift into me as well. It was thanks to this phenomenon, with Saber's assistance in the years afterwards, that I was able to realize, and then utilize, the style of swordsmanship that I had claimed.

A style that had taken thirty years of bloodshed, battle, pain, and constant suffering to forge, recreated in less than a tenth of that time period. That was what Homura had seen today. And apparently, he didn't like it one bit.

"You are insane," Homura declared, his teeth clenched as he did so. I gave him an inscrutable look.

"I did warn you," I reminded him, my voice not unkind, but unrelenting as well. "I'm not normal." He froze, recalling our first real conversation, the day I had told him he might be better off dead than with me. "Are you regretting it?" I asked him, my voice understanding as I did so. "Our pact?"

He scowled at me, but it seemed as though my question had derailed his anger. "No," he told me, his voice not quite as hot with anger, but he still did not sound happy at all with the scene he had just witnessed. "Just don't do something so reckless again. It doesn't matter if you can fight," he glared at me. "It just matters that you shouldn't fight. If you were to die, think about what would happen to your Sekirei, to me-" he cut himself off, scowling and glaring to the side.

"He-heh," a voice came from the side, reminding the two of us that we were not alone. We both looked over, and found that Uzume was standing to the side of the balcony, both hands on her hips as she leaned in to watch the two of us as though we were an episode of her favorite television soap opera. "Looks like someone's worried about their Ashikabi," she continued, wiggling her eyebrows at Homura. The flame user seemed to realize something, and glanced down to where he was still using my shirt to pull me close enough to yell at me properly. Instantly he let go as though I had suddenly caught fire. Well, considering he used fire, maybe as though I was made of ice or something. Kuu took advantage of me being released to stick her tongue out at Homura, making a 'nyeh' noise as she did so before reclaiming her hold on me triumphantly.

"It's not like that," he snapped, still sounding angry but now sounding equally flustered. I rolled my eyes at his vehement denial. So he was worried about his partner, so what? It's not anything to get embarrassed about. Honestly, how did someone so easily flustered end up as a host at a club?

Finally free of my Sekirei, well, except for Kuu who was still connected to me like a limpet, I finally got a chance to drink my tea, grateful for the opportunity to get some liquid into me after the exertion. Above me on the second floor I heard a thump noise. It looks like whatever it was that Miya was doing after she had left the courtyard it involved moving around something heavy, or maybe she just had her hands full and had accidentally kicked open a door a little too hard.

Uzume wasn't quite willing to stop teasing Homura yet, and giggled fiendishly, concealing her mouth with one hand while glancing away, a move she had no doubt copied from Miya's own repertoire of teasing positions. "I wonder what your customers would say if they saw you so close to another man," she muttered as though to herself but in a tone loud enough for the rest of us to hear.

"Uzume," Homura snapped, still not having regained his composure properly. The thumping noise from upstairs continued, and I wondered why Miya was marching down the stairs so loudly.

"Another man?" Musubi chimed in innocently, tilting her head and staring at Homura curiously. It was obvious that the naïve shrine girl didn't quite understand just what Uzume was trying to imply.

Homura gave his fellow Sekirei an aggrieved look, not understanding that Musubi was just being curious and not joining in on the teasing. "I'm not like that! Shirou," he turned to me, looking for support to escape the accusations. Considering that he had saved me no more than a minute ago from death by marshmallows I felt it my duty to return the favor.

"Relax, Homura," I told him, sipping my tea and finally feeling like my muscles had healed enough for me to be able to stand without flopping forward on my face. "They're just trying to get a rise out of you," I reassured him. "Yasaka will be disappointed," I continued, and Homura gave a snort at the reminder of his coworker's somewhat excessive admiration, relaxing at the joke, "but he'll just have to…You're not Miya," I interrupted myself, staring down the hallway to the foot of the stairs where the pounding noise was revealed to be someone I had never seen before stomping as fast as they could down the steps. The new person froze the moment they set their gaze on me, and the two of us locked eyes from across the hallway.

The newcomer was a woman, one that looked to be in her early to mid twenties, dressed all in white. Her outfit was some kind of long dress with a high collar, bare at the shoulders, and slit up the sides nearly to her hips with a small diamond shape gap at the top of her breasts to expose just a hint of her cleavage. She had two sleeve like additions that apparently attached to her dress underneath her armpits and hung low over her hands. She had dull auburn hair, falling low down her back and framed by two long braids that she had thrown over her shoulders, and her eyes were concealed by a pair of large round glasses. After the two of us spent a moment of silence studying the other, both of us apparently stunned by the sudden meeting, she reached up with one hand to pull the spectacles off, revealing dark red eyes.

"Matsu!" Homura yelped, following my gaze to see the newcomer and apparently being surprised by the new presence. "What are you doing out?"

"Matsu?" Uzume chimed in, her eyes widening in surprise and she hurried over so that she could peek down the hallway, leaning over on one foot so she could look inside while still standing in the courtyard.

Though stunned by the sudden appearance of the newcomer, I took it from the fact that both of the longtime residents here apparently knew her that this was in fact the long elusive final Sekirei that resided here.

"Ah! Who's that?" Musubi asked, peering down the corridor from where she was kneeling next to me after she had been forced off and shielding her eyes with one hand as though she were trying to spy something from a long distance. Akitsu, still kneeling as well on my other side patiently, didn't even bother to look having simply returning to her usual habit of observing me closely.

When the newly identified newcomer just stood there, frozen, I began to get nervous. "Ah, are you the other residence?" I asked her, trying to get her to do something besides stare at me. Even from down the hallway I could make out the fact that she was apparently panting, and her face seemed quite red. I wondered if she was sick, maybe with some kind of long term ailment. It would explain why she had remained hidden for so long. "My name is…" I began, and the newcomer finally reacted.

"Shirou Emiya," she interrupted me, still staring at me. "True age: unknown, speculated at twenty. Birthday: unknown. True family: unknown, presumed dead. Adoptive father: Kiritsugu Emiya. Status: dead. Grades from elementary school to high school: average. Observed personality during that time: altruistic, extremely accommodating. Upon graduation from high school departed for England." During this rapid summation of my life the newcomer had began marching towards me, her hands swinging wide as she tromped audibly to where the rest of us were gathered. I grimaced, nonplussed by the sudden and rather blunt summation of my life by a complete stranger. "Activities during England: unknown. Returned to Japan five months ago and began living in Shin Tokyo and immediately enrolled in preparatory school for Shin Tokyo University. First attempt: failure. Second registry already filed for future attempts."

The redhead had closed the distance till she was standing right beside where Akitsu was kneeling and the girl in white was apparently so focused in staring at me while recounting an abbreviated time line of my life that she didn't even notice. It was unnerving to hear a complete stranger reveal so much knowledge about my life. The only thing that kept me from panicking completely was the fact that she had listed my activities in England as unknown. It meant that wherever she was getting this information, it was from a source that was unaware of my nature as a magus.

The redhead fell to her knees next to the snow woman, who turned to give the newcomer her usual blank look. "Recent information has revealed extreme combat potential," she continued, and this close I couldn't ignore the fact that she was definitely breathing hard, her impressive chest moving up and down with each gulp of air, and her face was so red it was nearly blending in with her hair. Her eyes were half lidded, which combined with her position and the movement of her body gave her a seductive, sensual appearance. It ticked a memory in the back of my head, something familiar. I had seen this kind of behavior before. "To put it simply, a mysterious person," she concluded, leaning forward till she could rest her weight on one arms, closing in on me. Her other arm came up to press her palm against her chest, above her heart, and her breathing became even more erratic. "You, who are that kind of person, are the Ashikabi of this Sekirei, number zero two, Matsu. Please, calm this raging body with your thick, hot, DNA," She leaned in, her eyes fluttering shut, her lips pursed to find mine, her breath growing more and more ragged, and then…

"Akitsu," I managed to yelp out, backing away enough to escape the sudden attempt to kiss me, and the snow lady nodded. Instantly, a chill filled the air, and the newly introduced Matsu's eyes shot open, and she gulped when she realized that her hands and legs were apparently shackled together by icy bonds.

"Ah!" Musubi cheered, interrupting the stunned silence that had descended on the rest of the group. "That's just like what happened to Musubi!" she pointed out, clapping her hands in recognition.

"What the hell was that?" Homura managed to chime in, staring at the bound new girl, apparently completely nonplussed by her actions. Beside him, Uzume let out a low whistle, eying the scene with apparent interest.

"Wow, bro," she concluded, giving me a curious look. "You work fast, don'tcha?"

I sighed, not quite sure how to deal with this development. "She's reacting, isn't she?" I asked the rhetorical question, already knowing the answer.

"Well duh," Uzume told me, giving me a dry look. "What gave it away?"

On the floor the restrained Matsu continued to struggle, trying to free herself. "No! Let me go!" she wailed piteously. "I must experiment on you! Please! I want your babies!" Somehow she managed to roll over till she was face down on the floor, despite the fact that her arms were still attached to her legs and securely bound. She began crawling towards me as though she were an inch worm.

I sighed again, and wondered if it would be possible for me to escape to my workshop and leave someone else to deal with this mess. Somehow, I didn't think it would be that easy.


	9. Ninth Wing

In Fight: Ninth Wing

_Author's notes: I want to say something along the lines of how my new chapter was so delayed, but honestly I think it'd just annoy people that I consider six days to be a delay so I'll skip it. I will say that there is a reason I was so delayed, and I shall now explain so while shamelessly plugging another game. While cruising tvtropes, a delay all of its own I might add, I came across what is quite possibly the most singularly unusual work I have ever come across. It's an eroge called "Saya no Uta" and it is the touching love story of the passion between a man and an eldritch Lovecraftian abomination from beyond the stars sent to destroy humanity._

_Yeah, that's right. You heard me right. _

_Naturally at having discovered this fascinating piece of proof that no matter the fetish you can find it on the internet, I had to immediately play the game. As a fan and collector of all things Lovecraftian, having even written fics in the style in the past, I had to immerse myself in this strange tale of debauchery, cannibalism, man on tentacle action, fratricide, and the eventual destruction of all humanity. If you're into horror, descents into irredeemable madness, or are just plain curious as to how the hell someone could come up with a story like that, I recommend it completely! If on the other hand you value your sanity and still have some hope that mankind really isn't that sick, avoid it like the plague. It has stunning visuals, and an interesting plot, but its every bit as gruesome and horrific as you might imagine from my all to brief description._

_Now, onto the chapter. I have finally decided to go ahead and reveal a bit of Shirou's time in London. It's been such a point of contention that I finally gave in. Honestly, I originally intended to wait till Shirou was forced to reveal it to his Sekirei as a way to build up tension, but I've come to the conclusion that people are right. As it is right now I'm just being a tease, and the big reveal would have ended up being enormous, like a giant info dump, and probably would have ended up just feeling hammy all around. Instead I've decided to reveal the truth of what happened bit by bit, giving away details as necessary. What do you all think? I'm not usually one to give into review pressure for my stories, but this way I can explain a lot more of the intricacies of the Nasuverse slowly, and honestly a giant info dump really does seem to be what I had been heading for originally._

_Now, I don't think this counts as a spoiler, but I figure I might as well note it, just in case so..._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_First off, Matsu. Matsu is an interesting character in my book, and I want people's reads on how I handled her. I do know a smidgen of Japanese, but I'll be the first to admit I'm not too good at intricacies or dialects. From what I could tell Matsu has always used an immature method of speaking. For instance, her frequent use of -tan, or how in the anime she tends to end her sentences with -desu, or even how she frequently refers to herself in the third person. That combined with her tendency to conceal her hands with her sleeves and the way they have her position herself and move, all combines to have me see her as one of those people that deliberately act younger then they really are in order to try and appear 'cute'. Considering that Matsu is quite possible the most perverse of the Sekirei Minato ends up gathering together, and you have for an interesting character to write._

_Second off, Homura. I'm glad to note that some reviewers were interested in his actions in the last chapter, as I felt that those and Shirou and Miya's conversation at the end of the spar were the two subtlest pieces I put in there. I mentioned before that Homura is going to be a bit different then he was in the original. He already starts out with a healthy respect for Shirou for one thing, and rather than having to witness Minato's wishy-washiness for months only to realize he was reacting as well and having a panic attack like in cannon, in this piece Homura was winged first and then started evaluating his Ashikabi instantly. It lends to a completely different level of reaction, at least that's what I feel. Some people have noticed that Homura has been overreacting a bit, or commented on how he's normally a calm and refined person. That's normally true, but he does have cannon events where he loses control of himself: when he yells at the entire room right before he goes off to kill Minaka, when Minato is lost during the match in the third stage and Homura shouts down Natsuo after finally finding Minato. When Homura realizes Akitsu wasn't wearing any panties. That kind of thing. I like to think of my characterization of Homura is not so much making him overreact, as it is Shirou being so outrageous that he just gives Homura more opportunities to overreact in the first place._

_That's pretty much it for Author's notes. If you like it, give a shout. Questions/comments/concerns, review buttons there for those as well. See you next time on In Flight, where the plot will once more be advanced through more talking and character interaction, followed briefly by a period of intense violence!_

*Story Start*

"Ah," Matsu began, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly as she did so. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm number zero two, Matsu. Pleased to meet you all." The redhead bowed appropriately at the end of her introduction.

"The pleasure is all mine," I intoned back, somewhat ironically. I double checked to make sure that Musubi was still sitting next to the redhead, supposedly there to stop her if she got out of control again. Still, all things considered, she might not be the most reliable in this particular task, so I made sure Akitsu, my final wall of protection against the amorous Sekirei sitting across the table from me, was still next to me. I was reasonably sure I could rely on the snow woman to re-shackle the glasses wearing girl if she lost control and came at me again. The rest of Izumo House had gathered as well, all of us come together in the dining room to try and sort out the mess that Matsu's sudden appearance had caused. Kuu was sitting beside Uzume on the side of the table on my right. The young girl didn't seem to be following most of what was going on, and instead was playing with some crayons and a piece of paper that Miya had provided her with. Uzume on the other hand was eagerly following the unfolding drama in front of her, grinning from ear to ear as she did so. Miya was on the other side of the table, with Homura joining her there. The flame user seemed calmer then he had earlier, regaining his usual collected persona.

"Now now," Miya added gently, from where she was sitting between the two of us. It seems like the time between her taking her leave of the courtyard and finally being drawn back to the ruckus caused by Matsu's unusual introduction had been enough for her to regain her composure from the abrupt end of our spar. "Have you calmed down some, Matsu-san?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and smiling gently at the embarrassed redhead. Matsu puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, turning her head to the side as she pouted.

"I already said, 'I'm sorry'," Matsu muttered like a petulant child. "That wasn't how I was planning on introducing myself to Shirou-tan," she continued, using the childish mispronunciation of the diminutive '–chan' when she referred to me. She peeked out of the corners of her eyes at me, and then her embarrassed blushing increased, even more. "Originally I was going to jump on him in the bath when he was alone," she muttered, apparently without meaning to as she seemed to realize what she had said and slapped both her hands over her mouth in embarrassment.

"Oh?" Miya asked, cocking her head even further to the side and closing her eyes as she covered her mouth with one hand. "Improper relationships with the opposite sex are forbidden in the bath, Matsu-san," she chided the suddenly nervous looking girl across from her. I leaned in, already anticipating what was about to happen, and desperate to get a closer look.

There it was again. Just like it had before, appearing from nowhere beside the deceptively calm landlady was a fearsome mask. The air around it warped with the sheer pressure of Miya's concentrated malevolence, turning into something dark, something fearsome. The mask, once again shaped like that of the infamous jealous female demons commonly used in Noh plays, seemed to hover, leering down at the now as white as her clothes Matsu.

"Eep!" the braided glasses girl managed to emit the small noise of fear, and then in order to appease the evil creature before her she shamelessly prostrated herself on the ground, wringing her hands piteously as she did so. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry Miya-tan! I won't do it!" Matsu wailed, bowing repeatedly as she did so.

"It's probably a good thing that you came down when you did," Miya continued, still maintaining the strange construct over her shoulder. The rest of the boarders were looking on with increasing nervousness as the gruesome specter continued to leer about. Kuu had already hid herself behind the paper she had been drawing on while Uzume and Homura were both edging away nervously from the purple haired landlady. From the corner of my eye I could make out Akitsu inching her way further and further behind me, while on the other end of the table I could make out Musubi doing the same only using Matsu as the shield. "If you had broken the rules, then I would have had to evict you for certain," Miya added, smiling as though she hadn't just threatened to kick out the redhead for planning on intruding on me in the bath.

"No!" Matsu continued to wail, now with both hands on the floor as she sped up her groveling. "Not that! Please! Matsu will be good!"

"Oi, Miya," Homura began, probably almost as worried as Matsu was considering his proximity to the hannya mask. "Don't you think you might be going a bit overboard?" he pointed out, coming to the assistance of his long time housemate.

"No!" I cut in, drawing the surprised eyes of the rest of the house, Miya's included at my insistence in the continued chiding of the redhead. "I think I've almost figured it out!" I had stolen one of Kuu's crayons and a sheet of her paper and was frantically trying to scribble down notes. I resolved to never again be near Miya without a notebook and a pen handy. Some kind of visual hallucination, brought about due to the bodies instinctive reaction to being targeted by foreign malignant power? But if so, individual responses would differ, and so far it seems as though everyone was seeing the same thing. Maybe some kind of enforced response, caused by innate magic circuits resonating? But would people without circuits be affected? I frantically scribbled as much information as I could down despite the stubbiness of the crayon and my diminishing space for notes.

Miya seemed to realize that I was attempting to analyze her technique and instantly cut it off with a small frown. The rest of the table gave a sigh of relief, despite my outraged cry. "Wait! Just a bit longer," I begged, flipping the paper over and poising my improvised note taking utensil to begin again.

"Just a bit longer what, Emiya-kun?" Miya asked, once more feigning innocence in the face of my pleas.

"There's gotta be something wrong with you, bro," Uzume chimed in, shaking her head as she did so, apparently unable to believe that someone out there actually wanted to be exposed to that horrifying technique. Homura seemed to pick out something else to be worried about.

"Shirou," he began, eying me nervously. "What do you mean by 'figuring it out'?" Miya's eyes widened as she too began to give me a strange look.

"If I could just figure out the trick behind it, then I could probably reproduce it," I commented, already going back over my notes. It was just such an amazing technique. Even with my own experience with dealing with oppressive auras this thing still managed to incapacitate me the first time I was exposed to it and that was only peripherally. I still hadn't done anything apparently bad enough in the landlady's eyes to warrant a direct encounter, but I had little doubt that being the target specifically would no doubt increase the effect. I was always looking for effective techniques for manipulating the flow of battle, and one that would instantly cause an enemy to flinch and could be directly cast at that was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

"The trick behind what, Emiya-kun?" Miya asked me innocently, though she continued to give me an odd look as she realized that I had been attempting to steal her technique. Beside her, Homura seemed unnerved by the idea of the horror of the Hanya mask being in the hands of someone besides its original creator.

"Giant brass bowling balls," Uzume muttered, shaking her head as she did so.

"Miya," Homura muttered, glancing at the landlady next to him. "He can't really learn that trick, can he? I mean, you're the only one that can do that, right?" he pleaded desperately with the purple haired landlady for the assurance that my quest was futile.

Miya paused for a second, and then ignored the flame user completely, turning back to the almost forgotten Matsu who just looked relieved that the pressure was off her for the moment. "Now then," Miya addressed the Sekirei in white. "Why on earth would you so suddenly come down like that, Matsu-san? You know that you shouldn't be revealing yourself so casually."

Homura did not seem reassured that Miya was refusing to answer his question.

"I really am sorry, Miya-tan, Shirou-tan," Matsu apologized again. The red haired Sekirei was still flushed despite her recent brush with the otherworldly thing that Miya could apparently call on at will. When her eyes darted to me again and her tongue darted out to wet her lips nervously, I wondered how much of that flush was embarrassment and how much was just her continuing to react to my presence. "I don't know why I did that," she admitted, continuing her explanation for why she tried to jump me. "I had known that I was reacting for a bit," she continued, not seeming at all embarrassed by her confession. "But I was planning on studying Shirou-tan a bit more before coming out of hiding. But then I watched the two of you spar, and I don't know, something just came over me." Matsu seemed honestly upset by her loss of control, as though she was still finding it hard to believe herself that she had come at me the way she had.

"It's fine!" Musubi assured the redhead, beaming at her. "Musubi also reacted like that!"

"Wait," Uzume chimed in, apparently interested in the way the conversation was developing. "You mean you tried to jump bro over there as well?" Uzume eyed me speculatively, the new information apparently intriguing her somewhat.

"Yes!" Musubi nodded enthusiastically. "Akitsu-san had to stop me too, just like she did Matsu-san!"

"Is that so?" Miya chimed in sounding like she too was finding this new information to be startling.

I shrugged, uncomfortable with the sudden attention being focused on me. "I take it that's not the usual way this kind of thing goes?" I asked to try and shift the attention away from me as I folded the crayon covered sheet of paper in my hands that held my notes on the landlady's intimidation technique awkwardly before storing it away in my pocket.

"Usually a reaction is simply a matter of increased heart and breathing rates," Matsu explained, her voice taking on a lecturing tone as she did so. "These were the symptoms I had before. I've never found any documentation of someone reacting like I did earlier," she admitted, sounding perplexed by the fact that I apparently managed to induce such an unusual phenomenon in her species.

"He-heh," Uzume chuckled, and leaned over the table, interrupting the conversation completely. "So, Homura," she began, her eyes sly once more. "What was your reaction like?" Homura grimaced at the unexpected question, looking away awkwardly while scratching at his chest nervously. The question seemed to spawn reaction from Miya and Matsu as well.

"My, my," Miya smiled benevolently. "I hope nothing improper happened." Once more it seemed like open season on Homura had been declared. Matsu had a far less articulate response to the implications.

"Fuhuhu,fuhuhu," the glasses wearing Sekirei began to half laugh, half pant. It was a noise that made me inexplicably nervous for some reason, and reminded me of a perverted old man, the kind that liked to sneak gropes in public trains on innocent young schoolgirls. It was a noise of rampant perversion.

I was suddenly very glad I was on the opposite side of the table.

"It wasn't like that," Homura protested evasively, grimacing at the memory. I didn't blame him. Finally getting sick of the constant teasing and implications they were heaping on the poor guy, I spoke up in his defense.

"Actually, his reaction was a bit extreme as well," I began, causing Uzume's eyes to widen in anticipation and Matsu's perverted giggles to increase. Homura shot me an aggrieved look at my apparent betrayal before I continued. "It seems that his powers were going out of control and he was in the process of self immolation before the winging stopped him from turning himself into a cinder," I explained clinically. That seemed to put a halt to the teasing, judging from the sudden silence that descended on the room. Homura grimaced again, turning to avoid meeting anyone's eyes as he was again the focus of the other Sekirei's attention.

"Was it truly that bad, Homura-san?" Miya asked gently, her eyes half opening from her usually smile crinkled position. She sounded resigned; as though the news was something she had been half dreading all along. When Homura refused to respond, the landlady sighed. "I'm sorry," she apologized for some reason. "If my husband, if Takehito were still alive…" she trailed off, and apparently the unfinished sentiment seemed to mean something to Homura.

"Its fine," he announced shortly, still not meeting anyone's eyes. "I didn't want to worry anyone, and thanks to Shirou I managed to stabilize." He scratched at his chest again, and the room was silent for a moment.

Finally, Uzume chimed in again, flopping back to sprawl out with her arms behind her. "Well, if it's something like that then it's no fun teasing," she muttered, sounding both apologetic and disappointed with the revelation that I hadn't had to fend Homura off like I had too with two other Sekirei.

Matsu seemed to pick up on the attempt to change the subject and joined in. "Well, it seems that Shirou-tan must be quite powerful as an Ashikabi if he can make Sekirei react so intensely," she began, turning back to study me as she dismissed her previous train of thoughts. "But I was already aware of that." Matsu concluded, and as she turned back away from Homura and back to me her flush deepened once more. "If it's alright then could I please be winged now?" she asked me shyly, pushing two of her fingers together in front of her as she hunched over low and looked up at me with big pleading eyes.

"Another Sekirei, Shirou-san!" Musubi cheered, throwing her hands up in the air excitedly. "And this one is also single digit!" The shrine girl's joy over the chance for me to wing another of her species was very easy to read.

"Not bad, bro," Uzume chimed in, giving me her usual grin as she did so. "You're really starting a harem, ain'tcha?" Homura snorted at the idea of being counted in my so called 'harem' but otherwise didn't seem to have anything to add.

I grimaced, and rubbed the back of my head. "Well, the thing is," I began awkwardly. "Isn't it starting to get a little awkward?" I pointed out. Across from me, Matsu froze mid fidget and Musubi blinked in confusion. "I mean, I've already winged three, plus Akitsu as well. Isn't there some kind of limit on how many Sekirei an Ashikabi can have?" The color in Matsu's face began to drain away, except for the red in her cheeks. From the way Uzume and Miya were beginning to look at me, I had the feeling that I might be saying something stupid, but I plunged on, determined to finish my stuttering explanation. "What I'm trying to say, is that is it really alright for me to wing yet another Sekirei?"

"That's not right at all, Shirou-san!" Musubi proclaimed into the stunned silence my pronouncement brought about. "As an Ashikabi you should wing as many Sekirei as you can! The stronger Shirou-san is the better!" She lifted a gloved fist in to the air and clenched it as she passionately delivered her argument as to why I should partner yet another of her kind.

"Oh my," Miya chimed in, sounding amused by my attempt at wiggling out of getting yet another Sekirei. "Emiya-kun! You shouldn't play with a maiden's heart like that," she scolded me, covering her mouth with a hand again. She seemed to find my hesitance to be charmingly naïve.

I was prevented from saying anything else by Matsu abandoning all restraint and launching herself onto the table so she could start crawling towards me on all fours as fast as she could. "No!" the redhead cried. "I need your DNA! Give it to me! I want your babies! Don't reject an innocent maiden such as me like that!"

Even as I started to scramble backwards to give me some dodging room my earlier predictions about Musubi's reliability as a deterrent turned out to be prophetic. Rather than try to stop the Sekirei in white, the shrine girl instead started encouraging her. "Go, Matsu-san! Get winged!" the shrine girl cheered, waving her open hands in the air as she egged on the braided Sekirei.

"Akitsu," I yelped, and once more my faithful snow maiden came through. Matsu fell forward, her hands and legs shackled once more, leaving her wiggling pathetically on the table.

"Shirou-tan!" the captured Sekirei moaned pitifully. "Don't tease me like this!"

I sighed, rubbing my forehead with one hand. "She's just going to keep doing that until she gets winged, isn't she?" I directed my question at Homura, already knowing that my attempt at keeping my so called 'harem' from increasing was most likely doomed. I had voiced my concern because I was still uncertain of the appropriateness of me being the partner to so many different members of their species. Still, if I had to be honest a big portion of my reluctance came from my experiences back in the Grail War. Back then one Servant was all a Master could handle, but in that case it was because the Master had been responsible for providing the Servant with mana and quite frankly it was next to impossible for a human magus to provide enough for more than one Servant to exist on. Caster had been able to do it, supporting Archer, Assassin, and Saber at the height of her power, but that had been because she had been sucking the souls out of large swathes of Fuyuki city to maintain her ridiculous collection. Even after the war it had taken a ridiculously powerful magi like Rin in order to keep a single Servant active, and that was at the expense of tying nearly eighty percent of her power into supporting Saber at all times. Part of the reason that I had been required to assist in Saber's 'upkeep' was that if I didn't then Rin would spend most of her time limited to even smaller reserves then I had. On the other hand, if all a Sekirei needed was the small dose of magic that I had felt drained from me on their winging and then they were able to function on their own then I suppose it was perfectly possible for one human to support two or three, or in my case four.

"Yes," Homura agreed, studying the Matsu as she once more managed to make her inchworm impression and started closing in on me. He turned to me, and his expression was serious. "Shirou," he began, his voice firm. "I've told you before. It's not a bad thing, having more Sekirei. I know that you're only trying to be kind, and that you're trying to look out for Matsu, but you're kindness is misplaced here and more like cruelty. She's already reacting to you. If you were to reject her, then it would mean she'd have to find another Ashikabi, and whoever she'd find would not be as suitable as you. Would you really be so cold as to force her to do something like that?" he asked me, giving me a serious look as he did so. I sighed. When he put it like that, it made me feel like the only option I had was to accept the redhead's addition to my growing collection.

Still, I was reluctant to accept more Sekirei for another reason as well. For all the months of peace it didn't change the fact that I was still being pursued by the Clock Tower. I might be far from their base of power, the city might provide me with ample camouflage, and I was most likely a low priority to the majority of the members of the Magus Association, but all that didn't change the fact that the day might come when the Enforcers of the Clock Tower finally decided to make an attempt at collecting me. On that day I'd most likely have to fight them off, and after that I would have to flee to somewhere new. How hard would it be, leaving these girl's behind? Would I even be able to? The danger the Clock Tower represented to them as well was not inconsiderable. Would I be required to bring along all those that I had winged in order to protect them as well? The more Sekirei that I partnered with, the harder it would be to disappear into a crowd.

Well, at least this would probably be the last one. At least I could be certain that I wouldn't be ambushed by any more of the residents. After this one the only one who was unwinged was Akitsu, and she was already my Sekirei. Well, I wasn't certain about the status of Miya, but considering the differences between the landlady and the rest of the aliens present I wasn't certain Miya even could be winged.

"Alright, alright," I finally caved in. That seemed to set Musubi at ease at least. The shrine girl beamed at me from across the table.

"Shirou-tan! Thank you!" Matsu wept tears of joy at my capitulation, and I couldn't help myself from giving her a comforting smile. If I had known that my attempt at limiting my number of Sekirei would have caused her so much discomfort I might have tried to be more tactful.

"Go ahead and let her up, Akitsu," I told the snow woman behind me and I saw her nod obediently from the corner of my eye as the ice holding the Sekirei in white down shattered under the snow woman's will. Freed from her restraints, Matsu wasted no time finishing her trip to my edge of the table, perching at the end of it so she could stare expectantly down at me from her advantageous position. Rather than make my usual retreat from this kind of situation I simply took a deep breath and calmly held my ground, trying not to portray my nervousness at this.

"Thank you, Shirou-tan," Matsu told me, her breathing labored from her continued unusually intense reaction. Number zero two, Matsu, will be yours…" she seemed unable to hold herself back any longer, and desperately lunged to wrap her arms around my neck, claiming my mouth with hers. Wings of light much like Musubi's sprouted behind her, an orange light that felt somehow geometric in shape, as though rather than being rounded and organic as the others were it was somehow composed of myriad flat spaces that simply gave the illusion of being one smooth surface. She kissed me long and hard, and I tried not to blush as her tongue invaded my mouth during the mana exchange. It's just a lingering symptom of her reaction, I told myself, hoping that finally being partnered would be enough to calm her down. She finally broke the kiss, her eyes resting on me with an expression that was sensual, languid, satisfied. "…Forever and ever," she finished her earlier declaration of loyalty, resting her forehead against mine, and pulling her body close.

"Yay!" Musubi cheered at the scene she had helped instigate, shamelessly exulting in me acquiring yet another of her species. Reactions from the rest of the audience seemed mixed. Homura and Miya looked almost proud, though I got the impression Homura was more satisfied with my increase to the group's combat potential whereas Miya looked as though she were simply happy for Matsu herself. Uzume just sighed and shook her head with a crooked grin. Akitsu was looking to the side, her usually placid expression tinged with an emotion I couldn't quite place. At least Kuu-chan seemed to share my discomfort at the situation. The young mistress of plants was pouting, her expression jealous at the attention her big brother was giving someone besides her. I could hear her emitting a low and angry 'Fuuuuuuu' noise, like a kid about to have a tantrum.

Well, at least this whole debacle was over. I wondered if I'd have enough time to make it to the kitchen before Miya did. It was getting late in the evening and with the fallout from the spar earlier and then this I don't think anyone had started preparing dinner yet. Deciding to make my bid for the chance to cook, I tried to stand, proclaiming, "Well, if that's all…" when I met unexpected resistance to my effort to make a dash for the kitchen.

Matsu, still clinging to me and leaving me feeling rather awkward, began to giggle. "Fuhuhu, fuhuhu." The perverted noise sent a shiver of fear down my spine. Matsu met my eyes, and somehow the light from the dining room reflected ominously off her glasses. "And now!" the redhead proclaimed, still giggling, "The experimentation!" Still holding me firmly with one arm the other began to slowly close in on my shirt, grasping at the air in a manner not unlike Yukari when confronted with large breasts, and the shiver of fear became full blown shaking.

"Oi," I began, trying to wiggle free and escape from the clutches of the very scary girl keeping me in a kneeling position on the floor. "What are you doing?" My nervousness only seemed to make Matsu's perverted giggles come faster.

Fortunately I was saved from my imminent molestation by Kuu of all people. The jealous girl had apparently had enough of everyone else monopolizing my time and she stood, slapping her hands on the table with a 'thump' noise that would have been impressive if she was a little bigger. Her earlier 'fuuuuuuu' noise was replaced with a full blown 'Hrrrrggggghhhh' sound, something that would have been a growl if the green girl was just a little more intimidating to look at. With her tiny hands fisted at her side she marched over to me and latched onto one of my free arms, glaring up at Matsu. The redheaded Sekirei paused, looking like she only just now realized that there were other people in the room.

Latched on to me with a grip like a vise, Kuu stuck her tongue angrily out at my molester. "Kuu-chan also wants onii-chan's babies!" the girl proclaimed vehemently.

The room froze, and an arctic breeze wafted through it. The first person to move after the child inadvertently dropped a nuclear bomb on the conversation was Uzume. She snorted, her hand covering her mouth to prevent her laughter from escaping, but soon lost that battle and began rolling on the floor in full blown hysterical laughter.

Matsu whimpered when she noticed that my previously scared expression had been replaced with a glare. But that was nothing compared to the ominous feeling of impending doom now being emitted from Miya.

"Matsu-san," the landlady began, her voice in a singsong pitch. "What on earth are you teaching innocent young girls?" Matsu seemed frozen in spot, some animal instinct telling her that maybe if she stood very still then the thing about to pounce on her would go away. Over the enraged alien landlady's shoulder that hideous mask projection of hers once more formed. Now though its eyes were dripping blood like tears, and it was accompanied by the noise of wood blocks being crashed together thunderously.

Hmmm. Visual AND auditory hallucinations. Fascinating.

*Scene Break*

"Shirou, about what Matsu said earlier," Homura was the first to bring up Matsu's earlier great reveal about my mysterious past. It was an hour after I had escaped from the dining room, taking advantage of Miya's stern chastisement of the penitent Matsu to be the first in the kitchen with Akitsu obediently trailing behind me. The rest of the house seemed to be fascinated in watching the landlady lecture the crying Matsu at length about what was appropriate behavior in front of children, and what kind of indecent things were forbidden in Izumo House. Or it could just be that the rest of the house was paralyzed in fear from the leering manifestation of bleeding malice that was present throughout the lecture.

Whatever the case was I should have been expecting it, though in the excitement afterwards Matsu's strangely detailed yet incomplete biography of my life had slipped my mind. "Oh yeah," I muttered, snapping my finger as I recalled just how much the redhead had managed to put together. "Where did you get all that information anyway, Matsu?" I asked her curiously.

Matsu gave me a somewhat pained look, wincing as she took a bite out of the food I had prepared. It looked like Miya had been pretty hard on her. "Actually, I've been researching you since the day you met Homura-tan, Shirou-tan," she told me, sticking her tongue out and looking sheepish as she did so. Her immature actions, combined with the way her sleeves fell down over her hands, and her childish way of speaking combined to make her seem younger than her physical appearance would indicate. It wasn't that uncommon a thing for more mature Japanese women to sometimes use childish phrases or dress in an immature fashion. Japan had an illicit love affair with all things 'cute' after all. Everything from construction warnings to first aid manuals would often include childish drawings or depictions of adorable animals. This was the country that had unleashed the horrors of 'Hello Kitty' on the world after all.

"Why on earth would you do something like that?" I questioned her, unnerved at just how long she had apparently been interested in me. How on earth had she even heard of me?

"Actually, Shirou," Homura broke in, sounding a bit apologetic. "I asked her to do so. When I began reacting I was a little unnerved by the circumstances, and turned to Matsu to see if she could find any information on your character. Unfortunately, considering the intensity of my reaction she only had time to confirm if you were an Ashikabi or not before I had to contact you again." I winced at the memory of Homura's near death experience.

"At the time you did seem surprised that I was aware that you weren't human. You mentioned that you already knew I wasn't an Ashikabi at the time," I recalled, taking a bite out of my rice as I did so. Homura nodded, remembering the event himself no doubt. I turned my attention back to Matsu who seemed annoyed that I had turned my attention away from her. She beamed at me when I addressed her again. "So is that why you've been out so much?" I asked her, recalling how the girl in white had remained hidden during the five days I'd been living here so far. "You were out investigating?" I had never felt her presence leave, true, but I had been out and about a good portion of the time, and there was no way of knowing if she was here the entire time herself. It could just be that I hadn't noticed her leave as well. I might be able to sense Sekirei, but with so many of them about it was hard for me to get specifics, especially when Miya was nearby. The smell of blood had a tendency to distract me, so I might have not been paying attention at the right times to notice her leave.

Matsu looked away guiltily. "Actually," she began, scratching the back of her head, "I can't really leave Izumo Inn," she admitted, sounding nervous at the confession.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why's that?" I couldn't think of any reason in particular that one of her species would be bound to a location. So far they didn't seem to have the restrictions that many other spiritual creatures might exhibit when it came to moving about.

Matsu began to laugh nervously. "Well," she admitted. "When I left MBI headquarters I might have had a bit of trouble." She began to blush, covering her cheeks with her hands as she did so. "No, more like a lot of trouble. In the end it kind of ended up with me being chased."

I gawked at her. "Wait, you're a fugitive?" Matsu slumped at my accusation.

"It's not nice to say it so bluntly," she muttered childishly. "In the end, I came to Asama-san in order to hide." I glanced at Miya who smiled politely.

"I've said before," she chimed in, not acting at all like the vicious tyrant that had been lecturing Matsu not too long ago. "My husband was not one who would turn others away."

"I can imagine," I said nonchalantly. If Matsu had the might of MBI after her and came here to be safe it said a lot about Miya's natural power. I had seen her surpass Musubi's speed and strength during our spar and the shrine girl was currently the most physically able of the Sekirei I'd born witness to. Despite that Miya hadn't given a single indication that she had been anywhere near her own limits. One of the reasons I had gambled on my final attack on her was to stop her from increasing any further and completely ending my chances of winning the spar. If Miya's strength could be considered enough to give MBI pause in their pursuit of Matsu, then it meant she could either match the combined might of the company, or come close enough that it simply wouldn't be cost efficient to risk upsetting her. "So how did you manage to find out so much about me?" I continued with my previous train of inquiry, curious as to how she had managed to discover as much as she had.

Matsu cocked her head to the side and smirked triumphantly. "Even though I don't have much combat potential," she began, the light gleaming off her glasses as she folded her arms under her breasts and posed proudly, "I am the Sekirei most suited for collecting information!" She put one hand to her mouth and started giving out a laugh typically reserved for bad anime female antagonists. "Ohhohohohohoho!"

"In other words Matsu-san was peeping again," Miya corrected narrowing her eyebrows at the braided Sekirei. The landlady's accusation seemed to deflate the glasses wearing Sekirei.

"Miya-tan," she mumbled sounding embarrassed. "Could you please call it 'Eye of the Electronic Brain'," she whined, and I had the impression that this was most likely a long standing debate between the two. "My abilities are for me to access electronic devices remotely," she continued, explaining to me her nature. "Though I still can't control them directly, I was able to use my ability to break into many databases, even MBI's," she proclaimed, sounding proud at her criminal success.

"So that's how you were able to learn all that," I muttered, and Matsu slumped again, disappointed at my lack of reaction. If she was breaking into the company's private information, then no wonder she was currently in hiding. Then what she said managed to penetrate completely and I spat my rice to the side. "Wait, you hacked even into MBI's database?" I asked her, my voice strangled.

"Hacked?" Musubi asked, her head tilted to the side apparently confused at the expression. I ignored in her in favor of gawking at Matsu. The braided Sekirei seemed worried by my violent reaction, and hunched over a bit more. She nodded, perhaps thinking I was about to scold her for her crimes.

"That's amazing, Matsu-san," I told her, and meant it. "You're able to get into the company's system at any time?" She perked up when she realized that I was honestly impressed at her accomplishment. "So you can access information on all the other Sekirei, their Ashikabi, the company's plans, everything?"

"You know, bro," Uzume chimed in, giving me a strange look. "When you put it that way it sounds kinda ominous, ya'know?"

Matsu ignored the naysayer beside her and seemed to inflate at the fact that I understood just how big a thing she what could do was. "That's right, Shirou-tan," she told me in a voice that managed to convey 'Praise me! Praise me!' as well. "There aren't many 'brain type' Sekirei like me, so not many other Ashikabi have access to that kind of information." She was trying to inflate her worth to me by shamelessly bragging. She didn't need to. I was already officially impressed.

"You seem quite excited, Shirou," Homura pointed out, watching my reaction curiously as I finally regained enough presence of mind to resume eating.

"I am," I told him, and meant it. He didn't understand. During the Holy Grail War people would have KILLED for that kind of information. In fact, I'm pretty sure Lancer DID kill to discover that much for Kotomine. Being able to identify a Master and their Servant, knowing their abilities, their weaknesses, their plans, all those things were the difference between life and death in the war. Rin, Saber, and I had to risk our lives in order to identify the Master of Caster, and if we had information on Souichirou Kuzuki's abilities beforehand then the entire course of the battle might have been different. Hell, the whole war might have become something completely different for that matter.

And here, ambushing me from nowhere and begging to join my side, was access to all the information I might need about the Sekirei Plan.

"You and I are going to have several long strategy sessions," I told Matsu.

Matsu wiggled happily, overjoyed that I had apparently completely reversed my earlier hesitation at including her into my ranks.

"All that aside, Shirou," Homura broke in, turning back to focus on me directly. "Was everything she said earlier true? About how so much of your past is unknown?" He was studying me carefully, obviously a bit on guard at the fact that even things like my age and birthday, not to mention my family history, was all a mystery.

"Well, pretty much," I admitted easily, not at all concerned.

"That sounds pretty ominous too, bro," Uzume pointed out, though she seemed to regard the mystery as merely something to entertain herself with.

I shrugged. "Well, when Matsu puts it that way, I suppose it would. Honestly, it's a lot less exciting than it sounds." I could sort of understand why it would be unnerving to some people, but if they were expecting too much it would probably be a bit disappointing.

"What do you mean, Emiya-kun?" Miya chimed in, her eyes un-crinkling so she could study me. It seemed that our earlier spar might have made her a bit curious how a simple human like me had been able to stand against her for so long.

"Well," I began, and then glanced at Matsu. "Did you manage to track my adoption and hospital records down?" Matsu puffed her cheeks out at my question.

"Of course," she scolded me, upset at my doubt of her ability. "I've been researching Shirou-tan for nearly a week now!"

"Hospital? Adoption?" Homura chimed back in sounding surprised.

"Oh my," Miya added, sounding upset. "Whatever happened, Emiya-kun?"

I shrugged again. "There was a fire in my home town when I was about five years old. It was pretty epic. By the time it was put out it had claimed five city blocks. There were hundreds who died in it and hundreds more that were hospitalized afterwards. I was one of those."

"Ah," Uzume grimaced. "Sorry for asking," she muttered. I shook my head and smiled reassuringly at the table that had just heard something pretty outrageous about my past.

"It's fine," I told the ponytailed Sekirei. "It happened nearly fifteen years ago. I don't have any trouble speaking about it," I assured them as a group. That seemed to set them at ease, though Homura still looked a little tense. "Anyway, it was pretty traumatic at the time, and after I recovered I didn't really remember much of my life before hand, not even my real name. Since they couldn't identify me, they couldn't locate my original family, if they were even alive, nor were they able to properly tell what my birthday was, or how old I even was at the time."

"That's so sad, Shirou-san," Musubi said, her eyes watering with unshed tears at the story.

"Ah, you're right," Uzume added, giving me a grin. "It's a lot less mysterious when you explain it like that!"

I snorted at the irreverent Sekirei's attempt at lightening the atmosphere. "I could make something up if you want," I suggested for her. "I'd probably be able to work aliens in there somewhere."

"He-heh," Uzume chuckled. "You can if you want, but it'd lose a lot of impact, considering what we are." Our banter set Miya to chuckling, but Homura seemed strangely subdued after my story.

"What about England?" Matsu pressured, apparently not happy with her earlier failure of information gathering. Since she was a 'brain type' not being able to figure out most of this on her own had probably been a blow to her pride. At that, despite my earlier willingness to explain away my so called 'mystery' I grimaced.

"I would really rather not talk about England," I muttered, and this time it was my turn to glance away guiltily. Alas, this only seemed to incite Matsu's curiosity even further.

"Shirou-tan," she whined piteously. "I really want to know! Please! Pretty please, Shirou-tan!" she begged me unashamedly. Then she looked to the side and stage whispered in a pouting tone of voice, "If you don't tell me I'll just keep digging till I find it anyway."

I winced. "Look, if I tell you a bit, will you promise not to look into it any further?" I offered a compromise, hoping the inquisitive Sekirei would be willing to negotiate. Eagerly the braided Sekirei began to nod her head, her hair flopping around her as she did so.

"Please, Shirou-tan! It's been driving me crazy!" the redhead pounced on my offer and I sighed.

"Well," I began, trying to figure a way to give them an idea of what happened without revealing anything of the existence of magic. "I was accepted to a rather prestigious university there after high school," I began slowly. "It's the kind of place where most of the people who attended are pretty rich and connected. You know what I mean, where everyone knows everyone else, and most of the students only got in because their parents went there in the first place and were willing to donate generously?" I glanced at the table to see if they were buying my story and found that I had acquired an attentive audience. "Well, I only managed to get in on a technicality, and at the time my grades weren't really the best. I spent most of my time back then in the dojo and not with my books."

"You must have practiced quite vigorously to have reached the level you have, Emiya-kun," Miya chimed in, and I got a round of nods from the rest of my listeners as they remembered my earlier display of blade work.

I shrugged helplessly. "A legacy of a misspent youth," I told them, using the same excuse I had originally given Takami about my lack of reaction at her threats on my life. "Anyway, there was a lot of discrimination, a bunch of rich kids who had all grown up together picking on the poor foreigner and all. All that combined with my poor grades and I made an easy target I suppose."

"Oh! Those meanies!" Musubi leaped to my defense, quite literally as she sprang to her feet with her hand clenched in righteous anger at the indignities her Ashikabi had been forced to endure.

"Muuuuu!" Kuu-chan joined her older comrade Sekirei, the idea that I had been teased no doubt inspiring her childish rage as well.

"Simmer down, you two," Miya told them calmly, sipping her tea as she listened to my story. "Emiya-kun seems quite all right at the moment."

I spared a smile at the sight of my two Sekirei getting so fired up in my defense. "It's fine," I told them, and Musubi sat down obediently, still looking annoyed at thought that I had been the target of discrimination. Kuu took a more direct approach and plopped herself down in my lap to give me a hug. "I might have been hard at first but once I cracked down and started studying I managed to raise my grades."

"According to your test results you nearly made it into Shin Tokyo University on your first try," Matsu added, nodding her head approvingly. "But if you started raising your grades, why haven't you transferred your old credits in," she asked me, curious. "Why did you leave at all?"

I sighed again, my slumping down. "Well, I mentioned how most of the students there were the kind that got in on family connections, regardless of their grades? Well, they were fine with just looking down on me so long as it looked like I was going to fail out in the beginning. Once it looked like I might actually be doing better than them despite the fact that I didn't have their connections, well, they tried to up the discrimination to actual bullying." I rolled my shoulders self-consciously. "I don't like bullies that much," I admitted, glancing sheepishly to the side. "When they tried to get physical I might have responded in kind. And, well," I gave them a helpless smile. "I was better at it than them."

For a moment I could see them making the connection. Me: capable of fighting against Miya for a prolonged period of time. Them: privileged rich kid bullies. Result:…

"Oh my," Miya sighed. "I hope you didn't kill any of them." Uzume nodded her head in agreement, smirking as she did so.

I suppressed my reaction to her casual observation. This was an edited version of the events that had led to me fleeing from the Clock Tower. They didn't need to know that her supposedly exaggerated suggestion had been accurate. "Well," I continued, "afterwards there were certain complaints made to influential family friends who then took it to the school directly. Once the faculty got involved things escalated even further. By the end of it certain accusations were directed at me, and with the right amount of political pressure, those became charges, and then I kind of had to flee the country to avoid prosecution."

"Wait," Matsu chimed in, sounding excited. "Does that mean you are a fugitive too?" The redhead seemed overjoyed that I could understand her plight.

"The charges wouldn't stand up in court," I admitted, and honestly they wouldn't. After all, the Magus Association didn't have courts. "But with all the pressure and politicking behind the scenes it would probably take years to sort out, and most likely cost a fortune in legal fees. Instead I just left. The families responsible for the charges don't have much influence back here in Japan, and if I stay low long enough the whole thing will blow over on its own."

"That's wonderful, Shirou-tan!" Matsu proclaimed clasping her hands together underneath her chin. "We can be outlaws together! Would you like to hide out with me in my room?" she suggested, though from the glare once more bouncing of her glasses the suggestion came across as a little ominous to me.

"Oh!" Miya chimed in, putting a hand to her chin and looking away as though ashamed to be in my presence. "To think, that Izumo House would end up harboring not one wanted fugitive, but two."

"Man, bro. That's a tough break," Uzume gave her own input on my situation. Kuu nodded and gave me another comforting hug. I patted her on the head and gave her an encouraging smile.

"It's not all bad," I admitted. I paused, considering my next words carefully, and then decided to continue. Since I was in contact with Takami and Yukari then it seemed pretty likely that eventually someone in the house would figure out that despite supposedly being an orphan I still had living relatives. Better to just come clean now rather than risk once more gaining a reputation as mysterious. "Once I got back to Japan I was actually able to discover that I actually had living family living here."

"Really? That's wonderful, Shirou-san," Musubi declared enthusiastically.

"Eh? So after you got back you decided to try and find your roots or something?" Uzume asked, sipping her tea while she slouched back. By now most of the dinner I had slapped together had been devoured and it looked like the only thing keeping everyone at the table was the conversation. Uzume in particular seemed to find my life story to be especially entertaining, but Homura and Miya were both paying equally close attention themselves. It seems that Matsu's earlier statement about me being mysterious was something they'd come to agree with.

When all was said and done, even I had to admit that my life story was the kind of thing you'd find in a movie or some kind of anime or something. Considering that I had ended up with two girlfriends at one point and was now surrounded by a bevy of well developed alien fighting machines I suppose I might even qualify for an eroge if someone were to take my life out of context.

As if to reinforce my realization at the ridiculousness of my life, I answered Uzume's question. "Actually, it was a complete accident. I just kind of ran into my mother at one point and we ended up figuring it out. To make sure we had three separate institutes do genetic testing, and hired a private detective to put together the facts on how it happened." This seemed to interest Matsu in particular.

"Oh! Like in the soap operas! What happened? Did the two of you run into each other in a coffee shop, and then you both dropped a baby picture at the same time, but when you reached for the pictures you realized it was the same one?" Matsu gushed, leaning forward eagerly. I guess she had found daytime television to be a way of passing time while hiding out if the ridiculous plot she outlined was the first thing that came to mind.

"No," I snorted at the ridiculous plot device. "It involved a malfunctioning piece of new equipment, airport security, and the repair team that was sent to investigate it." I paused, and then slumped when I realized that was even more ridiculous then Matsu's suggestion. "Incidentally, that was the first time I met a Sekirei," I noted almost peripherally. Matsu seemed to find the idea thrilling, and Uzume was starting to laugh again.

Homura on the other hand spit out his tea and started hitting his chest wildly. "W-w-wait," he said, his face looking pained. "That was when you met…" he trailed off, and I realized that I had told him about the first Sekirei I had met. He grimaced and finally completed his sentence, "…you met HER?" he asked me, looking as though he was trying very hard to avoid saying a name. The rest of the table seemed surprised at the only other guy here's reaction.

"Karasuba?" I supplied for him casually. "Yeah, that was when I ran into her."

The cup in Miya's hands shattered, the shards of porcelain pressing into her feminine hands and apparently not able to penetrate her flesh as they were ground into small chunks of gravel. Matsu let loose a frightened 'eep' and turned as white as her clothes. Uzume started coughing wildly, spraying her tea across the table as she pounded her chest, incidentally dropping the cup she had been holding and staining her pants once more with the beverage. Beside me, in her usual place the cup in Akitsu's hands quite unexpectedly froze into a solid chunk of ice.

"Oh! Karasuba-sama!" Musubi chimed in, looking excited, even for her. She leaned in, her expression eager. "You've met Karasuba-sama, Shirou-san?" she asked, her expression overjoyed at the thought that I had met someone she apparently already knew and thought highly of.

"Just the once," I admitted, glancing around the table at the varied reactions my statement had invoked. I hesitated, and took a wild stab. "I take it you all know her?" I asked, somewhat lamely even in my own opinion. Well, there were only one hundred and eight of their species. I guess it would be pretty likely that they'd all know each other.

"The Black Sekirei," Matsu whispered, her teeth chattering in what I recognized as abject terror. "You met the Black Sekirei?"

"Black Sekirei?" I repeated, getting the impression that there was something going on here that I wasn't quite aware of.

Homura spoke up, once more rubbing his chest as he did so. "She's rather well known," he supplied. "What I would like to know is why MBI felt that her presence was required for piece of malfunctioning equipment," he continued, giving me another suspicious look. Why was it that every time the two of us interacted I got the impression that he was looking for a reason to distrust me?

"Well," I began. "Apparently they thought I was some kind of infiltrator or espionage agent from a rivaling company, so I get the impression she was supposed to be some kind of interrogator."

Matsu 'eeped' again and looked like she was finding it hard to sit up straight. Miya's eyes were wide opened as she studied me, her face devoid of any expression as she continued to regard me as some kind of bug or specimen that she was being forced to reevaluate. Uzume gulped audibly. The ice in Akitsu's hand cracked, and the pieces of her cup and frozen tea fell to the floor between her fingers.

"What happened, Shirou-san?" Musubi asked me eagerly, apparently hoping to hear word about the condition of her friend. "Did the two of you get along well?" The excitable shrine girl didn't seem to have the same instinctive tension that was evoked in the rest of the Sekirei at the mention of the apparently very much feared Karasuba.

I scratched my head. "Well," I began, not quite sure how the truth would be received. "She put a sword to my throat and I threw a knife at her head," I finally admitted reluctantly.

Matsu was still for a moment, and then she fell over in what was apparently a dead faint. Miya's eyebrow rose, as though she was having trouble understanding what I had just said. Akitsu stared at me, and for some reason I couldn't help but feel it was more intense than her usual regard. Uzume stared at me as well for a moment longer, and then managed to choke out a strangled sentence.

"You threw a knife at the Black Sekirei's head?" she asked me bluntly. I nodded reluctantly. After a second, Uzume sighed. "Bowling balls aren't big enough. Brass basketballs. That's what they must be. Brass basketballs."

*Scene Break*

It wasn't till nearly an hour later that I managed to escape from the attention of the rest of the household. I guess I had just dropped too many bombshells on the flock of aliens in one day, and they had all been determined to get answers on why I seemed to constantly be able to surprise them. I guess that after so long interacting with just normal people they weren't ready for the kind of baggage a magus brings to the table. I could only hope the truth of my abilities never came to light. It's not that I didn't think they couldn't handle the truth; far from it actually. Being inhuman themselves I think they were far more capable of coming to terms with the fact that despite what the vast majority of humanity believed there were still things out there that regular science could not understand, or was unprepared to handle. At first I had concealed my status simply out of habit. I had spent my entire life concealing the fact that I was a practitioner of Thaumaturgy, and for a magus concealing themselves was of the highest priority. But the rules of secrecy didn't need to apply when dealing with other things which themselves weren't human, and Sekirei as aliens definitely counted in that category.

The problem was the close links the species had to a purely mundane company like MBI. There didn't seem to be regular contact between the Sekirei themselves and their parent organization, in fact it seemed like several of the particular Sekirei I've come across might actually actively dislike MBI. Matsu after all was on the run from them, Miya was apparently willing to fight them to protect her, and Akitsu had escaped from the lab herself. But that didn't change the fact that there might be lingering loyalty in the other Sekirei. Not to mention that I'd already sworn I would never tell Musubi anything I didn't want the rest of the world knowing as well.

After the company and conversation of dinner, I found myself once more seeking the quiet solitude of the veranda leading to the courtyard. It was dark by now, but even with the ambient light pollution of the city surrounding me I could still make out a few of the brighter stars from where they shone down from the firmament. With the peaceful scenery as a backdrop, my thoughts went back to the story I had fabricated in order to convince Matsu to not dig any deeper into my time in England. I hoped it would be enough to keep her from looking any further. It should be. I think that if it had been a pure lie then I might have not been able to come up with it so quickly, but honestly it had a great deal of truth in it as well.

The Clock Tower, headquarter of the Magus Association, was a place for magi to gather together in order to further their research, ostensibly anyway. In truth, I've never come across another magus beside Rin who had been willing to open their workshop to me, and even then that was simply because I was her apprentice and her lover. For all that magi were consumed by their studies very few of their breakthroughs or even portions of their research were ever shared with others. Instead they were squirreled away, protected and concealed by the researcher who had discovered them. The only reason many of them joined the Magus Association in the first place was the funding and resources the association made available to them; that and the prestige.

The Clock Tower was founded centuries ago by several noticeable families of magi. Over the centuries the prestige of being in the Clock Tower had grown, and the politics for the members of the association had similarly developed. The members, the richer and more infamous and influential ones, were known as Lords, and they were every one of them so full of shit that it made me sick. They were the kind of people more concerned with prestige and power, and I don't mean magical power there. They considered themselves to be the aristocracy of the magic using world, and looked down on pretty much anyone that wasn't one of them.

If they were to just sit there in their high towers and play their games amongst themselves it wouldn't be that hard to deal with them. Then they could just be ignored and those of us who were actually interested in doing something with our lives could get on with them. But instead their games reached down through all the ranks of the Magus association. The favor of a Lord could make the career of a magus of the lesser ranks, opening all the doors they need in order to progress with their experiments. The disfavor of a Lord could crush a magus' ambitions just as easily.

Normally in order to gain entrance to the Association a series of tests were needed in order to determine if the magus' skill was sufficient for the Association to be willing to expend resources on them. Sometimes the entrance test was waived though, usually by a Lord's recommendation as a way to indebt a particularly powerful magi to them, or to earn favor with one family or another. It was on one such invitation that Rin gained her membership to the association, though she would have had no problems even if she had to take the entrance exams. However, there were certain benefits awarded to those who came in under recommendation, one of which was the right to have several apprentices as well.

And it was through that loophole that I too became a member of the Association. And it was through me that they had tried to get at Rin.

The Magus Association was primarily occidental, composed mostly of European members. Asians were generally looked down upon, partially due to the fact that by the time Asians had the option of joining the ruling Lords were already in place and partially due to the fact that many Asians chose to use a different school of magic then was commonly practiced by the Association. Regardless of that discrimination, Rin was simply too skilled. No one was able to deny the fact that she was one of the generation's most talented prodigies. It was to get influence over her that me, the unknown and unremarkable apprentice had been targeted. I had no such great talent, at least not that they were aware of. The only thing they could determine about me was that I was her lover, and they assumed that was the limit of my usefulness to Rin; just a trophy given the title of apprentice to be able to keep me close.

And when they had tried to use me to pressure her they had discovered their error.

My talent with blades wasn't the only thing I inherited from Archer after all. He had spent his lifetime perfecting a singular skill, one which was considered a forbidden magic to research. Normally even if someone could accomplish it, then it would take a lifetime for that goal to be realized.

I had in effect spontaneously developed it before I was eighteen. It was for that reason I received the singular 'honor' of receiving a Sealing Designation.

It is said that in the Clock Tower there are three possible disasters: Gazamy the Wraith, Sealing Designations, and the Enforcers. I still had no idea who or what Gazamy was. The Enforcers were the militant branch of the Association: magi whose abilities focused around combat and were used when the Association needed to engage in any kind of battle. Sealing Designations were 'awarded' when a magus managed to accomplish an incredible feet or perfect an unusual skill through magecraft. Officially they are rewards, meant to protect and nurture special talents in the name of preserving thaumaturgical ability. In actuality it was imprisonment. The ones who received the Designations are no longer allowed to leave the Clock Tower ever again. If the one who received the Designation was important enough, either a Lord or a close associate of one, then they might be deemed worthy of receiving an administrative position, something safe yet still allowed them some measure of freedom while still keeping them in captivity. If the Designated wasn't so well connected it meant one thing: becoming a specimen.

Considering I had originally been targeted because I had no such connections I was not one of the ones who would have been so lucky as to receive a position. I had no desire to spend the rest of my life being subjected to imprisonment, dissection, and experimentation so I had run. I had barely managed to escape with my life, and now I had only two options available to me. Those who manage to escape their Designations were classified under two categories: Hermits and Philosophers.

Hermits were those who stayed hidden, continued their research, and simply evaded capture. Most of the times the Association wouldn't be willing to waste the resources needed to truly ensnare them. Magi receive Sealing Designations because of some kind of outstanding skill or ability, and people with those kinds of traits were very hard to take alive, and in fact sometimes had combat capabilities which exceeded conventional magecraft entirely. Sure, the association would take the opportunity to recover them if they could find an opportunity and the association went out of their way to try and collect any research a Designated might have made during their exile, but all in all they were generally left alone.

Philosophers on the other hand were those who continued their research more forcibly. Without access to the Magi Associations resources, or their own finances at times, they take more dangerous risks, reckless risks. Magi are notorious for being less than moral in their studies, and ones who are on the run tend to be even more so. In the end Philosophers are targeted more ruthlessly as much as to protect the secrecy of thaumaturgy as it is to recollect them.

So far, I definitely qualified as a Hermit, so it was possible that the Association would simply leave me be. But if my connection with the Sekirei and MBI were to threaten to reveal the existence of the rest of the Association, then I would no longer have the safety net that their disregard gave me.

"Penny for your thoughts?" a voice shook me out of my contemplation of the stars and brought me back to the inn. I wasn't quite sure how long I'd been standing there, but I could make out a few more pinpricks of light in the sky. Apparently it had been long enough for some of the neighbors to turn out the lights which had been concealing them. Standing nearby, in much the same position as me was Homura. He had chosen to lean against the opposite side of the opening to the courtyard as I had, though while I had been looking up he had apparently been watching me instead. He gave me a small enigmatic smile, but then seemed to realize what he was doing and he glanced to the side uncomfortably. As though looking for something to distract himself with he fumbled in his pockets until he managed to pull out a half full pack of cigarettes. I grimaced as he pulled one on of the sticks of tobacco out of the pack. Once it was in his mouth he snapped his empty hand, and from one of his fingertips a small flame erupted. I snorted. It was such a simple use for his powers, but from the practiced way he did it I couldn't help but think he was showing off.

"Do you do that in your club?" I asked, nodding at his empty hand as he puffed on his cigarette. He gave me a confused look, and then seemed to realize what I was referring to. He gave the flame coming from his finger a rueful glance and then with another showy motion he extinguished it, his palm towards me as though to present the fact that his hand was empty.

"It makes for an interesting bar trick," he admitted, repeating the motion again. I shook my head, amused by his innocuous use of his natural powers as a way of impressing and seducing his customers. He gave me another glance, and then looked away again. It seemed like despite the fact that he had sought me out he didn't know what to do now that he was in my presence.

I sighed, and straightened up so I could stand properly. I startled when I felt something slide from my shoulders, and only when it 'fumped' against the ground did I realize that I had had a blanket wrapped around me. A quick look to my side revealed Akitsu in her usual position, standing patiently in attendance. It seems that I had grown so used to her being around that I hadn't even noticed when she had tried to help me stay warm in the chilly spring night. I gave her a thankful smile, before dropping so I could sit on the veranda's edge, gathering the blanket as I made myself comfortable and settling it so it was on my shoulders once more. Akitsu made as though to kneel where she was, and then hesitated. I patted the spot next to me welcomingly, and she took the invitation, kneeling properly beside me so I could drape the blanket over her shoulder. It was a ritual that I frequently found myself sharing with the snow woman.

After I made myself comfortable, I addressed Homura, resuming my study of the sky. "You don't really like me that much, do you?" Ever since I had moved in with the rest of my Sekirei it was as though the flame user went out of his way to avoid me. When we did have to interact it was usually limited either to what I had come to realize was his usual cool and somewhat distant personality or to him shouting angrily at me like he had after the spar. I don't suppose I blamed him too much for his antipathy actually. He had already told me that he had never actually thought he'd have an Ashikabi and had resigned himself to that fact. He had chosen a lifestyle based around his inability to do so, using his free time to contribute to the aid of those who could be winged and spending his working time desperately courting a variety of females in order to try and find someone who just might have the qualities needed to cause him to react. And then I came out of nowhere, breaking that last desperate hope without even realizing it. Now he was winged to a person of the same gender, something which seemed to be a source of belittlement from his fellow Sekirei. I'd seen every other member of Izumo House tease him at one point or another for his predicament, though for some reason they never did the same to me.

"What?" Homura asked, gaping at me briefly, and then glanced away again, only to realize that he was avoiding looking at me. "No," he admitted quickly, forcing himself to meet my eyes, "That's not it at all." He sounded quite shocked at my observation and hurriedly tried to assure me that I was incorrect.

"No, its fine," I shook my head trying to reassure him. "I know that it's more or less my fault that you're in this position. Don't worry, I'll stay out of your way. I already promised not to interfere with you, and even after the rest are winged I'll leave you alone." My promised didn't seem to set him at ease like I had intended.

"No, look," he insisted forcefully, waving the cigarette in his hand to emphasize his statement. "It's not that." He seemed quite earnest in his attempt to set me at ease. "I'll admit that at first I wasn't certain about your character, but so far you've been straightforward and honest," he continued. He scrubbed his hand through his hair as though he was frustrated at his inability to find anything wrong with me, or maybe he was just having trouble bringing himself to admit what he was forcing out. "You've already come to the aid of two unwinged Sekirei, and even though most Ashikabi wouldn't think twice about it you keep trying to make sure that any Sekirei you do wing are certain about allowing you to do so first." He bit his lip for a second, an unusually expressive gesture for him and then finally concluded, "After everything I've seen so far, I don't think I have any objections to being your Sekirei properly after the rest are winged." It seemed that admitting that statement took a lot out of him, but once he said it he looked almost relieved.

"Are you sure?" I had to ask him nervously, wincing a bit as I did so. "I mean, so far it seems like the fact that I'm male is a pretty big deal. Though I can't figure out why it's only you they're making fun of it for." At this Homura gave his own grimace.

"It's because you also have three other females winged," he admitted. "I think if it had just been the two of us they'd never let either of us hear the end of it."

"Ouch. Sorry that I seem to be leaving all the heat on you then," I apologized, rubbing the back of my head embarrassedly. "Still, it seems kind of petty," I admitted, scowling. "Just because you could only happened to partner with another man. It seems pretty mean spirited."

Homura gave me a glance, and when he saw that I was honestly offended for his sake, he sighed, a rueful smile on his face. "You really are a kind person, aren't you, Shirou?" he asked me, sounding like he had resigned himself to the fact that I wasn't a monster.

I gave him a half grin back, and tried not to think of the fact that kind people generally haven't killed as many times as I had. It had been a close thing, escaping the Clock Tower, and I had left more than a few bodies in my wake when I had. Even before that, during the time when I had been simply an apprentice, my life had not been without life or death conflict. Admittedly, many of the things I had slain in the past weren't human, but then again the creature settling himself down to sit opposite me so he could join me in staring at the sky while smoking a cigarette wasn't human either. "Well," I began, "I just like helping people. I don't know if that makes me kind or not." It was the best I could do to try and dodge his compliment.

He shook his head at what he perceived to be modesty, and then gave me another half glance before seeming to be unable to look at me any longer. Awkwardly, he rubbed his chest. "Shirou," he began, and he paused, seeming unable to figure out just what he wanted to say. Finally he simply blurted, "I'm sorry."

I blinked at him, confused. "About what?" I asked, not sure what he could be apologizing for. "If it's about after the spar," I began, remembering his rage at having seen me use such a dangerous combat technique and he managed to overcome his awkwardness long enough to glare at me.

"I'm not sorry about that," he growled at me, and it looked like he definitely hadn't forgiven me for what he had seen as suicidal behavior. Then he sighed, and continued. "I'm sorry about what happened in your past. About the fire," he admitted, and now I was even more confused.

"What? Why?" I couldn't help but think that had to be the strangest thing anyone had ever tried to apologize to me for. It's not like it was his fault, in the end. It had been a fire, and they happen. Disasters occur all around us, all the time, and sometimes no amount of safety preparation or effort can stop them from doing so. If anyone had to apologize for the fire that had consumed Fuyuki city, it had been Kiritsugu and Saber, two of the ones most responsible for the inferno that had nearly killed me and left me thinking I was an orphan for nearly two decades. And in the end, they had. Kiritsugu had risked his life to save me, and then spent his last few years trying to make it up to me. Saber had apologized as well, and had done much the same as my father had, caring for me to the best of her ability after having protected me a dozen times over during the Grail War.

Homura looked aside, somewhat awkwardly. "It's foolish, I suppose," he admitted, and he sounded like he knew just how pointless his apology was. "It's just," he paused and then held up his hand without any of his fancy gestures like earlier there was a 'fwoosh' noise, a sound of the air igniting, and in his previously empty hands was a ball of fire. Its heat was intense, and despite its relatively small size I could feel it warming me even from the distance he was holding it away from me. He gave the orb of flame in his hand a bitter look. "Those who wield fire are cursed by the gods," he finished in a tone tinged with self loathing.

Oh. Was that why he was so uncomfortable earlier? That it was his own element which has left me in the hospital and altered the course of my life? I gave the ball of fire in his hand a look, but focused on what he had said. "Was that a Prometheus reference?" I asked him, my voice dryly curious. Prometheus, the one who stole fire from the gods in order to save man, and in return was cursed by the gods to suffer. More proof in my belief that mankind was better off without the divine in their lives.

"Yes. I'm surprised you heard of it," he admitted. "Not many Japanese know that story."

I snorted. "I'm surprised you heard of it," I returned. "What with you being an alien and all." It was his turn to snort back, acknowledging my rebuttal. I rolled my shoulders, and they cracked in the cool air. Above me, deeper in the house, I could hear noises coming from the baths as the rest of the residence made use of the luxurious facilities. From the first floor, in the kitchen, I could make out the sound of Miya washing dishes, accepting the chore in exchange for me having cooked. It was a peaceful background noise, the kinds of sounds that someone might expect from any other home throughout the world. "You've nothing to apologize for," I told him, getting back to the topic he had brought up. "It wasn't your fault, and just because you use fire doesn't mean you have any connection to it at all. After all, if that were the case I'd have to feel guilty every time I open a newspaper and see what my fellow humans have done."

"I suppose," Homura admitted, and let the fire he had called go out with another brief noise. "It is foolish," he allowed, taking a final puff on his cigarette. It had burnt down almost to the filter, and with his last breath on it he pinched out the ember, before pocketing the butt. He stood up after that, his legs cracking as the straightened after having been bent for so long. "I should be going to work soon," he admitted, glancing down at his wrist where he was wearing a stylish watch. "I just wanted to say that," he admitted, giving me a small smile. "Even if it wasn't my fault, I was sorry to hear that you had been through as much as you have. You're a good man, Shirou Emiya," he continued, "and I think I'm happy to have you as my Ashikabi, even if it's a bit unusual." He sounded like he meant it, and I returned his smile.

"Thank you, Homura. Honestly," and here I threw a guilty glance down the corridors to see if there was anyone else nearby, "I'm kind of glad you're a man as well." Homura raised an eyebrow, surprised at my confession. "It's just that if you weren't here I'd be the only male," I admitted sheepishly, "and I'm a little too used to being outnumbered by the women in my life as it is." He gaped at me for a second, and then began to laugh.

"You're right," he admitted, rubbing his chest again. "It is good to have someone else around that won't wander the house in their panties," he confessed back. We shared a grin at our secret satisfaction that we were no longer completely surrounded by estrogen without having a fellow member of the testosterone club around to rely on.

Still, there was one thing that was bothering me. As Homura turned to leave, I finally voiced the question that had been haunting me for a bit now. "Homura," I began, studying him carefully. "Is there something wrong with your chest? You're always scratching at it."

Homura paused, and glanced down. His eyes widened as he realized that without even realizing it he had been doing what I had noticed just a second ago. With a frown he tugged the collar of his shirt away so he could glance down. Quite suddenly he let out a strangled noise that was half gasp and half gulp. I shifted, preparing to rise, unnerved by his sudden reaction. I couldn't tell for certain in the darkness of the hallway, but it looked as though he might have lost some of the color in his face.

"Homura," I began, my tone worried, "are you alright?"

He seemed to remember that I was still present, and instantly he pressed the fabric of his shirt back down, clutching at it like he had earlier. "Yes!" he snapped instantly. "I'm fine! It's just…" he trailed off, and even in the dark I could make out the usually cool headed flame user's eyes darting wildly as he seemed to struggle to come up with something to say. "I'm just very late," he concluded lamely, backing away towards the door. "Good night, Shirou," he told me quickly, and then turned and nearly ran towards the exit.

I could only stare after him in confusion. Finally, I turned to Akitsu, the silent spectator to the whole conversation. "Was it something I said?" I asked her awkwardly.


	10. Tenth Wing

In Flight: Tenth Wing

_Author's notes: And after another long delay, chapter ten is up. For those of you more accustomed to my speedy updates, sorry. I recently bought 'Prototype' and found it to be an amusing diversion. But wait, there's more! No mere game could truly cause me to wait so long. The truth is I was doing some research for the story, and finally decided to break down and read Fate/Zero. Then I read Kara no Kyoukai. Then I watched all the Kara no Kyoukai movies. Repeatedly. I like to research the original series when I do a crossover, but for In Flight I had been mostly studying Sekirei and simply using wiki's in order to supply the Nasu-parts. However, that has changed. I originally thought that my knowledge of Fate/stay night and Tsukihime would be enough. However, after pretty much eating, sleeping, and breathing Nasu for the last week as I relentlessly plowed through every translation I could find online, I realized that I had been doing the franchise a serious disservice. The addition to the original F/sn, F/Z, was full of interesting history, facts, and was just generally great to read. And Kara no Kyoukai was good too. I didn't much care for the books, seeing as they were often rather disjointed, but the movies managed to stay true for the most part so they were fascinating._

_After all this I can say two things with absolute certainty. The first, Aozaki Touko is hot. Brains, skills, an interesting personality. She's also like the preeminent example of life for someone who has received a Sealing Designation. If I could somehow work her into In Flight I would so ship her and Shirou, purely out of fanboyism. _

_Second thing I can say with certainty is that Kiritsugu's physical composition must be forty percent awesome, forty percent badass, and thirty percent meat. The sheer vastness of his coolness as a character has allowed him to surpass the limitations of simply having one hundred percent of anything._

_As for what this means to the story, the extra information has really allowed me to shape up my plans for In Flight. I'll admit to having originally been rather vague on where I was going to take this story, but now I have definitely decided where I'm going with this. _

_Now, about the chapter itself._

_Brief *Spoiler Alert*_

_I'm a little curious as to how people people feel about the scene between Matsu and Shirou. I'm pretty sure that someone is going to call OOC at some point for those two. For that, I'm afraid I'm going to have to shrug. On Shirou's side, he's a established veteran of one blood sport contest, and he's going into the Sekirei Plan with that experience. More than that, he's spent the last three years training in combat with Saber and magic with Rin. I like to think I'm keeping him more or less as his usual lovable oblivious self, but the truth of the matter is that he's not the kid he was in Fate/stay night. As for Matsu, well, I think I got her pretty much right. I think the part I'm most curious to hear reactions about is her response to Shirou's forcefulness. I think that Matsu tends to get a little sugarcoated in the original Sekirei universe. The canon tends to gloss over the fact that for all her cuteness, she was once part of the disciplinary squad, and during a time when they were actively fighting off armies to defend the other Sekirei. I have little doubt that she has more than a little blood on her hands herself. Moreover, she's an information type, so she knows what the value of intelligence is on the battlefield. I think she could probably appreciate having a commander, or an Ashikabi in this case, that shares that respect for knowing the enemy before hand._

_The other thing here is Seo. I like to think I got his character down pretty good. Actually, I think he's a pretty easy character to write in the first place. Straightforward for the most part, but capable of being sneaky when he needs to. Confident in himself and his Sekirei. He doesn't get much screen time in the actual series, but what he does paints a pretty good picture of his personality. Honestly, the funnest part about writing him was getting the chance to have him and Miya butt heads._

_Now, onto the chapter. If you like it, give a shout. If you have any concerns/complaints/questions, feel free to list them._

*Story Start*

Once more, it was the scenery which was the first thing that clued me in on the fact that I was dreaming. For some reason I found myself standing atop a skyscraper. From my perch on the immensely tall building I could make out unfamiliar scenery of rooftops and distant streets, cars like ants crawling across them. Surrounding me were varied pieces of metal and plastic, machinery kept atop the building for lack of space within, air conditioners and water tanks, dozens of pipes sprawled and twisting about me as I the felt air, colder and thinner due to the elevation, come in and out of my lungs with each breath.

Opposite me was a woman. She was tall and proud looking, her back turned to me and highlighted from behind, leaving her a silhouette that somehow managed to retain its features and colors despite the backlighting. Her arms were crossed, and her feet were planted shoulder width apart, her back straight and her posture full of pride. Long blond hair whipped about her, caught in a breeze and thrown about carelessly by it. Her clothes were similarly flailing about her. She wore a brief white tunic beneath a long black coat with wide sleeves. Her dark boots were long, coming up to mid thigh on her and high heeled on the bottom.

She shifted in front of me, seemingly becoming aware of my presence. I watched her patiently, feeling no need to move.

"Finally. I've found you," she said, her voice nearly indistinct in the wind that tossed her garments and hair about. She shifted, and then turned suddenly, pointing a finger at me in accusation. "I'll kill you, you bastard!" she declared, her voice enraged.

*Scene Break*

"Damnit," I muttered when I awoke suddenly, my eyes blinking rapidly as I shifted, trying to sit up. "Not again." When I couldn't manage to make myself reach a sitting position I let myself lay back down, still too groggy to think about why I was feeling so weighted down. That dream had been entirely too familiar to me. Not that I've had it before or anything. I don't usually dream about women threatening to kill me after all. No, what had been familiar about it was the feel of the dream, the strange combination of cognizance and perfect detail of unfamiliar people and places.

This was the third time I've had a dream like that after all. The first two had set about chains of events which had ended with me winging two of my current flock of aliens.

"This is getting ridiculous," I muttered, once more trying to shift about till I could get a hand free to wipe a lock of my hair out of my face. Despite the fact that both my arms seemed stuck, I felt another hand reach out and remove the offending piece of my bangs, and I gave a sleepy grin at having the annoyance taken care of. "Thanks, Akitsu," I told her, yawning as I struggled to finish clearing my head of sleep.

Wait a sec. Akitsu?

With a resigned sigh as I finally put together enough of my faculties to pay attention to just why it was that I wasn't able to move my arms or body. Sure enough, I once more found myself in a position which was becoming more and more common. The ice-blue haired snow woman was once again laying beside me, my arm wrapped around her as she propped her head up her hand so that she could watch me sleep. She was lying close enough to me so that I could feel her warmth, but she wasn't lying quite close enough to touch me with her body. Well, most of her body. Considering the size of her rather ample chest, she would have had to lay much further away from me for those mountains not to be pressed against me. Still, despite her usual hesitancy she seemed comfortable with the fact that the arm I had snaked around her in my sleep. The first few times I had done this it looked as though she didn't quite know what to make of my sleep-grabbing. Still, she was the only one that constantly found their way into my bed that showed any kind of hesitation about physical closeness, and it was a trait I wish a few more of my Sekirei shared.

Musubi, for instance, showed absolutely no regret about the way she had claimed my right arm. In fact she had pulled it even closer to her, somehow snaking my limb around her back and then under her armpit in a way that made me wonder why my limb wasn't aching from a night of being bent in such away. The end result was my forearm being buried in the shrine girl's cleavage as she happily pressed the rest of her body against me like some kind of pillow. With her chin snug against my chest she happily let loose little murmurs in her sleep. I really wished that she would follow Akitsu's example when I realized that yet again the dark haired exuberant Sekirei was drooling on me while she slept.

I'd had a few days in my old apartment with these two, so by the time I made it to Izumo House I was at least inured enough to their behavior to not yelp and try to escape by instinct. Which was a good thing considering who else had started to join in the giant dog pile that was becoming what seemed to be a nightly tradition. It had originally been agreed between me and Miya that Kuu would sleep with the landlady, seeing as how her room was far less crowded then mine, and the fact that the green girl was just so young it didn't feel right to let her sleep in the same room as me. Sadly, it seems our plans were for naught. I'm not quite sure when the little blond haired Sekirei managed to do it, but it seemed like at some point every night she sneaks away from the purple haired landlady and finds her way into my room and on top me as well. Not onto my futon, but rather onto me specifically.

We had managed to secure the young plant mistress a pair of cute orange pajamas, and the orange blur that greeted my sleepy eyes when I looked down confirmed that Kuu had once more crawled on top of my legs and fallen asleep. I don't know how she could plausibly find the position comfortable considering how lumpy a mattress my legs must make, but the smaller girl somehow managed to find a way to curl herself up like a cat, and even as I watched was following Musubi's example and drooling onto my kneecap.

If that wasn't enough, well, after Matsu's addition to my flock two days ago the glasses wearing Sekirei had decided to join in with the rest. Seeing how I was apparently running out of limbs to claim, she had decided to simply place herself directly onto my torso. She was sprawled, half on me half off, using my chest as a pillow. I honestly don't know how she could sleep in a belly down position comfortably, seeing as like many of the Sekirei I had come across she too was very well endowed, a fact I could tell from the way she was laying on me, but somehow she managed it. Apparently Musubi's sleep was so deep that the shrine girl didn't even seem to notice the fact that she had another Sekirei draped on top of her.

It was a testament to my own sleeping powers that the four additions to my bed, which hadn't been in the position they were in now when I had went to sleep, hadn't waken me at some point in the night either. Matsu had her own room, and Kuu had a futon set up in Miya's room. The only two that were supposed to be in here with me were Musubi and Akitsu, and like always I had spread out a futon for the two of them. Judging from the looks of the mattress it had been used, but at some point in the night like migrating birds they had all managed to end up in their current positions.

It was also a testament to my self control that I managed not to pass out from blood loss when what they were all wearing was added to the equation. Kuu was in her orange pants and shirt combination pajamas as I noticed earlier. The rest were in a far less modest condition. Akitsu wasn't wearing her usual lace/silk set of strips that doubled as sleep wear. Instead she had managed to find something that seemed to be mostly leather straps and buckles, though at least it provided the coverage that I required of clothes in my presence, even if only barely. It was a definite trend that I had noticed with my quietest Sekirei. The first time we had gone shopping together she had told me that the reason she liked the fetish outfit my sister had gotten for her was because they meant she was mine. Apparently at some point during that horrible lingering shopping trip she had made with Yukari someone must have indicated that the clothing they were picking up was appropriate for a submissive to have in the presence of their dominant partner. Now the only things Akitsu would wear seemed to be the kind of thing I'd expect to find on sale at a store that specialized in that kind of thing.

It was somewhat touching to see her trying so hard, but it was also more than a little unnerving.

Musubi had managed to find something that seemed to fit her better then my borrowed pajamas had. She had found it in the pile of garments that Akitsu usually chose her bed wear out of, but luckily it was far more descent. The bloomer and gym shirt combo that the shrine girl had noticed when we were packing my old apartment up had become the excitable Sekirei's number one sleeping wear. Their function doubled as exercise clothes as well, which was the first thing Musubi did once she got up. I knew that they had been intended as cosplay items, but as long as they kept Musubi from exploring her exhibitionist side then quite frankly I couldn't bring myself to care. They were definitely tamer than what Akitsu preferred.

Matsu had been her own interesting addition to my own personal hell. The braided haired Sekirei seemed to favor more customary sleep wear. In fact, compared to the other two what she brought to bed was downright modest; a semi-sheer light pink teddy with thin straps for her shoulders and a modest cut for length with a modest panty/bra combination beneath. It could possibly be considered racy, and it was more than a touch seductive on the well developed computer using Sekirei, but at least it left her covered, and for that I counted my blessings.

"Good morning, Akitsu. Was I restless again?" I asked tiredly, already resigned to the fact that if I wanted to sleep alone I would have to start taking drastic measures. Honestly, I was willing to admit that waking up next to a pair of warm bodies felt very good. After so long living with Saber and Rin I had gotten used to it. After the months of sleeping alone, I took a guilty pleasure in once more being able to have someone in my arms again. The problem lay in both the fact that my bed was gaining significantly more than two people in it, and the fact that there were things I could do with Saber and Rin when I woke up that I couldn't do with my alien partners. I felt a pang of longing for my two lovers, but suppressed it ruthlessly. No good would come from dwelling on their loss.

It didn't change the fact that sometimes when I woke up, the warmth of my Sekirei on my body, it would take an inhuman effort of will not to lean down and…

I forced my thoughts away. It was nothing more than a species with very little in the way of understanding when it came to human cultures and customs attempting to be helpful. It was them worrying about their partners restlessness, and looking to find a way to help me settle down in my sleep. Nothing more, and nothing less.

"Yes," the taciturn snow lady acknowledged, and began to set about disentangling herself from my embrace. In the four days since we had moved in to Izumo House more and more of my old habits from back when I lived alone in Fuyuki were resurfacing. Despite the fact that my first appointment for my new job as a repairman wasn't until nine o'clock it was only six thirty at the latest right now. Though I lacked a dojo to work out in, I had started to substitute my workshop for the more conventional practice hall I had used in my youth. There wasn't much space to move around in there, but there was more than enough room for me to do my sit-ups, pull-ups, pushups, and a few other various exercises designed to keep myself in shape. From there it was breakfast, and then more recently it was to wherever it was that I had to make my way to in order to earn a paycheck.

But first, I had to escape Musubi's leechlike grip. For this I was thankful for Akitsu's presence. Getting away from Musubi while she's in 'latch on and drool' mode was next to impossible. If I were to attempt to do so with just magecraft, I fear it would require a feat nearing true sorcery to accomplish. However, while escape was beyond human ability substitution worked just as well here as it did with Rin.

Akitsu waited patiently for me to make my move, obediently resigned to be my substitute for Musubi's grabbiness, when a new voice interrupted this budding tradition.

"Mmmm, Shirou-tan," a sleepy murmur alerted me to the fact that Akitsu and I weren't the only two awake at the moment. Matsu was yawning and stretching like a cat while sleepily rubbing her eyes. "Come back to bed," she muttered, sounding both aggrieved and inviting at the same time. "It's too early to be up."

"This is when I always get up, Matsu," I informed the normally bespectacled Sekirei quietly so as not to bother the two other sleeping girls. "Just go back to sleep," I suggested, shifting in preparation of switching myself and Akitsu in the drooling Musubi's arms. It was a movement which was all about timing and position, and if I didn't do it just right then things could get messy.

"Mmmm," Matsu muttered again finding my suggestion about her just going back to sleep agreeable. However it seemed she didn't quite agree with my plans on getting up. Still half over Musubi she slowly inched forward, paying the sleeping girl she was crawling over no mind as she sank her fingers into my pajama top and closed in on my face. "But first," she declared, sounding more awake then a second ago, "a morning kiss!"

It was hard enough enduring the clingy aliens and remaining a gentlemen without that kind of temptation, not to mention I hadn't forgotten just what happens when I kiss one of the Sekirei. I don't think my room could handle having giant phantasmagoric wings forming in it and not need some serious cleaning afterwards. I tried to inch back to keep the distance between our faces even, but Musubi proved an anchor that prevented me from fleeing properly. When Matsu was inches away from claiming my lips, her eyes closed in anticipation, I suddenly realized that I was making this a lot harder than it had to be.

Matsu connected with her kiss, giving an audible 'smooch' noise. She moaned slightly when she discovered that the lips she had found with her own were moving back in response. "Shirou-tan," the redhead mumbled, opening her eyes. Then she blinked rapidly when she realized that it wasn't me she had been kissing.

"Shirou-san," Musubi mumbled just as happily, and it was when the shrine girl started hugging Matsu that the redheaded Sekirei realized that in a move befitting a ninja I had somehow replaced myself with her. Matsu 'eeped' and began to blush when the clingy Musubi happily pulled the much physically weaker redhead that she thought was me deeper into her cleavage.

Matsu began to blush further, but her expression began to change as she realized her position. "Fuhuhuhu, fuhuhuhu," she began to giggle, the perverted laughter leaving me feeling very nervous. "Two Sekirei," she muttered, and then she licked her lips shamelessly. "I wonder what would happen if we were to do something…" she began to mutter to herself in an excited tone, her expression shameless.

Now honestly worried about Musubi's safety, I decided to put a stop to that immediately. Picking up the still sleeping Kuu-chan, I plopped the sleepy little girl down directly on top of the other two Sekirei. True to the form of a girl who can pass out on my lumpy legs, the young blond didn't even seem to notice me picking her up and just sleepily flopped out on her new equally lumpy mattress. Matsu seemed startled out of her perverted daze by the addition of new weight on top of her.

"Not in front of Kuu-chan," I told the redhead, shamelessly using the sleeping girl as a weapon to defend Musubi from this perverted demon I seemed to have bound to myself. Matsu looked torn between continuing in her lascivious intentions upon the innocent shrine girl Sekirei, but knowing that if she did so she would face Miya's wrath for 'inappropriate behavior' in front of Kuu.

"Shirou-tan," she groaned in disappointment at me having escaped her evil plans on myself and then confounded her equally evil intentions on Musubi and gave me a mournful look, as though she were an innocent puppy that I had just kicked. I gave her a dry look in return that I would have once reserved for Taiga when she was being outrageous in her demands on what I should prepare for dinner.

"Go back to sleep Matsu," I told her. "And don't do anything that will force me to get Miya to scold you later." Resigned to her defeat Matsu started pouting, but followed my suggestion anyway. With a sigh she relaxed, allowing her eyes to close and shifting in a way meant to make herself more comfortable in her new position.

Turning away I started to head towards the chest of drawers where I kept my clothes so that I change into something more suitable for my morning exercise when I drew up short. With a sigh of long suffering I started to rub my forehead. "Akitsu," I began. "What have I said about waiting till I'm out of the room to change?"

The snow lady paused, tilting her head to the side as she thought about my question, and then she looked down at herself. Apparently once I had found a suitable substituted for her usual task of being Musubi bait she had decided that meant she was able to get up earlier and had set about changing out of her sleeping clothes. At the moment she was completely naked and frozen in the action of slipping on a pair of undergarments. After a second she answered, "Ah. I forgot."

With a sigh, I gave up on ever successfully teaching the quiet Sekirei the concept of modesty. Instead, I just was thankful of the fact that I had at least managed to get her into the habit of wearing underwear.

*Scene Break*

"That was a mean thing to do this morning, Shirou-tan," Matsu pouted at me.

"You had it coming," I told her unashamedly. Even as I bantered back and forth with the redhead, I couldn't stop myself from giving a look around her room, my curiosity getting the better of me. Though I had winged the lecherous Sekirei two days ago, this was the first chance I'd had to be in here. It was a strange room all around. For one thing, it was hidden behind a secret wall right at the top of the stairs, apparently as some kind of joke that Miya's late husband had decided on once the fugitive Sekirei had come to the purple haired alien for protection. It wasn't the kind of concealment that would hold up to a serious search, seeing as the location of Matsu's room could be seen from the outside if anyone who knew the layout of the house were to look. Since there was no door to the room that I could find when I first arrived I had just assumed it was some kind of attic with a concealed entrance and ignored it originally. The strangeness didn't end there though. The small room was very poorly lit, the light fixture in the ceiling going unused. Instead all the illumination came from the numerous computer screens that were stacked in great columns and rows over the three sides of the room that didn't hold the door. There were quite literally dozens of monitors of all shapes and sizes splayed about, occasionally interspersed with box like modems and hard drives. The little floor space that was left was covered by a lumpy splayed open futon which had packages of tissues and bags of snack food cluttered about on it.

Matsu scuttled along the floor like some kind of enormous mouse, crawling around on all fours from place to place while lugging about some kind of wireless keyboard. Even as she complained to me about how I treated her this morning she would occasionally plop down in front of one set of screens and type rapidly, whichever screen she was looking at responding to her input commands instantly. It was an untidy room but it seemed to suit the braided Sekirei perfectly. She had already told me she was an information gathering type, and with her abilities to access computers psychically it would stand to reason she'd surround herself with them. Despite the fact that I couldn't help but find the general mess of the place a little off putting, it reminded me of the clutter in my own workshops. Back when I was in high school my old storage shed was very similar in its unkemptness. I would always have tools lying around, boxes opened, and various pieces of equipment that I was tinkering with haphazardly strewn around me. After Rin had taken it upon herself to help pound a better knowledge of magecraft into my head when she took me as an apprentice my workshop had evolved somewhat. It was still a cluttered mishmash of odds and ends, but then it had tomes and notebooks added to the mix as well.

Even as I took in the atmosphere of Matsu's room, I felt confidence in Matsu's capabilities. She darted and skittered around the general mayhem with the poise and ease of an old pro. She had been hiding out in this room for years, not able to leave the premise for fear of being located by MBI, and instead she had poured her abilities into crafting an information center that would allow her to explore the world around her through electronics. It was the perfect tool to gather information, and thus it was the perfect location to have my first strategy session with my newest Sekirei.

I had to put it off for a full day already, and I was uneasy with that amount of delay as it was. My old landlord had already spread the word around to several of his colleagues of both my skill and my availability as a repairman, and yesterday had been a full day of me working through a collection of odd jobs and chores at two more apartment complexes, both owned by different landlords. I had considered blowing off the appointments in order to meet with Matsu, but had decided against it. This was the early moments of my new profession, and it would be easier to get new referrals and build a reputation if I put in some hard work at the beginning. Those tasks had taken me till around dinner to finish, and after that I had to spend some time in my new workshop. The mundane aspect had already been set up, and now I was on the tricky part of building up its occult function-ability.

"Still," Matsu began, and looked to my side with a wilting frown. "When you said you wanted a strategy session I thought it would be just the two of us…" she trailed off, and the look on her face let me know that she had been under the assumption that 'strategy session' had been a euphemism for something a bit less wholesome. When I had shown up at her door with both Kuu and Akitsu in tow she had been obviously disappointed. I had considered bringing Musubi along as well, but it had been time for her sparring with Miya so she had elected to stay in the courtyard. Also, I wasn't quite certain that it would be wise for the loose lipped shrine girl to be present if during the course of the session things which shouldn't be talked about were revealed.

"And now you know better," I told her, not relenting for an instance. My face was serious, and my posture stiff. "I need information," I told her bluntly. "So far the only thing I know about this 'Sekirei Plan' is that it involves partnering one of your species and fighting for some kind of 'prize'. Right now I don't even know what this prize is supposed to be." The only clue I had about what was supposed to await the victor was the half hearted attempt to be mysterious by the Director of MBI, Hiroto Minaka. 'Welcome in the new Age of the Gods' is by no means an accurately descriptive statement. For all I knew the prize was something I wanted no part in. The only other war I had been in had promised the victor the Holy Grail, and in the end that supposed holy object had been nothing more than the bearer of a monstrous curse.

Matsu smiled proudly at me. "Of course, Shirou-tan," she assured me. "What do you want to know?" She was perched at the far end of the room, her back to the wall of computer screens behind her, silhouetting her gently in the gloomy atmosphere of the room.

"Everything," I told her. "What is the Sekirei Plan? What's its origin? What are the rules of the combat? The conditions for victory and defeat? The physical boundaries for the Plan?" I began listing questions, and Matsu blinked at the long list before realizing that I was willing to keep going as long as it took to get my point across and she held up one hand to cut me off.

"Wait, wait!" she pleased with me, pouting as I overwhelmed her with inquiries. "I get it," she admitted, with a small smile at my eagerness. "You have a lot of questions but I can't answer them if you don't let me," she scolded me playfully. I nodded, finally taking a seat so that I was at eye level with the Sekirei in white. Kuu had been glancing around the room curiously, poking at one of the bags of potato chips that looked like it had probably been there for about a month or so. When she saw that I had made my lap available she instantly latched onto the opportunity and plopped herself down with a happy 'hmph!' at the chance. Behind me on my left Akitsu also assumed her customary position. "Well then," Matsu cocked her head to the side and adjusted her glasses so they sat higher on her nose, "where should I start?"

"Where ever you think is easiest," I told her. "I need a general idea of what's going on before I start needing specifics."

"Hmmm," Matsu hummed, for a second, using one of her fingers to tap her lips thoughtfully as she considered my request, and then she nodded. "Well, to begin with," she started, "the Sekirei Plan is a cruel game created by that monster Minaka. Right now the game is in the first phase, wherein MBI has slowly been releasing the one hundred and eight Sekirei into Shin Tokyo a few at a time."

I nodded my head, contemplating her explanation. So far this had a lot more promise than Musubi's explanation of 'fight and fight and fight'. My brain latched on to her choice of phrasing. "You said this is the first phase," I noted, settled back onto my arms to make myself more comfortable. Kuu-chan, sitting in my lap stayed in a more upright position. It looked like the girl was honestly trying to pay as much attention to Matsu as I was. I wasn't certain how useful it would be to the girl, but her attempt made me smile slightly. "Does that mean there are other phases?"

Matsu blinked at my interruption, but then smiled proudly at me. "Yes," she nodded enthusiastically. "Very good Shirou-tan." She sounded like a proud teacher complimenting an attentive student. "For the first phase the most important aspect is the release and subsequent winging of the individual Sekirei. As of yesterday all one hundred and eight Sekirei have been officially released. At the moment there are only eighteen still left unwinged." Matsu waved at a screen behind her with one hand while hitting a few buttons on her wireless keyboard with the other. Directly behind her on one of the larger screens a map suddenly displayed itself where there had once been a screensaver of a tropical island. It roughly outlined the official boundaries of Shin Tokyo. The map held several other divisions in it, and was overlaid with a series of green and blue dots. The vast majority of the blips were green, and I assumed that they represented the winged Type-Sekirei's while the blue ones represented the as yet unwinged ones. I was momentarily impressed both by the thoroughness of Matsu's preparation and the showmanship as well. She must be using her powers to track what each of the individual screens was currently being used for despite the fact that a good number of them seemed to be in screensaver mode. Though she was still limited by her inability to manipulate the electronics directly it was an impressive display of the efficiency she used her powers with. "The second phase will begin when the number of unwinged Sekirei is reduced to ten," she continued.

So, in other words there was just eight more to go. "What is the second phase?" I prodded her obediently. Matsu beamed at me for a second, and then readjusted her glasses again. I imagine that after so long cooped up by herself she was enjoying the attention.

"The second phase consists of MBI occupying the city with their private army," Matsu told me happily, sounding absurdly cheerful for issuing such a bleak statement. She seemed to realize the incongruity between how she was acting and what she was saying a second later, and instantly schooled her expression in order to be more serious. "Private soldiers will assume positions at all bridges, highways, rail stations and the airport as well." She noticed my eyes narrow and instantly went onto explain, not giving me a chance to voice the question she had already guessed. "The purpose is to keep the game limited to the city itself," she continued. "They won't be interfering with the rest of the citizens, but they'll be there specifically in order to keep all Ashikabi and Sekirei from exiting, through force if necessary."

I nodded slowly. That made sense. In fact, I actually found myself approving of the measure. By providing a definitive boundary to the conflict they could ensure that any potential damage would be limited to an area which was probably all ready prepared to handle it. Moreover, the presence of military could also act as a measure for evacuating any uninvolved citizens in case the conflict got out of hand. It had already proven effective once. I remembered how during Kuu's rescue the soldiers present had managed to clear the area of the botanical garden quickly and efficiently. Considering how easily the scythe wielding Sekirei I had dealt with had resorted to lethal force that could very well have saved lives.

Still, so far the phases all seemed reliant on the ratio of winged to unwinged Sekirei. "The third phase begins when all Sekirei are winged then I assume?" I asked, and Matsu nodded an affirmative. "What happens then?" I prompted her.

Matsu opened her mouth to start explaining, and then paused. For a second she looked conflicted, and then finally slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Shirou-tan," she told me, looking down as though she couldn't meet my eyes. "I can't say too much about the third phase now." Hastily she looked up and began waving a hand in front of her as though to ward off accusations. "It's not that I don't want to," she quickly explained. "It's just that it involves certain elements that I can't really talk about right now."

I grimaced. Damnit. I knew this had been going too well. What were the chances that goose I had found myself with could really lay golden eggs on demand? I studied Matsu carefully. Now the question was where her reluctance to speak originated from. Was it in some kind of effort to protect me from making missteps in the current phase that would reveal I had an accurate source of insider information? If I made it too obvious that I was had more intelligence then others it could set MBI or some other participant of the Plan on guard. Or was she in some way being coerced not to tell me at the moment? If MBI had such detailed information on Sekirei whereabouts then they no doubt knew exactly where Matsu was, despite her fugitive status, and the only reason they hadn't collected her yet was the threat that Miya represented. Maybe telling too much right now would push her worth up to the point where MBI would be willing to risk the landlady's wrath to come for the braided Sekirei.

There was a third option as well, one which I nursed quietly in the back of my head. There was also the possibility that Matsu was concealing the information in order to make manipulating me for her own purposes easier. It had happened, even in the Grail War where subservience was supposed to be enforced with the holy Command Sigils. Caster had moved behind her Master's back freely, withholding information on her dealings and plans so that Kuzuki wouldn't know to just what depths the insane witch had fallen. Kuzuki hadn't known that she had been freely drinking the souls of the inhabitants of Fuyuki to the point where many she had fed on went into comas. Of course, once he had found out he had told her that she should have just killed them, so that had been a waste of effort on her part in the end. Archer had done things without Rin's knowledge that she hadn't approved of either, like negotiating with Caster rather than killing her when he had the chance, not to mention openly trying to kill me. Even as unusual as it had been, the partnership between Gilgamesh and Shinji was also Master/Servant, and in the end Gilgamesh had used my one time friend as a sacrifice in order to try to destroy the world.

No, just because we were partners didn't mean that Matsu could be trusted. Not completely anyway.

Still, so far the braided Sekirei was still an amazing asset for the upcoming battles. She hadn't given any indication of ill will yet, and for all that a few of the Masters back in the Grail War had unfaithful Servants, it didn't change the fact that the other Servants hadn't been amazing partners. Saber had stuck with me even after her contract had moved to Rin, to the point where my former lover had been more willing to ensure my own safety then her new Master's at points.

I decided to withhold judgment on just why Matsu was being reticent for now. I nodded at Matsu slowly. "Alright," I told her, trying not to sound as tense as I was feeling.

She grimaced, and glanced away, high and to her left. "I really am sorry, Shriou-tan," she told me mournfully. Her regret definitely made me think that she was most likely staying silent from one of the first two options rather than the third. "Sometimes there are things that I really can't talk about. I can say that it will involve MBI scheduling specific matches between Ashikabi and their Sekirei," she offered me, sounding eager to prove that she did have some information that she could provide me with.

I managed to give her a reassuring smile. "It's alright," I told her. "I understand. I take it that means you can't tell me anything else about the rest of the phases?" I asked her, pretty sure that if she couldn't talk about the third phases then the rest would probably be equally taboo for her.

"I can say there are six phases total in the game," she supplied to me hopefully. I nodded in response. Even that much information was more than I could expect most of the other participants in the war to have.

Still, with that topic effectively closed, there was something else that had been bothering me for a while. Another turn of phrase that Matsu kept using that set my instincts off. "Matsu," I began slowly, not knowing how to articulate how what she had been saying was setting me off. "The Sekirei Plan," I continued, studying her carefully. "You keep calling it a game."

"Huh?" Matsu tilted her head to the side, not understanding what I was trying to say. "Yes? So?" she asked back, as confused as I felt.

I shook my head. "Never mind. Since you can't tell me anymore about the phases, let's change the subject. You mentioned that you can get into MBI's databases. So that means you have information on all the Sekirei and their Ashikabi, right?" I pushed myself up out of my slouched position, leaning forward attentively. On my lap, Kuu squirmed as I shifted underneath her. She gave me a curious look, and then leaned forward as well. From the corner of my eye I saw her putting on a serious look, and realized that she was imitating my expression. It looked more than moderately adorable.

Matsu looked happy to have a subject that she could say more about. "Hmm!" she hummed in affirmation. She busied herself with her keyboard, her fingers dancing across the buttons at a speed I don't think I could accomplish without maybe a decade of practice. Behind her the screen with the map changed, and the rest of the wall lit up as well. They began cycling through what appeared to be some kind of profile template. Two pictures stood side by side, usually consisting of a man on the left and a woman on the right, and beneath them were two columns of what was apparently statistics. It only took me a second to understand that Matsu was showing me the company's information on each of her sister Sekirei. "The moment a Sekirei is winged MBI collects the information on their partners and stores it." She seemed proud of the collected information she was displaying to me.

"What kind of information?" I asked her directly. "Names? Residences? Biographies? How about the Sekirei? The statistics? Their powers?"

Matsu blinked as I once again started barraging her with questions. "Wait, wait, Shirou-tan!" she interrupted, once more cutting me off before I could really get started in my interrogation. "The database I hacked has the names and some general statistics," she continued, "just tell me which Sekirei you want to know about and I can get the information for you."

"All of them," I told her seriously. "And not just the Sekirei. I want information on the Ashikabi as well." Matsu frowned slightly at my insistence at learning about the human half of the partnerships, but I didn't care. In the Grail War the Master's were the key to taking out the most powerful Servants. If you couldn't defeat the Heroic Spirit, just take out the magus supporting them. And even if you could destroy the Servant, sometimes it was still a good idea to take out the Master as well. If you left the Master alone then at a later point another Servant who had lost their Master could contract with them in order to keep the two who had lost their original partners in the race. Come to think of it, could that happen here? "Matsu," I asked suddenly, interrupting my previous train of thoughts. "What happens to a Sekirei if their Ashikabi dies?"

Matsu sat still for a minute, staring at me in surprise. Behind me, I heard Akitsu shift slightly in her customary position. I could see that the question seemed to shock them. Finally Matsu spoke up. "Shirou-tan," she began earnestedly. "If you're worried about being in danger, you shouldn't. Homura-tan is a single digit, and Musubi-tan is a combat type. And even if Akitsu-tan can't participate officially, she can still protect you and since she's a scrapped number she has to be strong." It seems like she thought I was worried about my own safety and was doing her best to try and reassure me that I wouldn't be in danger. "It's against the rules for a Sekirei to target an Ashikabi."

I sighed. It looked like I was being misunderstood. "Matsu," I said again, and this time my expression was absolutely resolute. "What happens?" I could understand concealing information about the plan itself. Saber had been unwilling to trust me with her name when we first made our contract in order to protect me in case of me being hypnotized or drugged by preserving the secrecy of her identity. But this was different. This was something which would directly affect my ability to function as an Ashikabi in the war. Not only did I need to know if I would be targeted as an effective way of circumventing the battle prowess of my flock, but I needed to know if I would ever have to do the same. There might come a point where a Sekirei would stand in my way that couldn't be defeated with the powers of my own aliens. More than that, there could be a Sekirei that showed the same disregard for life that the scythe wielder had, or even more unforgivable there could be an Ashikabi who decided to use their Sekirei to settle personal grudges that had nothing to do with the Sekirei Plan.

If such a situation was to develop, then it wouldn't be my Sekirei that I would use to solve the problem. I would do it myself.

Perhaps some of the ruthlessness of the action I was contemplating managed to show through my mask of resolve, because Matsu flinched and curled in a bit as though to unconsciously make herself smaller. "If the Ashikabi dies, then the Sekirei winged by them will cease to function," she admitted. But then leaned forward, and crawled towards me on all fours earnestly. "But it's like I said, Shirou-tan," she insisted quickly. "It's against the rules of the games to attack Ashikabi. And even if one of the Sekirei does try to attack you, we won't let you get hurt."

On my lap, Kuu reached up to pat my chest reassuringly, giving me an enthusiastic 'HmHmm!' noise. She crossed her arms again, sitting proudly as though to proclaim that she herself would never let me come to harm. I smiled back, patting her head, but inside the thought lingered that it wasn't me that that needed to worry about being protected.

Still, it was time to get this conversation back on track. "Anyway," I began, changing the topic back to the original subject. "I want profiles, Matsu; Sekirei and Ashikabi both." Matsu pouted at my imperative, but seemed happy to get away from the grim topic we had been discussing.

"Matsu already has the MBI profiles stored," she muttered, using a childish tone as she did so. "Isn't that enough, Shirou-tan?"

I shook my head. "I want profiles just like you did for me for all of them. Can you do that, Matsu?"

The braided Sekirei frowned, but finally gave into my request. "Hmmm," she hummed but now it sounded more like she was planning her next step then thinking up an excuse to argue against my plan. "It'll be hard, and it'll take some time," she admitted. "I can only access MBI's database once every few days, and only for a bit each time." She sounded embarrassed to admit the limitations of her ability. "If I spend too much time there, they might notice and change their security," she explained. "Are you sure you want all of them?" she asked one last time. "Even the ones that already lost?"

I blinked, surprised. "Wait, what do you mean the ones that already lost?" I blurted out, and then grimaced as I realized that I could think of at least one Sekirei that I wouldn't have to worry about anymore: the scythe wielder from when I rescued Kuu. It made sense that there would be others that would already have fallen by now. Matsu nodded, confirming my train of thought.

"Yes," she continued, and her fingers flew across the buttons of her keyboard again. Behind her the screens which had continued to cycle through profiles flickered and then each screen was displaying a single profile steadily. In each of these screens the picture on the right, all female in this case, were shaded and across the picture was the word 'Recovered'. There were thirteen screens total, but only eleven of them displayed these new profiles. "There have been thirteen incidents of combat so far," she explained, her voice sounding unusually serious for the generally childish Sekirei. "At the moment only eleven of them ended in the defeat of one of the participants."

I studied the profiles more carefully. Above each of the shaded pictures was a dark hexagon with writing in it. It was always the phrase 'Level:' and then a number. I pointed at one in particular a girl with short red hair and dark eyes wearing what looked like a leotard and shorts. "What does 'level' mean?" I asked Matsu, studying the particular profile.

"It indicates the condition of the Sekirei when it was recovered by MBI," she explained. "Level one indicates that they were undamaged except for their crests. Level two indicates that they received minor wounds before their crests were destroyed. Level three indicates that they simply received enough damage to cease to function," she continued, explaining the basics of the ranking system. I nodded slowly, my eyes drifting to each of the profiles before I finally found one that made me pause. It was the scythe wielder, apparently numbered forty three and whom had been named Yomi. My eyes narrowed as I read what her state had been.

"What does level four mean?" I asked, wondering why the Sekirei I had beaten had a different number. Matsu followed my eyes and noticed which one I was looking at. Her face turned solemn.

"Number four means that on top of receiving enough damage to cause a Sekirei to cease function they received enough damage to endanger their lives as well," she admitted solemnly. She gave the profile a glare. "On top of that, whichever Sekirei did that to her didn't even have the decency to stay behind until she was recovered." With narrowed eyes she turned to me, her voice holding a note of warning. "You should be careful of whichever Sekirei that is if they ever find out. Someone like that, who wouldn't follow the rules of guarding the defeated probably wouldn't have any problems attacking an Ashikabi directly."

Kuu saw who it was that we were talking about and started to fume, letting loose an inarticulate noise of distaste as she did so. I on the other hand coughed embarrassedly into my fist. "Ah," I began awkwardly. "That would be me, actually," I admitted causing Matsu to stop looking so serious and blink at me in surprise. "I didn't know about the whole 'guarding them until they're collected' bit. Next time I'll make sure to keep an eye on them." Behind me, Akitsu shifted, and I got the impression she wasn't happy with my implication that there would be a 'next time'.

Matsu on the other hand began to gape. "W-wait," she stuttered. "So number forty three was the one that you ambushed from behind?" When I nodded reluctantly she gaped even wider. "But her skull was fractured in three places! She nearly died of cerebral hemorrhage by the time MBI found her! How hard did you hit her?"

Now it was my turn to feel indignant. "She was about to attack Kuu-chan," I defended my actions reflectively. "If anything, I don't think I hit her hard enough!" In my lap Kuu abandoned her anger at the picture of her aggressor and turned to give me a big tight hug, burying her face in my neck as she did so. I patted her back gently, hoping that talking about her close encounter in the forest wasn't making her relive the experience in anyway. Matsu saw how much the conversation had affected Kuu and seemed to settle down a bit, but she still looked upset by the fact that I was the one she had been so worried about earlier.

Though I did find it ironic that she had been dead on about the likelihood of whoever had taken out Yomi being willing to attack an Ashikabi.

"Still," Matsu muttered, turning to give the profile one last glance. It was the only one up there so far that had the ominous words 'Level Four' above it. So far the majority were simply level ones and twos, with two other level threes included. "That's a little scary, Shirou-tan," she admitted, and then she turned back to face me, giving me a speculative look. It looked as though she was reevaluating her opinion of me again. Maybe the fact that I had nearly killed one of her own, admittedly tougher, species combined with the spar she had seen between Miya and I were starting to combine in her head to clue her in on the fact that my own combat abilities might be higher than she had anticipated.

I shrugged helplessly. I didn't have the words to try and defend my actions. After all, I hadn't been planning on just knocking her out. I had been trying to kill her. "It's not like I had ever fought a Sekirei before," I admitted. "I wasn't certain just how tough she was. Would it have been better if I hadn't hit her hard enough and she had shrugged it off?"

That did seem to put Matsu at ease a bit. "True," she admitted. "It would have been bad if Shirou-tan hadn't taken her out in one blow. If you hadn't won with the first strike then she would have been able to come after you."

Kuu chose that moment to pull her head out of my neck. She glared at Matsu childishly. "Onii-chan would have been alright!" the girl declared. "Onii-chan has swords!" Having said all she wanted to on the subject she promptly reburied her face and hugged me even tighter.

Though Matsu still seemed a little disquieted by the revelation that I had been the first one to defeat a Sekirei through excessive violence Kuu's outburst at least seemed to distract her. With one final glance at the now explained profile, she finally seemed to come to terms with revelation. "Well, I guess it's a good thing he does, isn't it?" she concluded.

I suppressed a sigh that the whole matter seemed to be closed. However, I did have one last question on the topic. "Matsu," I began, my voice serious. "There's one more level, isn't there?" The hacker Sekirei gave me a sharp look, and then nodded once. I didn't ask any further. If level four was life threatening damage then that could only mean that level five had to be even more serious. It meant that the Sekirei had died.

I wonder how many of those would occur before the end of the Sekirei Plan?

Still, this had been enough for one session. I decided to call it quits for the day and struggled into a standing position. Kuu decided that she wasn't quite ready to let go yet and I ended up holding her as my body cracked from having been seated for so long. Behind me Akitsu rose as well, though she didn't seem to have any of the troubles that my poor frail human body did with having been in one position for too long. "Matsu," I began, "I want those profiles; even the Sekirei who have already been defeated and their Ashikabi. Can you get started right away?"

The girl in white pursed her lips as she considered my order for a moment, and then nodded. "It might take a bit of time," she concluded, "but I can have them ready in maybe two or three weeks."

I grimaced at the time frame. "Is there any way that you can have them done by the end of the week?" I asked. The sooner I had this information, the better.

Matsu pouted at my impatience, and then seemed to realize something and her look turned sly. "Well," she began, drawling the word out for a few seconds. "Maybe if you let me use my Norito," she chanted in a sing song voice. She gave me a coy look and fluttered her eyelashes at me.

It took me a second to recall what the strange word meant, and then I remembered Musubi's explanation about this particular ability of the Sekirei. The Norito was the strongest attack of the Sekirei, the special ability that required that they first kiss their Ashikabi to use. I narrowed my eyes as I thought about it for a second. It seemed that for most other Sekirei it would be an attack, but what would happen if Matsu, a Sekirei who specialized in information gathering, were to use the ability?

I decided it was worth trying out and nodded. "Alright," I told Matsu, shocking the Sekirei enough for her to once more gawk at me. I ignored her surprise and glanced around her room. From prior experience I didn't think that a place filled with this much electronics would be a good area to grow giant wings. "I'll clear some space down at my workshop, and then after dinner you can stop by there," I told her, deciding that would be a working plan.

Matsu managed to shut her mouth, but now she was studying me again, her expression as solemn as it was after I had admitted to nearly killing one of her fellow Type. "You're serious about this, aren't you Shirou?" she finally asked, dropping her customary –tan. I nodded. Until I had that information then I couldn't devise a proper strategy for the upcoming battles. If getting that information required a prana exchange ritual, than that was exactly what I was going to do.

It wouldn't be the first time I had to do something like that, though this would probably be a lot more sanitary and probably a great deal less awkward then when I had contracted Rin before the final battle of the Grail War.

Matsu finally smiled at me, and it wasn't like her usual expression. It was a look that made her seem older than she normally did, more mature. She carefully removed her glasses, and without them her face seemed thinner, and her features somehow more attractive. For a second I found it hard to believe that this mature woman in front of me was the same Sekirei that usually acts like she's five years old and had a perverted streak a mile wide.

"Emiya-san," she said, still smiling. "When I first began researching you I thought you were simply a mysterious person. After having observed you and meeting you I had decided that you were kind, though perhaps a little too kind. But it seems that you are more than that as well. You have a strong side too." She met my eyes with hers, and I could see that she was being serious. "Though this Sekirei, Matsu, likes your kind side, she also likes your strong side as well. I am glad to have found a person like you to be my Ashikabi."

I didn't quite know what to say to such a declaration. "Ah," I turned my head to the side, and if I wasn't using both hands to hold up Kuu I would have scratched the back of my head awkwardly. "Um. Thanks, I guess," I finally concluded.

Matsu began to giggle, using one hand to cover her mouth while using the other hand to put her glasses back on. "And there's the kind side again!" she crowed, triumphantly. Her giggles turned perverted. "Fuhuhuhu. Matsu is looking forward to after dinner! I'll finally get a chance to experiment on you, Shirou-tan!" she declared, her cheeks turning red as her fingers began to wiggle at me in a way that made me very uncomfortable.

I cleared my throat nervously and began backing away. "Ah," I stuttered. "I think I'll just let you get to work on those profiles then."

There was no shame in running in this situation. No shame at all.

*Scene Break*

I'd always enjoyed cooking. It's one of my favorite pass times, and there was nothing quite as satisfying as seeing the raw ingredients being prepared and combined, losing their original shapes and becoming something different piece by piece until finally the whole work was revealed. More than that, I enjoyed sharing the meals I prepared with an appreciative audience, seeing their joy as they tasted each piece of the resulting meal. Indeed, the whole experience of food preparation was something I always took the opportunity to indulge in.

And yes, even the washing of dishes afterwards was part of the experience, so I had no problem burying my arms up to their elbows in soapy dirty water as the rest of Izumo House went their separate ways after they finished yet another of my masterpieces. So far it seemed as though my campaign to conquer the kitchen was working out wonderfully. I had been worried at first that Miya would prove an obstacle to my plans at wrestling that particular chore out of her hands, but so far there had been no noticeable resistance to my invasion. I was mildly relived at that. It had been my experience that most chefs were very territorial when it came to their kitchens, but it seemed that Miya was honestly grateful for my continued offers to handle meals. I suppose it made sense. Izumo House was a fairly large structure, and an old building at that. She already had to take care of a lot of cleaning, waging a constant war against decay and dirt with the structure. Not only that but she also stubbornly insisted on doing the laundry for the residences as well, which with the addition of four new residents had become a somewhat monumental chore. All in all Miya seemed relieved that there was someone so willing to help around the house.

Still, that didn't change the fact that I was going to need to go out and get myself a new apron. I grimaced as I noticed a small stain on my shirt from earlier when I had spilled a bit of sauce while cooking, and had to take special care not to accidently brush my long sleeves up against any of the pots or pans I was washing that still bore the remnants of the food they had been used to prepare.

A task which was proving surprisingly difficult considering how crowded the kitchen was.

"Kuu-chan!" Musubi scolded the little girl laughingly as the small plant user ran into the room with an arm full of cutlery, not minding the stains as the dirty implements pressed against her clean white dress. "You shouldn't run with sharp thing!"

"Mmmm," Kuu let loose another of childish noises. "Kuu-chan knows that!" she declared, stomping one of her feet indignantly, yet not slowing down as she dumped the handful of silverware on the table in the middle of the kitchen before quickly darting into the dining room to get the next load of dishes. Musubi smiled happily at the girl's eager attempt at contributing to the after meal cleanup, and I couldn't help but smile myself. On my left the shrine girl Sekirei was transferring the mess on the table to the sinks where both her and I were taking care of cleaning the utensils themselves before rinsing them and putting them to the side.

"Hurry up, Shirou-tan, Musubui-tan!" Matsu ordered impatiently from on my right. "We have to get this clean as soon as possible!" I rolled my eyes, knowing that the braided Sekirei's motivation for the chore had less to do with genuinely helping and more to do with the fact that afterwards it would be her chance to try and molest me in my workshop. Matsu was currently wielding a large fuzzy dishrag and taking care of the drying of the dishes that Musubi and I handed her, though she was greatly impeded by the fact that her long sleeves kept getting in her way. Matsu deemed the current plate that she was working on as dried enough and held it out to her right. From there it was Akitsu's turn to pitch in. The snow woman carefully took the pot, studying it with her usual intensity for a few moments and then wordlessly turned to put it in its proper shelf.

It was a scene reminiscent of the one when Musubi, Akitsu, Kuu, and I had moved in to the Inn. Just like then it was wild and chaotic, with Kuu darting in and out of peoples legs, while the rest of us bumped into each other randomly. It was inefficient and slow, and it dragged out a job that should have taken me ten minutes top to nearly a half hour, but just like before I found myself loathed to interrupt it.

"Akitsu-tan!" Matsu urged the snow lady, pouting as she did so. "You have to move quicker than that!" The quiet Sekirei slowly turned from her current item, one of the small rounded spoons that Kuu used since the younger girl still hadn't gotten the hang of her chopsticks, and looked at the redhead for a few moments. Then she just as slowly turned back to the spoon and resumed her unhurried pace. Matsu fumed at the delay, but seemed to realize that any more attempts to speed up the deliberate ice user would only take up even more time.

I shook my head at the futility of Matsu's attempt to hurry thing up, and concentrated on washing. Homura had already left for the night to do his shift at his club, and Uzume had grinned and admitted that she had something she had to take care of as well before leaving herself. Miya had only smiled at the scene she had watched developed before disappearing to take care of some of her own chores.

"Matsu," I chided the impatient redhead. "Just be patient. If you keep complaining you'll just make the whole thing take longer."

"Rrrrrr," the redhead growled, sounding like she knew what I was saying was true but not liking it at all. When Musubi suddenly paused and looked away with a curious expression, Matsu wheeled and pointed an accusing finger at her. "No slacking!" she ordered, her glasses glinting in the light of the kitchen.

"Eh?" Musubi got out, before shaking her head. "Did you hear that, Shirou-san?" she asked me, cocking her head to the side in curiosity as she put a finger to her mouth. I glanced over at her, taking my attention away from the chore.

"Hear what?" I asked, before I managed to make out the same sound the shrine girl had managed to catch. It sounded like someone was knocking at the front door to Izumo House.

"That!" Musubi nodded her head enthusiastically when she saw me glance towards the front of the house. "It looks like there's a guest!" she decided, nodding her head in satisfaction over her conclusion.

"Eh?" Matsu gulped, and glanced anxiously at the door. "Someone's here?" she asked, sounding nervous for a reason that took me a second to identify. She began edging away from the sink slowly.

"That's right," I nodded realizing the source of her anxiety. "Go on," I urged her, and she glanced at me guiltily. "We can finish off here and then I can let you know when it's safe to come out." It had taken us nearly a week to even find out about Matsu's presence in the house, and even then it was because she had been overwhelmed by my apparently rampant Ashikabi powers. Even though she was now one of my flock, it didn't change the reason behind her taking so long for us to meet her: she was still a wanted fugitive by MBI.

"Thank you, Shirou-tan," she told me with a relived smile, and then hurried out of the room.

When the knocking came again Musubi frowned, turning to look towards the direction of the door. "Ah," the shrine girl spoke up, "shouldn't we do something about that?"

"I'll get it," I assured the rest of my Sekirei, taking the towel that Matsu abandoned in order to dry my hands. Pausing a moment to tug my sleeves back down from where I had rolled them I eyed the remaining three girls. "Will you three be able to finish the rest of the dishes?" I asked, mostly positive that they could, but feeling that in Musubi and Kuu's case it might be better to make sure first.

"Yes!" Musubi cheered, raising one fist in the air proudly. Beside her Kuu echoed the action, 'hmhm'-ing enthusiastically. I smiled at their exuberance, turning to exit when a brief clatter alerted me to the fact that Akitsu had abandoned the chore in order to resume her usual position behind me and to my left. "Ah, Akitsu-san!" Musubi noticed as well. "You go on with Shirou-san! Kuu-chan and I can finish this!" Kuu smiled proudly, planting her fists on her hips and 'hmhm'-ing again. Akitsu nodded solemnly at Musubi's statement and I sighed. I was just going to answer the door. It was most likely just a neighbor, or maybe a postman with a delivery.

It had been over a week since I had made my unofficial contract with Akitsu, and I still wasn't quite sure how I felt about this strange new addition to my life. Akitsu had become what amounted to my constant companion. There were two places that she didn't follow me at all times, and those were the bathroom and my workshop. In both cases I had to give what amounted to direct orders to the quiet Sekirei. However, once I gave them as orders they were obeyed without question. It was one of her quirks that I noticed during my dealings with the snow woman. For all that I had to constantly remind her of things like dressing, or wearing appropriate underclothes, as long as those things were in the realm of 'suggestion' or 'reminder' they were things she barely paid attention to. But the moment I crossed over and made something an order, it was obeyed without question, without hesitation, and without doubt. Even a Command Sigil couldn't enforce the level of obedience that Akitsu willingly gave.

On one hand, the quiet Scrapped number was nearly unnerving in her slavish devotion, choosing to reflect her devotion constantly from the position she placed herself, to the way she spoke, even in the clothes she wore. On the other hand, for all her unnerving dedication and constant presence, her attention was surprisingly easy to bear. She was so quiet in her mannerisms, so unobtrusive in her subservience, that despite the fact that I should be feeling disturbed by her I found myself simply accepting her presence. At times I even forgot she was there, the feel of her power near me simply a second shadow, a thing which I caught from the corner of my eye and dismissed as natural.

Still, even as I made my way to answer the persistent knocking on the door, it wasn't as though I needed constant protection, I groused to myself. Yes, Akitsu might be a rather unobtrusive figure to fill the role of bodyguard, but that didn't change the fact I had been fighting life or death battles on my own for nearly four years now. I had stood toe to toe with both a Counter Guardian and a Heroic Spirit, not to mention participated in no less than two Dead Apostle hunts, once of which had been an Ancestor for that matter. If maintaining the secrecy of my skills wasn't of the highest importance, I could show this impertinent flock of aliens that seemed determined to treat me like a glass figurine just who it was they had contracted. Instead, I couldn't even answer the door without what amounted to an armed escort.

It wasn't as though I was going to come face to face with an enemy polite enough to just knock on the door or anything.

Which was why when I opened the door and found another Ashikabi that I had already come into conflict with standing there with an easy grin I felt rather foolish.

"Yo! Miya! How's it going?" Seo asked, his eyes closed due to the length of his teeth baring grin. I blinked, surprised at sudden meeting. Deliberately, I shut the door. Behind me, Akitsu shifted, and I heard her kimono rustle like settling feathers.

"Oi! Miya! Come on!" the Ashikabi I had met once before during my rescue of Kuu grumbled, sounding irritated. "This isn't like you. What would Takehito say if he saw you being so cold? Miya? Miya?" he complained. The door I was still holding closed began to rattle as he pounded on it ruthlessly.

Yeah, he's still there. Looks like I wasn't just imagining it.

With a sigh and the knowledge that I had probably invited this on myself, I reopened the door. The man on the other side grinned triumphantly at his supposed victory, and then realized that I wasn't the lavender haired landlady he had been expecting. For a moment he stared at me, and then he went back to grinning. "Yo! Long time no see! You're Shirou, right?" he asked, seemingly unconcerned that the last time the two of has met it had been the middle of a jungle while the two of us were both in the middle of attempting to locate an unwinged Sekirei and had resulted in a battle.

I sighed, and despite myself smiled back. "Yeah, that's right," I nodded. "You're Seo, right?"

"Of course, of course," he waved his hand easily. Without waiting for another word he stepped in, and I hastily moved to avoid running into him. He stalked into the hallway, pausing only by the stairs that marked the choice between heading upstairs and going further down the hall. "So you're living here?" he asked me, glancing around casually. "Heh. Small world." He glanced at me, taking in my casual clothes of a blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt. The insolent intruder had on a pair of surplus military pants topped by a white shirt and the same leather jacket he had been wearing the first time we had met. "So how's that green girl doing?" he asked me, casually glancing around with a familiar ease.

"She's doing fine," I answered honestly, studying him as I did so. "She's in the kitchen helping out with the dishes." I held my hand out in invitation, and he glanced at it for a second before understanding what I was doing. With a grin he shrugged off his coat and gave it to me, and I set about hanging it up for him.

"Oh? That's kinda good to hear," he admitted, his eyes shifting over me as he did so. "So you ended up winging her then?" he asked, nodding his head as though it was a foregone conclusion in his eyes. "If you're hanging out at Izumo then that can't be a bad thing."

"Hm," I grunted in affirmation. "Yes, that was the way it ended up being," I admitted. Once his jacket was on a hanger I led the way down the hallway towards the recently cleared dining wing. Seo followed me easily. His boots, which he hadn't bothered to take off in the forum, clumped audibly on the floor as he trod behind me. "So I take it that you know Asame-san?" I asked, referring to Miya by her last name in order to remain polite. Seo began to chuckle at that.

"Yeah," he drawled easily. "I know Asame. The original, Takehito that is. He was a friend of mine from college." I blinked, surprised at that.

"So you were a friend of Miya's late husband?" I asked, using the landlady's first name in an effort to distinguish between her and this 'Takehito'. Seo gave me an easy grin.

"Yup," he nodded, still speaking informally. "Though why he ended up marrying a shrew like that Mi-" Whatever he had been about to say was interrupted when a ladle came flying out of nowhere, nailing him on the side of his head and nearly putting him through one of the shogi screen doors leading out to the courtyard.

"My, my," the chilling voice of the landlady came from the end of the hallway near the stairs. With a feeling of immense dread, I started turning my head towards the sound. From the corner of my eye I noticed Seo doing the same. I was also able to make out Akitsu, though it seemed like the snow woman was instead focused on putting myself between her and the source of all consuming malice that was forming. "I think I just heard someone saying something rude."

It was like something out of a horror movie. Slowly, inch by inch, step by step, the sheer malignance and angry intent of the descending creature coming down the stairs darkened the hallway around it. In the middle of the shadows of pure evil, a snow white figure gradually revealed itself. With deliberate steps, Miya came down the stairs, like something straight out of the 'Grudge' movies. She paused when she reached the final step, the darkness around her thickening, her back still to us. When she finally turned to face us, behind her, growing out of the malignant shadows, a great mask formed. I could hear the howls of a thousand damned souls echoing in a hellish chorus somewhere in the abyss.

"Oi," Seo began, swallowing hard. "Miya. Isn't that a bit overboard?"

"No," I whispered, desperately trying to find the notebook I kept in one of my pockets, a pen already in my hand. "Just like that. Keep going."

Oh, by the lost Age of the Gods, I wanted this technique.

*Scene Break*

"So you were a college friend of Miya's husband?" I asked causally, pouring a cup of tea for Seo as I did so. He grinned, taking the cup easily and slugging it back as though it were a shot of booze rather than a cup of tea.

"Aye," he grinned. "Takehito was one hell of an upperclassman," he admitted, smacking his lips as he reminisced. "That guy was smart, like you wouldn't believe," he admitted. "But he didn't let it go to his head either. He was just the kinda guy even someone like me could get along with."

"He sounds like someone I would have liked to meet," I admitted, pouring a second cup for the lounging man. Seo was currently splayed out at the head of the table to my right, while Akitsu sat patiently once more on my left. At the other head of the table was a certain terrifying landlady. The snow woman on my left was interrupting her usual intense study of myself with occasional glances at the now wholly unthreatening lavenderette that only moments ago had been reenacting an A-grade horror film. I got the impression that despite Akitsu's normal disregard for the world around her, Miya was something that frightened the usually implacable snow lady profoundly. I didn't blame her.

No matter how much I wanted to figure out her skill, even I was forced to admit that Miya was something scary all around.

"Eh," Seo grunted, and for once he didn't seem to have his usual free spirit feel to him as he did so. "Takehito was one hell of a guy." The confession seemed to take a bit out of the usually boisterous Ashikabi. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Miya as well seemed to echo is his mood.

"Hmm," she nodded. "My husband was truly a person that I will never regret having known." For a moment, despite the number of Sekirei present, I could focus on nothing but Miya. The scent of her power, something I had slowly grown more and more accustomed to, sharpened. It wasn't the honeyed smell that I had come to associate with her Type. Nor was it the sharp tang of blood that was so familiar. It was the scent that I could only call 'remorse'. It faded after only an instant, but that was enough for me to know that there was a story behind their mutual loss. The landlady continued, most likely unaware of just how her own powers had reacted. "Though it saddens me to know that he had to put up with such trash while he was still with me." Miya covered her mouth with one hand and laughed politely as though she had just told a simple or ironic joke rather than make a cutting remark at the present company.

Seo seemed to take her direct dig on his character lightly, shrugging off the insult like a duck shedding water. "Heh. Always so harsh, Miya," he whined. "You really dislike me don't you?"

"Why, that's not true at all," Miya exclaimed, sounding sincere. "No matter what kind of trash you are, or that you can't hold a job, or that the only reason you ever come here is because you're low on food, you are still Takehito's friend." She smiled at him pleasantly and Seo snorted at her answer.

"You two have a very strange relationship," I felt obliged to point out, not knowing how else to react to the constant sniping and bickering the two seemed to engage in. I was used to the landlady being scrupulously polite in her dealings with other people. To hear her so casually speak ill of someone was a little strange. Seo on the other hand didn't seem to mind at all. If anything, he seemed cautiously amused by Miya's blatant dislike, dismissing the insults with a tooth baring grin. His grin widened at my statement, though Miya pouted at my interruption of her observations on Seo's nature.

"That's one way to put it," the grinning man laughed, leaning back carelessly in order to slouch more effectively. "Don't mind us," he assured me, seeming to take my statement as an indication that I was uncomfortable with the situation. "Miya just loves to hate me."

"Really now," the landlady huffed, giving Seo a stern look. "There's no need to say such things." Seo waved his hand as though brushing away her concerns like they were flies, and turned his attention back to me instead.

"Though I'm a bit surprised to find you here," he admitted, giving me a curious look. "You didn't seem like the type that would be able to live peacefully in a place like this," he told me bluntly, not even bothering to try and be polite with that statement.

"Why would you say that?" I asked, a little taken aback at having such a direct appraisal leveled at me.

"That time we met you were making a really scary face," he drawled, extending the word 'really' for a few extra moments. "I figured you for the type that would be out in the middle of things, kicking ass and taking names."

"Ah," I shrugged awkwardly. The first time we met had been when I was in my battle mindset after all. He had already seen me making battlefield assessments of his capabilities and issuing direct and decisive orders to Musubi and Akitsu. More than that he had no doubt noticed the speed I moved with when I had left the two Sekirei behind to delay him, not to mention the damage the battle between me and number forty three had dealt to the surroundings. I had managed to convince the rest of Izumo House that the fight had been nothing more than a fluke of me managing to catch a Sekirei unaware, and the only ones who could have told them otherwise were Akitsu, Musubi, and Kuu. Anything Kuu said would be dismissed due to her youth, whereas Musubi simply didn't seem to realize what the damage meant. Akitsu most likely just wouldn't say anything about it at all. "Well," I began, trying to think of a way to keep Seo from saying anything incriminating in front of Miya, "I'm biding my time," I finally settled on. It seemed to be enough for the other Ashikabi, and he just shrugged.

"Building up your forces first, eh?" he said, though it sounded directed mostly to himself. "Beside that green girl you winged another Sekirei recently as well. Matsu I suppose," he noted, and I blinked, surprised at his accurate assessment. He noted my response and grinned. "I'm a bit unusual as an Ashikabi," he admitted. "Takehito was one of the researchers for the Sekirei Project, and he might have done a little tinkering with me as well," he grinned.

I studied him carefully, taking a moment to go over his words. Finally, I reached the only conclusion I could. "You have the ability to detect the presence of an Ashikabi as well as the number of Sekirei they have winged." It wasn't too hard to make a guess like that, considering that he had already known about my two additions to my flock without me saying anything.

The question was, why was he revealing this information? If he had really been given a unique ability by one of the people responsible for Sekirei Plan, it would be a huge advantage over the other Ashikabi. It could be nothing more than the fact that Seo seemed to be a careless guy who didn't care about keeping his advantage secret. He did seem like the type that enjoyed bragging. But then again, it could be a more calculated move on his part. Perhaps he was attempting to intimidate me, trying to set me on edge and make me cautious when dealing with him. He already knew that the snow woman next to me was powerful, having even admitted that it was only my orders to her that had spared his own Sekirei the one time they had fought. If he was aware that I was gathering even more Sekirei to me, he might be attempting to make me hesitate when dealing with him in an effort to buy himself some space.

His grin widened. "Among other things," he confirmed my guess of his abilities, milking the mystery for all it was worth. "Oh!" his eyes sharpened and he leaned forward. "There's that scary face again!"

"Emiya-kun?" Miya spoke up, studying me as well. Her usually crinkled eyes were half opened as she took in the change in my demeanor. I realized that during my attempt at analyzing the other man's intentions I had unconsciously straightened my back and and narrowed my eyes while studying the other Ashikabi. With a conscious effort I forced myself to relax.

Seo noticed all this, his own eyes sharp over his relaxed grin as he returned the examination. He seemed to find something there, and he nodded once to himself. "Relax," he told me, waving his hand again. "I don't really have any interest in the Sekirei Plan," he confessed. "More than that, I don't really want you as an enemy. Hikari and Hibiki are still sorta scared of you after all. But besides all that, I kinda like you, kid. You really busted your ass when the green girl was in trouble, and then afterwards you made sure to take care of her instead of just winging her. You seem like an alright kinda guy."

I nodded. "You seem like a pretty good person yourself," I admitted. I hadn't forgotten the way the man opposite me had declared that he wouldn't let me pass back when he had thought I was just another vulture trying to get a new prize. It seems that my treatment of Kuu afterwards had convinced him that I was a person with a character he could get along with. And now here he was provoking me in order to try and judge my intentions towards the Plan in general. For all his brashness, it looked like Seo was a canny man.

He would make a good ally, I finally decided on.

Still, he wasn't the only one with an unusual card to play.

"Speaking of your girls," I began, cocking my head to the side. "They've just arrived."

"Huh?" Seo began, and then a new voice from the doorway spoke up.

"Excuse us," one of the lighting twins, Hikari I assumed, called to the house in general. "Is our idiot here by any chance?"

Aforementioned idiot shot me a new look, heavy with calculation, and it was my turn to milk the mystery. Finally, he snorted. "Here," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wrinkled piece of paper. "Let me give you my card." He offered me his business card, a simple one with just his name, a number, and a slogan declaring 'We Solve Your Problems'. He grinned again. "For you I might just make it cheap," he added, giving me a wink as he did so.

"I'll keep that in mind," I told him, bowing when I received the offered card. It still wasn't time yet for me to start taking an active part in the Sekirei Plan, but soon I'd have all the information I needed to decide my strategy. When that happened, having a dependable ally working with me, even if it was for a price, might be the most important resource I could have.


	11. Eleventh Wing

In Flight: Eleventh Wing

_Author's notes: Well, that was much better schedule wise for getting another chapter out in my book. First off, responding to reviews. Most of the complaints I receive lately have been that I spend too much time describing various day to day scenes and not enough time giving some action. My defense against these accusations is that for the most part I keep using the slice of life aspect to try and get a chance to characterize the rest of the characters that you can't hear the thought of like you can Shirou. What I'm trying to do is actually flesh out all the characters in the story, and to develop them all as time goes on. I'm finding that pretty hard to do actually, seeing as that means that I have to treat everyone at Izumo House as a dynamic character, and not just someone that shows up when they're needed for the plot and then disappears off screen. That means I have in effect eight protagonists right now, and as time goes on the number is going to get even bigger. It's a somewhat daunting task, actually._

_For those of you that really don't like that, you can relax now. I have finally reached what could be considered a changing point for the dynamics of In Flight. All the characters I need are present, and I feel like I have managed to keep them all as real people, and the plot has reached the point where I can start to make progress forward. Things are going to start changing now, departing a bit from the canon of Sekirei, and more and more elements of Nasu are going to start making their way in. I'm a little nervous about it, but I think I can do this in a way that will make both you, the readers, and myself as well happy with the direction I'm going._

_I do have a few things to say about the chapter in particular, but since these are really explicit there is a definite_

_*Spoiler Warning*_

_required first._

_First off, Shirou's magic. Now that Shirou's workshop is up and running, that's going to be pretty much the center for explaining his powers and abilities. I mentioned before that I'm going to put in the effort to explain the route I had him go with his magecraft, and since it'll draw on some very specific pieces of nasu-verse knowledge I would explain it all in story for the readers who haven't gone out and done as much research as me. I'm willing to admit that I might get little pieces of errata wrong, but I feel confident that I'll have progressed from my, as one reviewer put it, 75% accuracy to probably closer to 90% accuracy since Hill of Swords. However, explaining it all at once amount for an enormous info drop, so expect it to come out in bits and pieces throughout the story as it becomes relevant. _

_Second off, in regards to Nasu's distinctions between normal magics and true magics. I gotta be honest here, I've heard a dozen different names for each particular type. In some translations the ones who use true magic are called wizards, and in others magicians. Sometimes the true magics are called simply 'magic' and in other ones they're called miracles. Sometimes normal magecraft is called 'sorcery' or 'magecraft' or even 'mysteries'. To that end this will be my official ruling on it. Normal magic, the kind that can be accomplished with normal technology will be refered to specifically as 'magecraft' and magic as the case might be. Users will be called 'magi', 'magus', or even 'mage' as the case might call for. Wielders of true magic will be called 'sorcerors' and the true magics will be known as 'sorcery'. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but like I said, I've seen so many different ways of translating it that I'm not sure which is entirely accurate. Thus I decided on using this method. Sorry, if its a bit off, but that's why I'm making it clear up front._

_Third, what one reviewer had joking called Luddite-Shirou. One of the big things that I picked up from Fate/Zero, is that what I had meant as a joke might have actually been dead on. Magi really are just that stupid when it comes to technology. It was one of the reasons that Kiritsugu had been so dangerous to them, seeing as the Magus Killer himself tended to use technology that most magi had never even imagined was available. It even goes so far as to have a scene where Kirei was complaining to himself over his master Tohsaka's insistence that they use a magical artifact to talk to each other over distance instead of just using a phone or a radio like the priest wanted to use. The impression I got was that Magi were so proud of their magical skills that whenever possible they preferred to use those skills, even if they could save time, effort, and money, by just going out and getting something more mundane to accomplish the same task. Shirou is definitely nowhere near as bad, and with Matsu on his case expect him to be brought up to speed fairly quickly, but yeah, it looks like I nailed that one dead on right from the start. _

_Fourth, the part at the end where Shirou finally realizes that he really does have a harem. Now this, I'm interested in hearing reviewer response too. Let's face it. Shirou is a great guy, very noble, and definitely good to have at your back in a fight, especially now that he's a veteran of the Grail War. But that doesn't really change the fact that for all his combat savvy he might be a little clueless when it comes to women, and in the game he was definitely more than a little naive and oblivious to various things. Considering he went in to the Sekirei plan as though it was the Grail War, two contests which might have more than a few similarities but even more glaring differences, is it that unreasonable to think that he might not have realized exactly what he was signing up for when he started laying smooches down on the aliens? I'd been planning this scene for a bit, and its important for the course of action Shirou ends up choosing to do. I even tried to hint that it was coming, what with Shirou's constant referral to his Sekirei just as 'partners', and his attitude that a few reviewers had called 'shonen' mode, that is his inability to realize that the chicks surrounding him totally wanted him. Well, now he knows better, doesn't he?_

_Fifth, at one point I make references to how Shinji was Rider's master, and how the Grail War always had male/female partnerships. For those of you who don't know, that's totally false. Rider was originally summoned by Sakura for one thing, and in Fate/Zero the only one that summoned an opposite gender as their Servant was Kiritsugu. Shirou, on the other hand, doesn't know that. Honestly, I don't think he ever found out in the Unlimited Blade Works scenario that Kirei was even associated with Gilgamesh, for that matter. The only time he came across the King of Heroes was when he was around Shinji. He also never realized that Caster originally had another Master before Kuzuki, but since that Master was originally male anyway it wouldn't have changed things too much in his eyes. So just a heads up before I get lambasted by reviewers pointing this out, yeah, I was aware. It's just another example of Shirou misunderstanding the situation._

_Finally, for all the people wondering where I get my translations and movies, for novels I've found to be a great place. For movies, well, I usually just type the name in to google and then filter through all the responses until I find one that looks real.  
_

_Anyway, that's it for now. I considered extending this chapter for a bit, but decided I could use the opening scene for the next chapter being him trying to come to terms with what happened in this chapter, and that would make for a good lead into the scenes that come next, so I decided to go ahead and post the chapter as is._

_For now, let me know whatcha all think. Like it? Send a shout. Questions/concerns/complaints? Pile em up. _

_And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

I nearly couldn't stop myself from sighing when I saw where I was. That damn rooftop again. Behind me the familiar scenery was all assembled: the water coolers, the pipes, the air conditioners. Stretching out in front of me was the scenery: distant buildings, small cars, ant like people. And in front of me, a familiar blonde haired woman in a tunic and a coat. I idly wondered where the breeze that was whipping the flowing garments and her hair around her.

"Let me guess," my dream self muttered, rubbing my forehead in irritation. "You're going to kill me, right?"

"You bastard," the girl growled. "Hurry up and show yourself so I can kill you already!" she demanded, stomping her foot angrily as she did so.

"The fact that you're planning on trying to kill me is actually one of the reasons I haven't bothered to look for you yet," I grumbled. The display of logic didn't go over to well with the Sekirei opposite me. She growled, displaying her gritted teeth as she lifted one hand up in a clenched fist.

"You impudent monkey," she gritted out, her fist shaking. I snorted.

"Belligerent alien," I returned, scowling. Really. I just wanted some sleep; some nice, uninterrupted sleep. Was that too much to ask?

My back talk seemed to be the final straw. Behind her streamers of water formed, condensing themselves from seemingly out of nowhere, flowing around her like aquatic ribbons. She pointed her clenched hand at me, one finger extended. "Water cele-" she began, and then I woke up.

*Scene Break*

I woke with a start, sitting up so suddenly that I nearly tipped my chair over. I flailed my arms, trying to regain my balance, brushing up against my worktable and scattering tools and pieces of machinery as I did so, but in the end I tumbled backwards, collapsing on a pile of knickknacks and books that I had been messing around with before my unexpected nap.

"God damn it," I swore as the clutter of mishmash tumbled around me, wrenches and screwdrivers and bolts and screws rolling away with a loud clatter. To add insult to injury a thick tome was shaken loose from one of the shelves nearby, falling open to land on my head and cover my face with its musty smelling pages.

For a second I laid still, trying to clear the ringing in my head that the hard bump had put there, and hoping that by not moving around I could give everything a moment to settle so that nothing else would fall on me. After a moment passed without anything else landing on me, I sighed and sat up straight, rubbing the small of my back where I had hit it against the floor after my collapse.

"Well," I muttered, "at least no one was around to see that," I declared. With another sigh I managed to regain my feet and start repairing the damage my sudden awakening had done to my workshop.

It had been nearly a week since I had first claimed the old shed behind Izumo House and already I was beginning to find the place to be nearly as comforting as my old shed back in Fuyuki. Well, I was beginning to find it comfortable enough to start drowsing off in anyway. I doubt I'd ever be able to spend hours working in here until it got so late that I just dragged a futon out of the corner and fell asleep like I used to. Not with the new addition of four attractive aliens that had decided to start using me as a pillow, mattress, and cuddle toy anyway. The one time I had tried to relive my old habit I hadn't even made it till nine o clock before Musubi had begun pounding on the door to let me know that the bath was ready. After I had convinced her that I didn't really need her to wash my back and finished cleaning my body, my attempt to return back to my lab had been interrupted by Kuu-chan demanding I read her a bed time story. And after that Matsu had interrupted me to demand the use of her Norito again to continue the project I had assigned her. And after that Miya had interrupted and told me that it was far too late at night to be working. And thus, without a reason to justify my return to the shed without making my attempts to get back suspicious to the lavender haired landlady, I had given up and succumbed to the inevitable.

It was a little off putting to be so casually blocked from my own workshop. For a magus their workshop was like a piece of their own bodies at time. It was the heart of their research, the place where they focused the majority of their lives and attentions. It was their stronghold, their fortress, the center of their powers. To be kept from it by handful of demands by their housemates would have been an enormous blow to the pride that any magi nursed in their hearts.

Which was why in the end it was probably good I was such a crappy magus. I never much cared for displaying the same kind of arrogance I usually saw in other practitioners anyway.

It wasn't as though I was completely cut off from my workshop anyway. By now I had managed to make a pretty good schedule for how it seemed most of my days went. Mornings would be for work, when I had the majority of my appointments for my new job. Noon would be lunch with the rest of the household, followed by the afternoon working in my shed. When evening came around it would be time for dinner, and then a chance for me to spend some time with my alien partners. As it was I was usually able to put a good four or five hours into my research and experimentation a day, which was honestly more than enough for me to feel like I got something accomplished by the end of it.

As I finally finished setting my room to rights, I took a moment to study the steel fragment that I had been working on before I had drowsed off. It looks like its impromptu trip to the floor hadn't damaged it noticeably, but to be safe I would probably have to give it a more careful study later. It wouldn't do any good to try and use it later and to have it end up being flawed. I don't think Miya would be happy if I accidently burnt down the shed I was borrowing.

Three years ago, in the same battle with my alternative self that had imbued upon me my sword skill, it wasn't just blades that I had inherited. Just as the battles and lifetime of experience that I had born witness to had let me develop my unique two sword style, they had given me another unique skill. Counter Guardian Emiya had been a 'me' that had spent his whole life struggling to perfect his unique talents with magecraft into a singular skill, and in the end had achieved something which bordered on true sorcery: a Reality Marble. A skill which is most like the abilities of true demons and elementals, it was the ability to allow a person or creatures' inner reality, their personal perception of the world around them, to be manifested in the real world. It was an astonishing skill, one which when used properly could allow a magus to achieve magecrafts which were nearly beyond comprehension.

Now if I could just figure out how to use the damn thing properly, then maybe I could get somewhere.

The truth of the matter was that I might have witnessed vast majorities of Counter Guardian Emiya's past, been able to see his life splayed out before me, to have experienced even a fraction of his battles, but that didn't change the fact that Counter Guardian Emiya was not me. I might be able to imitate some of what I saw, and that combined with the knowledge that it was something 'I' had accomplished before which meant I could accomplish it again allowed me a very high learning curve when it came time for me to attempt something, but that's what I was doing in the end: learning it. In effect, I was learning it with an incredibly useful tutorial to draw from, but I was still learning it.

There were some things that were much easier for me to learn, true. Archer's sword skills were one of them. My body had already been in good shape back then, and that was combined with Saber's excellent tutorage, so learning to use his two sword style had been something that had been easier for me to accomplish. In fact, I would say that I might even have exceeded Archer's original skill when it came to pure blade work. He had been forced to create his style over the course of decades, against numerous foes, and over the course of terrible battles. He had to be cautious, had to measure each technique carefully, map each strategy before hand, practice it for hours alone, and only then was he able to test it in a real fight. And even then some of his gambits had failed and proven to be a waste of his time. For me, with the knowledge of what would work and what wouldn't, combined with having a partner like Saber who was faster, stronger, more skilled, and most importantly of all not trying to actually kill me, I was able to practice much harder and with better direction. In truth, through my studies I had probably evolved his style to the next level. I was able to block faster, with more surety, and greater precision, a skill that had been brought about with many bruises and broken bones, but never with the chance that I would actually be killed.

But that was only with swords. Magic was a whole other matter. Magecraft depended on the skill, experience, and conviction of the user. Counter Guardian Emiya had spent his whole life honing his skills, experiencing trials and errors, defeats and victories. By himself, with nothing more than his own stubbornness and will he managed to cast aside the deficiencies that we both had in our youth and make our only true ability into a weapon of incomparable power.

That was not something a few brief glances into his past, a handful of experienced dreams, and a few observed insights could hope to match. I KNEW that I too had the same potential to the capabilities that Archer had, and that allowed me a bit of leeway when it came to using his skills, but in the end just 'knowing' something wasn't the same as having 'experienced' it.

That didn't mean that I couldn't make use of it at all though. The knowledge was enough for me to recreate on my own his Reality Marble, the Unlimited Blade Works, but recreating it and using it effectively were too different things. In the end, all Unlimited Blade Works did was allow me to perfectly copy every piece of information of every weapon I see. It was in effect nothing more than a recording device. What had made Archer so amazing was the way he used that device, the skill and speed he was able to reconstruct the armaments he had born witness to, the fashion in which he remade them, the skill with which he used them. By the time of his death and ascendance he had managed to achieve efficiency with his Reality Marble that was his real accomplishment.

In contrast with the first time I had used Unlimited Blade Works I hadn't even been able to construct it without nearly draining Rin dry of prana through our contract. Needless to say, I had a lot of work to do if I was every going to be as effective with it.

Still, it wasn't a hopeless task. Archer had managed to create the skill all on his own, and besides his memories to guide me I had one other valuable aid to my study: a talented little magus named Tohsaka Rin. Whereas Archer had been alone in his studies, my other lover had been able to give me direction and instruction which had allowed me to develop in leaps and bounds that even I hadn't believed I was capable of beforehand. There was a reason Rin was considered one of this generation's prodigies after all.

Just like Saber had helped me perfect my sword skills, Rin had helped me finally achieve something of myself when it came to my magecraft. In many ways, she was a much better teacher to me than even my father, Kiritsugu, had been. I loved my father, I really did, but when it came down to it he had been a complete failure as an instructor. It had been Rin that had helped me identify my element and my origin, who had taught me the proper way to use my magic circuits, and had managed to guide me into a path of magic which I might actually be able to progress in.

I gave the piece of metal in front of me a fond glance, taking in what amounted to the fruits of Rin's relentless attempts to turn me into a credible magus had resulted in: Runes.

In the end, after careful experimentation with my abilities and natural talents, Rin had discovered that I really didn't have much natural aptitude for magecraft, Reality Marble aside. I could manipulate none of the five elements, and even though I had been adopted into the Emiya family I was still essentially a first generation magus. I had no sorcerous traits or inherited abilities from my bloodline, not even a Thaumaturgical Crest. My only real skills were in physical magics: Reinforcement, Alteration, and Gradation Air. Even with those I was noticeably lacking in ability until Rin started teaching me. Finally, she had decided that the only way I was going to progress as a magus is if I were to start studying a different type of magic completely. Originally, she had wanted to teach me Formalcraft, a very simple form of Magecraft that was typical for first generation magi or those who simply didn't have much in the way of magic circuits. It was type of magic which required very little in the way of personal ability and relied heavily on sacrifices and complex magic circles.

I had found it completely useless. It simply took too much time for too little effect, and in the end it just didn't suit me. After that Rin had stumbled on the perfect type of magic for me to practice. Runes were the method of using the ancient pre-Latin Germanic and Scandinavian letters in order to accomplish magecraft mysteries. Though nowadays they are distinctly unpopular with the majority of magi, especially in the Mage Association, they remained a well studied branch of thaumaturgy. Relying solely on the inscribing and empowering of the original symbols of the languages they could be used individually or in combination to achieve any number of effects that were equal in power to other forms of magic.

For someone like me, who seemed to have no talent in any other ability besides physical magecraft, they were perfect. Since they were a well documented and ancient type of thaumaturgy, it hadn't been too hard for Rin to find a few of the more basic tomes about them; just simple things, the most basic of basics really. No real magi would ever allow their own research to so easily be acquired by another, but it gave me something to start off with.

Which was what led me to my current situation. Before accidently falling asleep and dreaming about a psychotic water using Sekirei that seemed to be trying to convince me to find her so she could kill me I had been working on my newest project: a magical washing machine.

If Rin ever found out about this I wasn't certain if she'd laugh so hard she fell down or if she would throttle me for attempting something so ridiculous. Maybe even both.

The machine itself was something that I had picked up a few days ago. One of my clients had wanted me to fix it, but it had turned out to be beyond repair. It had just been too old, and with too many broken down pieces in it. The end result for replacing them all would have been more than the machine itself was worth in the end, and it had just been more cost effective to buy a newer model. Since I hadn't been able to do anything besides deliver the bad news, I had offered to wave my bill for the inspection if he was willing to give me the broken down machine. Ever since then I had been trying to use runes in order to repair the broken pieces, and to stimulate it into working effectively.

It was mostly a pointless endeavor. Even if I did manage to get it working, it wasn't like I'd be able to use it. People would notice a magical washing machine after all. But it did give me a chance to play around with different combinations of runes to try and make the proper effects. I had managed to master the most elemental of runic magecraft before returning to Japan, and even had a few specialty spells I had prepared ahead of time, but in the end using another language to cast magic was the same as trying to learn another language completely. The best way to get better is practice. And if practice meant doing something silly like making a magic washing machine, then making a magic washing machine it is.

So far it had only exploded twice. I think that was a sign I was improving.

*Scene Break*

"Emiya-kun," Miya began, eying me disdainfully. "Why is your head covered in soot?"

"Wow dude," Uzume chimed in, staring at me. "What happened? Did you accidently set fire to your face or something?" Her eyes drifted to the other end of the table and she grinned. "Or maybe you and Homura had a little tussle?" she suggested, leering at the flame user who was giving me a slightly worried look. Homura flushed at her words, no doubt catching that when the ponytailed Sekirei was talking about a 'tussle' she wasn't referring to us having a fight.

I sighed, using the moistened towel to scrub a few more of the black stains off my face as I joined the rest of the room at the table. I was a little late this time and it seems Miya hadn't let me know that she was going to take care of dinner tonight. I might have been a little distracted after I finished putting out the flames, and the process of figuring out where explosion number three had come from had taken me a bit more time then I had anticipated as well. At least I was fairly certain that I should never put together the 'Ansuz' and 'Tiwaz' runes again. Not without a new fire extinguisher anyway. "I was doing some tinkering and things got a little out of hand," I admitted sheepishly.

"Tinkering?" Matsu chimed in, giving me a careful look. "What happened, Shirou-tan?" she asked, sounding curious. I shrugged.

"I was playing around with some wiring and I think I didn't have enough insulation," I fibbed, making up an excuse on the spot. "It might have over clocked," I admitted. Miya 'tsked' at my confession.

"Emiya-kun," she said slowly. "Burning down the store house is forbidden in Izumo House," she told me and I leaned in forward eagerly. She noticed my reaction and paused for a moment before settling back and giving me a small smile. I sighed; looks like she was starting to be more cautious with that technique of hers when I was around.

"I'll hold off on doing anything else until I buy a new fire extinguisher," I told her. It might be time to give the experimentation a break. Maybe go over a few more of my notes before getting back to my pet project.

"New fire extinguisher?" Miya asked, tilting her head to the side curiously. "You shouldn't need a new one after only using it once," she chided me for being wasteful with her inn's resources. I grunted, and carefully looked to the side, innocently scratching the back of my head.

"Shirou," Homura cut in, eying me cautiously. "Just how bad was the fire?" he asked, eying me carefully. I winced. That's right. Fire user. He should probably know a bit more about how to put out blazes then most.

"This one was quite small," I hastened to assure him, but then realized my error when Miya's eyes narrowed.

"This one?" she asked, and I winced.

"Well," I trailed off, looking for an escape from this conversation as the other four residents present gave me accusing looks. "Say, where are Musubi, Kuu, and Akitsu?" I said, trying to change the subject.

"Emiya-kun," Miya began, her voice slow and threatening. Surprisingly, Uzume cut in before the landlady could properly let me know her feelings on my tendency to cause accidental conflagrations.

"Heh! Check this out bro!" the Sekirei in a star shirt and low cut jeans began, sounding excited about something. "Oi!" she called through the hallway to the kitchen. "He's here!" She turned to grin at me, obviously looking forward to whatever was about to happen.

"Ah! Shirou-san! Good evening!" Musubi called happily, and tromped into the room. She was carrying a plate in each hand as she bounced over to the table. Akitsu and Kuu followed right behind her, each one also laden down with dishes. I couldn't help but stare at the three when they came in.

"Is that a maid outfit?" I asked, perplexed by the change in wardrobe. Musubi nodded happily, spinning in a circle to show off her new look. It consisted of what looked like a brief black dress and an apron. The skirt came high on her thighs, but was still about at the place where her usual skirt ended. It was cut low at the chest to display a generous amount of cleavage, and the apron apparently only tied around the back and not the neck. Instead it seemed to tuck into the front of her dress so as not to get in the way of showing off her assets. She had a collar around her neck, fastened with a lacy bow, and one of those maid headpieces whose name I had never bothered to learn. All in all she looked like something that had come straight out of some kind of perverted hentai anime.

Kuu, who came in immediately afterwards was thankfully dressed completely different. She instead was wearing what appeared to be a large bird costume. It was puffy and rounded, and looked like the typical type of super-deformed animal that you would expect to find in some kind of kids' show. The only part of her body that was displayed was her face, which was beaming happily up at me even as her two stubby wings supported a plate each. The outfit itself was black with white markings.

Akitsu, was dressed in much the same way as Musubi. I had been wondering where she was. Usually she simply waited at the edge of the gate leading to the vacant lot whenever I was in my workshop like some kind of vigilant statue. It had been a little strange when I finally came back to the main house and realized that she wasn't at her usual post. It seems that she had somehow come to join this strange costume parade. Though her outfit was mostly identical to Musubi's there were a few glaring differences.

"Is that a dog collar?" I couldn't help but ask, noticing the large leather choker with a gleaming piece of silver shaped in a dog bone hanging from her neck. "And why does your costume have manacles on it instead?" I didn't even bother on commenting on the fact that she was still wearing the chain around her neck over the collar. I was so used to seeing the links of gleaming silver on her that they didn't even register as odd.

"Ah," Akitsu murmured, slowly approaching the table with her own plates in hand. "I liked them."

"He-heh!" Uzume crowed, enjoying my reaction to the unusual outfits my Sekirei were wearing. "Nice, right?" she asked, grinning proudly. "They're from my personal collection!"

"I didn't know you were into cosplay, Uzume-san," I admitted, unsure how to feel about seeing my Sekirei parading around in such strange apparel.

"Isn't it fun, Shirou-san?" Musubi crowed, striking a pose as she did so. Kuu seemed to get into the spirit of it too and soon the both of them were happily twirling about. Uzume gave me a sly look.

"Now now, Musubi," she chided the energetic shrine girl. "Remember what I said?" Musubi paused in thought for a moment, and then smiled happily. She turned to me and curtseyed, bowing her head differentially.

"Welcome home, Master," she recited as though from memory. "Would you like a dinner? Or a bath? Or maybe me?" I grimaced at the cheesy line, and glared at the instigator. Uzume gave me a wink.

"He-heh," she leered at me. "Whatcha think bro? That good enough for you?" I started to respond, but paused. It looked like anything I might say was about to be rendered unnecessary.

"U-zu-me-san," Miya spoke up from where she had somehow mysteriously appeared directly behind the Sekirei in a start shirt, emphasizing every syllable of the name she spoke. Uzume gulped, suddenly realizing that maybe her attempt at teasing me should have happened somewhere where the proper landlady wouldn't have seen it. Moving very slowly the nervous girl started to turn to look over her shoulder, and found herself eyeball to eyeball with Miya's signature technique. Miya continued her chastisement, her eyes closed as she smiled beatifically. "Lewd and decadent cosplay acts are forbidden at Izumo House."

"Ah," Uzume gulped, and then her eyes shot to where I was standing. "Wait, Miya, Shirou is watching!" she desperately pointed out. Miya blinked, and then seemed to remember my presence. Instantly, the hannya mask disappeared again and she frowned unhappily. Uzume sighed in relief, and wiped her forehead. "Heh," she chuckled in relief. "Thanks again bro." The ponytailed Sekirei gave me a wink, and seemed proud of the fact that she had successfully used me as mask repellent.

I narrowed my eyes at her, and Uzume gave me a curious look. Behind Miya seemed annoyed that her attempt at browbeating her resident was being countered by my presence. Finally, I smiled. "You know, Miya-san," I began, sounding innocent. "It would definitely be better if I went to go wash my face before eating, don't you think?" Miya's paused, and then her wide smile returned.

"Why yes, what wonderful thinking, Emiya-kun," she praised me, accepting my offer to retreat until such time as she had finished her lecture of the instigator of her wrath. Uzume blinked, and realized what I was doing.

"Ah, wait for me," she began, trying to get out of the room before I did. "I think I forgot something in my room I should get really fast…" she tried to excuse herself but froze when she discovered that Miya had a hand on her shoulder, restraining her.

"Ah," Homura chimed in, giving the doomed Sekirei a nervous look. "Maybe I'll just go get that for you real fast, Uzume," he chimed in, rushing to escape before the mask reappeared. "Be right back," he threw over his shoulder.

"Ah! Matsu should check on that file she's downloading," Matsu nervously backed out as well, following the prudent flame user's lead.

"Cowards," Uzume cried out, as one by one the other occupants of the room started escaping.

"Why don't you two go change back to your normal clothes real fast," I suggested to the cosplaying Sekirei. Musubi and Kuu, the only two that didn't seem to understand what was happening looked at each other in confusion. Akitsu had already fled the room. It looked like she really didn't like being around Miya whenever it was time for that technique of hers to appear.

"Well, if you insist, Shirou-san," Musubi finally caved in, looking disappointed at having to change out of her new outfit. Kuu let loose another one of her angry inarticulate sounds, crossing her little wings and pouting. It seems the girl really liked her costume and was mad that I was going to have her change out of it.

"Don't worry," I assured the two, smiling kindly at them. "You can put them back on after dinner if you really want to. They're not really appropriate for eating in anyway." I began to usher them towards the doorway.

"Wait!" Uzume pleaded with me desperately. "Come on dude! It was just a joke! You know you liked it!" Frantically she tried to keep me in the room, seeing as I was apparently the only one who could save her from the horrific fate awaiting her. I smiled at her.

"Not in front of Kuu-chan," I told her, letting her know just why I was turning on her. She gulped as she realized she had violated one of the cardinal rules of Izumo House: no inappropriate behavior in front of Kusano. It was something both Miya and I firmly believed in. She slumped, knowing that there would be no escape for her, no rescue. "We'll be back in about five minutes," I told Miya.

"Thank you, Emiya-kun," she told me, happy to have my assistance. "That should be more than enough time. Though it was concealed behind her body, shielded from my sight, I could make out faint black shadows already forming, and the sound of woodblocks was already beginning to echo through the room.

As I left the room I heard Uzume give one last frantic plea. "Not the bleeding eyes again! I hate the bleeding eyes! Asama-sama, have mercy!"

*Scene Break*

"That was so not cool," Uzume muttered as we dug into dinner. "Seriously guys. Not cool."

"Why, whatever is Uzume-san talking about?" Miya chimed in, smiling innocently.

"I have no idea, I'm sure," I responded, returning the expression. "Maybe she's not feeling well?"

"Ah! Uzume-san! Are you sick?" Musubi asked earnestly, missing the overtones of the conversation entirely and turning to look at the star shirted Sekirei. "I didn't know!" Uzume gave the innocent shrine girl a look as though measuring her sincerity, and realized that Musubi really was that naïve. The ponytailed Sekirei sighed.

"I was feeling a little down earlier," she told Musubi, giving me a brief glare, "but I think I'm over it now."

"Hmmm," Matsu chimed in, humming as she looked between Miya and I. "It's kind of surprising to see Shirou-tan and Miya-tan get along so well." The glasses wearing Sekirei seemed to find the interaction between the landlady and me to be somewhat strange for some reason.

"I would lean towards scary myself," Homura muttered. "It's bad enough when Miya starts throwing around that mask of hers. Can you imagine what it would be like if Shirou actually managed to figure out how to do it?" Matsu paused, having heard the only other man's statement, and then she shuddered dramatically.

"Mask?" Miya asked, her expression one of artful confusion. "What on earth are you two talking about?" It was my turn to glare.

"Soon," I promised, "soon. You can't hide it from me forever." Miya's eyes narrowed slightly at my declaration, and for a second I thought her expression slipped into something a bit more competitive than she usually seemed. It looks like she had taken my words as a challenge.

"So how do you like dinner, Shirou-san?" Musubi broke in, completely missing the tension the rest of the room seemed to be experiencing as Miya and I faced each other down. When I turned to face my excited Sekirei I was greeted by her eager expression at the end of the table. It had been Akitsu's turn to claim my left side this time around, while Kuu was already established as being on my right. "Kuu-chan, Akitsu-san and I all pitched in to make it!"

"Really?" I asked, surprised. So that was why the snow woman wasn't at her usual post when I finally came out of my workshop. The meal itself was simple, just curry and rice, but it was rather tasty despite its simplicity. Beside me Kuu paused in her eating to smile proudly at me, closing her eyes and nodding her head vigorously in affirmation. When I glanced at Akitsu it was to discover that she had been studying me even harder than usual, her eyes locked on to my mouth. It looks as though she was trying to decipher how much I liked the meal by studying my reaction. "It's delicious," I admitted, smiling at the three.

Akitsu was still for a moment, and then began to blush, glancing down at her lap to avoid my gaze. Musubi simply put one of her fists into the air, clenching it in victory. "Curry is my specialty!" she declared, sounding proud of her culinary skills.

Kuu imitated her sister Sekirei, clenching her own hand with her spoon still in it as she did so. "My specialty!" she echoed happily.

"It is rather well done," Homura chimed in, smiling as he did so. "A beautiful meal from beautiful chefs." I hadn't seen that much of the flame wielder the last few days, but it looked like whatever had upset him so much the last time we had really talked was still bothering him. We both tended to keep different hours, me waking up right around dawn while he was usually just getting home from his shift at his club at right around the same time. Usually the only time the two of us were in the same room was when he joined the rest of the house for dinner right before he left for work. Despite the infrequency of our meetings I still couldn't help but notice how much he seemed to rub at his chest. I didn't usually say much about it, and whenever he noticed me noticing he would instantly stop and pretend it hadn't been happening, but I was starting to get a bit worried about him. Still, despite whatever was bothering him he still managed to maintain his normal composure as he complimented the three cooks with his usual charm. Musubi seemed to miss Homura's habitual flirtation completely and simply excepted the praise with a smile.

"We decided it wasn't fair that Shirou-tan does all the cooking," Matsu explained, looking pleased at the reception that the meal was getting. "So we decided to help chip in!"

"Hmmm. So how did you help, Matsu-san?" Miya asked, giving the redhead a knowing look. Matsu flushed at the accusation.

"Matsu would have helped cook, but she was busy," the hacker muttered, looking away petulantly. "Ah," she suddenly perked up. "Shirou-tan. I'm just about finished with all of them," she announced, and now it was my turn to perk up.

"Really?" I asked for confirmation, leaning forward eagerly. "It's only been three days. I thought you'd need till the end of the week."

"Well, it was a lot easier with Shirou-tan's help," she admitted, blushing slightly but grinning at the thought of my contribution. I grinned back.

"Good job," I praised her. "I'm impressed." Matsu's blush deepened, and she began to wiggle happily in her seat, her expression once more telling me 'Praise me! Praise me more!' The rest of the table noticed our conversation and seemed confused by it.

"Oh? Has Emiya-kun been having you work on something, Matsu-san?" Miya asked, sounding curious about what it was I had the hacker working on. Matsu noticed her attention and suddenly seemed a lot less excited then earlier.

"Ah," she began, sounding nervous suddenly. "Well, Shirou-tan," she began, shooting glances at Miya. "There were a few that I wasn't able to get information on, so I hope you don't mind," she corrected her earlier statement.

I shook my head, my smile slipping. "I do mind," I corrected her. "I said I wanted all of them. If you need another Norito…" I began but Matsu frantically shook her head, holding her hands out in front of her as though to ward me off.

"No! Matsu can't find them all! It wouldn't help!" she desperately pleaded. She shrank down, looking at the table as though staring at the wood would somehow protect her.

I frowned, not certain how to react to this sudden reversal, but a shift at the end of the table drew my eye. It was only there for a second, but I could have sworn I saw satisfaction on Miya's face at Matsu's denial of her ability.

"Ah," I muttered, finally getting it. Miya caught me watching her and smiled innocently, though it didn't fool me for a second. When one of her slit eyes opened and met mine, I slumped back. Message received. "Well," I began, rubbing the back of my head in disappointment. "If you can't get a few, then I suppose I'll just have to deal with it." Matsu relaxed as I excused her inability to finish the task completely.

It looks like there were certain things Miya didn't want getting out. Considering that she herself was most likely one of the Type-Sekirei, and was probably powerful enough to give even the combined might of MBI pause, it might be better if I simply let her keep those secrets.

Wait. How did Miya know what I had Matsu working on in the first place?

The rest of the table seemed a great deal more confused. Well, confusion was predominant, but there was one reaction in particular that was different.

"Ah! Matsu-san got to use Norito?" Musubi wailed, sounding outraged at the news. "She's so lucky!" the normally upbeat Sekirei seemed disappointed that she hadn't had the chance to try out using her enhanced powers as well.

Homura seemed to notice something as well, though it seemed he didn't share the shrine girl's jealousy. "'Another Norito'?" he quoted, his tone cautious. "Just what is it that you had Matsu doing that would require multiple Noritos?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Multiple Noritos!" Musubi cried. "But Musubi hasn't even had one yet!" The mournful shrine girl turned watery pleading eyes at me, and I had a feeling that in the future I was going to have to find some place out of the way for Musubi to experiment with her own powers a bit. Someplace that I probably wouldn't mind seeing destroyed. Matsu might have been able to use her enhanced powers, but she was a knowledge type. I had no idea what would happen if an attack type were to be unleashed.

Uzume added her two cents as well. "Wow. So Matsu already got you to do some experimenting with her?" she sniped grumpily. It looked as though she was still upset about our earlier abandonment.

I grimaced. I would have preferred that what I had the hacker working on remained secret, but it looked like it was already out of the bag for one of the people I wanted to conceal it from. Despite the fact that most of the room was already bonded to me in some way, it didn't change the fact that Miya and Uzume were both potential competitors in the Sekirei Plan. Still, if I concealed the specifics then it would only set Homura further on edge, and explaining it might help calm down Musubi. Uzume might be an enemy at some point, but if I were to hazard a guess it seemed that Miya might not be in the same position. "I've had Matsu collecting information on all the Sekirei and Ashikabi," I admitted finally. "In order to help her get it done as fast as possible I've been helping out the only way I could."

That got a reaction out of Homura and Uzume, though Musubi just seemed depressed that she hadn't had the chance to play around with her special powers yet as well. "You actually went through with that?" Homura asked, sounding surprised that I had carried through with the implications I made when I first discovered Matsu's abilities.

I nodded firmly. "I will not go into this unprepared," I declared resolutely. "The Sekirei Plan might just be in the opening phases, but when it gets serious later on, I intend to be absolutely ready for it." I had already gone through one war where the best I could do was fumble in the dark and hope I could get lucky. I had lost track of the number of times ignorance had nearly killed either me or Saber or Rin during the Grail War. I will not let my allies or myself go through that again.

My complete conviction seemed to set rest of the table on edge. I don't know why my desire for intelligence seemed to surprise them, but it looked as though they honestly hadn't expected me to be serious when I had implied that I was going to have Matsu doing research for me after I winged her.

"That's pretty responsible of you, Shirou," Homura admitted, studying me carefully. He realized that his hand was once more on his chest and forced it down to his lap. It looked as though keeping it there was requiring conscious effort on his part.

Another member of the table didn't seem nearly as happy. "I was gonna go with ominous myself," Uzume said, her voice cautious. "Very ominous."

That didn't surprise me. Besides Miya, Uzume was the only resident of Izumo that wasn't affiliated with me. By admitting I was preparing for the upcoming conflicts, I was also admitting that one day, when it came time for her and her Ashikabi to face me, I would be ready for them. Moreover, Uzume didn't live with her Ashikabi. If I knew where they were, and she wasn't around to protect them, then I would be a very real threat to her in the future.

"Uzume-san," I began, meeting her eyes. The face she was wearing was nothing like the usually cheerful girl who liked to dress up my Sekirei and make off colored jokes at my expense. "There is no violence in Izumo House. I don't think Miya would appreciate any of her residents hurting any of the others," I reminded her, glancing at Miya. The lavender haired landlady nodded slightly, confirming my conjecture. "I think we can all agree to get along for now."

It was the best I could offer the other Sekirei. I had no interest in taking her out right now. Actually, I kind of like Uzume. She was fun and free spirited. She got along great with the rest of my Sekirei, even Akitsu, whom the ponytailed Sekirei had originally been nervous of. But that didn't change the fact that eventually we would come into conflict. 'Fight and fight and fight until there is only one left'. That was the maxim of the Sekirei plan. Some day we would be forced to battle. But that didn't mean that it had to be now. After all, there are one hundred and eight Sekirei, though with eleven already down and probably a few more in the last few days it was probably closer to the mid nineties at the moment. There was no reason that the day when my Sekirei and I did have to face off with Uzume and her Ashikabi couldn't come much later into the game.

Surprisingly, Uzume seemed to understand just what I was implying. She leaned back and gave me a strange smile, one that looked cynical, resigned, and yet understanding all at the same time. "Yeah," she admitted. "I think it would be great if things could stay the way they are for a while."

"And when we finally get to fight, I hope I'm the one who'll get to defeat you, Uzume-san!" Musubi suddenly interjected, sounding entirely too cheerful for what she was implying. The shrine girl leaned over and snatched up one of the ponytailed Sekirei's hands, holding it firmly and drawing a yelp out of her surprised target. "I look forward to the day we get to battle!" Musubi declared sincerely.

Uzume gawked at the girl holding her hand, and then began to laugh helplessly. "He-heh," she chuckled, the tension leaving her body. "You really are something else, aren't you Musubi-chan?" she asked, shaking her head with a grin. When Musubi just continued to beam at her the star clad Sekirei put her other hand over the shrine girls. "You better be ready though. I won't take it easy on you!" she warned playfully.

Rather than take offense, Musubi just bounced back onto her heals, clasping both hands in front of her. "Yes! I'll be ready, Uzume-san!"

It surprised me a little, to see the two of them so willing to acknowledge their inevitable conflict, yet at the same time be ready to admit that the day would come when the two would meet and only one would walk away. I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Musubi simply didn't understand what it meant when the shrine girl said that they would someday fight. It was hard to believe sometimes just how naïve the girl could be. I had no such doubts for Uzume. The earlier caution she had shown when she discovered I was collecting information on Ashikabi, combined with that strange smile she had given me led me to be absolutely certain that the teasing girl was well aware of what the future held.

"Tell you what," I finally spoke up. "If you want to know about anyone in particular later on than you can ask me or Matsu and we should be able to let you know." It was a peace offering of sorts. After I had a chance to look over them then I could have a chat with Matsu about which ones should be kept hidden, but for the most part I didn't see why I wouldn't deny Uzume any help.

It would be something that appealed not only to my sentimentality, but also to my practicality as well. After all, if she were to confront someone then I would want her to win. Not only would it help the likeable Sekirei I lived with, but it increased her chances of limiting future competition for my own flock as well.

Uzume brightened up a bit at the offer, her eyes darting to the side in thought for a moment before she finally smiled. "I might take you up on that," she accepted, her smile small but genuine.

With the truce negotiated the tension in the room seemed to ease. As everyone began to relax I turned to Matsu. "I'll be up later tonight to pick up those files," I told her. After wards I could take them down to my workshop. It would be easier for me to conceal them there, and since I usually spent a good portion of my day there I would have plenty of time to study them privately. I just had to make sure to store them as far away from my experiments as I could. It would be pretty embarrassing if I had to have Matsu remake them because I accidently set them on fire when one of my attempts at making a magic washing machine exploded.

"Its fine, Shirou-tan," Matsu assured me, still relieved that I wasn't going to press her about completing all the profiles. "If you give me your address I can just send them to you," she continued, and then she started pouting. "I still haven't been able to find yours," she admitted as though she found the thought irritating. I snorted softly. If she hadn't found my address yet then she should be irritated.

"My address is right here," I reminded the glasses wearing Sekirei. "There's no need to send them. It would take a lot longer to get them through the mail then it would be for me to just walk up and get them." Matsu seemed confused by my statement.

"What?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "Well if you have a flash drive then I suppose you could do that. But I still think it would be just as simple to mail them."

Now it was my turn to be confused. "Flash drive?" I asked, perplexed by the term. "Whats that?"

It took me a second to realize that the rest of the room had stopped what they were doing so they could stare at me. Even Akitsu was giving me a look that I could most accurately describe as astonished.

"What?" I asked, feeling embarrassed, as though I had just said something really stupid though I still didn't know what it could be.

"You don't know what a flash drive is?" Matsu asked, sounding like she found the very idea of my ignorance to be the most astonishing thing she had ever heard.

"Shirou," Homura spoke up, giving me a speculative glance. "You do know what a computer is, don't you?" he asked, sounding like he didn't want to believe such a thing but couldn't help but think that might the case; looks like he remembered my complete ignorance when it came to my cell phones ability to send written messages. I snorted.

"Of course I know what a computer is," I told him, feeling insulted at the insinuation. "I just never had much use for them. They seem like such a hassle when you can accomplish pretty much everything they can with older and simpler tools." It was a pretty common thing among magi to ignore and avoid the technological advances that the rest of the world took for granted. I knew of a surprising number of notable families that to this day refused to use even things as simple as calculators, abstaining them for the more traditional abacus that their forefathers used. Even things as common as cell phones were only just beginning to see usage among the mage population. They were a bit more common in apprentices though sometimes if their masters caught them they might get scolded and reminded that for a magus it was more appropriate to use synchronized resonating crystals, or something equally preposterous.

I was used to a great deal more than most magi were when it came to technology, a legacy of my time when my magecraft had been all but useless, but I had spent three years under Rin's tutelage and in Saber's company. Rin actually tended towards the more traditional stance of magi on technology, and Saber might have been gifted with the knowledge she'd need for surviving in this era when she was summoned but that didn't change the fact that she tended to prefer to do things the way they were done in her home time. Not to mention that two of those years had been spent in the Clock Tower itself, where they still flat out refused to install electric sockets in the majority of their dorm rooms and offices.

Homura seemed relieved that my ignorance didn't extend nearly as far as he feared, though Matsu seemed to be equal parts relieved and annoyed at the revelation. "So that's why I could never find Shirou-tan's email address," she muttered, crossing her arms in a huff. It looks like yet another reveal of the mystery of just why she couldn't find out much about me when she had been investigating me seemed to set her at ease while at the same time my obvious distain for her own chosen field seemed to be an outrage to her.

"Email address?" I asked, trying to remember where I had heard that word before, and then scowling. "Oh," I muttered, distaste obvious in my voice. "You mean for the internet. Is this really an appropriate place to be talking about that kind of thing?" I asked pointedly.

"Huh?" Matsu grunted, sounding surprised by my obvious enmity. The rest of the table seemed equally curious for my disgusted tone, though in Homura's case it looked like he was rubbing his forehead in anticipation of me saying something which would no doubt give him a headache. "What do you mean, Shirou-tan?" the braided Sekirei asked me, sounding completely confused.

I frowned, and then reached over to cover Kuu's ears. The young girl looked up at me in surprise, but obediently stayed still as I blocked her hearing. "Is it really appropriate to be talking about porn around Kuu-chan?" I asked, scowling at the hacker Sekirei.

Apparently my response seemed to stun the rest of the table for another moment, and then Uzume collapsed backwards, laughing with near hysterical might. Homura seemed to get the same joke a second later, and snorted back a laugh of his own, covering his mouth with one hand and turning away from the table to try and conceal his mirth. Miya put one hand over her own mouth as well, her eyes closed as her body began to shake with barely controlled giggles. Matsu gawked at me, and then flushed red. The only two not laughing were Musubi and Akitsu. Akitsu just nodded her head once, solemnly, and went back to eating, whereas Musubi looked around the table in confusion.

"The internet is not porn!" Matsu proclaimed, pounding both her hands on the table to emphasize her declaration. I raised a skeptical eye at her, not believing her for a second, and she flushed. "I mean, it's not just porn!" she tried to correct herself, and then seemed to realize that argument wasn't really holding water. "The internet can be used for lots of things, like finding information, and exchanging data, and…" she trailed off, apparently trying to find some other hypothetical use for the internet.

"And peeping?" Miya chimed in innocently; barely able to get the word out between her fits of mirth. Matsu latched on to the suggestion like a drowning person grabbing on to an anvil that had been thrown to them.

"And peeping," she continued, and then realized what she had said. "Miya-tan!" she whined, shaking her head frantically, her long ponytails flopping about. "That's not helping! The internet is not porn!" she wailed.

On the other side of the table Musubi solemnly shook her head. "Even I know the internet is for porn," she chimed in, and then frowned. "But none of the people at the lab would ever tell me what 'porn' is," she admitted afterwards, scratching her chin in perplexity. By her side Uzume seemed to be unable to breathe, and had rolled onto her stomach, kicking her legs and banging one of her arms on the ground as she continued to laugh.

"Y-y-you know," Homura added, seeming to get enough control of himself to stop his own laughter but still smiling widely. "I had thought that you were pretty out of touch with technology, Shirou," he admitted, "but it looks like you do know the important things."

"You know, when you praise me in that tone of voice I can't help but think you're mocking me," I told him suspiciously. He smiled wider.

"No, no," he insisted. "I'm being serious. Honestly." I might have believed him if he didn't have to look away immediately afterwards in order to cover his mouth while he chuckled again.

Matsu seemed to have had enough. She sat back down with an angry growl, crossing her arms in front of her chest and glaring at me. "I'll show you, Shirou-tan," she swore. "I'll show you that the internet is not just for porn. By the time I'm done with you you'll be a hacker yourself. You'll know almost as much about computers as I do. I swear it, Shirou-tan. I swear it." She scowled at me fiercely, and I had to force myself not to cringe at the thought.

"We'll see," I told her insincerely. On one hand it might not be a bad idea to learn more about computers. It would make things a lot easier for me later on in life, and it would give me an edge over other magi if or when they ever came after me. Matsu had done an amazing job collecting information so far, after all, so I'm certain the computer could be used for good as well as perversion. On the other hand, I'm sure it would involve me having to expose myself to all matters of depravity. "Until then I want paper copies," I told her, adamant on this. Still angry, she shook her head.

"I don't have a printer," she informed me, turning her head to the side, and it was my turn to feel as though the person opposite me was out of touch. How could you not have a printer? How else were you supposed to look over the information? "I have a paperless office," she declared.

"That sounds like the most ridiculous thing I ever heard," I muttered. An office without paper? That was like a dining room without a table, or a kitchen without a stove. "I'll pick you up one tomorrow." Despite the fact that it was still early evening, I found myself suddenly stifling a yawn, and was forced to release the fidgeting Kuu's ears so I could cover my mouth. At least all the talk about porn was over now. With all the excitement of the dinner I had almost been able to forget the trouble I've had sleeping the last few days. If it was starting to affect me enough for me to be tired so early, then I guess it was time for me to do something about it. I had hoped to be able to go over the information at my leisure, but if it was going to have to wait a bit more to get the hard copies from the fuming redhead then I might as well get a verbal summary first. "In the meantime," I continued, deciding to go ahead and ask now, "I need information about a specific Sekirei."

"How would I know?" Matsu muttered, "I'm too busy spending all my time looking at porn. What would I know about any Sekirei? It's not like I've been working or anything."

"I'm serious, Matsu," I told her, sighing. She refused to answer me, her lips pressed into a tight line. It looked as though my statement had honestly offended her. "I'm sorry I said the internet is porn," I tried. Prior experience with Saber and Rin when they got into a mood like this had taught me to just break down and apologize, even if I had been right about whatever we were arguing about. Like I was right now.

Matsu's eyes darted over to see if I was being sincere, and then she looked away again. "And that you think computers are useless," she muttered, prompting me about what else she was mad about.

"And I'm sure that computers are amazing things," I added on obediently.

"And you want me to give you special tutoring in them," she continued, though she looked less angry then she had a second ago. Looks like my ploy was working.

Trying my best to sound sincere, I capitulated. "And I really do want you to show me how to use a computer," I told her. I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. "Even I have to admit that I'm not really up to speed on a lot of technology trends. I really would like to learn a bit more about those kinds of things."

That seemed to make Matsu smile, and she gave me a shy look from the corner of her eye before glancing away quickly. "Really?" she asked, apparently unsure if I was actually promising to accept her tutoring or just agreeing with her to calm her down. I might have been using the internet apology as a way to sooth her temper, but the computer lessons definitely counted as useful.

"Really," I nodded. She finally turned her head back to face me properly, and her tightly crossed arms loosened to a more relaxed position.

"And that you'll let me experiment on you," she added, flushing slightly and licking her lips. Looks like she was going to try and milk this for all it was worth. I gave her a dry look in response.

"Miya would kick us both out," I reminded her, and the braided Sekirei looked over to see the landlady giving the two of us an amused look. The purple haired alien nodded her head, agreeing with my prediction. Matsu sighed, and finally slumped.

"Well," she muttered, "it was worth a try."

"Internet…" Uzume gasped out, sounding as though she was finally getting her second wind. "Porn…" she continued and another wave of chuckles hit her poor body. She was still lying out on the floor, her face red from her earlier laughing fit, and she was clutching both hands around her stomach. "Bro," she managed to get out. "Earlier when you ran out on me? That totally made up for it." She started to struggle, trying to make it back to a sitting position but it seemed as though her poor body still hadn't recovered enough to make the trip and collapsed back down onto the tatami mat floor.

"That fills me with a joy so profound it borders on the ecstatic," I muttered. "Now, about the specific Sekirei?" I prompted Matsu.

She smiled back at me, and it appeared as though all was forgiven. "Which one is it?" she prompted me.

"I don't know her name or number, but she's tall, has long blond hair, and wears a white tunic with a black coat over it," I described the continual visitor to my dreams. Homura, whom had been leaning back at the other end of the table and shaking his head while he continued to chuckle suddenly coughed hard. He turned his head back away from the table and covered his mouth with his hand as he continued to hack.

"Just a second," Matsu told me, leaning back as her eyes went out of focus. I blinked, confused at what she was doing before I realized that she was probably using he powers to check her computers back upstairs. Since she had spent the last few days compiling data she probably had everything already available and ready, just waiting for her to access it. It really was an amazing power. "Is there anything else you can tell me?" she asked, her voice sounding distant as she did so.

"She has a short temper and uses water," I supplied, rubbing my forehead as I did so, hoping that would be enough for the hacker Sekirei.

"Hmmmm," Matsu began, and her eyes flickered from side to side as though she was reading something invisible in front of her. Before she could go any further, Homura broke in.

"Number zero nine, Tsukiumi," he said, sounding certain of himself. Matsu's eyes focused on him for a second, and then went distant again. A second later she let loose a small sound of satisfaction.

"Yes, she definitely fits the description," Matsu concurred, her eyes coming back into focus. She gave me a curious look. "Why would you want to know about someone like that?" she asked me, cocking her head to the side as she did so.

I sighed, and rubbed my forehead harder, trying to figure out how to break the news when Akitsu broke in.

"Is she the one you've been reacting to, Shirou-sama?" she asked me quietly. I nodded reluctantly, surprised that there was someone who already knew about my dreams. This was the first time I'd mentioned them after all.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" I asked the snow woman, curious as to how she had managed to figure it out so easily.

"You've been very restless the last three days," she explained, her head lowered as she sat at the table patiently. She had long ago finished her food and was now apparently simply waiting for me to finish and stand up so she could accompany me to wherever it was that I was going next. "Just as you were before you found Kusano, Shirou-sama."

"But that was only once before," I pointed out, tilting my head to give the snow woman a puzzled look. "How did you figure out that I was reacting again so easily?"

"Ah," Akitsu began, and then looked down, a light blush forming on her cheeks again. "Shirou-sama is normally very peaceful when he sleeps," she admitted, almost sounding shy. It was a surprisingly bashful gesture, and was almost cute enough to make up for the fact that she had apparently learned my sleeping habits well enough to be able to tell when I was having bad dreams after less than two weeks. Or that she apparently watched me while I slept.

I knew she was desperately trying to make up for the fact that she couldn't be winged by displaying uncommon devotion, but this was starting to get a little ridiculous.

"Wait," Uzume chimed in, finally managing to get herself into a proper sitting position. "Another one? Jeez. How many is it gonna take before you're satisfied with your harem?" Despite the fact that I was apparently amassing a veritable army of beautiful female alien fighting machines to do my bidding, the ponytailed Sekirei just seemed to want to focus on the perverted implications of having numerous female partners.

"Shirou-san!" Musubi on the other hand seemed overjoyed at the potential addition to my forces. "That's wonderful! And another single number as well!"

"Yeah," I said dryly, thinking back to the numerous death threats which had begun haunting my sleeping hours. "Wonderful." I cocked my head to the side, noticing something in particular. "And I think this is the second time you were so happy that the one reacting to me was a single digit. Why is that?"

It was Homura who chimed in to answer that question. Like me he seemed less enthusiastic about the potential addiction to my flock. "Due to the earlier uncertainties when it came to the genetic adjustment of Sekirei many of the earlier attempts came out significantly stronger than the later more stable ones. Because of that it's commonly recognized that the single digit numbers are stronger than most of the rest of the numbers." He seemed particularly distasteful when he had mentioned 'genetic adjustments' twisting his face as though he was either about to be sick or had just bit into something extremely sour. "Why did it have to be Tsukiumi?" he muttered afterwards, joining me for a round of forehead rubbing.

"Wait," I cut in, confused by the information he had casually dropped as though it were common knowledge. "Genetic adjustments?"

This time it was Musubi who cut everyone off to answer. "Yes! It's why we Sekirei spent so much time in the labs before we were released. If the doctors didn't properly adjust us then if a Sekirei were to hug their Ashikabi then they might accidently turn them into a pancake!" She leaned forward, apparently not realizing just how important a statement she had just made. "Now when are we going to go and get our new friend?"

"I was thinking 'never'," I admitted bluntly. "I was planning on just waiting until the dreams went away." I might have been a bit more subtle with my declaration of intent if I still wasn't try to understand what Musubi had just said.

Yet again it looks like something I said seemed to shock the group as a whole. "Wait, wait," Uzume finally broke the silence. "You're just gonna ignore a Sekirei that's reacting to you?" The idea seemed completely preposterous to her. I had no idea why. I hadn't been comfortable accepting Matsu into my flock just a few days ago, and in the end the only reason I had done so was at the insistence of Homura. It might have turned out to be the best move I had made so far in regards to the Sekirei Plan, but I was still very uncomfortable with it.

"Emiya-kun," Miya spoke up, her tone chiding. "Haven't we already had to talk about playing with a maiden's heart?" She didn't seem actually upset by my decision. If anything, the landlady seemed amused by my reluctance to go out and bring back another resident for her to bully.

Musubi on the other hand seemed far less sanguine. "Shirou-san!" she chided me sternly. "It's not right to leave a Sekirei that's reacting to you alone like that! We should go right now and find her!" To the shrine girl it seemed like the very idea of one of her kind being out there and without an Ashikabi was utterly unacceptable.

"This isn't like it was with Matsu," I defended my decision to the group at a large. "And I really don't think Tsukiumi wants to be our friend, Musubi-chan," I told the shrine girl Sekirei gently.

"He's right," Homura added, sighing. "I've known Tsukiumi for quite a while, and I can already see how that meeting would go." It was a different tune than he had been singing than a few days ago when Matsu had been requesting to join the team, but if he really knew the water Sekirei for so long than I could imagine he had no trouble understanding my reluctance to get involved with her.

"Yeah," I nodded. "The death threats are kind of a giveaway about that."

"Death threats?" Uzume repeated, settling back. She started to grin, and I got the impression that even my potential future threat to her had been forgotten in order for her to properly enjoy the amusement I seemed to bring into her life.

"Number zero nine, Tsukiumi," Matsu chimed in, her eyes still distant. "Powers: control over water. Noticeable characteristics: Both Agraphobic and mildly androphobic. Documented resentment of necessity of Ashikabi for achieving full potential. Has sworn to kill anyone capable of causing reaction in herself." After having added that much the braided Sekirei's eyes came into focus. "She really does seem to be the worst, doesn't she?" she mused, twisting her mouth up in annoyance. "Normally I would be all for increasing the power of your party, Shirou-tan, but you already have Homura-tan and Musubi-tan as fighters. And even though Akitsu-tan can't participate officially she can still act as your bodyguard if a Sekirei does try and target you specifically, or even in the early phases of the game. If you were to try and recruit the number nine you might end up dying." She seemed like she wouldn't have minded the addition of this Tsukiumi to the group based solely on the water user's power, but if that power came with the risk of me being hurt then she was willing to acknowledge my decision not to pursue it. Though I was a little offended that she thought I would be so easy to kill. Homura hesitated for a moment, and then nodded his agreement to the conclusion.

"It does seem to go against my usual stance," he admitted, sounding conflicted. "Normally I would support the idea of Tsukiumi being able to be winged, but if it were to put my Ashikabi at risk, then it might be better for you to simply ignore the reaction, Shirou." It sounded as though the confession seemed to take a lot out of him as he once more began rubbing his chest, a pained expression on his face. I couldn't help but notice his choice of words either. I think that was the first time he had actually referred to me as being his Ashikabi directly.

Still, it looked as though my flock had reached a consensus to agree with my course of action. Beside me Akitsu gave a single nod, and I had no doubt that she was content with me avoiding an action which could even possibly lead to me being hurt. With three of my Sekirei agreeing with my plan then I could be assured that it was probably a good one.

"So you get the chance to add another one to your harem, and she ends up being a homicidal man-hater?" Uzume summed up, and began shaking her head, smiling as she did so. "He-heh. Tough break, bro," she consoled me. Opposite her Miya remained silent, though for some reason I got the impression that she was disappointed, though I couldn't tell if it was in me of something else. Kuu seemed to be limited to looking around curiously, confused by the atmosphere. The only exception was…

"That's not right!" Musubi declared, shouting the words as she slammed her hands down on the table in front of her hard enough to rattle the dishes. The sudden noise beside her caused Uzume to flinch backwards in surprise, and Kuu-chan dropped her spoon at the sudden noise. "Shirou-sama, that's not right at all!" She glared at me from across the table.

Musubi. Glaring. It was a very disturbing experience. Musubi was someone that smiled and laughed. She was someone cheerful and happy, who enjoyed fighting a little too much, but beyond that was a little too naïve despite her best intentions. And now for some reason I didn't understand she was apparently enraged to the point where she was actively shouting at the room at large.

"Musubi-chan," the landlady began, sounding surprised at the shrine girl's rage, but Musubi continued her uncharacteristic actions by interrupting even her favorite sparring partner.

"I love Shirou-sama!" she declared, putting one hand to her chest as she did so. With her other hand reached out and snatched my arm while I was frozen in surprise, and placed my own hand next to her first one. "Do you feel it, Shirou-sama?" she asked me, her voice intense as she held my palm to her breast. "The way my heart beats?" Her eyes closed as she entreated me to feel her pulse racing. Beneath my fingers I could feel her pulse increase, the thump of her heart getting faster and faster every second that my hand was on her chest. "It's because of love. The joy of the miracle of having met you, Shirou-sama, completely by chance; for being able to know landlady-sama, and Uzume-san, and Akitsu-san, and Kuu-chan, and Homura-san, and Matsu-san," her voice was laced with warmth, and her tone was full of gratitude. "I want for all Sekirei to be able to feel so happy, and to have so much love in their lives." Her eyes opened and she glared at me again. "And I don't want even someone like that Tsukiumi-san to have to miss something like this. It's not right to ignore her and not let her have the chance! Even if she is dangerous, Shirou-sama is strong! He'll be able to convince Tsukiumi-san to join him! If you're already connected to her heart than you should be able to convince her with either words, or fists!" Musubi proclaimed, and raised the hand not holding mine to her breast in the air and clenched it into a fist so tightly that her knuckles cracked.

Musubi's speech seemed to strike a chord with the rest of the room. Uzume was smiling, her expression bordering on the serene and the resigned, as though Musubi's words had reminded her of something which was both pleasant and painful to recall. Kuu was leaning against me, her arms wrapped firmly around my waist as she hugged me, smiling happily up at me. Miya was giving the shrine girl a small smile that seemed proud, and for once wasn't commenting on the fact that my hand was currently engaged in something which would most definitely qualify as a 'lewd act', the likes of which was strictly forbidden in Izumo House. Matsu and Homura looked like they were feeling ashamed of themselves; as though in retrospect their earlier decision that ignoring the reacting Sekirei was something that they shouldn't be proud of. Akitsu had the same mildly bitter look on her face that she had when she had witnessed me wing Matsu.

I on the other hand couldn't focus past a particular thing Musubi had said. The moment I had heard it, the rest of her speech might as well have been background noise.

I swallowed through a dry mouth. Maybe I had misheard. That must be it. I had misheard. That happens sometimes, doesn't it? Not even noticing that my hand was still on the shrine girl's chest, I asked her in a hoarse tone of voice, "Musubi. What did you just say?"

The shrine girl Sekirei blinked, and cocked her head to the side. Now that her impassioned speech had been delivered, she seemed to have reverted back to her normally more oblivious and cheerful personality. "With words or with fists?" she repeated, sounding confused by my question.

I shook my head and tried to swallow again. "No. Before that. At the beginning." I must have misheard. Please, let me have misheard.

"That I love you, Shirou-sama?" Musubi tried again, her befuddlement growing as she tried to figure out what I wanted to hear.

I hadn't misheard.

But that was impossible.

"Shirou?" Homura spoke up, seeming to understand that something was wrong. Beside me, Akitsu rustled, her kimono shifting like feathers again. I blinked, and realized that my hand was still on Musubi's chest. I snatched it back as though I had realized that it had been in the middle of a fire. Musubi looked surprised at my action, and a little hurt.

"You love me?" I repeated, feeling as though my head were spinning. Things started to shift, events which had confused me before suddenly making sense as this new revelation cast light on them. The nature of the what happens to a Sekirei when they were 'reacting', the strange reactions of Musubi and Matsu after I had winged them, the aliens' tendency to drift over and try and sleep beside me, even the strange oath all of them except Homura had made to me, 'forever and ever'. I had thought it was nothing more than biological characteristics of their species, maybe a side effect of having been raised in a lab unaware of some of the complexities of human interaction. But all these little incongruities, when taken in another light made sense if…

"Wait," I managed to get out, my teeth clenched as I tried to deny what I was only now figuring out. "Wait. Are you telling me that the 'winging' ritual is some kind of 'mating' ritual?"

Judging from yet another moment of stunned silence from the room at large, it looks like I was dead on. Uzume seemed the first to be able to react. "Well, yeah," she admitted. "I never heard it put quite that way before, but it seems about right." Her lips quirked to the side as she took a moment to consider my choice of words. "Not sure I like it when it's put that way though," she finally concluded. "It just doesn't sound very romantic like that."

"Oh my, Emiya-kun," Miya broke in. "Has it taken you that long to figure it out?" The landlady seemed to find my revelation amusing, and started to laugh at me.

"That unexpectedly slow of you, Shirou-tan," Matsu chimed in, pursing her lips and looking disappointed. It seems the fact that I was only now truly comprehending my situation might be making her readjust her estimation of me. "What did you think it meant?" she asked, putting a hand on her hips.

"I thought it was just a method your species used to be able to access your full powers," I ground out, gritting my teeth. They might be finding my sudden revelation amusing, but I sure as hell wasn't. "I thought it was just a means for you all to be able to participate in the Sekirei Plan." I turned an accusing stare at Homura, who blinked in surprise when he suddenly found me glaring at him. "Isn't that what you said it was?" I demanded, eyes narrowed. That was the way the flame user had explained his situation, back then in the karaoke club. "That winging was a method for Sekirei to simply unlock their full potential?"

Homura's eyes widened as he realized that that had been exactly the way he explained his situation to me. He glanced down, his expression troubled as he suddenly understood just why I was getting so upset. "That," he began, trailing off as he tried to explain his misrepresentation of the situation. "I did say that I was different," he finally managed to get out, "and that Ashikabi were usually of the opposite gender." It sounded like even to him the excuse was a lame one.

"I thought that just meant that there was some kind of chromosomal key that needed that could only be found in the opposite gender or something," I snapped back, gritting my teeth, "or that there was some kind of psychic resonance required, something to do with opposing feminine/masculine traits, or ying/yang, or something like that." After all, hadn't most of the Master/Servant bonds in the Grail War been male and female? Saber and I, Archer and Rin, Caster and Kuzuki, Berserker and Illyasviel, and Rider and Shinji? The only ones that hadn't been that way had been Lancer and Kirei, and Lancer and I had learned afterwards that Lancer had originally been summoned by someone completely different, and that the priest had simply killed them and taken their Command Sigils. Hell, even when Caster had summoned Assassin, she had received a male Servant of her own.

When the rest of the room seemed to realize that I actually had an excuse for my mistaken assumptions about winging it was Homura's turn to be the center of attention. "Homura-san," Miya asked, sounding disappointed. "Did you really misrepresent the situation to such an extent?" she demanded, her eyes sharp as they chided the flame user.

Homura was desperately scratching at his chest. "I didn't think it would turn out like this," he frantically defended himself. "For me that really is the case!"

"So you really didn't know, dude?" Uzume asked, and at least for once she sounded like she was sympathetic rather than amused by my situation.

"No," I snapped, my composure already on the ragged edge. "I didn't." Then my eyes narrowed as something else seemed to slide into place. "Is that why you kept bringing up harems?" I demanded, and Uzume grinned apologetically.

"Heh, well yeah," she admitted. "It was kind of the case with you. Why else would I?" She scratched her head awkwardly at finding my glare on her.

"I thought you were just teasing," I growled. My tone seemed to be setting the ponytailed Sekirei on edge, but I didn't care. I knew I was usually a lot friendlier, but right now I was more concerned with figuring out just how badly I misread the situation then with being polite. Then I realized something else. "Is that why you were constantly making fun of Homura?" and now my tone was disgusted. "Because you thought he had mated with another male?" Had I missed something else? Had what I thought to be just simple teasing between friends really been something more hateful?

"Hey now," Uzume snapped back, flushing at my unspoken accusation. "It's not like that," she defended herself. She glanced to the side. "My Ashikabi is female too," she admitted, sounding like she hadn't wanted to make the confession but felt it was better to get it out in the air. I suppose in the end she knew it was something I was going to find out anyway. "I just kind of hoped that maybe Homura and I had more in common," she confessed, and her tone was a little bit wistful. I suppose that made sense. If same gender Sekirei/Ashikabi partnerships were really that rare than I guess I could understand Uzume's hope of finding someone in the same situation as her. "And there's no need to get so upset, bro," she continued, holding her hands out to me palm down and waving them slowly, trying to calm me down. "I mean, you have a nice looking set of girls, right?" she pointed out. "That's gotta count for something?"

"I'm a fighter, not a lover," I snapped at her, the implication that I had nothing better to do with my time than try to collect women insulting my pride profoundly. "And anyone who thinks that more is better when it comes to relationships has obviously never been in one!" I snapped, not calming down at all. "I already have two…" I trailed off, and felt my face go white.

Oh god. If Rin and Saber ever found out about this then what would they do? I had thought I was exaggerating when I had decided earlier that they'd kill me for winging multiple Sekirei, but now the thought was nowhere near as hyperbolic as it was before.

And thinking about my two lovers back in England inevitably brought my thoughts back to the Clock Tower. I was still being pursued, with the intent of being imprisoned and turned into a specimen. However peaceful it had been for the last few months didn't mean that it would stay so peaceful. I had thought that if I needed to flee by myself I would just be leaving behind a few disappointed partners. But if they considered themselves mated to me, then that was something else entirely.

"Emiya-kun, you're hyperventilating," Miya's worried observation brought me back to the present and I realized that she was right. I had my head clutched in both hands as my mind desperately raced to figure out all the implications that this new information had brought to the table. Miya was looking at me with genuine concern on her face, worry that was echoed by just about everyone else at the table. I don't think any of them ever expected that someone would react like this to the news that they had an apparently unrealized surplus of attractive females at their beck and call for more than just combat like I had assumed. Maybe they had expected me to be happy at finding out that I had, as Uzume had put it, a 'harem', but it didn't take a genius to see that I was closer to anger than I was to joy at the moment. I focused, taking deep breaths. I needed to get away, go somewhere private, settle down, try to figure out how this changes things.

I pushed myself up from the table abruptly, drawing a round of flinches from my house mates. Musubi looked like a kicked puppy by this point, not understanding how her attempt at convincing me to go out and find another Sekirei had come to this situation. Kuu looked as though she were about to cry, not understanding why her onii-chan was so angry. Matsu looked like she had no idea what to do, and for someone who specialized in research and information, it was a paralyzing condition. Homura looked as though he felt guilty for having been the source of all this confusion, staring at the table in front of him, clutching his chest again. Even Miya seemed for once to not know what to do, the usually unflappable landlady simply watching me carefully. The only one who was still calm was Akitsu, kneeling beside me and doing nothing more than maintaining her vigil over me.

"I'm going to my workshop," I declared. "I need to be somewhere where things still make sense." The room was still spinning from my sudden and unwelcome paradigm shift. I turned to stumble to my safe haven, and Akitsu started to rise, no doubt intending to follow me. "Don't," I snapped at her, not wanting anyone around me at the moment. I needed to be alone for now, I needed to sort things out, I needed to… I shook my head, and nearly bolted from the room.

I thought I had understood what I was doing. I thought I was being prepared. Stupid me. Hadn't I already learned it yet, the most important lesson the Grail War had taught me? Nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and no matter what you think you're never really prepared.


	12. Twelfth Wing

In Flight: Twelfth Wing

_Author's notes: And here it is, the next chapter. First off, a bit about reviews. Most have just been from people curious about what will happen next, but I have noticed a distinct trend of people wondering: Miya vs Saber, who would win? And the answer to that is... I really don't know. Sekirei the series never really puts a quantity on just how strong Miya is. All you get is a scene of her cutting a battleship in two from a couple hundred yards with nothing more than the air pressure of her blade. The closest measure you get on how powerful that landlady really is the constant comparisons between her and Karasuba. Karasuba is shown a couple times cutting men and other Sekirei down like wheat, and without any real effort, and she herself admits that Miya is on another level. I've been considering Miya at the level of Saber. That is, not Saber summoned by Shirou, through pure accident and incorrectly. Think Saber after she reestablishes a contract with Rin, or maybe even Dark Saber when it comes to stats. Consequentially I think a fight between the two could go either way, depending on the situation._

_Just thought I'd get that out of the way. There are a lot of other topics that people have been wondering about, but for most of them, well, I got plans for them later on, and answering any questions directly would give away the surprise. If you want to blame anyone, just blame yourselves for being so darn perceptive! Seriously people, are you like a community of mind readers that have been secretly scanning me and then post my plans online in order to taunt me? Though, if I were a mind reader, that actually rates pretty high up there on the things that would be really fun to do, so I can't really blame any of you._

_Now, onto a few specifics of the chapter. Definitily some _

_*SPOILER WARNINGS*_

_First off, this chapter mostly deals with the fall out of last chapter. Shirou wasn't just freaking out because he suddenly had a harem. He was freaking out because he realized just how wrong he'd been about a whole bunch of other things. Consequentially, this chapter is mostly him dealing with that information and what the revelation meant for all of his previous assumptions. That led to an important, but rather unexciting chapter, even I'm willing to admit. For those of you wondering when this story will finally see some more action, don't worry. Next chapter should have plenty of asskickery in there for you._

_Second off, and this one I really would appreciate feedback about, this chapter is used as a way of showing Shirou's personality. Namely, his development as a magus, not just magecraft wise but personality wise. He did spend three years with Rin and other magi about, so what I was trying to show was how that affected his thought process and behaviors. The truth is magi are pretty coldblooded people when it comes right down to it. I was trying to show his maturity as a person, the development of his realism and pragmatism while still retaining his belief in his ideals. For instance, he might be able to admit that maybe its better that the Sekirei are being restrained for the sake of protecting humanity, but he can still get enraged over them being forced to fight each other at the whims of MBI. What do you all think? Have I managed to make Shirou grow up, yet still keep him being Shirou?_

_And finally, Kuu. Her scene was awesome. Seriously. I had to get a thesaurus to look up synonyms for biting, but I think that scene was the best part of the chapter after having to write so much serious and heavy introspection._

_And so, without further ado. If you like it, give me a shout. Questions/concerns/complaints? Go ahead and put them out there. And as always, enjoy._

_Oh yeah, apparently last time fanfic net deleted it for some reason, but most of my translations come from Baka-Tsuki. That should be enough for anyone who wants to try and find it to google it and get somewhere._

*Story Start*

It had been three hours since I began assembling and dissembling the motor in front of me. It was the heart of the washing machine I was currently turning into an abomination in the eyes of magi everywhere, and would be the absolute center of the rune work I would need to get the appliance running properly. Eventually it would be inscribed with hundreds, maybe thousands of runes, some of which would be so small that I would need a jeweler's microscope and a very steady hand to finally complete them. For now though, in my present state of mind, it just served as something to keep my hands busy as my mind raced.

Mating. The winging ritual was a mating ritual. These seven words seemed so simple, but they changed so much. Every time I turned the situation over in my head, the revelation changed something new. Ever since I received the phone call from the MBI president after I winged, mated with, Musubi, I had been making plans, studying information, trying to prepare for the upcoming conflict. I had spent nearly a week and a half working under the assumption that I would simply be using and aiding my partners in their desire to compete in and win the Sekirei Plan. But now, now all the assumptions I had made were becoming more and more off kilter the more I thought about this one little piece of information.

In retrospect, I should have seen it. I really should have. Rin had called me dense on more than one occasion in the past, but I think my current mistake was the final definite proof that she was right. I could write a thesis with all the evidence that this one misjudgment brought to light.

And yet, even as I smashed my figurative head against the metaphorical wall with this new fact, even as new complexities came to light and previous incongruities made sense, for every mystery that was solved a new and stranger one seemed to form as well.

It just didn't make sense.

"You look quite troubled, Emiya-kun," was the first hint I had that I was no longer alone in my workshop. I startled, rattling my chair and accidently sending a small rotor into the air as I jumped in surprise. Standing directly behind me, having approached so quietly that I hadn't noticed her presence, Miya's hand shot out, snatching the flying component out of the air with a precision and speed that any human in the world would be hard pressed to match.

Not human, I reminded myself. Not Human.

"How did you get in here?" I blurted out, absolutely shocked that I wasn't alone.

"Oh? Is it that surprising that I had a spare key to a piece of my property, Emiya-kun?" The landlady asked, giving me a bemused look.

"That's not…" I began, and then cut myself off. It wasn't surprising that she had a key. It was surprising that she was able to use it in the first place. This is my workshop after all. The first thing any magi does when setting up their workshop is the creation of its defenses. Bounded fields, perimeters that had magically induced effects preventing physical actions from interrupting their territory or kept the prana being used within the workshop from being observed from outside. Wards, similar perimeters that operated more upon the perception of others, drawing attention away, diverting interest, any number of methods to keep the workshop concealed. With bounded fields as the physical protection of a workshop and wards as the mental protection a magi could be assured of the sanctity of their laboratory. I might be a third rate magi, but one of the main reasons I had begun my study of runes was in order to be able to create these territories. These were my strongest skills in runes at the moment, the magecraft I had carefully prepared before I had begun trying to decipher the more basic secrets of the thaumaturgical school. I couldn't exactly use some of my stronger protections, not so close to Izumo House and not while maintaining the secrecy of my ability, but there should have been more than enough set up to keep me from being approached unaware.

But then again, this was Miya. Was it my lack of ability which had allowed her to get so close, or was it simply because of her power? She was, after all, Not Human.

The lavender haired alien waited a moment for me to finish my statement, but I simply turned back to the motor, halfway through the process of being dissembled again, and started putting it back together. When it became clear that I wasn't going to continue my earlier exclamation, she stepped forward till she was standing beside me, placing the motor down on the table gently. For a second she just watched me as I worked, my fingers moving with surety over the components that I was fitting together, and then she shook her head. "My my," she tsked at me. "Is this what you were doing while you were sulking?" she chided me. "What a callous man you are, Emiya-kun."

I knew she was teasing me. It was something that Miya seemed to take a great deal of fun out of doing. The landlady loved to make embarrassing comments about her renters and then watching them squirm and try to deny the accusations. It was a hobby that was generally less effective on me then on the rest of her boarders. I'd been teased by the best, after all. But right now, I really didn't feel like putting up with it.

"Not now, Asama-san," I told her, my voice tight. I heard her sigh, and I could feel her staring at me as I focused on putting the motor to right.

"Is it really such a troubling thing, what you learned tonight?" she finally asked me, her voice soft. I grunted, and put the screwdriver in my hand down on the table, harder then I should have. It thumped loudly in the otherwise quiet shed.

"Yes," I snapped, and then instantly shook my head and corrected myself with a sigh. "No." Finally, I put my elbows on the table and sank my head into my palms. "From a biological standpoint, it's perfectly normal," I admitted, shaking my head slightly. "Every species in existence does pretty much the same thing," I continued, using the quiet landlady as a sounding board. "One member of the species attempts to court the other, usually through some kind of signal or display. Male peacocks grow brilliant plumage, and many types of animals will bring food, or perform some kind of ritual to attract attention. Even humans do that kind of thing. It's just a matter of Sekirei using some kind of psychic resonance to identify suitable mates." I shook my head. "Even the fact that I attracted multiple partners isn't unusual," I admitted. "Lions will have one male to multiple females, wolves are the same way. There are plenty of other species that do this kind of thing. Hell, in some human cultures that kind of thing still happens." I grimaced. From a certain standpoint it was almost flattering. If this was simply a matter of me attracting multiple mates than it appears as though I was some kind of alpha male, prime breeding stock to be shared among the flock.

Miya seemed annoyed by the fact that I was comparing her species to various members of the animal kingdom like peacocks and lions. "It sounds as though you've been considering this matter carefully," she told me, her voice a little stiff as she did so.

"Yes," I snapped back, not caring if she was unhappy with my analogies. I took a deep breath, and tried to control my temper. "But that's why this doesn't make sense," I continued. Now that I had an outlet to my frustration I couldn't stop myself from continuing. "No other species mates outside of its species," I pointed out. "But for Sekirei they're deliberately looking to humans to bond with. More than that," I jabbed one of my finger onto the table as though pointing at a piece of damning evidence, "the Sekirei are deliberately altering themselves to be able to do so! Wasn't that what Musubi said? That if a Sekirei didn't have genetic adjustments then they might accidently kill their Ashikabi?" She had slipped it in so innocently, as though it were just an everyday thing. So much had happened afterwards that it was easy to forget it, but in the end it was just one more piece of a puzzle I hadn't even realized I was in the middle of assembling.

I was casting my arguments in the terms of 'nature' and 'animals' but in truth my mind was contemplating the less natural species that I knew of. In the end, non-humans just didn't mate with humans. Why should they? In the end, those creatures weren't human. Not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. The very thought of something like a Dead Apostle, the vampiric legacies twice removed from the original Type-Moon, mating or bonding or even loving a human was ridiculous. Human's were food to them, like cattle. Humans were things to be fed on and then their corpses were to be used for the Apostle's pleasure as ghouls and servants. If an Apostle WERE to fall in love or want to be with a human, than it would simply turn the human, rendering the difference in species moot. That wasn't to say that there weren't interspecies liaisons on occasion. Japan in particular had many clans that had at one point or another interbred with demon species, and then cultivated the unusual blood lines to the point where they were functioning hybrids. But in those cases it was just sex. A single occurrence that the two participants were simply using as an opportunity to gain an offspring or enjoy physical pleasure. It most certainly didn't involve 'forever and ever'.

It certainly wasn't the love Musubi had proclaimed.

"Is that what is causing you such confusion?" Miya asked, her face downturned. It seemed as though she was paying careful attention to my rant, and was surprised at the length of my train of thought. I shook my head at her question.

"Even that makes sense, in a way," I admitted, scrubbing my hands through my hair and leaning back in my chair. "I already know that the Sekirei are aliens, and that there were only one hundred and eight of them total," I continued. "That's a very small genetic pool to select from. It actually seems pretty logical to take steps to be able to integrate in to the local population. Even if the original species is bred out of existence by it, there is at least a chance for the species to insure the continuation of its genes. What doesn't make sense," I growled and then slammed my fist onto the table, glaring at it angrily, "is the god damn Sekirei Plan!" Miya blinked at my vehemence and I continued, barely noticing. "If it was just a matter of integration, then the best thing to do would be to spread the species out into as many different geological locations as possible to ensure the wide spread dispersion of the genes. I could understand remaining localized if the Sekirei had to have special treatments to remain healthy and capable of being with their human counterparts. More than that, if all the Sekirei were to remain in one city then in the next generation a breeding program could be set in motion, allowing for the offspring of the first generation to find others of their kind, and then the species as a whole could begin growing without as much dilution of the original genetic information. But instead of trying to continue the species the moment a Sekirei is bonded to a human they begin to actively hunt down others of their kind!"

I pushed out of my chair, the feet scraping across the floor loudly as I began pacing the room. Miya watched me carefully, letting me finish my diatrade.

"I can only think of two reasons for something like this," I concluded, gritting my teeth. "The first is that the Sekirei have some kind of dominance trait, and it's just their nature to kill off all the rivals of their species in an area. That's not too uncommon. There are lots of species that don't like having other packs of the same species in the area. It diminishes resources, and endangers the group so they drive off the others. But I already know that Sekirei are capable of coexisting." Uzume and Miya were both prime examples of this. Though I wasn't certain what Miya's situation was, she had already shown herself to be capable of caring for other Sekirei. She even helped Musubi train every day, raising the shrine girl's ability to defend herself. That wasn't the kind of action that a species that couldn't stand the existence of others of its kind would display. But then again, Miya was special. Uzume on the other hand should be a perfect example. Already winged by another, and yet she still manages to coexist with others. In fact Uzume was downright friendly with the rest of my flock. Even Homura was an example of the ability of Sekirei to coexist. He was the Defender of Sekirei, and went out of his way to try and help other aliens find their partners.

"And the second reason?" Miya prompted me softly, watching me carefully. I sighed, and slumped back into my chair.

"Is that the Sekirei are in some way being compelled to participate," I admitted. I could only think of one force that could be responsible for that: MBI. I had noticed before that the Sekirei seemed subservient to the mundane organization. Mid Bio Informatics was a conglomerate which pinnacled the world's medical technology. They were the pioneers of biological advancement, most likely due to their monopoly of Sekirei technology in the first place. They were obviously the ones that had been responsible for the aliens' 'adjustments'. That meant that at one point in time every member of the species had been in their direct control. It wasn't hard to imagine that at that time the company might have taken some insurance. For all that the Sekirei seemed peaceful they were, in the end, Not Human. In the history of humanity it was very, very rare for it to end well for my species when humans got involved with those kinds of beings. It wasn't only possible, but it was almost preferable that MBI had devised some sort of way to control the species.

"Indeed," Miya affirmed my final conclusion. She sighed, but for some reason she still had a small smile on her face. "It seems that you really have been considering matters, rather than simply sulking."

"But that's why it doesn't make sense!" growled, hitting the table again. "Why go through all the effort to adjust the Sekirei, investing millions most likely in research and facilities while doing so, releasing them in secret into a controlled environment, and then just have them destroy themselves! More than that, to have rules for the engagement, even going so far as to plan the conflict into phases?" I scrubbed my hair again, and once more growled. "The only reason I can think of is to ensure that the Sekirei are destroyed." I shook my head at the thought. "It would make sense to eliminate the species," I admitted, not liking the idea at all but being able to see the benefit of such an action. "By doing so MBI would have unlimited access to their technology and could ensure that no other competing business or rival companies could duplicate their success. But if that was all they wanted to accomplish then they would have just killed the Sekirei during the adjustment process!" It would have been a brutal, heartless, and treacherous act to do so, but I had spent enough time in the Clock Tower to be used to brutal, heartless, and treacherous acts. Magi as a whole were very seldom moral people. "This, this 'Sekirei Plan'," I spat the words out like they left a bitter taste in my mouth, "it's meaningless! More than that, it's vicious, it's cruel. I can understand that. There are vicious and cruel people out there. But it's wasteful as well. If it was just some kind of act of sadism, then why are they spending so much time, money, and resources on it?"

It was maddening. It just didn't make sense. Even the Grail War, as terrible as it was, had a clear purpose. There were no limits to the methods or violence employed within it, but in the end it had all been in the name of collecting the prize, the Holy Grail, and the power and opportunity it would give the winner. This? This was just pointless violence.

It was maddening. And it was infuriating. The thought of it, an entire species, one that seemed to crave nothing more than the opportunity to do what all other creatures in nature wanted and be allowed to grow and prosper, being forced to destroy itself…

It wasn't until I felt Miya's hand rest gently on mine that I realized it was clenched into a fist so tightly that my fingernails were cutting into my flesh. I stared at it in surprise, noting the fact that I was bleeding almost clinically. Miya's expression was a small smile, a proud expression that was somehow laced with bitterness. She shook her head.

"In the end, there is no reason for it," she told me softly. "It is just a cruel game being played upon us Sekirei by a madman."

I stilled, staring at her in surprise. "That's the first time you ever admitted that you weren't human," I noted, unable to focus on anything besides that fact. Miya gave me a slightly less bitter smile.

"Oh? Is that so?" she commented innocently. "I hope I didn't surprise you." She put a hand on her cheek and put on worried face, her eyes crinkling as she smiled.

I cracked a smile in return. "I think I'll be able to get over the shock," I told her, and for the first time since I had locked myself into my workshop I felt myself relax a little. Then I frowned again. "Even you call it a game, Miya," I noted. The now confessed alien landlady tilted her head to the side, not understanding why I was focused on her use of that word.

When Matsu had referred to the Sekirei Plan with the same term, I had ignored it. I thought it was nothing more than her normal childish personality shining through. Even taking into account the hacker Sekirei's fearsome intelligence I had dismissed the choice of phrase as perhaps a bitter moment of irony. But here, even Miya, an entity of power and skill, capable of holding back even the might of MBI with her presence, an entity that was so steeped with spilled blood that it seemed to be a part of her very nature, was using the very same term.

Earlier I would have simply let Miya's word usage pass and assumed it too was a slip of the tongue, but I had already had one blinding revelation about what happened when I made assumptions.

When Matsu had been showing me the files of the already defeated Sekirei, they had all been nothing more than level ones through threes except for one particular instance. Despite the fact that even now Sekirei were battling each other, it had only been me, the human, who had nearly killed one of them. Matsu had condemned the level of violence I had used at the time. More than that, it had been the fact that I had left number forty three's body unguarded that had truly seemed to offend the hacker Sekirei. Musubi had also been ashamed when she realized that she had left the body behind too. Besides that, there was the shrine girl's insistence that no Sekirei would attack an Ashikabi. Matsu seemed to agree that the idea wasn't likely, even if she had acknowledged the possibility of it happening.

Caring for the downed enemies, avoiding harming the enemy's Ashikabi, even if it would allow for certain victory, limiting the damage done to the enemy. I could almost see why even the Sekirei whom seemed to actively hate the Sekirei Plan would call it a 'game'.

The problem was I didn't play games. My experience was with the Grail War, and just like a War it had been fought. No. Even wars had rules, codes of conduct to be obeyed. The ritual to summon the Holy Grail had none such limiters. It's only rule was to slaughter, by any means, without hesitation or remorse, the ones who stood in your way. Everyone who had gathered to participate had been ready to kill or be killed at a moment's notice. In the end, I had been the only one gathered by the Grail that hadn't already been prepared for the conflict, and even I accepted the truth of the situation. I was magi, and no stranger to risking my life, even then.

I had been preparing to go into the Sekirei Plan using the lessons I had learned from the Grail War. I had been ready to use those survival skills to the maximum effect, to do everything I could to end the battles as quickly as possible, to end the Plan before the atrocities that had plagued the Grail War could be repeated.

Was I wrong? Had I been the only one contemplating such detestable courses of action? I didn't know anymore. I had already been drastically mistaken about the situation once. My confidence had been shaken, and now I just didn't know. I had spent the last three hours in here, trying to figure out what I was going to do now, and so far all I had were more questions.

"You look as though you're thinking of something unpleasant," Miya noted, dragging me back to the present. She was still resting her hand on mine, watching me patiently.

"After everything I've heard, I've started giving serious thought to assassinating the President of MBI," I admitted to her. In the end, when all was said and done, it seemed as though he was the man directly responsible for all of this. Matsu had called Minaka a monster, and now Miya called him a madman. It seemed both of them held him personally responsible for their situation.

Miya blinked, and then gave out a soft laugh, not quite a chuckle. "You shouldn't joke about such things," she chided me, seeming to take my declaration as an attempt to be funny.

"It wouldn't be that difficult," I continued, mapping it out in my head. "My best range for hitting a target while sniping is a little over a mile. It wouldn't be that hard to find him either, not with Matsu working on it."

Miya seemed to realize that I was being serious. Instead of being disturbed by that fact, her smile widened. "If I thought such a thing would be enough, I would have long since done so myself," she admitted. I nodded.

"I thought as much," I concluded. I had no doubt that if the alien beside me wanted to she could probably level half of Shin Tokyo herself before she would be taken out. Taking out one man like the Minaka would no doubt be simple for her. Miya studied me carefully for a moment, and seemed to come to a conclusion of her own.

"You don't seem surprised at all," she stated. She paused, hesitating, and then finally asked me, "Tell me, Emiya-kun. What is it I smell like?"

For a second I was confused, thinking that maybe the landlady was asking me about her perfume or something like that. Then I realized what it was she meant. "Blood," I told her. "Blood and regret."

She didn't seem surprised by that. Instead she just looked resigned. With a small sigh, she glanced to the side. "I see. But this does not bother you, does it Emiya-kun?" She gave me a searching glance. "You speak easily of assassination. When we sparred, you were able to recognize a lethal strike. That trash, Seo, speaks of how frightening you are. You call yourself a fighter, and not a lover. And more than that…" she trailed off, and the hand on mine gently opened my fingers. My eyes widened as I realized what she was implying. There were traces of blood on my palm from earlier when I had pierced it with my fingernails.

Now though, there were no marks there. She gave a knowing smile when she affirmed this fact.

She didn't say anything else after that. She didn't ask me anything, nor did she try and make any guesses. Even her demeanor lacked any sort of accusation or curiosity. Still, in front of her knowing smile I felt compelled to give her some kind of explanation. For a moment my desire to explain warred with the long habits of secrecy engrained into me by a lifetime of life as a magus.

Finally, all I could supply was, "Legacy of a misspent youth."

The landlady nodded. It didn't surprise me that she had managed to put together the fact that I wasn't normal. Nor did it surprise me that she didn't ask anything else. Ever since that day when I had helped her to prepare breakfast she had known that I knew of her nature. I had never questioned her about it, or even hinted at it to anyone. It seemed as though Miya had decided to return that consideration.

"Still, Emiya-kun," the lavender haired miko continued. "There's another matter that needs to be addressed tonight." She released my hand, and I wordlessly licked one of my fingers, using the wet digit to start scrubbing away the blood. "You're Sekirei are quite distraught right now."

I sighed, and just like before I sank my head back into my hands. My Sekirei. My…I forced myself to finish the phrase. My harem.

Gods, I never thought I'd actually say something like that.

There are all kinds of men who dream about that kind of thing. It's not that unusual to fantasize about it, or so I'm told anyway. Hell, back before our falling out, it had been one of Shinji's goals to have a threesome with some of those shallow girls he was always courting throughout high school. Shinji had always been a chauvinist like that. I'm sure lots of guys would be happy to find themselves in the position I had quite suddenly been forced into.

I wasn't one of them. Even back in high school, in the heights of puberty, I had never really been too interested in sex. I mean, yeah, I had my moments of weakness. It's not like I was asexual. I just never really considered it worth effort to get involved in. I never really had much in common with other people, females especially, and could never find the motivation to try. I was always pitching in to help Issei with the school council or Ayako with the archery club. If I wasn't doing that then I was working back at the Copenhagen Bar, or taking care of my home. I had never really had the time to go looking for a girlfriend or daydream elaborate fantasies. More than that, as much of a cop out as it sometimes felt, I was a magus. Even if I were to date, then I would have to make sure whoever I was with never found out that fact. The preservation of the secrecy of thaumaturgy would mean that I would have to lie to them, and the idea of trying to form a relationship with someone while keeping such an important part of my life concealed just felt too dishonest. It wasn't until Rin that I ever seriously considered being with a girl.

Rin had been like me in that respect. For all that she was pretty and popular it didn't change the fact that she was a magus as well. More than that, she had a long history behind her, her bloodline dating all the ways back to before even the first Grail War some two hundred and fifty odd years ago. Magi tend to carefully select their partners, both for their ability to conceal the existence of magecraft and for the potential the partner would bring to their bloodline. It was her duty to the Tohsaka name to continue that bloodline appropriately, and Rin always took her duty as a magus seriously. I don't think she ever considered dating either, or even thought about sex as something other than a tool for that matter. In the end, the first time we were together had been just a means to provide me the power I would need in order to stop Gilgamesh from unleashing an impure Grail upon the world and causing an apocalypse. Even me being together with Saber had been a method as well, a means to ease up the immense strain of supporting the Heroic Spirit's continued presence in the world, the use of our state of mind and closeness of body during the physical act of consummation for me to help supply mana to the blond haired swordswoman.

It wasn't as though all the times we made love were strictly business. What might have started as necessity had been mixed with emotional closeness as well. We had, the three of us, survived a horrific experience amongst us, had shared camaraderie and faced danger and in the end came out triumphant together. We'd managed to make our strange circumstances into a genuine relationship.

Until some meddling heartless bastard of a Lord with too much spare time and not enough common sense had callously driven a wedge into our bond.

I forced my thoughts away from the topic. Nothing good would come of dwelling on it now. Right now I had to focus on the present. A present that involved the fact that I had inadvertently managed to form mating bonds with numerous members of an alien species and then panicked and ran when the information was revealed, something which had almost certainly hurt them.

Even if I was still as inexperienced with relationships as I had been back in high school I would still know just how bad a course of actions that had been.

"How bad is it?" I asked the landlady, bracing myself for the damage I had done.

"Kuu-chan cried herself to sleep after an hour or so," the landlady told me, doing nothing to soften the blow. The thought of it was like a punch in the gut to me. "Musubi-chan was just as distraught. The two of them are in your room, though I think Musubi has fallen asleep now as well. Homura-san blamed himself for the misunderstanding, and called in sick to work. I believe he's in his room right now. Akitsu-san is still in the dining room. She is refusing to leave. As for Matsu-san, she originally went back to her room, but she was the one who asked me to come out and talk to you."

I rubbed my forehead, and felt like the biggest heel in the world. "What about Uzume?" I asked, trying to figure out how things had gotten so out of hand so fast. Miya put a hand to her mouth and let loose a malevolent giggle.

"Oh my! But Emiya-kun, she's not even a member of your harem! You shouldn't be thinking about expanding so soon!" She didn't even try to conceal the teasing tone she chided me with, and I did my best to crack a smile at her attempt to lighten the mood.

"It was a pretty ugly scene back there," I admitted. "I wanted to make sure that it hadn't affected her. Also, I think I owe her an apology as well. I was angry, and I think I took a lot of it out on her. She didn't deserve that."

"Oh?" Miya seemed annoyed. "And do I rate an apology too?" I grimaced.

"You're right," I agreed. I turned in the chair and bowed at her. "I'm sorry, Asama-san. I brought discord into Izumo House. I promise that'll I set things right."

"See that you do," Miya told me sternly, and I raised my head at her acceptance. Still, I must have looked so miserable that she decided to take pity on me. "Is it really that bad, Emiya-kun?" she asked me, her voice not unkind. "To have so many of my kin with you? Is it because we are not human?"

I sighed one last time and shook my head. "It's not that," I assured her. "It's just," I trailed off, looking down at my palm. Even the blood from earlier was gone now, revealing healthy flesh, no trace of the earlier wounds. "I have baggage, Asama-san," I finally admitted. "It just doesn't seem fair for them to have to put up with that kind of thing." I have baggage. What an understatement that was. I had enough skeletons in my closet to make most politicians look innocent little school girls.

Miya smiled at the implication that the reason I was so nervous was because I was worried about how the things in my past would affect my Sekirei and not because of my flock itself. "Just as long as your baggage doesn't cause any damage to Izumo House," she told me, once more adopting a teasing tone of voice. "If it did than I would have to throw you out!"

She meant it as a joke, but I nodded seriously. "Understood," I told her. If it came down to it, I would leave myself. The Type-Sekirei had enough of humans causing them trouble with MBI. I didn't even want to think of what would happen if the Mage Association found out about them as well.

*Scene Break*

It was after midnight by the time I left my workshop, trailing after Miya as I made my way back to Izumo House. A part of me wanted nothing more than to crawl into my bed. It had been a long day, and after the stress of the revelations, followed by my frantic attempts to adjust my perception of what was going on had left me exhausted. But I had things to do before I could let myself sleep. I had been responsible for losing control of myself, and my little temper tantrum had hurt my Sekirei. It was my responsibility to apologize and set things right now.

In a way, I was glad that everyone had already separated. If the house was all still together I could have apologized only once, but such a thing would be insincere. If I really wanted to make this right and not just sweep it under the rug than I owed an individual apology to each of the Sekirei I had hurt. As Miya disappeared into the darkened hallway, her task of bringing me back up to the house complete, I made my way to the dining room.

There, sitting in the exact same spot in the exact same position she had when I stormed off was Akitsu. Miya had made sure the lights were still on but I didn't think it would have mattered to the snow woman if they weren't. At some point someone had left some pillows and a folded blanket beside her, but the kimono clad Sekirei ignored them completely. Instead, she simply knelt, staring directly ahead, her body so rigid it might have been a statue carved out of alabaster.

Earlier today, before this whole mess had started, Akitsu had displayed just how well she had come to know me by deducing that I was reacting to another Sekirei simply by how restless I was during my sleep. I had thought before that it was unnerving how well she had been able to judge my reactions, just as I had always found her insistence on being completely subservient to be strange. Now though, now I finally understood. It was yet one more revelation that had kept me in my workshop for so long.

Akitsu couldn't be winged. Before, when I asked what that meant, Homura had told me that it meant she was so powerful that she spontaneously winged herself, depriving her of the opportunity to have an Ashikabi. I hadn't understood why that was a bad thing back then. 'Wasn't the whole purpose of having an Ashikabi to be able to use their full power?' I had thought. Wouldn't it be a good thing to have all that power available without relying on another to be able to access it? She had already proven capable of overwhelming both the thunder and lightning twins, Hikari and Hibiki, even when they were using their most powerful attack, their Norito. I had thought that her power had been a boon. More than that, she could do so without risking the presence of an Ashikabi, and was protected from having to worry about someone targeting her weaker partner. If anything, I had thought her the most capable Sekirei in the plan so far, save perhaps Miya.

If it were simply a matter of being able to use her full strength, then having winged herself would have been like that. But it wasn't the case. An Ashikabi wasn't just someone to help unlock strength, it was a mate. It meant she would never be able to find someone to be with, or to produce offspring. The other Sekirei knew it. Moreover, Akitsu knew it.

In the eyes of her species, Akitsu was spoiled goods. She was a pariah. Not just something to be scorned, but something to be pitied. 'I'm broken,' she had told me herself. 'A failure.'

Just like Akitsu was able to deduce my actions earlier, I now knew why it was that Akitsu was refusing to leave the table. It was because I had told 'Don't' earlier. I had meant 'Don't follow me'. Akitsu was interpreting it as 'Don't do anything'. Because I had told her so, she would remain in the exact same position. She would not move to relieve herself, or to sleep, or to eat. If needed, she would stay there until she died. She would do so for the same reason that she chose to mark herself as being owned by me in the way she dressed and acted.

She knew that she could never have an Ashikabi, that she could never truly experience what the rest of her species could. So she simply imitated it. She would do everything in her power to act as much as she could like she truly was my Sekirei, because she hoped that by doing so, she would be able to feel even in part what the rest of her kind did. She would do whatever it took to stay by me, so that she could keep that illusion.

That was what it means to be a Scrapped Number. And just thinking about it was enough to make my throat ache and my heart break.

I wanted to find some way to comfort her, but there was nothing I could do. Nothing I would say would change her situation. All apologies would do would be to call her attention back to her fate, something I no doubt did every time she watched me wing another Sekirei. Each new bird I brought to the flock must be a constant reminder of what she couldn't have. All she could do was just try her best and hope that I didn't end up one day deciding I didn't need a Sekirei that I couldn't wing, and then cast her aside.

And so she sat, obeying my last order to her, hoping that if she only could prove her obedience to me then I would let her stay beside me.

"Akitsu," I broke the quiet of the dining room. Even though she no doubt knew I was here she had remained absolutely still until I spoke her name. She shifted once, but otherwise maintained her vigil. I wanted to apologize to my first Sekirei, but I don't think that's what it was she wanted. "Good job," I congratulated her instead.

Her frame relaxed slightly. "Thank you, Shirou-sama," she whispered. What Akitsu didn't want was an apology. What she wanted was confirmation. More than words of regret, she wanted acknowledgement of her loyalty. What she wanted was assurance, and in order to make up for the poor treatment I had given her earlier, that was precisely what I would give to her.

"Stand up now," I ordered her, "I still have to go find the others. Then we can go to bed."

"Yes, Shirou-sama," she instantly acknowledged my order and tried to stand up so she could resume her self-appointed post as my shadow, but the moment she tried to put weight on her feet she stumbled. Even if she was an alien, and a powerful one, she had spent the last three hours kneeling. Her legs must have fallen asleep. Despite that she tried to force her body to obey, as though by sheer will she could make her body ignore the lack of feeling in her lower limbs. Quickly I moved to her side, taking one of her hands in my own and catching her elbow to support her.

She froze the moment I touched her, and her cheeks started to color as I helped her upright.

"Don't worry," I told her. "I'll take care of you." The same words I had spoken to her the day I had found her in the park and taken her under my protection.

Her eyes glanced up at my face, and then shyly they turned to where I was still holding her hand. "Warm," she whispered, and her cheeks flushed brighter.

When I turned to head towards my next apology, Akitsu fell into her usual place behind me on my left. It wasn't until we made it to the door that I needed to knock on that she finally released my hand though.

Izumo House had two floors. The top floor consisted of four rooms, though at the moment only three of them were occupied: Uzume in room two oh three, myself along with Musubi and Akitsu in room two oh two, and Matsu in her hidden room which was originally two oh one. There were four more rooms on the first floor. Miya occupied the largest, directly beneath where Matsu's room was. Only one of the bottom rooms, room one oh three, was currently in use. That one was occupied by Homura. I hesitated before knocking, unsure if it would be appropriate to disturb him so late at night. I had never been in Homura's room, or even had a reason to come near it really. This was partly because of the sheer difference in our usual lives. Homura did work in a nightclub after all and it wasn't uncommon for him not to make it home until nearly dawn. I on the other hand prefered to live by the idiom 'early to bed, early to rise'.

Finally, I lightly rapped my knuckle against the flame user's door. It wasn't loud enough to wake him if he was already asleep, but if he was still up then he should notice it.

"I already said I want to be left alone, Miya," Homura's voice came back muffled through the door. He sounded tired and irritated. I'd seen him interact with the landlady often in the past, but this was the first time he ever used that tone of voice when addressing the lavender haired landlady in my presence. It appears I wasn't the first person Miya had visited tonight.

"It's me," I spoke up. I wasn't sure if I was glad that the other man was still up or not. That he still was meant I had a good opportunity to apologize now. It also meant that this was about to be another awkward scene. I took a deep breath and prepared myself. I would have to do this eventually and the sooner the better.

There was a tense moment of silence from within the room, and then a rustling noise. "Just a second," Homura finally declared, his voice sounding tight. There was another rustling noise, and then the sound of feet approaching the door. When Homura finally opened the door, it was only a few inches, allowing me to get a view of most of his face and a thin line of his body. He was still wearing his formal pants, but at some point he had transferred over from his normal formal shirt to a more casually cut button up. The moment he opened his door his eyes darted up to my face, but then he grimaced and glanced down and away at something inside his room and out of my line of sight. "Shirou," he began, and then trailed off, as though he wasn't certain what he should say after that.

I on the other hand knew exactly what to say. Bowing formally, I immediately told him, "I'm very sorry for my actions earlier today." I used the formal phrase 'moushiwake arimasen', most commonly used in business settings rather than any of the more casual apologies. It was usually only used by staff of a business for customers, but within a business it was also used during situations when one member of an office personally screwed up and had to apologize to their coworkers. I made sure to keep my bow for an appropriate period of time, several seconds, before finally straightening.

Homura looked honestly surprised by my apology, blinking for a moment as though unsure how to react. Finally, he seemed to realize I was waiting for a response, and quickly shook his head. "No, it's not your fault," he began hastily, hurrying to lower his own head in response, though since he didn't seem inclined to open his door any further it was more of just a nod then a bow. "It was my fault for misleading you," he continued, sounding as though just admitting that was enough to relieve some of the burden of guilt he had been carrying.

"Even so I was out of line earlier. I shouldn't have made such accusations at you, or put you on the spot like that," I insisted, trying to assume the burden of guilt. It hadn't been right for me to blame him just because I had been too dense to realize what was happening.

"But if I had just been a bit more clear when I was explaining the process, instead of being selective out of self consciousness then you wouldn't have had to discover like you did," Homura countered, shaking his head ruefully as he did so. I frowned, disagreeing with the statement.

"You only did that because you were panicking," I insisted. "You were about to catch fire. It's fine if you didn't have time to fully explain everything in that situation."

Now it was Homura's turn to frown. "Even so," he began, "that doesn't mean…" he trailed off, staring at me for a second. Then he snorted, and brought one hand up to his mouth to cover it as he started laughing. I stared at him, not sure where his sudden humor had come from. "What are the two of us doing?" he managed to ask, shaking his head and closing his eyes in his mirth. It took me a second to realize what he was referring to, and then I found myself chuckling as well. Here we were, both of us so desperate to apologize that we were arguing over who got to do it.

It only lasted for a minute or so, but when we were both done laughing at ourselves it felt as though the tension that had been there earlier was completely dissolved. Homura started to lean against the frame of his door, still keeping it mostly closed, but now assuming a more relaxed position. With the guilt of his earlier mistake relieved he once more slipped into his cool way of talking and moving which no doubt made his customers swoon. I couldn't help but shake my head at it. With his delicate features and confident mannerisms he really was a bishounen, a pretty boy. If I was more interested in dating I might have even come to him for advice on how to pick up chicks.

Unfortunately, it looked like me just being me was apparently enough to do the same. That was what had gotten me into this situation in the first place after all.

"So are you alright now?" I asked him directly, worried. Miya had mentioned how he had taken my accusations pretty hard, even calling into work sick as a result. I didn't want any lingering resentment around us. Even if we didn't spend much time around the other I still considered him a friend, and I didn't want something I had done in a fit of anger to spoil that.

Homura sighed, though it sounded less bitter and more resigned. "Yeah," he nodded. "I'm alright." He paused giving me a careful look. "What about you, Shirou?" he asked me, his voice reluctant. "Even if it was an accident, it was my fault that you didn't know what you were doing. Any regrets?"

It was my turn to sigh. I scrubbed my forehead with my hand, and then finally admitted. "No. The more I think about it, the more I can't help but think this is what would have happened even if I had known." Homura gave me a surprised look, and I returned it with a rueful smile. "I had already accepted Akitsu by the time you approached me," I explained. "You don't realize the state she was in when I found her," I continued, shaking my head as I remembered that scene: a girl, half naked, covered in blood, so deep in despair that she was willing to accept the orders of a total stranger that she had never met before. There had been no way that I would have been able to turn my head away from that, even if I had known what would happen afterwards. "It had been pretty bad," I summarized for him. He gave the snow woman behind me a curious glance, and then nodded slowly. "For you, it was just like you said: you really were a special case. By then I was already involved, and even though Musubi had been a little less drastic, she was still someone who needed help. And don't even get me started on Kuu," I added, frowning.

Homura gave a small smile, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Yes," he admitted. "In the end, I can see why you wouldn't be able to let Kuu-chan alone." A little girl, alone in the woods, crying for help, about to be attacked by a scythe wielding psychopath, and was at the time currently being chased by every other Ashikabi in existence thanks to Minaka with the intention of being forcibly winged? Yeah. Even if I had known the truth of the situation, there was no way in hell I would have been able to ignore it. Still, I think Kuu was paradoxically the Sekirei who made me the most uncomfortable as well.

"Shouldn't there be some kind of age limit on winging?" I complained, rubbing my head. "I mean, I know it's a natural instinct for you Sekirei, but shouldn't something like that not be active until puberty at least?" Homura chuckled lightly at my discomfort. "It makes me feel like some sort of pedophile," I admitted, rubbing my arms and giving a small grimace of distaste.

"I think Kuu-chan should be fine with just having an 'onii-chan' for now," Homura reassured me. "Though when she finally does reach maturity, that might change," he continued, giving me a sympathetic look. I shuddered again.

"That makes me feel like something right out of the 'Tales of Genji'," I muttered, referring to the famous instance where the main character found a ten year old girl and then raised her and trained her until she was finally old enough to be his wife. Homura blinked, and for a moment I wasn't certain he had understood the reference, and then suddenly he seemed to get it and started laughing again. The flame user was certainly well educated for an alien that had been raised in a laboratory, but then again he was the same guy who originally started quoting Greek mythology to me. I couldn't help but wonder if one of the reasons he was keeping me from looking into his room was to conceal the fact that he had great piles of books in there that he was ashamed of.

"What about Matsu?" the host Sekirei finally asked me, probably wanting to hear my thoughts on all of my Sekirei. I shrugged a bit at that.

"Matsu didn't really have much in the way of options for finding an Ashikabi," I admitted, referring to her status as a fugitive. "If I had known the truth ahead of time, I might have put up more of a resistance," I admitted. "But in the end, I probably would have given in." Just as Kuu was the Sekirei I felt the least regret for while being the one that made me the most uncomfortable, Matsu was the one I had the most regret for winging while being the one I found most useful. Though it made me feel a little cold blooded to admit it, she was simply the Sekirei that brought the most to the table. She had already proven her skills by compiling all the profiles that I had requested of her, and I could already think of four or five other tasks that I could have her start now. If the Sekirei Plan had been the way I assumed it was, just aliens looking for partners to maximize their efficiency in the competition, then Matsu would have been without a doubt the most useful of my partners. Even now that I knew the truth, that cold ruthless part of me that came from training to be a magus still considered her worth to be enough to consider winging her even if I had known before hand what that meant. Engaging in a relationship solely for the gain it brings to both parties was something that any magi would seriously consider. It wasn't even necessarily a bad thing either. Technically speaking, that was how Rin and Saber and I had come to be together, and that had ended up being one of the happiest events of my life.

Until we had been forced to end it…

"You're thinking about them again," Homura cut in, pulling me from my thoughts. I glanced at him and he gave me an apologetic smile. "Your two girlfriends," he explained. "It doesn't happen often, but sometimes you get that look on your face, the same one you had when you told me about them originally," he confessed, studying me carefully. "Earlier," he started slowly, sounding reluctant. "Earlier, during the fight, you said something about 'already having two'. You never finished the sentence, but you were talking about them, weren't you?"

I didn't say anything, but something on my face must have given away my thoughts because Homura sighed.

"You said that you three were broken up," he continued, "but that wasn't necessarily the case, was it, Shirou?" He sounded resigned, and I had no doubt he already knew that answer. Sometimes it was easy to forget what it meant that Homura was a host. He made a living off of relationships after all.

I glanced away, trying not to grit my teeth. "It was complicated," I admitted. "I would rather not talk about it."

The flame user gave me one last studying look, and then apparently accepted my request. "So what happens now?" he asked me, still slouched against his door frame.

"For now? I still have to apologize to Matsu, Musubi, and Kuu," I admitted. I was fairly certain that I would be able to take care of Matsu right now though Miya had already told me that Kuu and Musubi were asleep. I wasn't certain if I'd be able to make peace with them tonight, or if I would have to wait till morning.

"I meant in general, Shirou," Homura corrected. "Even with all this, you still have to make a decision about Tsukiumi." He glanced to the side, his expression grim. "It's embarrassing, especially after I already agreed with you, but I think Musubi is right. Even if it's dangerous, it isn't right for you to leave a responding Sekirei alone. I hate to say this, especially considering how you feel about the subject, but as Guardian of the Sekirei, I can't stand by while another Sekirei is suffering." The admission seemed to pain Homura, but the look he gave me was resolute. I think that this topic might have been bothering him even more than the argument earlier.

I closed my eyes briefly. It looks like I had something else to apologize for. "I'm sorry, Homura. Even though I promised not to interfere with your duty, it looks like I might have."

Homura paused, and realized that I was referring to my promise to him before I winged him. He smiled slightly, happy to see that I still remembered it. "No," he corrected me. "You promised to make no effort to impede me, or any demand that might make me negligent. Earlier was my fault, not yours." His smile turned bitter with self recrimination. "But beside my own failure, what do you plan to do now?"

I sighed. "I don't know," I admitted. "For now, it's getting late. If she's as dangerous as you and Matsu seemed to think, then she should be all right for a day or two on her own. I'll try to figure out what to do by then." Homura didn't seem to like my decision, but acknowledged that for now it might be my best one. "Good night, Homura," I concluded, nodding at him.

"Good night, Shirou," Homura responded. He gave me a small commiserating smile. "Good luck with the rest of your harem." I groaned at his jibe, but nodded again as he shut his door.

Two down, three to go. Miya had already told me that Musubi and Kuu were in my room, so the next one on my list was Matsu. After climbing the stairs, I knocked on hidden door that would lead me into the den of the hacker Sekirei. I barely finished my first rap when the glasses wearing Sekirei responded. "Come on in, Shirou-tan!" I raised my eyebrow at the invitation. Considering how the rest of my Sekirei were reacting, I had expected Matsu to sound depressed or worried. Instead the hacker had sounded cheerful.

That was definitely a change of pace. Still, better to head in and take care of the apology now.

I pushed one corner of the rotating wall which served as the entrance to Matsu's room the otherwise normal looking wall pivoted in the middle, allowing me space to enter. Sure enough, kneeling in front of one of her computer monitors and typing away was Matsu. She gave me a quick glance, and then seemed to hit some individual buttons harder than the rest. Several screens around her flickered briefly, but when I glanced at them they were just showing screen savers. Setting aside her keyboard, Matsu scuttled quickly over to me on all fours before plopping herself down in front of me so that her knees were splayed out to the side as she looked up at me. "What is it, Shirou-tan?" she asked me expectantly, cocking her head to the side as she smiled up at me.

"Ah," I began, nonplussed by cheery demeanor. "Well, I came to see if you were alright after the scene at dinner," I began, not sure how to apologize to someone that didn't seem at all offended. I decided to just say it bluntly. "That and to apologize."

The redhead smiled at me confidently. "Its fine, Shirou-tan!" she assured me, beaming up at me confidently. "Apology accepted!"

Okay. I had known that Matsu was one of my more composed Sekirei, disregarding the times when she was reacting and couldn't control herself, but this was just a little too easy. Something must be up with her. "Are you sure you're okay, Matsu?" I asked her carefully, trying to figure out if she was really mad and just pretending not to be, or maybe was plotting some kind of revenge or prank later.

"Hmmm," the braided girl hummed, giving me a sly smile. "Well, I was a little upset earlier," she admitted, "but then I decided it wasn't that bad. You really did have a good reason to be surprised, and I guess finding something like that out all of a sudden could make anyone overreact. You've been trying really hard these last few days, helping me with the profiles, and getting a job, not to mention having to move and everything. I'm just glad that you're feeling better is all, Shirou-tan! In the end, I guess you could say this was just our first fight, after all. All couples have them occasionally." She put a finger to her lip and stuck her tongue out at me childishly, but I felt relieved at her sensible approach. "So to make things easier for you, Matsu decided that when Shirou-tan came to apologize then she would just accept so he could concentrate on Musubi-tan and Kuu-tan!" she concluded her explanation with decisive nod.

"Thank you, Matsu," I told her. Miya had only mentioned how both Homura and Matsu had retreated to their rooms, so I hadn't been certain how upset they were, but the landlady had definitely pointed out just how much dinner had affected Musubi and Kuu. Those two were the ones I was the most worried about. I blinked, realizing something. "How did you know I had already apologized to Akitsu and Homura?" I couldn't help but ask.

The question seemed to catch Matsu off guard, and she froze for a second. Then she glanced to the side and started to laugh nervously. "W-w-well, Akitsu is right behind you," she finally declared, and I felt like an idiot for not thinking of that. "And as for Homura," she began, still looking to the side, but paused. "Well, um, I," she began, stuttering nervously. I realized that she was trying to make up a story of some kind, and narrowed my eyes at her.

"Were you listening at the stairs?" I asked her, giving her a glare. Matsu froze at my accusation, and then began to nod her head vigorously.

"Ah! Yes! That was it! Sorry, Shirou-tan," she admitted quickly, apologizing to me while rubbing the back of her head and glancing to the side again.

"Spying is a bad habit, Matsu," I scolded her shaking my head as I did so. Still, I didn't realize that the two of us had been talking loud enough for the braided hacker to hear us. It seems that Izumo House must have good acoustics.

"Heh heh heh," the embarrassed Sekirei managed to laugh stiffly. Deciding to avert attention away from having been caught she began to push my legs, causing me to take a step back. "Now go and apologize to those two!" she ordered me. "Tomorrow you can come by for the computer lessons you owe me and I can start getting those profiles for you!" Her glasses somehow reflected of the meager light of her room, and I felt a small chill go down my spine.

"Akitsu will be sitting in on those lessons," I told her instantly. Matsu started to giggle, her usual perverted 'Fuhuhuhu'. "And Kuu!" I quickly added, determined to somehow find some way to keep the green girl with me through the lessons. I would need protection if I were to be able to escape the presence of this perverted demon with my dignity intact.

"Darn it," Matsu huffed, crossing her arms. "Matsu has been good," she muttered under her breath. "Now that Shirou-tan knows the truth, why won't he give her a wedding night?"

I pretended not to hear that last bit, mostly for the sake of my own sanity. I had the impression that topic would be coming up more than often enough in future as it was and I still wasn't completely comfortable thinking about it.

"Good night, Matsu," I told her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Shirou-tan," the pouting redhead returned. Even as I was closing the door to her room I could see her already turning back to her computer screens.

Well, I was almost done for the day now. Just one more stop left. I hesitated in front of my own door, trying to decide if I should knock on that one as well, but finally decided to just open it and go in. My first reaction when I entered was to turn the light switch on, and I blinked in the sudden brightness before taking in the scene. Sure enough, there were my last two Sekirei, laying beside each other on the floor. Musubi was holding Kuu's head to her breast, no doubt trying to provide the girl comfort, but at the same time was using the younger girl for the same reason. Despite the fact that Musubi usually slept like the drooling dead when I woke up beside her, this time it looked as though she was having bad dreams. She would periodically flinch, or mutter something indistinct that sounded upset. Kuu wasn't doing much better for that matter. The green girl's eyes were red, and I guiltily remembered Miya already telling me she had cried herself to sleep.

For a moment I considered simply letting the two of them sleep. They had no doubt both worn themselves out worrying earlier, and the idea of waking them up just to apologize seemed a little thoughtless. However, as Musubi let loose a small shiver and Kuu-chan sneezed, I realized even if I wanted to just let them rest, they had forgotten to unroll the futon before they fell asleep. The weather was still chilly enough for them to get sick if they weren't covered.

"Akitsu," I said softly, and the snow woman at my side stepped forward wordlessly. "Could you get the futon?" I asked her. With a nod, she headed for the closet, opening it and reaching in to get the bedding. I instead went towards my two sleeping birds.

"Musubi," I said softly, shaking the shrine girl's shoulder gently. "You need to get up for a moment so we can get the bed set up." The shrine girl snorted at my touch, mumbling slightly, but not quite waking up. I shook her again a bit stronger. "Come on, Musubi-chan," I told her. "It'll only be for a second." Finally, the dark haired Sekirei managed to crack her eyelids open long enough to register who it was that was disturbing her.

"Shirou-sama?" she muttered, blinking at me sleepily. I gave her a brief reassuring smile. Her eyes widened and she repeated herself, this time in a more aware tone. "Shirou-sama!"

I had intended to just wake up the older Sekirei briefly so we could move her and Kuu long enough to get the bed spread out and then we could go to sleep. However, it looked like Musubi would have none of that plan. With a cry of joy she unwrapped herself from around Kuu, and somehow managed to launch herself from a fully prone position into a monstrous bear hug. I had been crouched down so I could shake her awake and when the full force of her body hit me I didn't have the leverage to keep myself from tumbling backwards onto the floor with a 'thump'. I fell awkwardly, one futile attempt at regaining my balance by waving my arm ending with me accidently slamming my hand into the wall behind me and leaving me feeling very silly as Musubi wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Shi-rou-sama!" the shrine girl blubbered at me. She stared up at me from her position on my chest, her eyes wide and sparkling with unshed tears and her lips quivered piteously. She looked like nothing more than a giant puppy that had just been kicked. "I'm sowwy!"

"Ah!" I panicked. It had been much easier to deal with Akitsu's desire for confirmation, Homura's insistence in apologizing, and Matsu's casual rationalization of the situation then it was to deal with this crying girl. "It's fine! It's fine! It was my fault, really! I should be the one apologizing!" I desperately tried to calm the girl on the edge of weeping. Awkwardly I tried to settle her down by patting her on the back frantically. It seemed to work in part as Musubi sniffled once, and then seemed to gulp back her actual tears. She sniffled again and then buried her face into my shirt. I tried to suppress a cringe as I could feel her tears, and something else that came from the same area as where her nose would be, soaking into my shirt. I tried desperately not to think what the second location meant as I rubbed the alien's back in circular motions.

"Onii-chan?" a new voice spoke up, and I managed to make out Kusano pushing herself into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes delicately as she glanced around sleepily. I managed to give her a shaky smile, and her sleep filled eyes widened when they locked onto mine. "Onii-chan!" the young girl cried, and launched herself at me, wrapping her limbs around my leg like an octopus. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of the girl so desperate to hug her unofficial big brother.

That was, until she sank her teeth into the flesh of my leg.

"Ouch!" I had to hold myself back from swearing as the little girl proceeded to gnaw on me like dog that had just gotten a new bone. "Kuu-chan!" I exclaimed, staring at the little blond girl as she proceeded to maul me. "Stop that!"

"Gnoh!" she spat back, "Shtubid on'-cha'! 'ou ma'e Guu-cha' c'y!" I couldn't understand a word the vengeful girl was saying. With my arms locked down by a sniffling Musubi I tried to shake the rabid plant user off of me, but couldn't. If I did swing my leg hard enough to kick her off I could hurt her, and so I had to endure the ministrations of the green girl's surprisingly sharp teeth.

"Ow! Ow ow ow!" I gritted my jaw, mostly in an effort to keep from swearing in front of the young impressionable girl. When I found the person responsible for teaching her this habit I was going to unleash Miya on them! Better yet, I was going to wait, patiently, treating whoever they were as a friend and a comrade, invite them into my home and embrace them as a sibling, and then the day when I finally perfect that mask technique of the landlady they would be my first victim! "Kuu-chan! I'm sorry!" I desperately begged, trying to convince the wild animal that masqueraded as a girl to release me. "I'm sorry! I came to apologize! I'll do anything! Just stop!" Good god, I think the girl was deliberately grinding her molars into my thigh!

The vengeful pixie seemed to hear my words, and paused. With her teeth still clamped down on me hard enough to pinch but no longer grinding, she gave me a look with narrowed eyelids. "Gwill 'ou 'et 'e a gneow gneow?" she asked, and she sounded surprisingly shy despite the fact that she was mid-maul.

It sounded like she was offering me terms, but with her mouth full like that I couldn't understand them. "Will I get you a what?" I asked, trying to figure out what it was the girl wanted. That seemed to be the wrong response to give, because the vengeful pixie resumed her chomping torture. "Ow! Kuu-chan! I can't get you what you want if I can't understand you! What would Miya-onee-chan say if she saw you talking with your mouth full?" Desperately I invoked the name of Izumi House's unofficial big sister in an attempt to calm the jaws of this adorable beast.

Though it looked like my words hadn't earned her forgiveness, I at least managed to remind her of her manners. Slowly, with a warning look, the child unlocked her jaws from my leg. "Will you get me a meow-meow?" she repeated, and despite the fact that she had only seconds ago been trying to chew through me she somehow managed to shrink herself into the pose of an adorable girl that was trying to butter up her guardian while she asked for something unreasonable.

I could only blink at her in response. "A meow-meow?" I puzzled, trying to understand what it was she was asking for. It was the wrong response. The tiny Sekirei narrowed her eyes at me and puffed her cheeks in rage, and then savagely resumed her previous attempt to bite off my leg. "You mean a kitty?" I gasped, taking a wild shot in the dark. Kuu paused, and nodded her head carefully, an unusual sensation seeing as she was still clamped on. I winced. "I don't think Izumo House allows pets…" Once more, this was the wrong answer, and the green girl redoubled her efforts to punish me through mastication. "I'll do it! I promise! I'll get you a meow-meow!" I finally capitulated, and immediately she stopped.

"Promise, onii-chan?" she asked me, giving me an adorable glare as she tried to measure my sincerity. I nodded, and if my arms still weren't full of a shrine girl trying to use my shirt as a towel I would have patted her head reassuringly. Then again, considering how mad Kuu seemed to be at me she probably wouldn't have let me at the moment.

"Mmm," Kuu nodded her head seriously, humming an acknowledgment of promise. Then she puffed up her cheeks, still glaring at me. "But Kuu-chan is going to sleep with Aki-chan instead of stupid onii-chan!" With this solemn proclamation of punishment the wrathful imp finally unlocked herself from around my leg. Taking time for one last opportunity to show me how mad she still was at me for making her cry, she kicked my knee with one bare foot, and then ran over to Akitsu. The snow woman had already used the time I was getting mauled to lay out the futon, and when Kuu grabbed onto her hand and started to pull her to the futon the older Sekirei glanced at me for permission. I nodded once, and Akitsu allowed the green girl to lead her to one side of the futon, settling back down to return to sleep. It really was too late for the young Sekirei to be up, and it seemed only her desire to punish me appropriately had given her the energy to rouse herself.

"Well," I mumbled to myself. "I suppose I deserved that." I made a note to myself that Kuu also appeared highly susceptible to bribery. Still, that meant there was only one more Sekirei that I had to apologize to. Musubi was still latched onto me, sniffling plaintively. Though it looked like I would be able to buy Kuu's forgiveness, it seemed like I was going to have to work harder to make it up to the shrine girl.

"Musubi," I murmured, resuming stroking her head. "Listen, it's not your fault. I'm sorry for getting so angry. Please, it'll be okay." I continued to speak the soft words of comfort as the girl began to calm herself down. After one final use of my shirt as a tissue the brunette Sekirei finally seemed to regain enough control of herself to function. She peaked up at me from where she was laying on my chest, her wide eyes pleading.

"I'm sorry, Shirou-sama," she told me earnestly. "Really, Musubi is very sorry she made her Ashikabi upset." Since it was her words that had set me off she no doubt felt that she was personally responsible for my minor breakdown earlier. "It's because Musubi wasn't modest!" she proclaimed, and one hand unlatched itself from around me so she could grind a knuckle into her forehead in self recrimination.

With one of my own arms regaining mobility I quickly reached out and stopped her. "No, it isn't," I instantly assured her, speaking as forcefully as I dared. Musubi was the most earnest of my flock, and if I didn't correct her mistaken assumption immediately then she would no doubt go about trying to punish herself even though she did nothing wrong. "It wasn't your confession that made me mad, Musubi-chan. It just made me realize I was wrong about a whole bunch of things. It was those things that made me upset."

"Really?" she asked, staring up at me to measure my sincerity. When I nodded, she broke into a relieved smile. "Thank goodness!" she cheered, her smile appearing like the sun from behind a cloud. Even though she was already laying flat on me, she somehow managed to lift herself up a few inches so she could tackle me again. I wasn't quite sure how she did it, tackling someone she had already tackled from a position flush against them, but whatever it was she did nearly knocked the breath out of me all over again. "I'm so happy, Shirou-san," she murmured, switching back to the more familiar '-san' form after having been using the formal '-sama' form for the rest of the conversation. The change back to her more regular form of address seemed to indicate that all had been forgiven by the excitable shrine girl. During her odd retackle she had once more thrown her arms around my neck, hugging me exuberantly while freeing my arms completely. Gently, I returned the hug. After a second, the Sekirei seemed to remember something, and turned her face up to look at me expectantly.

"So when are we going to go and find Tsukiumi-san?" she asked as though the entire fight that had interrupted her attempts to get me to go out and wing another of her species had never happened. Instead she just looked at me as though the conclusion was already foregone, and all that was left was to decide when I should go out and pick up the newest member of my flock.

"Musubi," I began slowly, "I'm still not sure it's such a good idea…"

"No!" Musubi instantly cut in, pouting up at me. She disengaged one hand from around my neck and snaked it in till it was between my body, and between our chests. "You two are already connected at the heart," she insisted firmly in a tone that was unlike her normal carefree one. "The power of love will bring you together," she declared. "For a Sekirei, to not have the chance to be with their destined one is a fate worth then death!" The shrine girl Sekirei spoke with such passion in her voice that I found that I couldn't think of a way to argue with her. No, that wasn't what made me hold my tongue. Musubi was always passionate, her enthusiasm continuously present in her cheerful optimism and straightforward way of living. What was different was the presence of conviction. When Musubi spoke of the feelings she had for me, she held such faith in her words, such certainty in the truth of her ideals, that any argument against them died on my lips without being uttered.

I had been waffling on what I would do next. With all my previous plans laying in turmoil, I hadn't been able to figure out what I would do about the problem of Tsukiumi. If it had just been a matter of whether or not to partner with her, then my previous choice of ignoring her until she was taken care of by someone else was the right one in my mind. But taken in the light of the water user responding to me as her chosen mate, with Musubi and now apparently Homura as well supporting the decision to find her and wing her, the decision was less clear. Objectively speaking as a single digit she would make a powerful addition to my flock. Plus with her abilities to use water she would make an effective counterpart to two of my other Sekirei, Homura the flame user and Akitsu the ice wielder.

On the other hand, Tsukiumi hated and wanted to kill me. Even if I were to go after her and try to persuade her 'with words or with fists' like Musubi seemed to want, there was no way of knowing if words would be enough, and for all Musubi seemed to support it I already knew for certain that 'with fists' was completely out of the question.

Finally, I sighed. "I'll go out tomorrow and find her," I gave in to Musubi's demands. Her eyes brightened at her victory, but I gave her a stern look. "But only to talk to her," I insisted. "I'll try to convince her to let herself be winged, but if she still refuses, then that's that." It was a compromise, but Musubi didn't seem to mind.

"Thank you, Shirou-san!" the brunette Sekirei laying on top of me chirped, beaming happily at me before pulling her hand out from between us and hugging me again. I began patting her on the back once more, but paused when the instant her head hit my shoulder I began to hear her making a small rough noises.

It took me a second to realize that the excitement of the day had apparently caught up with her again, because the she was already asleep and starting to snore.

Getting some sleep would probably be a good idea for me as well. Tomorrow promised to be a busy day. I would have to start analyzing the information Matsu had gathered, reevaluate my plans on how to go about fighting this war, deal with the fact that I had accidently started a relationship with multiple partners, try to unravel whatever plot or conspiracy MBI was initiating, attempt to convince a potentially homicidal alien that she really didn't want to kill me and instead wanted to allow me to wing her, and find a kitty.

Strangely enough, it was the kitty that really worried me. I was experienced with all the other tasks, but I'd never had a pet before.


	13. Thirteenth Wing

In Flight: Thirteenth wing

_Author's notes: Well, about a week. That's not bad. Considering what happened anyway. You see, last chapter someone mentioned how Kuu's biting was reminiscent of Index from 'Toaru majustu no index'. Honestly, I had never seen the series, so I decided to give it a once over. Which sorta led to me marathoning both seasons. That took up a bit of time I might add. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it was an okay anime. The plot was interesting, and I think a proper Nasu crossover would work really well, but I found it a bit to weighed down by shounen influences. The whole 'give a lecture to the enemy explaining your ideals and opening their eyes to the truth' bit was pretty heavy in there. Really took away from the action. I thought the most redeeming part of the show was the fact that despite that most of the enemies that showed up were female, the male lead didn't hesitate to smack the shit out of them if he was required to. It was actually kind of refreshing to see the male lead treat his female antagonists with equal force as he did his male antagonists. And almost none of them ended up falling in love with him afterwords either. Almost. That alone would have delayed me, but well, when I was hunting the episodes down that one, one of the links ended up going to a completely different series that was so incredibly unusual that I ended up marathoning THAT one afterwords. This particular gem was called 'Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt'. It was apparently something Gainax came up with while in the midst of their drunken celebrating upon the conclusion of their last work and was meant as homage/parody of American Saturday Morning cartoons. It left me silently shaking my head, not sure if I was enraptured or appalled by the sheer perversity of it. _

_Gainax, what have you done? They're already planning a second season of it now too._

_If that wasn't enough of a delay, one of my reviewers mentioned how they were curious if I would have Tsukiumi, who does appear in this chapter for all you eagerly awaiting her arrival, speak in Victorian English. I had no idea what they meant at first, until I realized that they were referring to the dubbed copies of Sekirei. I had only ever watched the subtitled versions, and thus then had to go and see how the English versions played out. _

_Once more reaffirming my general hatred for dubbed anime. I know that there are good ones out there, but they're so far and so few in-between, that I had mostly given up on them completely. Still, I had to give the Old English Speaking Tsukiumi credit. It really did have a nice feel to it. I even considered trying to write her that way, going so far as to experiment with the dialogue a few times. Sadly, I discovered that I have absolutely zero talent for writing it appropriately, so I had to settle with something more akin to how the subtitled series went. _

_And thus, a week has passed, and here it is, the next chapter. I know I promised people that this one would have asskickery in it, but my planned scenes ran a little long, and thus you only got the promise of violence. Don't worry. Next chapter will deliver. When you reach the end, you'll know why. And, probably curse me profoundly for the cliff hanger!_

_Now. Onto chapter specifics._

_*Spoiler Alert!*_

_First off. Tsukiumi. I'll be the first to admit that she's both very difficult and very easy to write. On the easy hand, well, she's like the classic Tsundere model, something even Shirou notices no doubt due to his long experience with the breed. On the hard part, well, she's tsundere. Trying to balance her tsun-tsun side with her dere-dere side is a bit difficult, seeing as I've never actually written one before. Still, I like to think that I managed to create a fair facsimile of her nature here. Any Tsukiumi fans that want to give me their opinion, feel free to do so. _

_Next off, Akitsu. I was aiming for something specific here. Namely, the realization that 'scrapped numbers' are more than just people who need extra hugs. Akitsu is a genuine game breaker. She was so goddamn powerful that she was being forcibly removed from the Sekirei plan due to her sheer strength. In original canon she beat the hell out of Homura, a single digit without any noticeable effort on her part. Sure, that was when he was losing control of his power and hadn't been winged yet, but Akitsu also bitch-slapped Uzume around like she was a little kid. Uzume was a strong, driven, and experienced Sekirei. Uzume managed to hold her own against Kazehana, a war tested and extremely powerful Sekirei in her own right. And against Akitsu she might as well have been standing still. I'd tried to hint at that before, mentioning how Akitsu overcame even Hikari and Hibiki's Norito, but here I'm trying to make it perfectly clear. Did it come across like that? I know Akitsu has a lot of fans out there. Heck, I'm one of them. Am I still doing her justice, portraying her in a way which stays true to her original character, yet somehow manages to show my perception of her? _

_Third off. Musubi. You know, originally the only reason I kept the primary female lead around was because she gave me an option into bringing Karasuba into the plot later? I think I mentioned that before in my notes. Well, it looks like I might have been mistaken. Back then, before I completed my Nasu-verse studying, I didn't really give her much thought. Now, well, now I can see a use for her. I'm building to it, and it should probably only be three or four chapters before it comes out, but I'm definitely building towards something specific with her now. Until then, what do you all think of her? Am I making her too scatterbrained? Is she interesting as a character? Shirou doesn't have Minato's fascination with the original first Sekirei, but are their interactions genuine anyway?_

_Finally, and this is a big spoiler, so don't read unless you already finished the chapter or just don't care, Yukari. Did you all really think I was just going to leave her behind? Hah! Not a chance! Shirou's perverse little sister is going to have a big roll of her own in the future! Five points to anyone who can recognize the series she got the phrase 'life counseling' from. And does anyone else get the impression that her and Kokuto Azaka would get along like peas in a pod?_

_Anyway, that's enough for now. Please, enjoy the chapter. If you like it, give me a shout! Questions/comments/concerns? Let me know. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"Shirou," Homura began, sounding as though he was wavering between either anger or embarrassment. "What on earth are we doing?"

"Seeing how much it would cost to get a cat," I told him, my eyes drifting between two cages, one holding a tiny calico kitten and the other with an older sleek pure black cat. Both of them were definitely felines, and both of them seemed as though they would suffice as suitable bribes for appeasing the wrath of the mighty Kuu. What I was trying to figure out was which would be the easiest to care for. I had a newly acquired list of important accessories, provided to me by the helpful store clerk, and I was already feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things were apparently required to properly care for a pet. Not to mention the pet itself. Apparently it was up to the buyer to see to it that the new animal received the appropriate medical treatments after purchase.

"I can see that," the other man pointed out, rubbing his forehead. "What I meant was 'why'?"

"Because it's the only thing that will get Kuu-chan to forgive me for last night," I admitted, poking the calico kitten through the cage. The puffy little ball of fur noticed my intruding appendage, and set about trying to savagely maul it. I managed to recover my digit before too much damage was done to it, and decided that I already had enough small adorable things trying to bite me. I performed the same test with the black haired cat, and it gave me a look as though to ask me, 'do you really think I'd fall for something like that?' and promptly started licking its paw in a dignified fashion.

"Well, that's all and fine," Homura admitted, and I could see one of his eyelids twitch in suppressed irritation. "But don't you think you could take care of that later? I mean, shouldn't you be worried about more important things?"

I gave him a blank look. "Have you ever had someone bite you hard enough to leave perfect records of their teeth bruised into your thigh?" I asked him rhetorically.

"Well, Misako does tend to get a little enthusiastic," he began reluctantly his face thoughtful as he admitted that one of his clients apparently liked to keep things a bit rough, and then continued while giving me a disapproving look. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

It was my turn for my eyelid to twitch. "First of all, I was talking about how Kuu-chan punished me yesterday. She wouldn't stop biting until I agreed to get her a 'meow-meow'," I explained, using the girl's choice of words. Homura's eyebrows raised in understanding. "And second of all, can you please refrain from telling me about just what you get up to with your girlfriends? It's just a little awkward for me."

Homura snorted at my embarrassed plea. "Not much for swapping stories, are you?" he asked me giving me an amused look. "That's unexpectedly shy of you."

I shook my head with a wince. "Swapping stories just sounds like an excuse to brag to me," I admitted. "And if Rin or Saber had ever heard me bragging about our relationship they wouldn't hold back in letting me know how bad an idea doing something like that would be." I felt something brush against my finger, and realized I had left it in the cage with the black cat while I was distracted by the flame user beside me. Apparently, at some point the feline emperor in front of me had deigned to give me the opportunity to scratch its ears, and was now glaring at me for not taking advantage of its generosity. Obediently I began paying homage.

"Rin and Saber," I heard Homura mutter, and when I gave him a sharp glance, he quickly coughed and changed the subject. "Never mind. What I meant was didn't you say earlier that you were coming out to the city to look for Tsukiumi? If that's your plan, then why are you looking for a pet first?"

The imperious cat finally decided I had paid sufficient tribute, and turned with dignified grace to return to a small alcove in the corner of its cage. Cautiously I removed my finger, double checking to make sure that the kitty hadn't secretly assaulted me at some point, and answered Homura's question. "I am looking," I assured him. "I'm just taking the opportunity to do some reconnaissance on the 'meow-meow' front at the same time." The flame user crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a doubtful look.

"So you're looking for a Sekirei in a pet store?" he asked me, one eyebrow rising as he spoke in a sarcastic tone. "Then shouldn't you be in the bird section?"

I snorted despite myself at his unsubtle joke. After all, 'Sekirei' did mean 'wagtail'. It made me wonder how the aliens had come to share the same name as a species of bird. "Do you think that would work?" I asked him, returning with my own jibe. He rolled his eyes at me, and I decided to remind him of a little fact he apparently had forgotten. "At the moment there are three other Sekirei, most likely within a one hundred meter radius of me," I told him. "One of them appears to be some kind of wind user, and if I had to make a guess I'd say the other two are weapon users." He gave me a bewildered look, and I reached up and tapped my nose meaningfully. It took him a second and then comprehension dawned on his face. "I have Matsu back at the inn hooked up to one of MBI's tracking satellites," I continued, explaining the plan more fully. "But the network is apparently incomplete. It can track ninety percent of the geographical area of Shin Tokyo, but the other ten percent has to be done manually. She's keeping an eye on the computers to see if Tsukiumi shows up on any of them, but since she can't find her at the moment, all we have to do is make a general sweep of each of the areas that Matsu can't monitor."

"So Matsu provides the general area and you use your strange talent to find her specific location," Homura finished for me, tilting his head to the side as he considered the plan. He took a moment, and then nodded slowly. "Yeah," he agreed. "That's a fairly good plan. But wouldn't it be easier if you were to take a position on the rooftops?" he suggested. "Even if you can tell if a Sekirei is nearby, you don't exactly know what her particular scent would be. We should be up top so that we can investigate each of the Sekirei when you locate them."

I shook my head. "I might not need to know the specific scent of her power but I know enough to make a good guess. She's a water user, isn't she? So far I haven't felt anything that I would associate with water. And I don't want to hunt down every Sekirei I come across. If we're seen then they might try to engage in battle, and I don't want to risk any collateral damage hitting the streets while it's still daylight and busy. Even if we manage to avoid engaging, then the other Sekirei would still know what I look like and that I have multiple Sekirei. I want to do my best to stay relatively unknown to the other participants in the Plan until later."

Homura grit his teeth, shaking his head. "You really have thought this out, haven't you, Shirou?" he muttered, acknowledging my arguments but still seeming disgruntled about something. "But I hate to say this; you're mistaken about one thing. If you want to conceal the fact that you're an Ashikabi and that we are your Sekirei, you're failing."

I glanced up at him, surprised at his declaration. "Wait. Why do you say that?" So far I'd made sure to keep all our travel strictly mundane. In my experience, most inhuman creatures that need to go anywhere do it in the most direct manner, going straight from point to point. That kind of travel usually involved them going over most of their obstacles, be the obstacles fences, buildings, or even people. It's the number one unspoken rule for hunting down non-humans: just look up. If you see someone jumping from roof top to rooftop, you found your non-human.

"Because people are staring," he pointed out. I blinked and looked around.

"Ah," I breathed a sigh of understanding. "I see what you mean."

"Look, Shirou-san!" Musubi shouted with a giggle. Somehow she had managed to work open one of the locked cages which seemed to be a holding pen reserved for adorable puppies, and was now clutching two of them, one under each arm, even as the rest of the cage's inhabitants began making desperate attempts at fleeing their former prison. She let loose another laugh and squirmed as the small canines in her arms set about eagerly licking her face. She would have been noticeable enough for that alone, but she was also still in her normal shrine girl outfit on top of that, and even as one of the store's cashiers rushed over to return the animals to their rightful place more and more customers were either staring at her unabashedly or walking away hurriedly with their faces turned away from the loud intrusion into their otherwise normal lives. Standing in her usual place behind me and in her usual outfit Akitsu was drawing nearly as much attention as the brunette currently being berated by the management. I had been exposed to it for so long that I had gotten used to it, but it didn't change the fact that Akitsu's off the shoulder, cleavage exposing, and leg revealing kimono wasn't the kind of thing most people saw on the streets.

Even Homura was drawing a few odd looks, despite the fact that his chosen outfit was a great deal more inconspicuous. The dark slacks, coat, and gloves were the kind of thing one might expect a normal person to wear, though they did seem a little strangely cut. In his case it was his mask that was drawing attention, though I think most people simply took it as a sign that the grey haired man was concealing his face because of a cold.

When I had announced earlier today that I would be going out to try and find the number zero nine in order to talk with her, these three had been the ones of my flock that had decided to come along. Akitsu's presence was a given at this point and Musubi had volunteered to come along to possibly provide supporting testimony to my eligibility as a suitable Ashikabi. I had somewhat expected the two of them to volunteer, but I had been surprised when Homura had announced that he would come too. I wasn't certain if he was hoping his own familiarity with Tsukiumi would be enough to help convince the water user to allow herself to be winged, or if he was coming along in regards to his position as the Guardian of the Sekirei, or even if he was simply volunteering his presence as an extra bodyguard in case negotiations turned violent. Whatever the case was, it looked like he hadn't been expecting quite as much public exposure as we were actually receiving.

"Well," I admitted. "I guess you three do kind of stick out." Homura gave me a level stare.

"You're not exactly blending in either," he argued back, looking over my shoulder. I followed his gaze to the bundle which was conspicuously strapped to my back. Despite the fact that I had three bodyguards, I still hadn't been exactly happy with the idea of going into a potentially dangerous situation unarmed. I was still concealing my abilities, despite the fact that Miya was now aware that I had some in the first place, and I couldn't exactly go around tracing my weapons if I found myself suddenly stuck in the middle of a conflict, so before we had left I had made a quick trip to my workshop. When I had returned, it was with a bundle wrapped in a linen sheet and tied together with some packing twine containing an already traced set of my chosen weapons in it. They should last a few hours before they need to be retraced, and I could probably sneak away from my flock long enough to recreate them if I needed to.

But for now that meant I was lugging around a large and oddly shaped package that was drawing even more stares than Homura's unusual face mask.

"Ah." I gave the corner of the bundle sticking out over my shoulder a look, and then nodded. "You might be right."

"Excuse me sir," a new voice interrupted our conversation. I turned to see a disappointed Musubi, bereft of puppies, trailing behind an angry store manager. "May I have a word with you about your friend's behavior?"

*Scene Break*

"I'm sorry, Shirou-san!" Musubi wailed, her eyes large and sparkling with unshed tears as her lips quivered in remorse. "I got us kicked out of the store."

"Its fine, Musubi-chan," I reassured her, trying to calm the emotional Sekirei down. "We were only really going in there to look anyway. There are plenty of other pet stores around." It really wasn't a problem. It wasn't like it was the first store that I had gotten banned from due to one of my flock. At least this time nothing had caught fire and I didn't have to convince the management that I was gay.

Homura seemed less inclined to forgive his fellow Type her transgressions. "What were you thinking opening the cage like that, Musubi?" he chided her, giving her a stern glare as he did so. The flame user seemed to take having been thrown out as a mixed blessing. On one hand, it meant that we were back on the streets and able to concentrate on our original purpose for having come out here anyway. On the other hand, it meant that we had received a lot of attention and been publicly kicked out of a store in front of witnesses. Even now as we walked down the street in a group we were still receiving a number of curious stares at our odd appearances.

"That the puppies were cute and that I wanted to hug one?" the shrine girl supplied, answering the masked man's rhetorical question innocently. Homura blinked at her honest response, and then he palmed his forehead, his eyes shut in what I assumed was a grimace.

"Use some common sense!" he scolded her, the words sounding as though they were coming out of grit teeth.

"Common sense?" Musubi tilted her head to the side her earlier tears forgotten as she gave into curiosity. "What's that? Is it like 'decency'? I'm still not certain I have 'decency' down yet, so I'm not sure I'm ready for another one." Homura hung his head in despair, and I decided to interject for the sake of his sanity. I sighed, knowing that the shrine girl was being serious. It was amazing sometimes what having been raised in a lab would leave her ignorant of. Then again, maybe the scientists really had made an effort to teach her. As cheerful and well meaning as Musubi was, well, the observation I had made when I had first met her still remained true: she was a bit of a scatterbrain.

"You've been doing pretty good with 'decency'," I assured the still curious brunette. "I think when we get home we can start working on 'common sense'."

Musubi raised one clenched fist in the air, and nodded her head resolutely. "I'll do my best, Shirou-san!" she promised me seriously.

"I'm sure you will," I assured her, giving her a small smile. For everything else that could be said about the bear Sekirei she was certainly a hard worker. Once she chose a course of actions, whether it was doing house hold chores, or attempting to fill in the blanks in her social skills, or even sparring with Miya, Musubi put all of her immeasurable enthusiasm behind her attempts. "But for now," I continued, "we should find another pet store." I pulled out my cell phone, flipping it open as I did so. "So how do I get this thing to show maps again?" I asked, eying the contraption in front of me nervously. I still wasn't sure how I felt about the recent revelation that not only could phones be used for talking and listening, but also apparently for sending written messages, finding maps, and even connecting to the internet. It made me feel a little dirty to have something like that in my pocket without evening knowing about it, but I had to figure that since everyone else had phones as well they couldn't accuse me of being a pervert for just for having something that could connect to the internet on me.

"Ah! Here," Musubi chirped, taking the contraption from my hand and flipping it open. She began pecking away at various buttons on it, and I tried my best to follow what she was doing. Maybe Matsu was right, and I should start paying more attention to computers and things. If even Musubi could use them, then I really must be falling behind the times when it came to technology.

"Wait," Homura broke in, still sounding as though his teeth were being grit together. "Why are we going to another pet store? Isn't it a good time to start focusing on the reason we're out here?"

"I know, I know," I sighed. "But that doesn't mean I can't find the apology present for Kuu-chan first, before I have to track down a powerful and dangerous Sekirei that wants to kill me and then ask her to allow me to perform a mating ritual with me despite the fact that she will probably do nothing more than use the opportunity to attempt to murder me."

Homura narrowed his eyes at me. "Shirou, you're seriously not using Kuu as an excuse to try and get out of finding Tsukiumi, are you?" Musubi blinked, and turned to give me an accusing at the thought that I might have been purposefully delaying going after the water user in an attempt to give the situation her reaction had put me in a chance to go away on its own.

"Of course not," I declared, trying not to glance to the side nervously at having been caught in my ploy. It wasn't exactly a lie either, seeing as I really didn't SERIOUSLY think it would work. Didn't mean I couldn't try it though. "But that doesn't change the fact that I can't just ignore my responsibilities to Kuu either."

"Enough already," Homura declared, reaching the end of his patience. "Can we hurry up and get to the roofs already? Miya doesn't even allow pets." It was my turn to narrow my eyes suspiciously.

"You just want to go to the roofs because you don't like people staring at you," I accused him back. I knew that I had hit the mark when his own eyes glanced guiltily to the side. "And what do you mean Miya doesn't allow pets? I mean, I know she had a no pet clause, but isn't there a chance that I could convince her otherwise? You've known her longer." I had been hoping that I'd be able to make it back to the inn and be able to deliver the soon to be acquired meow-meow into Kuu's eager arms before the alien landlady had a chance to see it. Hopefully if she had a chance to see how happy it made Kuu than she might be willing to bend the rules a bit. I would no doubt get a lecture or two for being so underhanded, but it would be worth it.

"There's no chance that Miya will bend on the 'no pet' rule," Homura declared, shaking his head firmly. "She used to allow them, but one of the older residents's had a cat once as well. It was a mean little thing that used to destroy the tatami mats and shoji screens constantly. One day it got into her husband's shrine and wrecked it. Ever since then she's been adamant about no more animals in Izumo House."

"Shit," I muttered. If that were the case then how the hell was I going to get one for Kuu?

"Ah," a new voice spoke up, and Homura and I both nearly jumped in surprise when we both realized that the up to now silent Akitsu had interjected. After her customary pause, she continued. "I wanted a dog," she admitted, and despite her usually cool demeanor her disappointment was obvious to see.

"Well," I supplied. "Next pet store we get to we can ask one of the clerks to let you hold one," I offered her. Now I really had to talk to Miya about letting up on the no pet rule. I already had a weak spot for Akitsu's requests, and that was before I had discovered the tragic truth of what it meant to be a scrapped number. Now, with my new knowledge of her position, I was even more inclined to give her what she requested. Given how rare it was for her to make a personal request, it must mean she had really wanted one. Either that it meant that she was getting confident enough in her position as one of my Sekirei to be comfortable speaking up more. Either one would be a good reason in my book to grant her wish.

"You mean you can just ask to hold one?" Musubi chimed in, her eyes wide in shock as she realized that she could have her chance to play with another set of puppies without getting us kicked out of wherever we were heading. She clasped her hands under her chin, and her eyes glistened with joy at the thought of what was waiting for her when we finally made it to the next store.

"You mean you didn't even think to ask last time?" Homura demanded of her, looking flustered at the conversation's constant shift away from hunting for the number zero nine and back to pets.

Musubi stuck out her tongue at Homura's incredulous question, and knuckled her forehead. "Common sense is hard!" she admitted sheepishly.

"Enough! We're here to find Tsukiumi, not go looking through pet stores," Homura finally snapped, pointing at the three of us. "You can't even bring one back to the inn, so there's no point in even bothering to go look! Now can we please get back to being serious?"

Musubi wilted and nodded her head slowly, looking crestfallen at the lecture. I shrugged, accepting the flame user's logic. Still, there might be a way around the no pet clause. I wasn't willing to give up on that cat yet, not with Kuu's molars waiting for me if I failed to produce. "Maybe if we kept it out in the shed…" I began, trying to decide if I could make my workshop pet proof, and then froze midsentence. Swiftly I turned my head up, towards the east, closing my eyes as I did so. Behind me Akitsu shifted, catching on to my sudden change in mood, her kimono rustling and her chains clinking as she did so.

"That's it!" Homura snapped, not noticing the fact that I wasn't paying attention to the conversation anymore. "If all you three are going to do is mess around, then I'm going to…"

"Found her," I cut him off, my voice serious. I opened my eyes, focused on the direction the scent came from. From the corner of my eyes I saw Homura stop mid sentence to stare at me in surprise, while Musubi perked up instantly.

"Wait," the flame user held a hand up to forestall any more sudden announcements. "You actually found her? Are you sure?" He gave me a skeptical look, trying to determine if I had actually managed to locate our target, or if I was just saying that in order to deceive him away from trying to get the group back on track.

I took another sniff of the air, tasting the flavor of power in it. "It smells deep, briny, like the ocean with a strong wind coming off it," I described for him, closing my eyes once more to focus on the scent. "And it's strong. No doubt about that. It's comparable in strength to yours and Akitsu's intensity. I haven't had a chance to go over the files Matsu gathered properly yet, but even if there are other water using Sekirei I don't think they'd be this overpowering. It's most likely her."

"Ah." Homura blinked, caught off guard by my shift in demeanor. He seemed to realize that yes, I was being serious. It looked like my sudden change in behavior was enough to throw him off his train of thought completely. "Now what?" he asked, struggling to regain his composure.

"Now we go get our new friend!" Musubi exclaimed, throwing a fist into the air as she hopped excitedly. Akitsu turned so that she was facing in the same direction I was, her eyes flickering as she scanned the rooftops for the Sekirei that I had managed to locate.

"First, we duck into an alley," I told her. "Then, we take to the roofs like Homura wanted. I know she's in range, but not precisely where. Once we find her, well," I shrugged my shoulders, feeling them crack as the weight of Kanshou and Bakuya hung on them comfortingly, "then we talk."

*Scene Break*

I was thankful that when we finally managed to locate the Sekirei that had been haunting my dreams the scenery was at least different. She was still on a roof, that much was the same, but it was a fairly simple one at least, a small collection of air conditioners in a corner and nothing else. Our target was another matter. When I had my first glance at the woman who had been haunting my dreams, it was as though she had stepped directly out of my slumber, manifesting herself into reality identical to how I had imagined her. Standing tall, a breeze slowly ruffling her hair and coat, I set eyes on Tsukiumi, the number zero nine, for the first time.

When the four of us alighted, leaping from another nearby roof, the blond Sekirei twitched, hearing our landing, but didn't respond in any other way. I removed my arm from around Akitsu's shoulders and in response she hesitated before taking her own arm from around my waist. Homura landed slightly in front of the two of us, while Musubi touched down on my other side, one hand up on her lips as she peered at the target of our search. It was her first time seeing the water user, and the shrine girl looked curious about the one she hoped would be her flock mate.

"Is that you, Homura?" Tsukiumi spoke, not turning around. It was the first time I had heard it in person, and perhaps unsurprisingly the first time I had heard her that hadn't involved death threats. She continued putting her hands on her hips without bothering to turn around yet. "Come for a rematch? Regardless of the fact that you have found an Ashikabi, I will kill you for certain today!" she declared. Looks like I spoke to soon about those death threats.

Homura seemed at a loss for words for a moment. I caught his eyes as they briefly flickered to me, and then he studiously made sure not to look again. "Ah," he began, and it sounded like for all his enthusiasm for hunting down this Sekirei he hadn't really thought about what he would do once we found her. "That's not exactly why I came," he admitted. He took a deep breath, and then squared his shoulders. "Actually, I've brought someone I was hoping you'd like to meet," he declared.

Tsukiumi snorted. One of her hands came up to run through her long hair, tossing it over her shoulder. "What's this? Is it not enough that I have to endure your sermons, but now you have sunk so low as to attempt to play matchmaker as well?" she asked him, scornfully. "It doesn't matter how much you preach, I will never submit to one of those lowly monkeys!" She spun at the last statement, one finger raised to point accusingly at the flame user, her features proud as she made her declaration of intent. She favored Homura with a condescending look, before her eyes swept over to where I was standing next to Akitsu and Musubi.

Well, time to give this a shot. I awkwardly raised a hand. "Ah, hi?" I tried. It looks like Homura wasn't the only one who hadn't really thought too hard about what he would do once he found the target.

For a second Tsukiumi looked at the three of us while frozen, as though surprised that her acquaintance had actually brought friends. Then, without warning, her face turned a startling shade of white. "Uh," she tried to say something, but it looked like she was having trouble moving her lips. Then, just as unexpectedly as she turned white, her face flooded with color. Starting at her cheeks her flush spread until her entire face was so red that I felt a moment of worry for her. That did not look healthy at all. She stood frozen for another few moments, and then with a tremble it appeared her legs went out on her and she collapsed to her knees, still pointing at Homura while staring at me. I was worried for a second that her sudden inability to stand might result in her falling off the edge of the roof, but she managed to keep from taking a nasty tumble. "Erk," she swallowed, still apparently unable to say anything as her hand finally seemed to lose strength, sinking to hang at her side as her breath began to come in short pants.

I sighed. Yeah. She was definitely reacting alright. This was even worse than Homura's initial response to seeing me. The flame user looked caught between worrying about the water user's intense reaction and being disturbed by it. He gave me an annoyed look. "Why is it that no one reacts around you like they're supposed too?" he asked me, his frustration over my inability to do anything normally leaking through.

"I wish I knew," I admitted, giving the panting water user a glance. "Then I could find out what I'm doing and stop doing it." From what I knew this was actually a pretty standard reaction of flushing and shortness of breath, albeit greatly magnified. So far she hadn't launched herself at me or spontaneously combusted, so I counted these as good signs.

"You," Tsukiumi whispered, apparently recovering from the sudden assault of my presence on her psyche. Slowly, as though her legs were still unsteady beneath her she began to reclaim her feet. "You, you are an Ashikabi," she accused me. I nodded at her declaration, giving her time to regain more steady footing.

"Yes," I began. After a moment's hesitation, I decided to simply go ahead and begin explaining my case. "Nearly a week ago the two of us started to react, and so I decided to come meet you."

"Heh. Heh heh." It took me a moment to recognize the noise the blond was making was in fact laughter rather than her simply having breathing trouble. She finished making it back to a standing position, though she kept her head bowed, a curtain of her gold hair concealing her face as she did so. "You wanted to meet me? What a surprise. I wanted to meet you too." The water user tossed her head, throwing her hair back over her shoulder while she put one hand on her hip and pointed the other at me proudly. "Now let our first meeting be our last! I'll kill you before I allow you to lay your hands on me!" Even as she announced her intention, the scent of her power ripened. The smell of brine grew thick, and just like in my dreams, water began to form out of the air, first in small patches of mist which quickly condensed into hanging particles of water. The droplets began to move, flowing together into each other, combining as they raced around her until she was surrounded by flowing ribbons of blue and white.

"Oi," Homura began, sounding like he had expected this to happen but had harbored some small hope that it might be avoided. "Tsukiumi, if you'll just wait a moment…"

"Now die, monkey!" Tsukiumi ordered me imperiously. Around her the streams of water froze where they were in mid rotation, quivering as though being put through some great pressure. "Water Celebration!" she shouted, and like switch had been flicked all the liquid she had been gathering around her launched at me in a thunderous wave.

It was amazing to watch. I had seen other magi in the past manipulate water, so the attack itself wasn't special. It was the absolute skill and speed with which she gathered the element to her that impressed me. I could nearly mark the exact points in the air where she was collecting the moisture to feed into her attack. What had started as simply a few streamers gathered into a point nearly a foot away from her outstretched hand and formed into a torrent that rushed at me. Even as it closed in on me the river continued to grow, as though it was sucking the water out of the air as it passed to feed its fury. I'd never seen a magi manage to use water so effectively. There was no relying on nearby lakes or streams, just a simple mastery of the element so profound it would probably allow the number zero nine to fight effectively even in the middle of a desert.

I stood still, facing the eminent tidal wave resolutely. At my back, a ruffle of kimono told me all I needed to know. With the same quickness of motion that I had only seen her display once before, back in the forest right after I had rescued Kuu-chan, Akitsu appeared before me in a blur of white.

Just as amazing as Tsukiumi's strike, Akitsu's defense was enough to nearly cause me to shake my head in envy. When the crushing river of water closed to a half dozen feet away from me the breakers at the front crashed against something as though they had discovered an invisible wall. Wherever the water found that boundary, the color was sucked from it and the fluid changed solid. The sheer speed that the water froze with over caused the newly formed ice structure to crack as the rapid expansion of the forming crystals put too much pressure on the general structure. The countless gallons of water still rushing at me tried to flow over or around the wall of ice, and as it did so it sketched the outline of the barrier around us. Ice spread, extending in a ball around us as though the snow woman was in the center of a sphere with a radius of six feet that extended around her in all directions.

The noise of water crashing against ice lasted for a handful of moments, and then trailed off. For a moment silence reigned over the rooftop, and then I could make out Tsukiumi's strangled voice come from beyond the barrier. "Wha-?" As though the water user's voice was the cue that Akitsu was waiting for, the partially described dome of ice shattered, the pieces of it breaking away as though they were being ground into dust by some great pressure, and in the end all I felt was a light dusting of something cold settle over me before the roof was once more clear. On the other end of the building Tsukiumi was gaping at having her attack halted so effortlessly. Her eyes flickered from me to Akitsu in front of me and Musubi beside me who was hopping up and down with her hands clenched under her fist as her eyes sparkled in joy. It seemed that she had been so focused on me before that she hadn't even registered the two standing beside me until just now. She blinked, still gaping before realizing what she was doing. With an embarrassed 'huff' she straightened, once more standing proudly, one hand on her hip while her other rested gracefully at her side. "I see," she proclaimed in a disdainful voice. "So you weren't so foolish as to appear before me unguarded. But if you think just these two will be enough to stop me, then you are mistaken." Her hand came up to run through her hair tossing it back over her shoulder again. "After all, I am the strongest Sekirei!" she finished, smiling proudly as she did so.

"A strong opponent! A strong opponent!" Musubi didn't even seem to realize that the meeting to try and wing the girl opposite us wasn't going the way she had planned. Instead, she seemed to have been overwhelmed with the fact that a powerful member of her race was attacking. It looked like some switch inside of her had been flicked and now she was firmly back in her 'battle maniac' mode. A short distance away Homura stood ready, a white flame flickering in his palm as he did so. His posture was aggressive, leaning forward towards me as though he had been about to leap in and try to drag me out of the way of the attack that Akitsu had thwarted. I'm not sure if he had remembered in time that Akitsu was more than capable of stopping a water based attack and held back or if he just hadn't been able to move fast enough to come to my aid first.

"Now! Prepare yourself for death, monkey!" the Tsukiumi commanded me, and just like before the streamers of water began to form around her. More of them were appearing this time, as though she was preparing herself for an all out attack. She sneered at me, a triumphant look on her face. It only lasted for a moment, and then it was wiped away and replaced with a look of shock.

It seemed that Akitsu had had enough. The scent of her power, like wintergreen and the bite of a cold wind on the inside of my nostril, intensified. I had grown so use to having her around that I had begun to subconsciously filter the usual feel of her power out, but now once more it came to the fray in what was nearly a physical assault on my senses. Around her, in the same fashion as Tsukiumi's streamers, shards of ice began to form. First one at a time, then two at a time, more and more glistening daggers began to dot the air, until a veritable avalanche stood poised to be released. Around her a trail of mist began to form, sketching a perfect circle with about a four foot radius. Within that circle frost began to form on the ground. It was as though the arctic chill that my first Sekirei possessed had transformed the area within that circle into a tundra, and even the slightly chill air of early spring was warm enough in comparison to cause mist to form.

I couldn't see her face from where she stood in front of me, but I could see the stiffness of her body in her usual standing position; feet together, shoulders back, arms at her side and a little behind her. When she spoke, I could hear it in her voice. "If you threaten my master again," she said in tone different from her usual one, "then I will kill you."

It seemed that Akitsu was angry.

"What is this?" an unnerved Tsukiumi whispered, watching the enraged snow women in front of her with wary eyes. The blond water user shook herself, and in a once more strong tone of voice announced herself. "I am number zero nine, Tsukiumi! Who are you?" Homura, who had been staring with equal intensity at the display of the scrap number's power, snapped his head back towards the water user for some reason. Musubi on the other hand looked like the sight of Akitsu's strength was driving her towards some over stimulated collapse caused by her excited hyperventilation. That Sekirei really worried me some times.

"I am Akitsu." The snow woman announced herself tonelessly, but gave no number. With a start, I realized I had never learned it. I knew that Homura was number zero six, Musubi was number eighty eight, Kusano was number one hundred and eight, and that Matsu was number zero two, but I had never learned what number Akitsu was. The fact that Akitsu didn't reveal it seemed to enrage the water user opposite her.

"Spurn me, will you?" she growled, and now her anger seemed to have shifted from me and onto the kimono clad wraith standing in the midst of fog caused by her own power before me completely. "It is the sacred duty of a Sekirei to announce their name and number before engaging in battle! How dare you…!" the streamers of water began to turn faster as she built up a head of steam, but right before she could unleash herself a voice interrupted her.

"She's a scrap, Tsukiumi," Homura's declaration cut into the mounting tension like a knife. The water user blinked, turning to face the other male present as though remembering he was there for the first time. "She doesn't have a number to give."

Tsukiumi blinked again, and then turned back to stare at the ice maiden facing her. For the first time the water user seemed to notice the crest imprinted on Akitsu's forehead. "What is this?" she demanded, stomping one foot in agitation. "Why is something like that out?"

That was enough to remind me of where I was. This had been the first time I had actually seen Sekirei do battle. The sheer presence of their power, the sight of their strange abilities in action, had been enough to almost make me forget about just where I was and why I was here. But to hear someone so casually call Akitsu 'something like that' as though she were some kind of defective specimen to be mocked was enough to set my teeth on edge.

"And just what the hell do you mean by that?" I demanded, narrowing my eyes at the blond Sekirei being orbited by numerous rings of water across from me. My sudden interjection seemed to surprise the gathered aliens. Tsukiumi blinked, looking confused for a moment, and then seemed to remember who I was. She scowled at me, and crossed her arms. As though that were a signal the streamers of water froze, and then lost their cohesion, splashing down onto the ground and splashing away from her, leaving a half circle of wetness around her on the roof. The other half fell over the edge and onto the street below, no doubt prompting a number of innocent bystanders to wonder just why they were suddenly soaked.

"'What do I mean by that?'" Tsukiumi scoffed at me. "You have a lot of nerve, talking to me like that, you ape." Though Akitsu didn't actually move, I could tell that the last comment had her bristling by a nearly unnoticeable shifting in the still poised icicles of death surrounding her.

"You're pretty full of yourself aren't you, little birdie?" I pointed out, glaring at the mouthy alien in front of me. Tsukiumi gasped, surprised at my come back to her slur on my species.

"W-w-w-what!" she bellowed, clenching both her fists with her hands extended downwards, arching her back like a cat while she did so. I wasn't sure if it was just the wind picking up or a sign of her power getting agitated and affecting the environment around her, but her hair and coat began billowing around her. "How dare you speak so rudely! You low born oaf!"

"Self absorbed twit! Like you're one to talk about being rude!" I shot back, feeling my teeth clench as I felt my temper slip. I had spent the last four days having to put up with restless slumber and disturbing dreams because of this Sekirei. I'd had enough of her badmouthing me in my sleep and there was no way I was going to roll over and take it while awake.

"Wait. Just hold on a second!" a new voice interrupted our brewing fight, and I realized that I had completely forgotten that there were other people present on the roof at the moment. I could see the water user I had been fighting with come to the same realization. As one we both turned to look at the one to interrupt us to see that Homura had interjected himself in between us, both hands outstretched as though to force us apart despite the fact that we still had most of the roof between the two of us. "Shirou, calm down," he told me, giving me a surprised look as he did so, and then turned to address the water user. "Tsukiumi, he's not here to fight with you. He's just here to talk," he quickly explained to the blond Sekirei.

"Homura," Tsukiumi muttered, as though only just now realizing he was still here despite the fact that she had seen him when we all arrived at first. "What are you doing in the presence of this monkey? And how do you know what his purpose is?" She gave him a suspicious look as it finally seemed to dawn on her that her old… wait, what was the relationship between these two? I knew that they were at least acquaintances, but it didn't quite seem to be friendly. Not with the way Tsukiumi had promised to kill him earlier.

Homura seemed reluctant to answer that question, and seemed intent on pressing onwards with his crusade to get this meeting back on track. "Just calm down for now, Tsukiumi. And you too, Akitsu," he turned to give a cautious eye at the snow woman, and I realized that despite the fact that the water user seemed to have been distracted from quest to kill me Akitsu was still accumulating icy death around her. The circle that seemed to indicate the range her power affected around her had traced itself with a line of hoar frost, and jagged irregular lines of white were beginning to stretch from the edge of the frozen circle in nearly organic patterns as they branched and spread.

The ice wielder didn't seem to hear the flame user's admonition, her posture still ramrod straight as she continued to face away from me, her attention locked on the water user. I couldn't make out her expression, not while she was in front of me, but apparently it was enough to set both Homura and Tsukiumi on edge. Still, Homura was right: we weren't here to fight. "Akitsu," I spoke up, and at my voice she turned her head a fraction so that she could see me from the corner of her eye. "He's right. We're just here to talk. Thank you," I smiled at her, "but stand down for now." For a moment, her grey eyes locked onto mine and then they closed in acknowledgment. As though they were melting in the sun, one by one her readied attacks began to disperse. The mist that had gathered around her started to ebb, flowing away as the power that had sustained it diminished. When the final icicle disappeared she stepped back wordlessly and resumed her position behind me and to my left.

The whole time she was disarming herself, Homura never took her eyes off her. Though his expression was hard to read, I could see tightness around his eyes and a barely discernable grimace beneath his face mask as he watched the ice wielder step down. I wasn't sure how to interpret that expression. Despite the fact that the fire wielder had had by now spent plenty of time around the user of the opposite element of his own he still didn't quite seem to understand just why it was the snow woman continued to serve me. The scene only moments ago, the revelation of Akitsu's power, something that seemed to unnerve even the powerful and belligerent Tsukiumi seemed only to reinforce his distrust for the scrapped number.

On the other hand the moment Akitsu began standing down the water user apparently dismissed her as a valid concern completely. Instead the proud blond had turned her attention to Homura. "Ho-mu-ra," she began, grounding out the syllables to the fire user's name, folding her arms across her chest as she glared at him. "Just what is your relationship with this Ashikabi?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

For some reason her actions seemed to set the other man at ease. "Well," he began, his tone disarming, "for now, the specifics are unimportant," he assured the water user. "What matters now is that you have a chance to get winged." Tsukiumi huffed at the assertion, snorting as she lowered her chin in order to glare harder at the flame wielder.

"This again?" she muttered. "Is there anything on your mind besides hunting for apes?" Once more she assumed a pose with one hand pointing and the other on her hips. "If having an Ashikabi is as fulfilling as you claim, then produce your own! I would meet the strumpet my rival is bound too!"

"And risk you taking out your frustration of your last loss on them?" Homura countered, cocking his head to the side as though contemplating that course of action, and then snorted. "I think I'll pass."

It took me a moment for the full weight of their conversation to sink in. At least I knew why they seemed so familiar. Tsukiumi had called them rivals, and from the sound of it the two had fought several times in the past. I suppose it made sense on reflection. Even though Akitsu's powers might be a direct trump to the water users, Homura's flames were what could more accurately be called her opposite. More than that, Homura's goal to assist all Sekirei in finding their chosen partners was in direct opposition to Tsukiumi's goal of never having one. Considering how confrontational the water user had proven herself so far it didn't seem much of a stretch to imagine that the two had probably come into conflict at some point of another.

Wait a second. Had Tsukiumi just called me a strumpet? What the hell?

It was my turn to glare at Homura now, a look he very carefully did not return. If their conversation was anything to go by it seemed that at some point Tsukiumi had realized Homura had gained an Ashikabi of his own. It also seemed that she thought that Ashikabi was female. I suppose that made sense; most Ashikabi were the opposite gender of their Sekirei after all. Now the question was, had Homura deliberately misled the other Sekirei, or had Tsukiumi made her own assumption and the other man just not bothered to correct it?

Tsukiumi seemed outraged at the implications that she would attack Homura's Ashikabi if he were to bring them out. "I would never!" she declared. "I will defeat you in combat! Not resort to such base trickery as to attempt to defeat you through another!" The irony of the fact that she would make a declaration like that after having already attacked me once already was not lost to me, or apparently Homura.

Still, I was a little amazed that the deception had lasted so well. For some reason I couldn't help but think that at some point something should have happened to reveal the fact that Homura was a member of my flock by now. The thought that there was something missing lingered, until I finally realized just why it was that I had that feeling.

"Musubi," I began, turning to the loose lipped Sekirei who had never failed in the past to reveal something that I had wanted to remain hidden before to see if she was alright. "Are you al…Erk!" I finished. When I had started to face her, the shrine girl had been a half dozen feet away or so, hands clenched in front of her and her shoulders shaking in excitement. I must have blinked at some point or another, because once I had finished her name she had suddenly appeared less than a foot away from my face, her eyes sparkling with joy and her body shaking with anticipation.

"Yes! Is it my turn yet?" she begged me, wiggling in excitement.

"Ah," I got out, unnerved by her sudden proximity. "Your turn?" I asked, feeling lost.

"My turn to fight, Shirou-san! Akitsu already had her turn, so now it's my turn, right?" she implored me, looking like she was about to burst.

"Fight?" I repeated, confused. "I thought this was about me trying to convince Tsukiumi to let me wing her, not for you to fight with her." Had the shrine girl actually forgotten our purpose in coming here? When she gave me a surprised blink of comprehension, I realized that was exactly the case.

"Oh!" she chirped, and straightened, smaking one fist into an open palm. "That's right! Hehe!" she giggled, knuckling her forehead in embarrassment at her loss of perspective.

"Oh? So you admit it!" Tsukiumi broke back in, raising a clenched fist up as her body shook with impotent rage. "So you have come here to take advantage of me! You shall never lay a finger on me, you base thing!" She threw her hand to the side in emphasis, as though thrusting away even the possibility of me touching her.

"Look," I began, getting annoyed by her constant insinuations that I was going to molest her or something. "It's not like that." I took a deep breath. Last night Matsu had read Tsukiumi's profile, and she had been listed as 'Agraphobic'. Agraphobia was the fear of sexual abuse, and was not uncommon at all. It wasn't only displayed by those who had experienced it, but sometimes caused by misinformation or even too much investigation of documented cases. For a species that was deliberately manipulating itself to make itself weak enough to be able to mate with humans, and in fact bonded to a high extent to their mates, I couldn't even call her fear unwarranted. There were already people out there forcefully initiating the mating ritual with her Type. To a certain extent, even Homura had displayed some of the same worries when he had been trying to decide whether he would allow me to wing him or not. I let out the breath, calming myself, and continued. "The only reason I'm here is to talk. I know that we were reacting, and I only came to ask you if you would like to be winged. That's all."

"Lies!" Tsukiumi declared, glaring at me. "As though I would believe something so preposterous!" She pointed an accusing finger at Musubi. "You already have one Sekirei! No doubt you simply decided to come here and take me by force!" Musubi blinked, staring at the finger directed at her, and then seemed to realize what Tsukiumi was saying. The shrine girl puffed her cheeks out in anger.

"That's not right at all! Shirou-san is very kind!" she declared, stomping her foot for emphasis. "He didn't force any of us! He helped me and Kuu-chan and Matsu-san and even Homura-san!" She turned to face the suddenly nervous flame user, and I felt like slapping my own face in frustration. There was the completely unable to keep a secret Musubi that I knew. I should have just left her in her 'fight mode'. At least then she wouldn't have revealed just who Homura's Ashikabi was.

"W-w-what!" Tsukiumi gaped at the flame user and then at me, and then back at the flame user. The both of us sighed, and in one of those strange moments of synchronicity I sometimes felt with my Sekirei we both sank our heads into one of our palms. "B-b-but! T-t-that!" It looked like the full implications of just what it meant that her long time rival had been winged by a man had somehow caused her to go into some kind of mental reboot mode. "So then the two of you…?" she trailed off, and her face began to turn the same electric red that she had displayed earlier.

"We're not like that," Homura and I groaned simultaneously. The blushing water user ignored our words, a shaking finger floating back and forth between us.

"S-s-so. Is that why you're here, Homura?" she asked, her voice shaky. "After that brute violated you, he forced you to seek me out so he could violate me as well?" She glared at me, recovering her head of steam. "You vile fiend! Is there no end to your depravity?"

I didn't even try to correct her. The longer this conversation went on, the more certain I was that it wasn't going to go anywhere I particularly wanted to be. "So I take it you don't want to be winged?" I asked her, my voice resigned as I did so.

"Of course not! I'll die before allowing such a thing!" she declared, and once more water began to focus around her as she prepared her attack.

"Well then, there's only one thing to do," I admitted. Tsukiumi tensed. I could see Homura prepare himself as well, and behind me I heard Akitsu rustle. "Let's go," I declared, turning around to walk away. "It's time to leave."

Now facing her, I could see Akitsu nod once obediently. Musubi paused, and then gave me a confused look. Behind me, I heard two thumps. A glance over my shoulder revealed that both the water user and flame user had somehow managed to trip and fall flat on their faces. The two had probably been so tensed for battle that when I made my proclamation they had already started to move before my words caused them to stumble.

"Wait! But Shirou-san, we haven't convinced Tsukiumi to be our friend yet!" Musubi called my attention back to her. The shrine girl had apparently realized just what it was I was saying, and now was starting to look angry again. She was puffing her cheeks out, and glaring at me.

"She doesn't want to be our friend," I told her bluntly. "She already said so." This whole trip had been a waste of time, time I could have been using to go over profiles, making plans, or even just working at either my job or my workshop. It was nearly noon by now, and so far the only thing useful I had accomplished was going to pet stores, and if Homura was right about Miya's insistence on no pets then even that had been pointless.

"Shirou-san!" Musubi shouted, and just like before the usually irrepressibly cheerful Sekirei was glaring at me. "This isn't right! You two are reacting! You are bound at the heart! You can't just walk away! You promised me, Shirou-san! You promised you'd convince her!"

"I promised that I would try, and I did," I reminded her. "I tried to talk with her, but she doesn't want to talk, Musubi. If she's not even willing to consider it, then there's no way we can work things out."

"You're wrong," Musubi shouted, throwing one arm to the side as though to brush away my logic, her other hand clenched under her chin. "She's reacting! It means that you two can find love together!" Musubi was emphatic, not even the least bit bothered by the implication that she was attempting to bring what amounted to yet more competition for my time into the flock. It was almost impressive, her absolute dedication to her belief that all Sekirei deserve the chance to find their Ashikabi. The idea that Tsukiumi and I sharing love would detract from me being able to share love with the shrine girl never even occurred to her. "You can't just leave that behind!"

I sighed, closing my eyes. "Just because two people have the potential to love each other, it doesn't mean that it will work out," I told her softly. When I opened my eyes, they were resolute. "In the end, sometimes love just isn't enough." Musubi flinched from my words as though they were a slap to her face. She seemed to have been rendered completely speechless by my words.

"Shirou," Homura's voice draws my attention back over my shoulder to where the flame wielder had regained his footing. "Are you sure about this?" he asked me, his tone troubled. "Musubi's not wrong. It isn't right to leave a reacting Sekirei alone. You know that I made an oath, to guard the unwinged birds until they find their roosts. It doesn't feel right to walk away now."

"That's right!" Musubi interjected. "If words are not enough, then use fists!" She clenched both her gloved hands until her knuckles cracked, emphasizing her declaration.

"Use fists?" I echoed, my lips twisting into a distasteful sneer. "How? Should I have you two beat her until she can't resist, and then take her by force? Is that what you're proposing?" Musubi shut her mouth so fast her teeth cracked together. "Should I have done the same to you, Homura? When you were about to catch fire? Should I have ignored your concerns and just winged you regardless of your feelings?" The flame user glanced down, unable to meet my eyes. "You were seriously considering letting yourself die rather than get winged. You very nearly chose the first option." I shook my head still frowning. "What is it you two want me to do?"

"I…I don't know," Musubi admitted, her confusion on her face obvious. She looked as though she were conflicted, on one hand wanting nothing more than for me to do just what I had proposed, and on the other hand knowing that it would be wrong to do so. "I..I just want her to be able to be able to…" She trailed off, not knowing how to finish her sentence. She gave Tsukiumi a pleading look, as though hoping the blond would somehow have the answer to her dilemma.

The water user didn't have any answers. In fact, she looked even more stunned by this series of events then either Homura or Musubi. "W-w-wait," the coat wearing Sekirei stuttered. "What's going on?"

"We'll be leaving now," I assured her. "I'm sorry for taking up your time." I bowed to her briefly. When I straightened I gave her a brief smile. "Good luck with everything. Goodbye." I used the final form of the word to let her know that I wouldn't be troubling her again. Homura hesitated, as though he had something he wanted to say, but then seemed to decide against it. He sighed, a resigned sound, and turned to give the still confused Tsukiumi one last sympathetic look. Musubi's eyes darted frantically from me, to the fire user, then to the water user, cycling between the three of us as she tried to find something to say that would stop what was happening in front of her. Even as she wordlessly tried to find some way to change the scene unfolding, she slumped as though the sight of it was too much for her to bear. The only one who didn't seem to feel some regret at the way things had turned out was Akitsu. The snow woman gave the water user one last look, and I could barely make out an expression form on her face before it disappeared into her usual complacency: it was something which was part hate, part scorn, and part pity. What must it feel like for someone who could never be winged to see one who could choose to pass up the experience willingly? I doubt it was something I could understand, even if I tried.

"W-w-w-w…" As I reached for Akitsu in order to help her support me while we left, I heard Tsukiumi stuttering behind me, apparently to confused by what had happened to be able to form proper words. Most likely for the better. I had had enough death threats for a while. The snow woman was just about to put her arm around my waist when the water user finally seemed to regain the ability to speak.

"Wait!" Tsukiumi's sudden shout came as a surprise after the previously quiet stuttering. I heard a rushing sound followed by a crackling noise, and glanced over my shoulder in surprise to find a new block of ice a few feet away. Beyond that Tsukiumi stood, her hand outstretched. She had moved closer, and was now several feet away from the edge she had perched herself on earlier. She was panting, and she looked pale, as though she had just seen a ghost. "How dare you!" she shrieked, her voice sounding unnerved. "How dare you show yourself before me and then just walk away!" From the look Akitsu was leveling at the water user it appeared that Tsukiumi had attempted to throw a globe of water at me to get my attention.

"What is it?" I asked her, my voice tinged with annoyance. If she wanted me to stick around so she could insult me some more, than she was about to find out that she had another thing coming.

She didn't quite flinch at my angry tone, but she did glance away awkwardly. Quickly, as though to hide her uncertainty, she folded her arms and raised her chin into the air so she could glare at me. "Do you mean to tell me that pathetic attempt at convincing me was all you could manage?" she narrowed her eyes as she gave me a scornful look. "Or that you would give up after only being scorned once?" For all that she began her lecture strong even as she spoke her pale face regained its normal color, and then continued to flush. The arms she had folded shifted until it seemed more like she was trying to hold back shivers then attempting to seem strong. "If you're going to approach someone so shamelessly, then you should at least p-put your f-full effort into it." When she finally reached the end of her speech, she was nearly stuttering, and after a second longer of staring at me, she glanced to the side and I could hear what sounded like a nervous gulp emit from her. Her expression was something between embarrassed and angry as she finally trailed off.

For a second I could only stare at her. What the hell was that? One moment she had been determined to kill me, raging on about how I had come to violate her, and now, right when I was about to leave, she sounded almost like she was encouraging me. Was this some kind of side effect of our reaction? My eyes flickered to the distance between where Tsukiumi had been standing originally and where she was now. She had only traveled a few feet. When Musubi had been overwhelmed she had been right next to me. Then again, when Matsu had been affected she had been across the house from me and in her room. Was my unusual strength as an Ashikabi starting to affect her somehow?

Tsukiumi's sudden change in behavior seemed to surprise Homura and Musubi as well. The flame user stared at Tsukiumi, and I had the impression that he had never seen something like this despite the fact that they had apparently known each other for a while. Musubi still looked depressed over her ideal scenario not coming about, but still managed a listless glance at the stuttering blond.

When I didn't say anything immediately in response to her baffling statement her flush deepened and I suddenly heard yet another rushing noise followed by a cracking sound from above me. I glanced up to see that Akitsu had intercepted yet another surprise attack from the temperamental water user. Tsukiumi narrowed her eyes at having been blocked and Akitsu narrowed her eyes right back at having been attacked again. "Anyway," the water user continued, dragging her gaze back to me. She put both hands on her hips and spread her feet shoulder width apart. "Though you are just a monkey, it seems you were at least capable of impressing my rival. Thus I, Tsukiumi, the number zero nine, will gracefully hear your proposal." Despite the fact that her voice was once more strong, her flush remained and from the way her eyes darted to my face and then deliberately away it looks like she was still feeling her reaction.

For a second I could only stare at her, unable to understand just what was happening, before I felt a budding sense of familiarity start to form in me. I only had a second to consider it, and then the answer for Tsukiumi's strange behavior struck me like a lightning bolt.

Oh god. Oh dear god.

I had thought that the water user was nothing more than a psychotic Ashikabi hater, a member of her species which detested the fate biology had proclaimed for her and had decided to resist it to the end. I had believed the reports and stories that Matsu and Homura had provided for me, and let myself get swayed by the blond Sekirei's actions in my dreams. But we were wrong. Oh god, were we wrong. For a second, I could only gape in shock, before I blurted out what I had realized.

"You're a tsundere!" I accused, pointing my finger at her in accusation while using the slang word popular culture had adopted to describe the phenomenon of someone being snobbish and mean on the outside, yet having a soft and gentle inner self that they carefully concealed from the world. It made too much sense for it not to be true: one moment all raging fury, the next nervous stuttering nerves, her insistence that she wanted nothing to do with me followed by her refusal to let me leave. How many times had I seen Rin pull the exact same tricks? Hell, the tiny magus had used to threaten to kill me all the time too for that matter.

For a moment no one on the roof reacted to my tactless accusation. Then Homura snorted. He put a hand to his mouth, his eyes locked on the blushing Tsukiumi, and then he snorted again and quickly turned away, trying desperately to conceal his muffled laughter though his efforts were betrayed by the way his shoulders shook with his mirth. Fortunately, he seemed to be the only one who understood what I had just said. Musubi, pulled out of her depression by Tsukiumi's willingness to start listening to my attempts at convincing her to join my flock, gave me a curious look at the unfamiliar word. Tsukiumi blinked, and her expression let me know that she was trying to decide whether or not I had just insulted her.

"I do not know what this tsun-thing is," she admitted, narrowing her eyes as she tried to determine if I was making fun of her or not, "but from your tone it does not sound complimentary at all." She growled the last part of it, and a small streamer of water began to form around her threateningly. I thanked the gods for 'being raised in a laboratory' induced ignorance. I'm not sure where Homura had heard the term, but it was most likely in relation to his job as a host.

"It's nothing," I told her with a sigh. With this new revelation about the water user's personality, I could interpret her hostility as what it most likely was: a way to save face. Rin used to do the same thing with fully charged gandrs, the sickness curse she favored as her primary means of attack. "You said you were willing to hear my request now, Tsukiumi-san?" I asked her, addressing her properly for the first time since this whole debacle started. The use of her name seemed to make her swallow once nervously before she regained her self control.

"Indeed," she nodded imperiously, tossing her hair as she did so. "Now then, Ashikabi," it was the first time she had called me anything that didn't have to do with primates. "Why is it you have come before me today?"

"I've come to see if you wish to be winged by me," I told her again. I had the impression that if Tsukiumi hadn't already been blushing the bluntness of my statement would have put a flush on her anyway.

"That is an impertinent request to make so suddenly," she scolded me, though I noticed this time she didn't instantly reject it. Just what was it that had made her start considering my offer anyway? There must have been something I did that had somehow made her seriously consider my earlier offer.

Before I could think of either a reason for her sudden change of heart or a response to her scolding, a new voice interrupted. "Indeed. Perhaps you should withdraw it, young man."

My head turned to the new voice so fast I felt my neck pop. Around me I heard noises indicating that both my Sekirei and Tsukiumi had turned to confront the newcomer as well. It had come from the far corner of the roof, near what was either a small shed or some kind of enclosure that led to the staircase that normal people used to access the roof. Stepping from behind it as casually as though he was on a stroll in a park the speaker emerged, adjusting his glasses as he did so.

"Who is this? Another monkey?" Tsukiumi demanded, sounding annoyed at the interruption.

"He's not with us," Homura assured her, his voice serious. The sound of his shoes clicking on the roof told me that he was moving closer, assuming a position near Akitsu.

The man ignored the two Sekirei completely, giving me a haughty smile as he did so. He was dressed in a suit, and though I rarely spent much time around formal wear even I could see that it looked expensive. He had dark hair, cut to a moderate length and well styled. "You see, young man," he continued, his tone amused. "That Sekirei you're attempting to wing, I'm afraid it doesn't belong to you. Thus, it would be best if you withdrew your offer and departed immediately, before the one who owns it takes offense."

"What! You impudent monkey! You dare try to claim me?" I'm not sure if she even realized she was doing it, but Tsukiumi had perhaps unconsciously moved up as well until she was standing beside Musubi. Once more, the man ignored her completely. It seemed like he would only address me.

"Owns?" I repeated, my voice bland. The newcomer finished adjusting his glasses, letting the arm drop to the side casually while the other rested in his pocket.

"Yes," he affirmed. "You see, when my employer noticed a rare single digit in his territory, he decided that it would be worth the effort to claim it. Thus I'm afraid your rather impertinent and ineffective attempts to steal one of his belongings are quite preposterous. Won't you please withdraw your request, young man?"

To the side I could hear Tsukiumi sputtering in outrage at the man's claim on her. My own eyes narrowed. "Your employer?" I repeated, pushing for information even as I tried to control my temper. It didn't take a genius to realize what was going on. Homura had mentioned how part of his duties were to keep Ashikabi from winging Sekirei by force. From the way this man was speaking it was pretty obvious that both he and his 'employer' were the type to do exactly that.

"Ah, allow me to introduce myself. I am with the Ashikabi of the East, Izumi Higa. I am his secretary, Kakizaki." The man's smirk grew wider at the revelation.

I made sure to keep my own face expressionless. Damnit. I knew I should have started on those profiles. From the way the man was saying things like 'Ashikabi of the East' as though it were a title it looks like whoever he was working for was most likely a major power in the Sekirei Plan. And here I was, completely unaware and unprepared in what was most likely his territory.

"Still," the man continued, giving my flock a searching look over. "It seems that you are an Ashikabi that has already winged several of your own. Sanada of the West, perhaps?" His smile grew. "No. Reports indicate that he is an uncouth and scruffy miscreant. While you fit the description, the real Sanada would have known better than to venture into the East's territory. You, you're just another nameless Ashikabi with no idea of just where they stand in the greater scheme of things." The man let loose a condescending laugh. "Still, you seem to have gathered at least a few useful items to you. Perhaps they might prove useful to my employer, in the long run."

It took only a second for me to catch on to what he was implying. "Are you making me a job offer?" I asked him, trying to remain polite despite the growing fury I was feeling. "I'm sorry, but I can't accept. I have a problem with organizations that refer to people as 'things'."

His smile widened. "Ah. I see. Well, in the end that's irrelevant. After all, I'm certain we can find a way to make use of you, regardless of your intent to comply or not." As though they had received some kind of cue, two more figures emerged from behind the same shed that Kakizaki had come from. One was currently wearing some kind of cloak that concealed their appearance and gender completely. The other was a young looking girl dressed in a white midriff baring no sleeved shirt and tie. She had on long dark gloves, and coming down from beneath her top were what appeared to be dark suspenders attached to black short shorts.

If he was trying to be intimidating, he was failing. Both of the two, Sekirei my senses told me, were tiny and unthreatening looking. I hadn't noticed them approaching, due to the weakness of their own scents in comparison with the powers of my own flock and Tsukiumi. As I tried to focus on their power in order to get some clue to their ability, my eyes widened as my increased attention revealed the truth of this Kakizaki's plan.

"You really do treat Sekirei as nothing but pawns, don't you," I growled, no longer able to keep my anger from showing. The man seemed amused by my indignation and merely adjusted his glasses again. Near me, Tsukiumi didn't seem to find the situation at all funny.

"You come after me, number zero nine, with nothing more than children?" she growled, sounding indignant at the implied insult that the two weak Sekirei would be enough to take her.

"No," I corrected her instantly, my eyes never leaving Kakizaki's face. "They're not meant to be anything more than distractions, maybe bodyguards if this man has to flee at best." The secretary's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "The real threat is from the five other Sekirei that are trying to sneak up on us: three directly behind us, and two more standing ready on our left." Kakizaki gaped, for the first time losing his superior attitude. Beside me, from the corner of my eyes, I saw Tsukiumi and Homura spin, the fire user to face the group of three and the water user the group of two. Akitsu was maintaining her patient vigil, showing no indication of her being anything other than an ice statue. Musubi on the other hand was beginning to bounce up and down as she realized that she would finally have a chance to test the skills she had been developing under Miya's tutelage. I continued, my eyes narrowed as I further dissected the situation. "Most likely they were to wait until we were properly distracted before launching a sneak attack at our unprotected backs." My eyes narrowed even further. "No. They weren't to attack you at all. 'Make use of you, regardless of your intent to comply or not', wasn't that what you said, Kakizaki? There target would have been me. Rough up the Ashikabi, force his Sekirei to do your bidding, and if not, kill him to get rid of them, is that about what you had planned?"

"You," the well dressed man in front of me sputtered, telling me all I needed to know. I gave him a cold smile. In a matter of seconds I had unraveled his entire strategy with nothing more than a few words. Forewarned, the ambush tactics would fail, my flock and Tsukiumi already prepared. What was most likely an effective tactic that he had used before had been ruined. My expression seemed to unnerve the man even further.

"What?" Tsukiumi snapped, sounding outraged. "You cannot mean that they would so brazenly trample on the sacred rules of a Sekirei battle?" I could make out streamers of water starting to form, and even without being able to see her properly after she had changed positions I could tell from her voice that the very thought was enough to enrage her.

"Enough," the secretary snapped, and then seemed to realize he was losing his temper and paused, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he reopened them he was once more giving me that condescending smirk of his. "Go away, boy," he told me. "You obviously have a little potential, and I have no doubt my employer would like to speak with you later properly. However, if you continue to stand in the way of the East then you will just be destroyed now."

I paused, giving his offer some thought. Finally, I spoke up. "Tsukiumi-san. Would you mind putting our earlier conversation on hold until we deal with this little interruption?" I proposed to her, sounding as though being surrounded and outnumbered was at best a minor inconvenience. The water streamers I could make out paused, and then resumed their circling of the out of sight Sekirei.

"Very well," she acknowledged, her tone indicating that she approved both of my suggestion and my summation of the importance of the interruption. "We shall resume it shortly."

"Homura," I continued, addressing the fire user now. "It seems that you're about to have to defend an unwinged Sekirei from unscrupulous Ashikabi. Would you like some help?"

"No," he refused instantly surprising me. I turned my head enough to get a look at my second Sekirei, and saw him studying me carefully. "Shirou, you already said they're going to target you. You should leave, now. Take Musubi and Akitsu for protection and get out of here." It took me a moment to identify what it was I heard in his voice, but once I did I felt a small smile cross my lips. It looked like the flame wielder was worried about my safety.

"Well, if you don't want my help," I began, and then turned to Musubi. "Musubi! How would you like a chance to fight a strong opponent?"

"Really?" the battle maniac squealed, clutching her hands under her chin as stars appeared in her eyes. "You mean it, Shirou-san? It's finally my turn?"

"Mhm," I nodded to her. The shrine girl threw her hands into the air with a cheer, and then gave me a nearly smothering hug to express her joy at the opportunity.

"Shirou," Homura snapped, not sounding at all amused by me ignoring his orders. I couldn't reply, seeing as how my face was currently ear deep in an excited Sekirei's chest, but when Musubi finally pulled away enough for me to speak, I ignored him.

"Which one, Shirou-san? Which one?" Musubi began to glance around eagerly, her eyes flicking from the group behind us, to the group on our left, and then to the two Sekirei standing beside the scowling Kakizaki.

"I'll let you know which one when its time," I assured her. Behind me I heard Akitsu shifting, and the air at my back began to grow cooler than the air in front of me.

"So you intend to interfere anyway, despite my generosity? You were about to walk away from that Sekirei yourself moments ago," the well dressed man seemed honestly insulted that I would dare to stand against him. I didn't care. The man in front of me had already told me that he intended to take Tsukiumi by force and had admitted to plotting to kidnap me and use me to exploit my own flock. It didn't matter if Tsukiumi decided not to let me wing her after all this. Even if afterwards we all went are own ways, right here and now, I was in the position to protect her, and that was precisely what I was going to do.

"Either make your move or leave," I told him flatly, my left hand at my side drifting unnoticeably towards the edge of the bundle on my back, preparing for battle. Scowling at blunt order he opened his mouth to give the orders that would start all this…

And then he paused as a surprisingly loud techno song started to play out of nowhere. With a start, he looked down to his pocket, the hand there fumbling for a second before he pulled out a phone. I blinked, realizing that the song was his ringtone. I had no idea how he had managed to pull that off. My own phone was still using the tone it had come with originally. I hadn't even known you COULD change your ringtone.

"Ah," the man began, sounding apologetic. "Excuse me," he intoned, using the customary 'shitsurei shimasu', a phrase which was used primarily in business settings. His sudden politeness surprised me, and I realized that for all his smug and condescending attitude that maybe he really had been serious when he had mentioned that he was a secretary. It sounded like he was used to excusing himself like that as a habit.

"Ah, please," I told him almost instinctively, giving him permission to answer his phone before I even realized what I was doing. He gave me a brief polite nod of his head, when suddenly a second tone sounded. It was my turn to pause and start fumbling through my pocket. When I managed to fish out my own cell phone, a glance at the number being displayed on the front made me wince. With a wordless gesture, I held my own phone up apologetically, and Kakizaki simply nodded, already holding his to his ear. I felt a brief moment of amusement at the surreal scene, but shrugged it off. We were both Japanese after all, and courtesy and manners were staples of our culture.

Apparently aliens didn't understand our customs nearly as well because Homura nearly snapped at me when I started to answer the phone. "You can't be serious!"

"Stay sharp," I reminded him. "It could be a trap." My admonishment seemed to only further irritate him, but by then I had opened the phone and put it to my ear.

Anything the flame user was about to say was drowned out as the voice emerged from the speaker so loud that I instinctively winced and drew the phone away from my ear a foot or so to preserve my hearing. "ONIII-CHAAAN!"

I slowly put the phone back to my ear, ready to pull it back if the speaker on the other end started screaming again. "Hello, Yukari," I began, but almost immediately my sister once more cut me off.

"Onii-chan," she began frantically, "you have to help me! I don't know what to do! I couldn't call mom, not for this!" My little sister sounded like she was hyperventilating or in the middle of some kind of panic attack. "I need life counseling!" she wailed.

"Wait, you need to slow down," I told her, trying to get her to calm down enough to make sense. She was speaking so fast that I could barely understand what it was she was trying to say. I felt a prickle of worry begin in my gut. Was she in some kind of trouble? Had something happened? Was she hurt? She wasn't even trying to find appropriate lines from her manga collection. "Now, slowly, tell me what's going on?"

"I, I have a boy in my room right now," she admitted, still talking faster than normal though now she was managing to get deep breaths in as well. I felt a sudden moment of vertigo at her admission.

"Did he try to hurt you? Has he done anything inappropriate?" I demanded, feeling a swell that was now equal parts anger as it was worry. I realized that I was probably having my first true fraternal moment. If some little punk had even dared to lay a finger on my sister I was going to…

"No!" she instantly cut in, and I heard a rustling noise. Was she shaking her head at the phone? "No, that's not it." Then she hesitated. "Well, maybe it is?" she sounded more like she was asking me a question than answering one. "I don't know! That's why I had to call you, onii-chan! I need advice!"

"Advice? On what?" Now I was starting to feel more confused than anything else. What on earth was going on?

"The boy! He keeps going on and on about these 'Sekirei' things or 'Ashikabi' whatevers," I could hear Yukari take a deep breath, and then she concluded in a rush, "I think he wants to be my sex slave!"

What?


	14. Fourteenth Wing

In Flight: Fourteenth Wing

_Author's notes: And here it is, a chapter which is nearly twenty pages of nothing but violence! Just what all you battle starved psychos were looking for! Well, that and more Yukari silliness. Anyway._

_Let's see, first off addressing reviews. A lot of people have been cursing me for my new found love of cliff hangers. Honestly, I don't really mean to use them. I mentioned before that I was trying to keep most of my chapters right around the 20-25 page long mark, and rather than deliberately trying to tease you all I'm just cutting myself off right around there so I can get the next chapter off before you all start suffering from withdrawal. I know I could always go on and release super chapters, but honestly, those would probably delay release considerably and I never really liked them anyway. In Hill of Swords I had to do them so that I would be able to end on the required dream sequences. Here though, I can just choose a nice little spot to cut myself off in and then go marathon whichever new anime I'm currently staying up all night to watch. For this chapter, the delay was Sora No Otoshimono, or Heaven's Lost Property in English. That series was freaking hilarious. Seriously. Migrational exploding panties? Where do they come up with that kind of stuff? Next chapter will probably be delayed due to me finally getting off my butt to watch Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagan. I know its been out for ages but I just never got around to putting it on. Now I shall finally know just why it is everyone thinks drills are awesome._

_Another review that I wanted to hit on was someone noting in response to my mention of Akitsu being a game breaker just how well Shirou fits that role as well. My answer to that? Hell yeah he's gonna be tough. I mentioned this before in HoS how I always hated just how many stories started out with the incredibly weak protagonist that the bad guys just ignore until they get strong enough to be a threat. I guess this could be considered a Gabriel Blessing theme or specialty or something: main characters who don't start out sucking. On the other hand I always dislike the whole 'god mode' thing that stands on the opposite end of the scale as well. I like to think I do a good job of giving my protagonists enemies which are tough enough to make for an interesting story, and sometimes I think the best conflicts aren't the physical ones if they're done right. What do you all think? _

_Anyway, that's about it for the reviews. Now, onto the chapter specific stuff._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_First off, a brief Sekirei list. The original series has a potential of one hundred and eight unique characters, something which must be a nightmare for them to try and keep track of and most likely the reason why so they use Karasuba to kill so many of them off camera. I'm going to try and keep the Sekirei I use as being canon, but I might have to take some liberties since some of them get terminated without revealing their names or numbers. In this chapter we see Oriha (no 101) who was originally defeated by Tsukihime. The tie wearing Sekirei was named Oshino (no number given) and was originally spanked by Benitsubasa in the third match of the third phase. The striped Sekirei was named Sai (no 31) whom Homura originally had the win on during the Uzume arc. The tonfa user never got a name or a number originally, she existed solely for the purpose of giving Tsukiumi someone to hit during the Uzume arc. No 79, who never got a name, was defeated at the same time. Since she looked kind of ninja-y I called her Kurenai, which I shamelessly stole from Naruto. _

_My two favorite Sekirei for this chapter however were Toyotama (no 16) and Ichiya (no 18). These two appear to be Higa's primary enforcers, and every time they show up in the series they give off the whole 'bad guy's insane harpies' type feel. You know what I mean, the two chicks that hang around the evil dude and whose duties include looking sexy and kicking ass. I took some liberties with their characters, seeing as canon never explicitly says they're battle hungry sadists who get off on hurting people, but I like to think I'm being pretty true to their characters. What do you all think?_

_Since most of this chapter was battle there wasn't much space for dialogue. I tried to work some in to keep it natural but most of the talking will be next chapter. I did have fun stealing tsun-tsun lines for Tsukiumi from a variety of other animes and shows. Five points if you can guess where they come from. In Homura's case fans have already noticed in the past that I tend to write him as being a little more excitable than he normally comes off as in the original series. I mentioned before that he does have moments where he loses his cool, and so far its just turned out that Shirou happens to be way better at pressing his buttons then Minato ever was._

_I think the part I'm most curious about in regards to reactions is Shirou again. I'm going to be honest here. In Nasu-verse unnaturally sharp instincts tend to be a big key for non-humans and heroes. It's such a common theme that when a character doesn't have them and still manages to be awesome Nasu had to name it specifically: 'Mind's True Eye', one of Archer's skills. What I'm trying to portray here is a Shirou that's well on his way to acquiring just that, raw experience on the level that makes him dangerously genre savvy when it comes to fighting. What I'm worried about is that instead Shirou is just coming off as being too smart. I try to counter that by showing he might be unnaturally quick in combat but that doesn't mean he can't screw up everywhere else. That was part of the reason I had him have the breakdown in chapter 11, and even his sudden blurting out about Tsukiumi's true nature in 13. My question is is it working? Am I managing to find a good balance for him, or is one side outweighing the other?_

_Beyond that, nothing else comes to mind. Next chapter might take a week or so, seeing as I have to iron out the details for a few scenes, and the whole Gurren Lagan thingy to take care of as well. For now, anything here stands out as particularly cool, give a shout! Questions/comments/concerns, same thing. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

For a moment I could do nothing more than wonder: Was this what it would have been like if it hadn't been for the fire which had separated us all those years ago? Sudden interruptions of my daily life which spawned first nervousness, then worry, and then consternation? If Yukari and I had been raised together, would I have been able to handle having such a confusing element around me, would I have turned out like I am now? Or would it have broken me and left me a sad, pathetic, and broken thing?

"I'm sorry," I began, not sure what else to say. "Could you repeat that?"

"There's a guy in my room that wants to be my sex slave!" my little sister said again for my benefit, before rushing on, still sounding like she was hyperventilating. "I met him earlier, and then we had to run, and we made it to my room, and then he started talking about how he wanted me to be his mistress, and then that he was some kind of bird, and that I was some kind of something-or-other, and then he told me he wanted me to kiss him and mark him!" I began to get worried as she kept listing her circumstances. She was speaking so fast that I don't think she had time to breathe. "But now he's taking a shower, and when he gets out he's going to ask me to do it again and I don't know what to do!"

Finally she paused long enough to interject. "Breath, Yukari," I ordered her. "First of all, just breathe: deep breaths. In through your mouth, out through your nose." I heard a rustling noise, her hair I thought, most likely her nodding, and then frantic 'whoosh' noises that I assumed were her obeying my instructions. "Now, you need to calm down. Think of something peaceful, something happy." If I was going to get anywhere with this conversation first I had to tone her down from her near hysteria. When I heard the rustle of her hair again, I continued. "Now, let me see if I got this situation right first. You're in your room, with a boy." Rustle again. "And he wants you to become his mistress, and to kiss him in order to give him a mark." Another rustle. I began to get a very bad feeling that I knew exactly where this was going. "And he keeps referring to himself as a 'Sekirei', and you as an 'Ashikabi'?" I held out some frantic hope, some desperate implausible wish, that maybe my little sister was wrong. Maybe there was some other kind of unusual BDSM club or something which randomly went up to people on the street and asked for marks through kissing. Maybe Yukari really wasn't about to get involved in something as dangerous as I seemed to have found myself in, and was simply being propositioned by a horny kid that I could promptly kill for hitting on my little sister.

"Yes!" Yukari seemed relieved that I had a good grasp of the situation. "Those were the words he used."

I suppressed a sigh as she casually destroyed my lingering optimism. Serves me right I suppose. Now there was only one question left, one which left me feeling a little sick inside at the implications. "So why exactly was it that you decided to call ME instead of your mother when you thought someone was asking to be your sex slave?"

"Because I already know onii-chan is into that kind of thing," she promptly told me.

If I was a more dramatic person I think I might have collapsed to the ground in despair. It was just a few months and already my family thought of me as some kind of dangerous drug runner on the lamb from the law in another country and that I was some kind of deviant sexual predator that went around having threesomes and sex slaves. I took some consolation in the fact that they didn't know about the events after Homura's winging as well. With my luck they'd take it as some kind of evidence that I was actually gay and that I was just using the women as a cover or something. Why on earth were my mother and sister even continuing to talk to me? In their eyes I must be the personification of every worthless son and brother in existence. I think most people would have been disowned for the kind of reputation I was developing.

"And why did you think I was into that kind of thing?" I couldn't help but ask, morbidly curious about just how low my personal stock really was amongst my relations. Yukari gave a snort at my question.

"Because I was there when you told Akitsu-nee-chan you'd be her master, remember? There's no need to pretend, nii-chan. Remember, I already support your unusual lifestyle!" It sounded like the conversation had helped do its job in calming her down, even as her words struck me like an arrow. That's right. Yukari had been there when Akitsu asked me to be her unconventional Ashikabi. No wonder she thought I was the authority to call when it came to sex slaves! I involuntarily glanced at Akitsu in relief, happy that my sister had an actual reason for thinking I was a pervert, and then paused.

Glancing at Akitsu meant seeing the rest of my Sekirei and Tsukiumi, their bodies tensed for action. That was enough to remind me that I was currently on a roof, surrounded and outnumbered by enemy Sekirei, and about to engage in a battle where I would most likely end up being the number one target according to the enemy's battle plan.

And according to Yukari's report she was currently in the room with another of the species that was propositioning her in a fashion which might very well end up putting her in the exact samesituation at some point.

Life was so much simpler when I was still an orphan.

"Yukari," I began, my eyes darting over to where Kakizaki was finishing his own phone call, adjusting his glasses coolly as he placed the appliance back into his pocket. Shit. I don't have nearly enough time for this. Despite our earlier moment of cooperation I doubt that someone who was willing to forcibly subdue and wing a Sekirei like Tsukiumi and had as much as admitted to having planned an ambush and abduction with the intent to blackmail my own flock into doing his bidding would extend the courtesy of not attacking just because I was on the phone. I was surprised that I had done so myself. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I had received a call at roughly the same time I would have already taken the initiative. I opened my mouth to continue, and found myself frozen.

My little sister had just called me for advice. The question was, what advice should I give? On one hand a very large part of me wanted to do nothing more than to tell her to leave the room right now, catch the first train out of town, and then hunt down the Sekirei that was apparently reacting to her and put it out of its misery before it had a second chance to try and drag Yukari into this mess. The simple fact of the matter was that she had no place in a battlefield. She was eighteen, and had only just made it into college. She should be going to classes, making friends, preparing for a future that had no need for things like aliens and shady conspiracies being run by even shadier companies. My fraternal moment from earlier when I had thought that she just had a boyfriend being a little to fresh with her and needed an ass kicking returned with friends. If I had thought such a mundane scenario had been enough to truly awaken my long unused protective big brother streak, the thought of Yukari being thrust into a world where powerful aliens did combat against each other and self absorbed secretaries planned ambushes lit a fire in me that nearly turned my vision red.

But on the other hand, maybe she would be better off if she did wing the Sekirei instead. I had no way of knowing how long the Sekirei Plan would last. From what I knew at the moment the first phase had been going on for nearly a year now, with one or two Sekirei being released every few days in order to limit conflict and give each member of the species time to find their Ashikabi. There was no telling how long the second phase would take, and I didn't even know precisely what the other phases entailed. It was safe to assume that during all of them Sekirei would be battling throughout the city. I'd only seen the aliens in action two or three times now, and I had no idea what kind of collateral damage they might cause. I'd seen one Sekirei cut through military vehicles without a second thought to the human lives within and then watched her tear the surroundings to pieces before I put her down. What if one of them goes wild around Yukari's school and she has no way of protecting herself? MBI had already said that they would take steps if anyone involved in the plan were to talk about it to someone who wasn't, so I couldn't even warn her to be careful without bringing the company's wrath on me.

Which would be better? To keep her safely uninvolved but ignorant of the potential dangers? Or to have her forewarned and forearmed but in a position to be in the thick of things?

I didn't know, and with the way things were at the moment I just didn't have the time to try and figure it out properly. With no other options, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and did the only thing I could do.

"Onii-chan?" I heard Yukari speak up, sounding worried by my long pause.

"Yukari, I want you to listen to me very carefully," I told her, my voice serious. "The boy in your room; what is he doing right now?"

"Ah," Yukari sounded like she gulped. "Ah, he's taking a shower." My little sister sounded nervous, as though something had shaken her up.

"This is what you need to do then. When he gets out, I want you to have him tell you everything he can about the Sekirei. I want you to pay attention and not just dismiss it as a joke. After you're sure you understand the situation, you're going to have to make a choice over whether or not to do what he asks, alright?" I spoke quietly, keeping an eye on Kakizaki while I did so. I had no idea if his Sekirei could hear me, but if they could I didn't want them knowing that I was talking to what could potentially be another Ashikabi.

"Wait," Yukari interrupted, sounding even more worried. "What do you mean? Onii-chan, I'm confused. Why do you sound so mad? Is something wrong?" Ah. That must be what's throwing her off. She's used to the easy going Shirou, the one that puts up with her antics with a sigh and a smile. Right now I'm two heart beats away from a life or death battle and tense as a drawn bowstring. I wish I had more time to calm myself down and reassure her, but time was up.

"I have to go now, Yukari," I told her seriously. "I'm afraid I'm in the middle of something I can't put off anymore. No matter what you do in regards to boy in your room, I want you to call me back afterwards, alright?"

"Wait, onii-ch-" was as far as she got before I hung up on her. I glared at the phone in my hand, trying to keep myself from squeezing it too hard and breaking it in my frustration. In the end, this was the best I could do. I hadn't had much choice back when I was sucked into the Holy Grail War. It had simply been summon Saber or die by Lancer's hands. I had been lucky that Rin had been soft hearted enough to explain just what I had fallen into before she had tried to open hostilities on me. The Sekirei Plan was much the same for me. I suppose if I had never met Homura and only met Akitsu things would have been different. Minaka had told me she wasn't allowed to participate in it officially. But with Homura it had been enter the Plan or let him die. The only thing I could do for now was try to make sure that Yukari at least had all the information. Even if she didn't believe it completely at first, if she decided to wing whoever it was in her room than she would then, and if she didn't wing the Sekirei reacting to her then she would at least have some knowledge of what was going on in the city. Once this fight was done and she called me back, I would know which option she had chosen and be able to react accordingly.

"Shirou," a tight whisper came from my side and I glanced at Homura. It seemed like the flame user had managed to pick up on enough of the conversation to have some idea just what I had been talking about. "What the hell was that?"

I shook my head in response. "After the battle," I promised him. "For now, can you handle more than one Sekirei?" My little sister's life counseling could wait till the fight was over. It was time to focus on getting out of this alive and in one piece. Homura seemed to understand my unspoken prioritizing because he nodded once.

"I can probably handle two at a time if I need to," he assured me as he glanced at Tsukiumi. "So can she for that matter. The important part is you. If they get to you, Shirou, than it's all over. You need to get the hell out of here." It looked like he was still more concerned about my safety than the battle itself. I shook my head.

"Not if it means leaving you two here alone," I told him, glancing at Tsukiumi. The water user was still facing the group on our left and being circled by ribbons of her element, but they paused at my blunt statement. From some of her earlier responses I got the impression that if I could see her face then I would be able to see her starting to blush again. I grit my teeth. "Tsukiumi, I know you're still reacting to me. Will you be able to fight like that?" The last thing I needed was for the one I was trying to protect to be brought to her knees like earlier just because the fight got a little too close to me.

"H-h-ha!" the blond gave a stuttering laugh, and she slashed downwards with one hand as though the idea of her not being hindered by something like her biology was ridiculous. "Just watch and wait and you'll be able to see why I am the strongest of the Sekirei!" she blustered to me. It would have to do.

"Shirou," Homura snapped, and then seemed to decide that since I was being so unreasonable he'd just go over my head. "Akitsu," he turned to the ice user beside me. "You guard Shirou, do you understand? If you let even one Sekirei get close to him then you'll have to answer to me, you got that?"

The ice user beside me rustled, glancing once at her counterpart, and then locking her gaze resolutely ahead without any other response. I could almost hear Homura's teeth grind against each other at the dismissal, but he seemed to interpret the action as an acknowledgment. Akitsu had already shown once today just how protective she was of me when she threatened to kill Tsukiumi, and that combined with her display of her capability to follow through apparently was enough for Homura to chose to gamble on the scrapped number's ability to keep me safe.

I glanced at Musubi, mouth open to give her instructions, but paused. The shrine girl looked like it was taking everything she had not to start a fight on her own. She had both of her hands clenched in front of her chest and was bouncing on the balls of her feet so fast I think her outline might have been blurring a little bit. I grimaced. It looked like anything I said to the battle maniac that was anything other than 'Fight that one' would be lost. It seemed that if I didn't give the girl a target soon that she would lose all patience and chose one for herself.

"Last chance, boy," the secretary across the roof from me declared, his smirk already back in place. "Leave now and perhaps my employer will contact you at a later time. If not…" he trailed off, perhaps meaning to sound ominous or threatening. At his sides his two Sekirei shifted. Something bright shined from beneath the cloaked Sekirei's mantle, and the one in the tie fidgeted nervously.

There were two Sekirei in front of us, two more to our left, and three at our back. This was the enemies' self proclaimed home ground. The man in front of me who was directing this assault had already stated that he worked for yet another Ashikabi, so there were potentially who knows how many more Sekirei in the wings as reinforcement. At the moment I only had three Sekirei with me, and another fourth that was willing to ally with us, and maybe even join my side if this battle went my way. We were outnumbered and in the enemies' territory.

I pointed at the Sekirei beside Kakizaki, the fidgety one with the tie. "Musubi. That one."

"Yes!" the bear Sekirei shrieked in a voice that was so happy it should be criminal considering the circumstances. The tightly coiled Sekirei launched herself with enough force that the roof she had been standing on splintered outward in a web of cracks. I could feel the wind of her passage tug at my clothes, whipping my loose jacket around me. "Number eighty eight! Musubi!" the shrine girl declared immediately afterwards, already having closed half the distance between herself and the target I had selected for her.

The speed of Musubi's charge was so quick that Kakizaki barely had time to put on a startled face before her fists crashed into the unprepared Sekirei she had been unleashed upon. The tie wearing Sekirei reacted better, bringing her hands up into an awkward defensive position before the pink gloves found her. The force of the blow was enough to unleash a small shockwave which caught the secretary off guard, forcing him to stumble back. The cloaked Sekirei moved better, having the superior reaction speeds of her species, and instantly placed herself between the sudden conflict and her Ashikabi. With only the hasty defense the tie wearing Sekirei had erected she was completely off guard and the force of the blow sent her skating away nearly a dozen feet before she recovered her footing. The moment she did, Musubi was on top of her.

"What is that idiot doing?" I heard Tsukiumi mutter, though I kept my eyes solely on the recovering Kakizaki. The secretary had managed to right himself, and was even now adjusting his glasses while directing an angry glare at me. "She's not even giving her enemy the time to give her own name and number!" The water user was right. It seemed as though all of Musubi's pent up excitement had caught up with her and the only thing the battle maniac could think of at the moment was fighting the enemy I had set her on. The tie wearing Sekirei had at least recovered enough for to start attempting to raise some kind of defense against Musubi's whirling wall of fists and knees, but the young looking Sekirei was quite obviously being completely overwhelmed.

"What is that idiot doing?" Homura asked as though the question was ridiculous. "What is this idiot doing! Shirou, what the hell was that?" The flame user looked like he was on the verge of having a stroke when presented with the fact that I had actually had the nerve to initiate the brewing conflict.

"Not now, Homura," I snapped back, my voice hard as I studied the angry secretary. "The three from the rear are moving. Intercept them!" I wanted to tell my second Sekirei that I had a plan, but there simply wasn't time for it. The three were coming and they were coming fast. "Tsukiumi, you as well. Akitsu, stay with me."

"Damn it," the fire user swore. From the corner of my eye I could make out the final glare he gave me, and then he was off, rushing towards the incoming enemy. The roof we were one was long and of irregular height. Taking up nearly a city block in length, it would be more accurate to think of it as numerous roofs, one of those shopping complexes that that was comprised of numerous stores of different sizes that had probably been erected one after the other at different times. The three who were even now approaching were coming across it length wise, from the opposite end that we were currently on. Despite his frustration with my actions Homura turned, his long coat flaring out from behind him as he launched himself up to the next roof, one perhaps three or four feet higher than the one we were standing on, and disappeared from my line of sight.

Rather than follow my instructions Tsukiumi instead whirled to glare at me. "Now see here monkey," the angry blond declared, folding her arms under her chest as she glared at me. "I have no reasons to accept your orders, and if you presume to give them again…"

I didn't have time for this. The battlefield was no place for arguments like these. I snapped my head towards the angry water wielder, and she flinched backwards from my sudden movement. "Please?" I asked her, forcing myself to use the gentlest tone of voice I could manage at the moment. Tsukiumi wasn't my Sekirei yet, and so I really couldn't order her. I knew that, so I did my best to restrain myself, but it didn't change the fact that now really wasn't the time for the two of us to be bickering, not if we were going to make it out of this alive and in one piece.

Considering how the day had been going so far, I honestly expected Tsukiumi to launch into a lecture or a rant about debased monkeys presuming too much. Instead, the water user froze for a second and then began flushing from her forehead down to her chest. "A-a-aah," she managed to get out before she closed her mouth and swallowed hard. I realized that at some point in the conversation with Kakizaki, most likely when we had been preparing to face him down, she had moved to within a half dozen feet of me. While the confrontation had been going on the two of us had both forgotten about it, but this close and with our attention focused solely on each other reaction set in, and it set in hard. Being so near, when Tsukiumi's breath began to come in short pants, I realized something for the first time: there in the middle of an unfolding battle, surrounded by hostile Sekirei, I finally noticed just how beautiful Tsukiumi really was.

Long golden hair, wrapped around her by the whimsical breezes that existed on city rooftops, large clear blue eyes, fair features, smooth skin, tall and thin, and breasts that were only emphasized by the movement of her short breaths. In my dreams, she had always been silhouetted, partially obscured by the surreal nature of the occasions. Before when we were arguing she had been across the roof, and most of the time her features had been set in arrogant or annoying expressions. This close, and wearing a gentle and vulnerable expression as her body sped up in response to my presence, and myself completely unprepared for the revelation, the truth of just how attractive Tsukiumi really was hit me in the back of the head like a blackjack.

I couldn't stop myself from gulping nervously, the noise sounding far too loud in my ears.

"I-I-I will go c-c-catch up with Homura," the water user announced, taking a stumbling step backwards as she did so to put some distance between the two of us. "It wouldn't be satisfying to just let my rival claim all the glory." She swallowed, and finally turned away. "Y-y-you just stay here and watch me," she told me before she leapt up and onto the nearby roof before pausing. She spun around, and her face looked less red and more confident with the increased distance. "M-make sure you look very carefully, Ashikabi!" she ordered me again, putting one hand on her hip and pointing the other at me in what I was beginning to recognize as her signature pose. Still a little numb from my sudden and unexpected realization I nodded dumbly at her. She seemed inordinately pleased by my muteness and smiled down at me proudly one last time before whirling to join the battle Homura had already begun.

Despite the fact that I really should be paying attention to the other Ashikabi on the field, my eyes lingered on the conflict that unfolded upon Tsukiumi's arrival. Homura had managed to catch the three incoming Sekirei off guard while I was trying to convince the reluctant water user to follow the plan. He had conjured some sort of wall of flame between them and where the rest of us were still gathered. I winced at the wide scale attack. It brought about old memories of a certain other conflagration. I had a moment to wonder if I should call the fire department now in order to contain the blaze from spreading, but before that thought was anything more than a forming idea I noticed the effect the flame was having on the roof itself: none. No scorch marks were forming, no streamers of fire were spreading. Even as Tsukiumi closed in on the combat and the flames began to die away the roof remained completely untouched, bearing not one mark that it had only seconds ago been an inferno.

It was every bit as unreal to see as Tsukiumi's ability to call entire rivers from the empty air around her. I had never even heard of that kind of control among magi's who used the same element. Sure, a magi might be able to summon a fire and then put it out or control it as they wished, but to not leave even the faintest of scorch marks afterwards? It was a fantastic concept and it left me shaking my head in wonder.

Homura's first move seemed to have been enough to break the enemies' charge long enough for him to engage the three newcomers simultaneously. All three of them were female and clad in garments every bit as outlandish as I had come to expect from the species. One of them, with long hair tied up in a thin ribbon and wearing some kind of backless kunoichi outfit launched a lightning fast roundhouse at the male, which was ducked under easily and countered with a ball of fire that she dodged by leaping over with a spin. A second, wearing a brief looking top that barely covered her modest chest and was supported by a single strap along with a thick belt and long black pants and wielding a set of tonfa, came in low, sweeping at Homura's feet. It was his turn to take to the air, his coat spinning about him as he dodged the strike, only for both his hands to light up and dart at the air. The third member of the ambushers, this one clad in what looked like a bikini brief bottom and belt combined with striped shirt, sleeves, and socks, had stayed back and thrown what appeared to be a set of knives bound to long thick cords that tied around her wrist at the fire user while he was in mid air. With the ambush blocked it was the kunoichi's turn again, appearing above the still airborne Homura in an attempt to kick him which once more was met with fire.

Even as the kunoichi tried to press her attack it was her turn to be blindsided, a bullet of water catching her hard in the side, forcing her away from the fire user. When she touched down it was to discover that Tsukiumi was now blocking her way proudly. "You craven bitches! You think that three on one will be enough to make up for your weakness? If so I, number zero nine, Tsukiumi, will show you your error!"

"Number seventy nine, Kurenai," was the kunoichi's response, and then the two of them were battling as well. Kurenai's leg came for Tsukiumi's head with the speed of her race and was met by a spontaneously formed wall of water, stopping her completely. Tsukiumi smirked proudly at the halted enemy's attack, but when she opened her mouth to boast she had to shut it with a clack as she leapt back. She barely managed to dodge the knife the striped Sekirei had thrown at her from the side, though it looked like the water user's coat and tunic hadn't been quite so lucky. A small tear opened on both the garments, though from what I could see Tsukiumi herself remained untouched. When the enraged water user turned to confront the new threat, she was again forced to dodge as the kunoichi closed in to take the offensive.

Even as Tsukiumi was confronting her tag teaming opponents Homura was still engaged with the tonfa user. The minimally dressed Sekirei was doing her level best to attempt to strike the fire user, but every attack was met with white hot bursts of fire. The Sekirei Guardian was attempting to use his flames to disengage from his opponent, but the tonfa wielder was sticking to him as hard as she could.

As the battle unfolded before me I shook off my earlier inappropriately timed revelation so that I could focus on it. It was the first time I had actually seen Sekirei fight. The closest I had come to being able to see just how dangerous these battles would be had been when I had engaged number forty three, and that hadn't been very effective. I had dominated that battle from the beginning, despite the terminated Sekirei's greater strength and speed. She had been unprepared for the assault, confused by my unexpected skill, and in the end my bloodthirsty assault had broken her nerves and left her capable of doing nothing but begging me to leave.

Now I was watching five Sekirei, seven including Musubi and her opponent, in the midst of what I could truly assume would be an example of what I could expect from the rest of the Plan.

It was strangely disappointing.

Yes, the Sekirei were fast, faster than most humans could ever hope to compare to. Strong too. Even as I glanced away from the five way combat and back to where Musubi was still engaging the tie wearing Sekirei I caught sight of one of Musubi's fists cratering a good portion of the roof as it missed her target. The force of the punch collapsed a circle with nearly a foot and a half radius and it didn't even look as though the shrine girl was trying very hard. Her opponent already appeared like she was on her last leg, bruised and panting as she desperately tried to fend off my relentless Sekirei. More than just their physical abilities their esoteric ones were equally impressive. The way that Homura and Tsukiumi wielded their elements was beyond the ability of most magi to even dream of emulating.

What was lacking in this conflict, what made me lower my eyes in regret, was skill.

In the Grail War each of the Servants had been legends; people of such skill and power that their names echoed for centuries, sometimes even millennia, long after their eventual ends. The only possible exception had been Archer, and that was because the Heroic Spirit Emiya had carved his name into history at some point in a future that has not yet happened. Even then, afterwards, how long would his legend have echoed? These people, brought forth from the Throne of Heroes, empowered by their new forms as Heroic Spirits, had been creatures of terrifying skill and power. Perhaps it wasn't fair to compare them to the Sekirei because of this, but after having witnessed battles at that scale this felt more like a schoolyard scrap than an actual war.

It made me hate MBI just a little bit more.

Number forty three, Yomi, the Sekirei I had nearly killed had ended her part in the game screaming at me to get away. I understood why now. The Type-Sekirei weren't warriors. They were just a desperate species that had limited itself so that it could cohabitate with the dominate but weaker species called Humanity. They didn't seek partners in order to be able to better battle, they sought them so they could, as Musubi was so fond of saying, find love. When they were released it had been without training or preparation for the conflicts to come. Yomi hadn't been a warrior willing to confront death on the battlefield. She had been a girl who was just trying to please her mate by obeying what he commanded her to do, even if she had been ruthless in doing so. In the end, when confronted by something willing to kill her she had been able to do nothing more but panic and lash out in confusion, and when she had fallen she had only had strength to call out desperately for her master one last time.

I only had a moment to feel regret that this battle was occurring, but then I hardened my heart and raised my eyes. In the end, for all the perversity behind it, this battle WAS occurring.

And I was going to win it.

As it stood now, Musubi was probably almost finished with her opponent. Homura and Tsukiumi were both handling their fights well. Their opponents were attacking ruthlessly, but they were holding them off easily. For all that the enemy Sekirei were vicious in their attempts, the knife wielder in particular relentlessly targeting areas which would incapacitate or even kill if they struck, they were simply outclassed. It looked as though those rumors about single digits being more powerful were true. The only reason that the three outclassed Sekirei hadn't been defeated yet was due to the fact that both the more powerful opponents appeared to be trying to limit the damage they did. If Homura were to simply incinerate his opponent it would be over in a heartbeat, and Tsukiumi appeared to be trying to defeat her two foes honorably. If she were to level an attack like the one she had tried to use on me at the two they wouldn't stand a chance.

And when I turned back to Kakizaki, I could tell the secretary knew it as well. He wasn't smiling any more. Instead he had a scowl on his face, his narrowed eyes flicking from me to the fight behind me. Good.

There was a reason I had Musubi attack first, and it wasn't just because I was worried the girl was going to pop if she didn't get some action soon. The truth was that for however well we were doing at the moment my side of the conflict was in a very disadvantageous position being out numbered and in enemy territory. More than that, we absolutely had to win this battle. Right now there were eleven Sekirei gathered together in this location. That was over one tenth of all the participants in the Sekirei Plan. From what I knew from talking with Matsu and Homura Ashikabi having more than one Sekirei were rare, so it was highly unlikely anything like this had occurred yet.

This was quite possibly the largest battle the Sekirei plan had witnessed so far.

I needed to win in order to set a precedent. Whoever this 'Ashikabi of the East' was, he had devised an effective and ruthless method for hunting down Sekirei and Ashikabi. Considering the number of Sekirei he seemed to have in his possession, most likely acquired in the same way they had been planning to acquire Tsukiumi and I, that meant he was used to this tactic working. It still could. Despite the fact that my side had superior strength, we were still against nearly two to one odds. If they managed to arrange to get three, or even four on one against one of the single digits then they could almost certainly manage to overpower their target with minimal casualties and then turn on the survivor and repeat the tactic.

Kakizaki's confidence hadn't been unreasonable, and thus I had needed to shake him. By seizing the initiative I had thrown him off his game. He had been expecting me to attempt to flee, or maybe negotiate, and in the end he had thought that I would give in to his demands or play a defensive game while retreating. Suddenly having a battle erupt no more than a few feet away from him had shocked him, and now he was watching Tsukiumi and Homura hold off his ambush easily. He had probably been aware of how powerful Tsukiumi was, but he had had no idea of Homura's capabilities. He hadn't expected me to already be in the possession of a single digit and had most likely thought he would be able to steam roll right through us.

The moment Musubi had attacked I had taken the offensive, and with that I was now in control of the flow of the battle. It was a position that I was intimately familiar with. My entire sword style was based on controlling my opponent's attacks after all.

As the fight behind me continued, I could see sweat starting to form on the secretary's forehead. His eyes continued dart between me and the five fighting Sekirei. Nearby Musubi had nearly finished her opponent, the fidgety tie girl proving to be simply incapable of dealing with the battle maniac's zeal. The moment the tie wearer fell, I would have a third Sekirei to add to the fight behind me, evening it out completely. His advantage of quantity was falling, and it was abundantly clear that I had the advantage of quality.

And still he did nothing more than sweat nervously. Why? Why was that? It was my turn to narrow my eyes. He should have known already that the battle wasn't going his way. Was he really just too inexperienced to see it and was simply assuming that he still had the advantage? By now he should have already ordered the next logical step: after all, the two Sekirei to our left were still standing by. If he were to add the two to the battle behind me, then he could potentially turn the tables there.

It wasn't until his eyes flickered to me once more that I realized that it wasn't ME he was looking at. In her usual position behind me, Akitsu shifted, the rattling of chains clear even over the noise of the conflict surrounding me.

So that's what was worrying him: the fact that I had reinforcements of my own to deploy. Now the question was why? He hadn't been prepared for Homura's power, so was he now made nervous by the possibility that my last Sekirei might be equally strong? Or maybe he had recognized the symbol on her forehead as having marked the snow woman as a scrapped number? How infamous were the scrapped? When I had arrived at Izumo House Uzume and Miya had both known what it had meant instantly. But then again, just a few minutes ago Tsukiumi hadn't known Akitsu was scrapped until Homura had pointed it out himself. No, that didn't matter. Even if he didn't know how powerful the statue at my left was, she was still a Sekirei and that alone meant that would have some kind of ability. Was he worried that I would use her to attack him? That could be it. He was the sort that would freely attack Ashikabi with Sekirei, so he could be assuming that I might be the type as well.

It didn't matter in the end. As beads of sweat trickled into Kakizaki's eyes, causing him to reach up unconsciously to try to clear them the hooded figure next to him seemed to finally have enough. "Kakizaki," it snapped in a female voice. "If this keeps up we'll lose the unwinged Sekirei." The tone of the previously silent Sekirei surprised me. I wouldn't have suspected that someone who went around forcibly winging Sekirei would be willing to let one of their subordinates speak to them in such a disrespectful tone. Kakizaki took the opportunity of his hand being near his eyes to readjust his glasses.

"Yes," he admitted, not correcting the impudent Sekirei's manner of addressing him at all. "You better go help the others with number zero nine, Oriha."

What?

"About time!" the impatient Sekirei declared, reaching up to tear her cloak off. Beneath it she was wearing some kind of white dress with what looked like some kind of corset attached around her waist and hanging down her back like a second skirt. With the concealing fabric gone, she revealed her weapons as well; hanging as though set in the air around her were a collection of chakram, razor sharp throwing discs that looked like nothing more than rotary saw blades. I felt a brief moment of curiosity at the way they managed to stay airborne without any noticeable method. Was it some kind of wind ability? Or perhaps some kind of telekinetic skill? I already knew Sekirei were psychic to some extent, but I hadn't thought that went any further than the minor sensing and projecting skills needed for the species to seek out their mates. Without another word the young looking girl being orbited by throwing blades leapt, straight over my head and directly into the battle behind me.

I dismissed my idle curiosity over her abilities and focused on just what the hell was going on. I had been expecting Kakizaki to call reinforcements in, but not like this. Without that Sekirei, Oriha, beside him he was now completely unprotected against my own reserves still standing at my side. Was it some kind of ploy to shake me just like I had done to him earlier through Musubi? Did he have some method of protecting himself against Akitsu's attack that I wasn't aware of? Or was he counting on the two still in reserve to come down and protect him if needed? He must know the recklessness of that course. The two final reserves were a lot further away then Akitsu was. The snow woman could be on him in a heartbeat. Hell, I could be on him in a heartbeat if I needed to be.

It actually took me a second to figure out the truth, and when I did I nearly started to laugh. It took an effort to keep my expression stern.

He actually thought that I wouldn't attack him! It was absurd! It was ridiculous! Here, a man all too well aware of just how precarious an Ashikabi's position was, who employed deliberate strategies against them in fact, and he honestly didn't believe that I would come after him! He really thought that he was the only one who was capable of using such tactics!

It was the most hopelessly naïve thing I had ever witnessed. Was he really so self absorbed, so pretentiously arrogant, that he truly believed he was the only one in the Plan capable of using such underhanded tactics?

This was the level of the opponents I had been prepared to recreate the brutality of the Grail War upon?

I didn't even bother to continue studying him. He had made his move to attempt to regain the initiative of the battle. Oriha had already joined the two others on her side in attacking Tsukiumi. The water user had very nearly been caught off guard, but she managed to dodge it somehow. Kurenai was still doing her best to stay as close to the outnumbered water user as possible, and when the chakram user joined in the beleaguered number zero nine was now facing two opponents sniping at her. Having to defend herself from the close combat specialist while simultaneously dodging the two long rang Sekirei was taking its toll on the water user. Tsukiumi was managing to stay ahead of the attacks and remained unharmed, but the constant assault of blades was taking its toll on her clothing. Her long coat was shredded in places now, and if this still hadn't been a combat zone I would have had no choice but to blush and turn away from just how much of her tunic had been destroyed; she had been reduced to a few strips of cloth to preserve the modesty of her chest, and the new holes in the bottom were revealing her modest white panties to the world no matter what she did.

Still, she was holding out admirably despite the forces aligned against her. The tonfa user facing Homura was almost defeated. She had already lost one of her weapons and was far worse off than even Tsukiumi when it came to the battle to preserve her modesty. Her top was long gone by now, nothing more than cinders and her pants were missing most of one leg. With Tsukiumi now facing three to one odds it seemed that Homura's patience was finally about to run out. He had been taking it easy on his opponent so far, and seemed to have been trying to target his opponent's crest. From what I knew such a thing would result in an instant and painless win for the flame user, resulting in what would probably have been a level two termination. Now though it looked like he was finally willing to resort to however much violence it would take to simply incapacitate his opponent, a level three, maybe even a level four termination if he went too far. It would only take a small amount of time, and then he would be free to take on the snipers that were pressing Tsukiumi. If Oriha's addition was supposed to change the flow of combat, than it had failed. The only the thing that could stop the rout from happening at this point would be if Kakizaki committed all his reserves to the fight.

And yet, the two still did not move.

There must be something I was missing. Were the two perhaps unaffiliated with these five? No. When I had listed their presence earlier he hadn't shown any surprise at them being included. That meant he knew they were there. Were they just observers? Maybe meant to report back to this man's employer if things went wrong like they were right now? But then wouldn't they have left already? It should be obvious that the way things were going I would win. They must be here for something else. Think Shirou. What were there objectives? Tsukiumi for one. I didn't think it was coincidence that she was the one facing three opponents while Homura and Musubi were both left facing one. If anything Oriha should have attacked the shrine girl if they simply wanted to win. Musubi was the one closest after all, and she was so focused on the fight in front of her that I doubt she would notice a sneak attack until it was too late. If the chakram user had gone after Homura she would have probably saved the tonfa user from the total defeat she was heading towards. But then, why weren't the two launching a surprise attack at Tsukiumi right now? She was barely holding her own against three, and five would finish her almost instantly. The answer must lay in my own reserves. Kakizaki was still eying Akitsu warily. Did they have any other objectives?

That's when it hit me. Yeah, they had one more target in the match.

Now, how to respond….

"Akitsu," I spoke up, and the snow woman next to me tilted her head, studying me carefully. "Support Tsukiumi. Target the two long range fighters. Take them out of the game." The blond had been a stickler for the rules so far, adamantly announcing her name and number before every fight, and being generally outraged whenever the courtesy wasn't returned. She would probably be upset if I had Akitsu attack the kunoichi Sekirei directly. Kurenai had been the only other one to follow the rules so far, so Tsukiumi probably only considered her the true opponent.

"Yes, Shirou-sama," Akitsu murmured, and then she moved. One second she was in her normal waiting pose, and then she crouched low and launched herself into the air every bit as fast as Musubi had been when she had jumped the tie wearer earlier. Her arms trailed behind her like normal and icicles began to form with frightening speed as she ascended. When she reached the apex of her leap, she finally moved her arms, swinging both of them in front of her until they crossed and her hands framed her face as she hung in the sky. Then she swept them both down and unleashed a frozen hell upon her targets. The icicles launched themselves like bullets, two streams that screamed down on the striped Sekirei and the chakram user. I don't know how they managed to figure out what was coming, but in the same way as Yomi had somehow managed to block my first strike the two dodged.

It wasn't enough. They had obviously expected the sharp points of the icicles to be the extent of the attack, but everywhere the daggers of frost landed exploded, sharp crystalline formations erupting like twisted vegetation from the ground. The striped Sekirei screamed as one of those formations struck her, tearing away at her shirt and cutting the flesh underneath before the force of the strike launched her away. Oriha had apparently dodged a little further than her less lucky counterpart, and thus she had a fraction of a second to find purchase on the ground before she made a second leap. The stream of icicles followed her, and despite the fact that she managed to escape unharmed, her long flowing dress was snagged and large strips of it were torn off of her.

By the time Akitsu alighted on the roof between the two, landing in a crouch with one leg revealed nearly completely through the slit in her kimono's skirt, the striped Sekirei had barely managed to get to her knees and the knife throwers expression was pained as she did so. The chakram Sekirei was biting one thumb in frustration and already launching a chakram at the newest participant in the battle. It was too late by then. Akitsu already had her hands up once more to frame her face and a swarm of her signature attacks were already formed around her. The second wave once more split into two, one stream going towards the still recovering striped Sekirei, the other again at Oriha. The chakram user desperately dodged to the side, one of her chakram clutched in each hand as she swerved and batted away at the frozen hornets attempting to sting her. The striped Sekirei had no such opportunity, and all she could do was desperately try to cover her face with her fanned blades as the flying shards of winter closed in on her. Everywhere they struck they cut through her already damaged clothes and flesh, splashing bright trails of blood as they did so. She lasted for only a second, and then she collapsed backwards, unmoving.

The battle was now strictly one on one, and yet neither Tsukiumi nor Homura seemed particularly happy with the occurrence.

"Do not think I required such assistance!" the water user snapped, apparently unhappy that the ice user had thought she needed help. "I had everything perfectly under control as it was!" Despite the fact that she had been outnumbered and on the run, and that her clothing had one foot over the line of being completely useless, she refused to offer any words of thanks. I had to suppress a sigh; definitely a tsundere.

Homura had a different reason for being upset. "You idiot!" he shouted at the ice Sekirei who was already turning her attention away from the fallen knife thrower and directing it solely at the chakram user. "What are you thinking? Get out of here!" He nearly missed a block of the tonfa user that had tried to take advantage of his distraction but he ducked in time.

"Master's orders were to defeat these two," Akitsu explained herself softly, a circle of frost forming around her once more as her Sekirei power ran rampant.

Homura erupted in flames, literally. Unlike Tsukiumi's streamers or Akitsu's daggers, his element formed directly about him, sheathing him in a corona of fire that seemed to refuse to actually touch him. "Get back to Shirou! He's unprotected no-," was as far as he got before his eyes widened. "Shirou!" he shouted, his voice high with worry. "Behind you!"

The war party we were facing had already admitted to two objectives: Tsukiumi, yes, but myself as well. The reason that Tsukiumi had been singled out was because their primary purpose was in capturing her, maybe even simply eliminating her if capture proved impossible. That had been what the team of three was for. The other two hadn't interfered because their only objective was me. They had most likely been biding time until they could attack me, but there had been one obstacle in their way: Akitsu. The moment I had sent her into the fray, they had made their move.

With so many Sekirei gathered it served as a screen on my ability to sense Sekirei. However, even as I spun to face the two aliens at my back, my eyes managing to catch the triumphant look that had returned to Kakizaki's face as his plan came to fruition, I was finally able to get a precise lock onto the power of the two who were confronting me. It was musky and thick, and at the same time bitter. It took me a second to identify it, even as I caught sight of the wide smirks on the two ambusher's faces. The scent was that of arousal. I had seen smirks like those before. They reminded me of Gilgamesh, right before he had torn Illyasviel's heart out of her chest with his bare hands. They were the expressions of someone who was about to unleash great amounts of agony and death on their targets, and they were going to enjoy doing it. These two were going to hurt me, maybe kill me, and they were going to get off on it while they did so.

In the back of my head, in the imaginary place where I kept the trigger to my magecraft, the lever of a cocked gun went off and od flooded through my body.

Trace on.

Power flooded through me, leaking from my circuits and into my flesh as my body reinforced itself. My hands, already on the two edges of the bundle on my back similarly flooded with power. Reinforcement was simultaneously one of the easiest and yet at the same time most complicated magecrafts out there. On one hand, it was easy to put od into a vessel. It sank into the imperfections of whatever was being reinforced and made it stronger, better. The problem was, there was no way of knowing just how much power a vessel could hold, and if too much was placed within then the vessel would shatter. It's one of the reasons why reinforcing ones one body was considered such a difficult and dangerous ability. Most people would experiment with it slightly before discarding it as a technique completely in favor of other less risky ways to amplify their own abilities. I on the other hand had stuck with it, slowly increasing the certainty of the amount my body could handle. I still didn't think I had found the limits of what I could stand, but if I ever did than I would have achieved a skill which most magi could never dream of, perfect self reinforcement. Even as I carefully strengthened myself, I carelessly flooded the bundle with more od than something three times its size would be able to handle. The moment my fingers touched the cloth it ripped apart and my hands instead found the grips of my twin swords, Kanshou and Bakuya.

The two Sekirei coming at me looked older than most of the rest that Kakizaki had fielded. Their bodies were taller and the figures more mature. The first, launching herself at me feet first in the air, was decked out in some kind of purple, yellow, and black outfit that wrapped around her like some kind of harlequin costume. Portions of her midriff, her sides, her arms, even the outer portions of her thighs were exposed, while the rest was checkered back and forth with purple and yellow. She had long black thigh high boots and short black gloves to finish it. She was also probably the first Sekirei I had come across had scorned long hair and instead she kept hers less than an inch long, framing her skull closely. The second had long black hair that almost looked like it had a green highlight to it, the same way Akitsu's sometimes shown blue in the right light. She had long black gloves and boots which were attached to leather straps that led to a belt placed high on her hips like some kind of demented garter belt. Beneath she had on a mostly blue outfit that looked like the kind of thing I would expect to find on some kind of pinup that was displaying themselves on a car or a motorcycle. It was two parts, a set of short shorts and a cleavage baring top that had a white stripe on the very top of it. She was carrying a long red lance as she raced low to the ground, a few feet behind her mid air partner.

My back was still mostly to the leaping Sekirei when she finally struck me. Rather than try to dodge, I simply adjusted the flat of one of my overlapping twin swords so that her sharp looking boots planted themselves on the black steel of Kanshou instead of in my side like she had been aiming. The force of the kick was enough to force me to take a step, but that was all. Instead of stumbling I set my feet, bending my knees under the impact to absorb as much of it as I could. The attacking Sekirei barely had a moment to look surprised at the fact that I wasn't flying across the roof with the force of her attack and then I straightened my legs and put my shoulder to Bakuya, still underneath it's twin, and shoved her hard through my blades. Mid air and caught off guard she had no way to recover herself as she was repulsed. Even as she began her rebound flight my eyes tried to find the second Sekirei, the lance user, and I realized I had lost track of her during the second where the harlequin had mostly blocked my vision. If she had darted to the left or to the right, then I would have caught her with my peripheral sight. So that meant… I glanced up, and found my face full of light surrounding a hazy silhouette as the lance user came down with the sun at her back to blind me.

Really? That was the best you could do? Why not just tell me my shoes were untied, or glue a five hundred yen coin to the ground wait till I was bent over to kick me in the rear? I'm pretty sure both of those were just as old a trick.

However fast she might be while running, once in the air she was limited by gravity. It meant I had a moment to finally pull both my blades away from my back. I kept one eye closed to preserve my sight as I used the other to make my best judgment of her position, and then I showed her my counter to her little trick: Bakuya. I turned the gleaming white sword flat, and I was rewarded with a grunt of surprise as light reflected from the steel did the same to her as she had been trying to do to me. Now with both of us blind I used the sound of her surprise and my own hazy estimation of her position to dodge quickly to the side. Still blinded and unprepared, not to mention unable to change her course mid leap, she crashed down into the ground I had been standing on moments ago, cratering the roof around the point of her lance by a good two feet in every direction.

I opened my eye, the one I had tried to preserve my vision with, and saw that she had been holding high on her weapon, nearly wrapping herself around the lance in order to put all her weight into the thrust. Shaking her head to clear her own vision she regained enough of her sight in time for her to catch sight of Kanshou as it sought to cut her head from her body. She managed to leap free, launching herself backwards in time to save her life, but the black blade didn't let her go undamaged. The leap had put her neck out of my swing but had instead let me catch her torso. She managed to avoid a fatal strike by twisting, but I carved a wound at least a half inch deep into her, starting at just below her arm pit and ending right at the edge of her ribs. She cried out, a stifled sound of pain, and then the harlequin was on me again.

The two moved together well, with a sense of a practiced routine. Just like before when the harlequin had blocked my vision so the lancer could attack now the harlequin used the lancer as a smokescreen. Even as the now wounded Sekirei twisted out of the way the short haired alien came in her foot lancing at my head in a snap kick. She was fast, and with Kanshou still across my body I wouldn't be able to block properly. Instead I spun, using the lingering force of my attack to force myself to move fast enough to keep from being hit. Bakuya traced an arc behind me as I did so, and the kicker was forced to dodge in return. Instead of just moving out of the way she actually leaped over my sword, arching herself like some kind of insane pole-vaulter. The moment her hands came in contact with the ground I could hear the cement of the ceiling cracking as she dug her fingers into it, making purchase where there should be none. With her fingers as an anchor she spun herself, her feet wide as they whipped through the air like some kind of demented top. Even as she did so, movement from the corner of my eye alerted me that the lancer was coming as well. She had one hand clutching the wound in her side, holding it closed to keep her flesh from stretching even further apart as she moved, but her other hand still had a firm grip on her weapon. She came in low, aiming at my feet in a sweeping strike. If I didn't move quickly then I would be scissored by the two attacks, the lance coming in low to throw me further off balance and the leg high to send me flying. I was already reeling, my torso far over my center of balance from my earlier dodge and Kanshou held too low for me to use it properly in time. Bakuya was still in a position where it would be effective against the incoming leg, but with my posture there was a chance that the force of the kick might simply disarm me, tearing the hilt from my grip.

Sometimes wielding two weapons was a real pain in the ass. Strengthening my off arm until it could keep up with my dominant arm, sharpening my reflexes until I could fight properly with either side, the sheer effort it took in order to create a style that let me effectively use either weapon for offense or defense interchangeably, all of that had taken more blood, sweat, and tears then I was really comfortable admitting upon reflection.

And then something like this happened, and it made all the pain worthwhile.

I buried Kanshou point first into the rooftop beside me. The carefully reconstructed Noble Phantasm sank in easily, and I used it as a crutch to right my balance. Then, rather than try to recover the weapon sank into the earth, I simply left it there, using my now free right hand to support the back of Bakuya. The lancer's attack, which should have caught me in my legs and off balance found itself coming into contact with the buried blade's edge instead of its target. Kanshou was a legendary blade, and I knew well just how sharp it truly was. When the thin shaft of the lance encountered it, the edge bit deeply into whatever material the red weapon had been made out of. Then, with the inhuman force behind the blow supplying the pressure, the Sekirei in blue's weapon snapped. At the same time, the back of the harlequin's leg discovered that the sword that should have been knocked aside was instead supported with my full balance and both hands.

The impact of her flesh and my weapon was harder than I had thought it would be. I had half hoped that the same thing that would happen to the lance would happen to the limb and her own power would just sever the limb. Instead the sharp point met surprising resistance. It seemed that the long boots the kicker wore were more than just fashion accessories. It made sense, in a way. If I were trying to fight a weapon user with just my body I would want some kind of armor to protect my poor squishy meat. But the sheer force of her kick combined with the strength of my resistance proved enough to overcome whatever armor she was using. The defensive measure had been enough to keep me from removing the limb completely, and instead I only managed to force Bakuya about halfway through, severing her tendons and muscles and finally burying itself in the bone of her calf.

The harlequin in front of me wasn't able to stifle her scream of agony when I effectively destroyed her leg's ability to move below where Bakuya had cut into her the same way that the lancer had when I had carved open her side. The Sekirei in blue, whose weapon had been rendered just as useless, tensed at the sound of her comrade's agony. "Ichiya!" the lancer snapped, and despite the fact that her weapon was mostly useless she launched herself at me directly. With both hands on Bakuya, I had no choice but to dodge out of the way, twisting the blade brutally in order to both do as much damage as I could while simultaneously freeing the weapon as well. For all that sticking a sword into someone usually meant that the sword wielder had won it also tended to leave the swordsman in a dangerous position afterwards. Once a sword was in the victim's body acted as a natural trap, making the time spent freeing it an opportune moment for enemies to attack. If I still had Kanshou I would be able to elimanate that window of opportunity, but I didn't have time to pull the black sword free. If it had just been the three of us here I could bypass even that weakness by simply tracing a new copy, but there was no chance of doing that now, not with so many onlookers.

I barely managed to free Bakuya in time before the Sekirei was on me, but instead of pressing her attack she instead wrapped her arm around her partner's waist and leapt backwards, putting distance between themselves and me. Rather than chase I instead took the moment to recover Kanshou, spinning to face the two in my ready stance, arms at my side and blades held upright and away from my body.

It was a position which invited them to attack, taunted them with the lethal openings I displayed to them, and then when they tried to take what I offered it would be the position that cut them down. That was, after all, my style. It was the reason I had sent Akitsu away despite knowing that it would cause these two to try and take advantage of my unguarded state. I had wanted them to come, and now all that was left was for me to finish them.

The entire frantic exchange had lasted less than thirty seconds and had consisted of no more than a dozen movements on both our sides combined. A few scraps of cloth from the bundle I had shredded hadn't even managed to hit the ground yet. The end result was the blue Sekirei's lance being destroyed, her top rendered useless, a wound that would most likely take dozens of stitches to fix, and the harlequin's leg being nothing more than a lump attached to her knee.

"Holy shit," was the first indication that the silence that had fallen over the building top was something other than my intense concentration on my two enemies simply blocking the background noise from my perception. Rather than turn my back on the two wounded enemies I lifted Bakuya a little higher, using the reflective surface as a mirror to see what was happening behind me. The blood dripping down its length interfered, but I was able to make out the most of it. Homura was at the edge of the elevated portion of the roof where his battle had been taken place earlier, and he was presumably the one who had sworn earlier. Behind him his enemy was finally defeated, a large swathe of charred flesh covering her side. If I were to hazard a guess based on what I knew of his character he had most likely seen the two Sekirei attempt to ambush me and had finally lost his patience with his opponent. I knew damn well that the fire user was powerful, and in his rush to protect me he had most likely just swatted the tonfa user that had been fighting him aside like a bug in order to get her out of his way. Tsukiumi and her opponent were both standing perfectly still and seemed to have forgotten their long standing battle in favor of gawking at me. The kunoichi, Kurenai, had wide eyes as though the very idea of what she had seen was so preposterous that it must have been some kind of illusion. Tsukiumi's expression was, well, actually kind of funny. She had gone completely red in the cheeks, her mouth had dropped open, and her eyelids were twitching at a rather impressive rate. She had one hand up and pointing at me while the other was hanging slack at her sides.

There was a rustle of movement in my blade and I adjusted it in time to find Akitsu landing behind me in a crouch. On the roof both of the targets I had assigned her were laying perfectly still. It seemed that with her objectives fulfilled she had not wasted any time returning to her usual post. Still crouching, the snow woman spoke up. "Mission complete, master," she told me softly. I nodded once, and she stood, slipping into my shadow with the ease and comfort of long practice.

That left only one of my flock unaccounted for. I let Bakuya lower, my eyes drifting to a location to my front but also a bit to the side and away from my recent battleground. The tie wearing Sekirei whom never even had a chance to identify herself lay still on the ground. At some point in the battle her brief white shirt had been torn off her, and with her back to me I could see the empty spot where her crest should have been. Above her Musubi stood so still she reminded me eerily of Akitsu, the shrine girl's expression firm as she waited, patiently staring at the fallen member of her race. It was such an unusual stance for her that it took me a moment to realize what she was doing. That's right. It was a custom to guard the bodies of fallen Sekirei until MBI could be mustered to pick them up.

That left only four enemies remaining: the still frozen Kurenai, the wounded duo in front of me, and Kakizaki. The secretary was still in the same spot I had last seen him, at the edge of the roof besides the strange shed thing. I almost didn't recognize him for a second, what with how white his face was, or the fact that his previously arrogant posture had been replaced with something that could most accurately be described as cowering.

"What the hell are you?" his voice cracked half way through his strangled question. His question made me pause for a moment. Where had I heard something like that before? The sheer disbelief in his voice, the absolute shock shared not just by him but by everyone else who had just witnessed something they had thought was completely impossible: an Ashikabi standing up to not just one but two Sekirei simultaneously.

"It's fine to assume that the Ashikabi's role is to support from the back," I told him, echoing the words that had once shaken me to my very core so long ago after I witnessed a simple human match the Servant of the Sword bare handed, "but there are always exceptions. There are some Ashikabi who can only fight head on."

From the expression on Kakizaki's face it had the same impact on him that it had on me.

This was it. The battle was over. Despite having overwhelming numbers and having been on his home ground we had beaten him completely. He had three Sekirei left, and two of them were either crippled or disarmed. The final one was facing a single digit that had already managed to hold her off even when she had the support of two other Sekirei with her.

And it was a complete disaster in my book. I had only wanted to meet with an unwinged Sekirei in order to address our mutual reaction. I hadn't wanted to infringe on what was apparently a powerful Ashikabi's territory, nor did I want to reveal either mine or my Sekirei's abilities. There went my plans for hiding in anonymity until it came time to strike and then disappearing into shadows until the next time I needed to move. Even if I finished off every other participant here, that would leave seven Sekirei and one Ashikabi removed from the game, and that would turn heads, one way or another. From the way Musubi was resolutely ignoring the entire ongoings around her in order to guard her fallen enemy I don't think I'd even have the option of finishing the rest off and then disappearing to leave no name attached to this massacre. Someone was going to find out that I had been the one behind all this.

Well then. If refuge in anonymity won't work, then I guess it'll have to be refuge in audacity.

"It's against the rules for Sekirei to attack Ashikabi," I began, my voice cold. "Just as it is for the matches to be anything but one on one." I leveled a blank stare at the Ashikabi across from me. "However," I continued, "it isn't against the rules for another Ashikabi to attack an Ashikabi." The secretary's eyes widened as he realized where I was going with this. "First, I'm going to finish these two," I declared, raising my two swords to point at my wounded enemies. Then I brought the blades down quickly to the side, shedding the blood that soaked both of them to the sides in a spray that painted twin lines of crimson on the roof beside me. "Then, I'm going to kill you," I told him bluntly.

I was aiming for intimidation. I had already defeated Kakizaki's forces. Now I wanted to defeat his spirit. I wanted him to break and run, and then to spread the story of the murderous and terrifying Ashikabi that existed out there to everyone involved in the game who asked him. I had originally hoped to be like Lancer had been during the Grail War: an enigmatic figure that appeared and disappeared at will, a terrifying specter that couldn't be predicted or found. Instead, I'd have to settle for being the Berserker of this game; the unstoppable juggernaut that while easily located was incomprehensible to confront. I had the potential for the role. With Akitsu and Homura both being powerful elemental Sekirei, Musubi being a strong unarmed fighter on her own, combined with the intelligence that Matsu brought to the group, and my own combat potential, I was very much in the position to set myself as a figure that most other Ashikabi would avoid at all costs. What I needed to complete that was the reputation. Even if another Ashikabi had a powerful Sekirei, or even if multiple partners could manage to work together, if I had the reputation as being unstoppable that alone would be enough to ward most other challengers off.

In order to get that reputation, in order to buy myself the space I would need to maneuver away from the public eye, in order to scare away every two bit challenger who thought that simply having been selected by one of the Type-Sekirei was proof enough that they were hot shit and capable of taking on the world, I would do exactly as I had announced.

I had been aiming for intimidation. Against Kakizaki, it seemed to work. The secretary's breathing sped up to the point where he was nearly hyperventilating.

Against the two Sekirei I had just disengaged from, it didn't seem to be as effective. Despite the fact that the two were wounded, that one was crippled, and the other was disarmed, I felt the scent of their power increase in intensity. It took me a moment to realize that the arousal I smelt in the air wasn't just me sensing the two gathering their strength for our final battle; it was a genuine odor.

Judging from the return of their previous sadistic smirks, my original assumption had been right: the two were just plain getting off on this. The lancer glanced down at her shattered weapon and then unwrapped her arm from around the waist of her partner, stalking slowly to the side. The harlequin, despite her maiming, began to limp in a circle opposite of her sister Sekirei, her own smile widening despite the fact that she was most likely bleeding out right there in front of me.

"Number eighteen, Ichiya," the harlequin announced herself, her grin feral as she limped counterclockwise around me.

"Number sixteen, Toyotama," the lancer added on, her clockwise orbit just as slow as her partner's.

Well, well. It looked like my earlier estimation had been wrong. It seemed that even amongst the Sekirei there were those who truly were ready for this conflict. It made sense, I supposed. There were one hundred and eight of them. With that many I suppose there had to be a few who were ready for what it meant to engage in combat.

These two would not plead with me in the end. They would not shriek, 'Get away'. These two were ready to fight to the death, to kill or be killed.

I wouldn't regret this battle. Following this through to the end wouldn't haunt me like my fight with forty three did. These two would have been right at home in the middle of the Grail War.

Hell. Dressed in blue, wielding a red lance, and getting excited at the thought of being in a life or death battle? If that Toyotama had been there during the war I think her and Lancer might very well have given up on battle and run off together by the end of it.

Still, they had made their announcements. It only seemed polite I return them. "Shirou Emiya," I gave them my name. "No number. Just an Ashikabi."

The smirks on my opponents widened into outright leers. It seemed my observance of the ritual despite the fact that it went against two of the other rules of Sekirei battle only excited them more. "You can't be serious!" a new voice interrupted. From the sound of it, it seemed that Homura had had enough. Not taking my eyes from my opponents I snapped my response back.

"No one interfere!" This was now my battle. More than just a fight for my life or even for my pride, this had simply become just my fight. My blood sang in anticipation, and my knuckles cracked as I shifted my grip on my swords. I had spent three years sharpening myself in case I ever came across an enemy that surpassed humanity. These two were consummate hunters. There tactics, their coordination, they were Sekirei who existed outside of the rules that governed the rest of their species. They would attack without announcing themselves and without regard for the one on one rule, and mpy even care for whether or not their target was human or alien.

How many other Sekirei or Ashikabi had stood where I once stood and hadn't had the skill to withstand it like I had? Whatever that number might be, after today it would increase no further.

Ichiya shifted, putting her weight on her good leg, bending forward as she did so. She might be limited in her mobility, but she had operated earlier on her hands just as easily as she had on her feet. She was by no means an insignificant threat. The same with Toyotama. Her lance might be missing its point, but she was still an inhuman creature and though her weapon wasn't as dangerous as once it was it was still sharp. When it had broke it had splintered unevenly, and the splinters at the end would still be enough to penetrate my flesh if she aimed them properly. More than that, they were forewarned. They knew that I wasn't some pushover Ashikabi that they could smack around at their will. I was a genuine threat. They would come at me ready to risk their all, and in response I would…

"Enough!" a shrill voice interrupted my thoughts. From the way Ichiya and Toyotama jerked it had caught them by surprise as well. As if by some kind of signal only the three of us could recognize our heads jerked towards the interruption simultaneously. I blinked in surprise when I recognized Kakizaki, though at some point during our showdown it seemed as though Kurenai had found her way to his side. The kunoichi had spent the entire time fighting Tsukiumi directly, albeit with the support of her sister Sekirei helping her. Even with the assistance she looked like she hadn't come off completely unharmed. The powerful number zero nine had done her own share of damage to her opponent, and the kunoichi was in a state nearly as disheveled as the water user had been. She had one arm around the panicking secretary's waist, much in the way I usually treated Akitsu when it was time for us to do some roof hoping. "Ichiya, Toyotama. We're retreating." One hand came up to adjust his glasses, but the motion seemed more along the lines of a nervous gesture rather than the arrogant dismissal he had used it as before.

The two bloodied Sekirei paused, glancing at each other for a moment, their twin smirks of anticipation disappearing. Then Toyotama sighed. "Just when it was getting interesting," she muttered. Ichiya spared one last glance at her ruined leg, and then leapt a surprising distance backwards, displaying just how strong her remaining limb was. Toyotama simply turned and darted away, her body low to the ground as she raced in the direction of the already fleeing Kakizaki, her hair reminding me of a serpent with the way that it flowed behind her.

As the two fled on their own, Kurenai leapt as well, her smaller frame supporting Kakizaki's easily as she made a jump that took her to the edge of the roof. The secretary easily accepted the manhandling, allowing himself to be pulled along with the ease of long practice. Once they reached the edge of the roof, he somehow indicated to his support to wait a moment, perhaps through a pre-calculated series of gestures of some sort. He took advantage of the pause to glare at me, adjusting his glasses with his free hand as he gave me an angry study. "Shirou Emiya," he muttered. "I'll remember this."

Good. That was what I was hoping for. Let's make it a little easier to recall later. I adjusted my footing, moving my leg backwards in preparation, and then threw Kanshou as hard as I could at him. The black blade howled as it cut through the air, a promise of death to all that stood in its path. It spun so fast that it resembled one of the chakram that the now fallen Sekirei had been so fond of tossing about earlier, nothing more than a razor sharp disc as it closed on the wide eyed Kakizaki as the secretary realized that maybe stopping to taunt his opponent might not have been the brightest of ideas. I had intended the final gesture to be nothing but one last threat to finish my intimidation. Apparently it worked so well that he very nearly didn't have time to dodge as he froze like a deer before headlights. At the last moment it looked like Kurenai decided to take initiative on her own, and the kunoichi wrenched the frozen secretary out of the path of my attack, falling downwards toward the street and out of my line of sight. Kanshou cut through the spot Kakizaki had resided only seconds ago, and then finally finished its flight by burying itself in the concrete of the building next door point first, the strength behind its throw enough to sink it nearly up to its hilt in the neighboring building.

And then it was just five of us left moving on the roof; me, my Sekirei, and Tsukiumi. On the elevated roof top behind us were three Sekirei, two of them laying in pools of their own blood and the final one a mess of charred flesh. At the other edge of the roof Musubi still stood her patient vigil over the beaten form of a fourth. Despite the incredible powers that the three elementalists had been wielding the only damage to our surroundings were a few small craters courtesy of Musubi and Toyotama and the hole that I had gouged when I planted Kanshou into the cement. In the distance I could hear what sounded like a helicopter, the roar of its blades growing louder as it drew closer.

For a long few moments no one spoke. This innocuous background, just another unremarkable top of a building amidst a forest of its kind, had the unmistakable feel of a battle field after the campaign was over. All it needed was a few circling carrion birds and the image would have been perfect. I'm not certain how many other times the four beings with me had seen something like this. I know for me it had been far too many already. Regardless of their experience, or inexperience as the case might be, they knew instinctively that somehow words would detract from the profound sense of catharsis that was already filling them. It wouldn't last forever, but for right now these fleeting moments were meant to be used to look back on the fight, to wonder just how the hell you survived it, if there was something you could have done better, if this all could have been avoided.

And then my phone rang.

Three heads turned to stare at me as though in accusation for having broken the moment. Well, two heads anyway. Akitsu was already watching me in the way she usually did. With a sigh I switched Bakuya into my other hand so I could reach into my pocket to pull out my beeping appliance. Just why is it that people say these things are supposed to be convenient anyway? I glanced at the little screen on the front of the phone, and sighed again when I saw who it was. I started to raise it to my ear, and then paused as I realized what was about to happen and instead held it at arm's length away from me instead when I flipped it open. When nothing happened despite my preparation, I cautiously put it to me ear.

"ONIII-CHAN!" the loud scream of my little sister rocketed into my eardrum and I winced, pulling it away instantly. Once her voice died down and I was confident that she hadn't turned me deaf I pulled it back to my face.

"Damn it, Yukari," I swore, shifting Bakuya so the blade was pointing downward and I could use the pommel to scratch at my forehead. "What do you do, wait for the sound of my breathing or something?"

"Yeah," she admitted shamelessly, and then pressed on in a rush. Despite the fact that she had been yelling at the top of her lungs only seconds ago when she continued it was in a frantic hush. "So I listened to him even though I thought it was a joke but since you told me to pay attention I did and then even though I didn't believe him I decided that if you could be in a relationship like that then so could I even though he was probably a little crazy and so I kissed him and then he grew wings and destroyed my room!" She paused to draw a breath and I wondered if the poor Sekirei was in the same room as her right now, wondering just why his new mistress was whispering into a phone. "I need a continuation on my life counseling!" Yukari wailed, once more forgetting that she was most likely trying to keep her conversation a secret from the room's other resident.

Yeah. In retrospect, that was probably how I should have seen this day going.


	15. Fifteenth Wing

In Flight: Fifteenth Wing

_Author's notes: Finally, the fix so many of you have been waiting for. I actually kind of find it amusing that if I take longer than a week people begin to speculate that I had abandoned the fic. Normally this would be the point where I mentioned what had delayed me, but this time, well, I was flat out ignoring the chapter for a week or so. When I write I do a lot of research and double checking, watching and rewatching the series in order to get the little nuances right, and if you do that too much you kind of start getting bored with them. Since, contrary to popular belief, I'm not actually an AI program being experimented on in a government lab in an attempt to create a superior technological life form or a better app for an iphone, I decided to take a brief vacation to let my interest respark._

_I spent a lot of that time devouring truly scary amounts of anime and manga, some of which was actually really good. Gurran Lagann, my stated goal in the last author's notes, was awesome. Especially the epilogue. There's just something about bittersweet long distant endings like that which really get to me (eyes Hill of Sword sheepishly). Another good series I came across was Bakemonogatori, called GhoSTory in some translations. It wins an award for best reaction when confronted by a catgirl in all of anime history. Just go to youtube and type in 'Bakemonogatori' and 'A fool proof way to know she's a cat' and you should see a subtitled clip of the event. A third series, and this one I really have my eyes one, is Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It seems like it will be a photocopy of every other magical girl anime since the creation of the genre, until you reach the third episode where one of the magical girls gets her head bitten off by a malevolent clown demon. The sixth episode reveals that in order to get their magical powers the girls have unwittingly sold their souls, the seventh has one of them going insane, and I'm pretty sure the cute mascot is actually some kind of eldritch abomination in disguise. I have high hopes of the series being the ultimate deconstruction of the genre as a whole._

_Now, as for specific reviews, a lot of people pointed out how the fight scenes had trouble flowing, like some paragraphs being too long and such. Thanks for pointing that out. It's one of the things I noticed as well. It's just really hard to find breaking points when you're describing a series of quick and interacting movements like Shirou's fight scenes tend to be. Next fight scene I'll try to make it a big easier on the eyes._

_Also, and I actually think this is kind of funny, my typo 'mpy'. It turns out m is next to n, p is next to o, and y is next to t, and thus 'not' becomes 'mpy'. So close, and yet so far. Oops._

_Now, onto the chapter itself._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_I don't know if its just me, but this chapter feels like its closing up on a lot of different events which have been going on for a while. It almost has the feel of the end of a story arc. If this was hill of swords, I'd probably start changing my chapter titles to indicate the new arc, but for In Flight I don't think I'm going to give arcs specific names. It does mark the end of the opening phase of In Flight though. Shirou now knows the truth of his situation, has gathered the majority of his Sekirei, and most of the important characters have been introduced and characterized. From here on out the plot should start moving more steadily forward, knock on wood._

_A few of the more notable characters being present here are Takami and Yukari. I'm trying hard to keep them both human and interesting, though they're both presenting their own challenges there. Takami doesn't get much screen time besides her whacking Minaka and acting stand offish to Minato. I'm aiming for 'strong woman' here, but while still retaining a degree of uncertainty on how to react to her long lost son. For Yukari, well, its easy to characterize her as a silly pervert, and so far that's about the only thing that's shining through. In later chapters, now that she's more present, I'm hoping to giver her a bit more depth, but for now she's found herself relegated to comedic relief. Don't judge her too hard for now._

_As for specific scenes, heh. I giggled when writing the Shirou/Homura/Takami bit. I mean, the original series hinted at it, specifically the scene where Homura and Takami meet up right after Kuu was rescued, but I don't think anyone out there has ever really explored just what that could mean in regards to Homura interacting with Minato in the original, and Shirou in this case._

_Now, on to the chapter. If you like it, give me a shout. Questions/Concerns/Complaints? List them as well. Though I'd appreciate it if complaints would be a bit more constructive then some of the ones that have been popping up lately. To one reviewer, I don't care if you think god will never forgive me. I'm agnostic. And to a certain cocksucker, for lack of a better word to describe their obsession with the act, stop using other peoples names. It's time for you to embrace your latent urges, and come out of the closet. Be honest with yourself. It'll help you feel better about yourself in the end. I was just planning on ignoring you until you went away, but it seems that you're starting to offend the rest of my reviewers as well. The review section is supposed to be constructive, not a place to troll._

*Story Start*

"First of all, breathe," I reminded my little sister. "Remember: deep breaths, in through your mouth, out through your nose." Immediately the 'whooshing' noise of Yukari obeying greeted my ears. Good. The first thing to do was to calm her down. The second thing to do after that was…

Well, actually, I had no idea what to do after that. My precocious little sister had just made a contract with one of the last members of an alien race that was in the middle of being coerced into extinguishing itself via ritualistic combat by a heartless multi-national conglomerate.

Should I congratulate her or something? This was definitely outside my knowledge of customary etiquette.

"Are you calmer now?" I asked her, trying to buy time while I figured out just what kind of advice I should give her in this situation. From the diminished rate of the rush of her breath it sounded like she was getting herself back in control. I could make out a rustling noise from my transceiver. It sounded like earlier when her hair was brushing the receiver. "Yukari, we're on the phone. I can't tell if you're nodding or shaking your head," I reminded her.

"Oh yeah," Yukari muttered in a normal tone of voice, and then continued in a whisper again. "Yeah, I'm better, onii-chan," she confirmed. I decided to take a shot in the dark over what to do next.

"Alright, first off, just how much did the Sekirei tell you about his situation?" I asked, trying to get a judge on what Yukari already knew. My first three Sekirei hadn't really told me too much about what I was getting into before they were winged, so I had to get a feel on just how much information Yukari already had. I hadn't figured out that there would be combat involved until Musubi, and that wasn't mentioning how long it took me to figure out that the aliens weren't just going to use me as a combat resource.

"Um, so far Shiina only told me what he was and what he wanted me to be," Yukari obediently listed for me. I grimaced and scratched my head with Bakuya's pommel a little harder.

"So this 'Shiina' hasn't told you anything about the Sekirei Plan yet?" I deduced. Was that typical of the species, leaving something as important as the whole 'fight and fight and fight' aspect of a relationship with them until it was too late for their Ashikabi to back out? If so it seemed like an immensely unfair and thoughtless custom.

"Sekirei Plan?" my sister echoed back, confusion in her voice, and I had to suppress a groan. "What's that?"

"It's…" a loud coughing from my side caused me to trail off. Ah, right. Well, maybe it would be better if I let her new Sekirei explain the important facts first. Hadn't I received a call from Minaka after I winged Musubi? From what Homura had implied then it seemed like the CEO of MBI personally contacted everyone who ended up winging a Sekirei. I could probably leave the basics to him and then go over the specifics with Yukari afterwards. "It's complicated," I continued, "and I really don't have the time at the moment. You should get a call soon that will give you a general idea of what's going on, and then you can ask your new Sekirei any questions." I paused, and then realized that if whoever it was she had winged was anything like Musubi had been that might not be enough. "Actually, can you meet up with me at my new lodgings this evening? I should probably be free by then." I paused a moment to recall the specific address which I then recited to her.

"Hmph," Yukari sniffed, and she sounded put out. "That's just like what you said earlier, onii-chan," she pointed out. "What could possibly be more important than helping your own sister out in her desperate time of need?"

Actually, she had a point. I must be coming off as pretty insensitive right now, and I really didn't want to give her the impression that I was just blowing her off. "Well," I began, glancing around again. "I'm currently on a roof somewhere on the east side of town and I just finished off fighting an ambush by enemy Sekirei. We managed to take down about four of them, but now I'm not sure what to do with their bodies. I think either MBI or another Ashikabi might be about to attack me with helicopters, and I have to finish a conversation with another Sekirei about whether or not she wants to be winged by me. Also, one of my Sekirei's is glaring at me like he's about to set me on fire if I don't get off the phone, and I still have to find a cat for one of my other Sekirei as well." I shrugged, unable to help myself from performing the gesture even though I had just chided Yukari about doing the exact same thing earlier.

For a few seconds Yukari was completely silent. When she finally did say something, her voice sounded rather confused. "What?"

"It's just been one of those days," I admitted, not sure how else to explain it. The roar of the helicopter approaching was growing louder and louder, and Homura's impatient tapping of his foot as he watched me casually talk to my little sister reminded me that his glare really did have the ability to cause me to spontaneously combust.

"Just what do you do in your spare time, onii-chan?" Yukari asked me, and from the tone of her voice it seemed she most likely had decided to believe me, probably a side effect of having her doubts about the situation been proven wrong once already today. She also sounded a bit shell shocked for that matter.

"We can talk about it later tonight," I assured her. "Now, do you remember the address I gave you?" Yukari recited it back to me dutifully and I continued. "Show up there as in the evening. If I'm not home yet, just tell the landlady that you're there to visit me and she should let you in. Now, I really have to go, so I'll see you later."

"Ah, right. See you later," my little sister repeated dully. I hoped that the excitement of the day hadn't been too much for her. Maybe I should have had her wait until tomorrow? No, I decided as I closed the phone and pocketed it, better to get it all done with now.

"Done yet, Shirou?" Homura asked me, his voice sarcastic. I nodded.

"Sorry," I apologized. "It was my sister. It seems like she just got her first Sekirei, and needed some advice."

Homura's eyes twitched. "Your sister just became an Ashikabi?" he asked, his voice toneless. "And the moment she winged a Sekirei she turned to you for advice?" He crossed he put one hand to his forehead and the other to his elbow and began to massage his brows slowly as he closed his eyes in frustration. "Why is that precisely?"

"Well," I began, rubbing the back of my head as well with my free hand. "She sort of thought he was offering to be her sex slave," I admitted. Homura began to rub his head harder.

"That makes even less sense," he ground out, a vein beginning to stand out on his forehead from how tightly his teeth were most likely clenched. "Why would she come to you for advice about sex slaves?"

"It's a long story that involves Yukari being present when Akitsu asked me to be her master and her getting the wrong impression from it." I had to suppress a wince as I remembered precisely how my little sister had reacted to that particular scene. I shuddered at the thought of some of the things she had bought for me.

That seemed to be enough for Homura to work with, and he shook his head slowly as he mulled it over. "I can buy that," he admitted. "But it's not important right now. Shirou," the flame user opened his eyes. He hesitated, looking like he was either at a loss for words or so angry that he was having trouble speaking. "What the hell happened, just now?" was all he could finally manage to get out.

I was tempted to say that I had just finished a phone call, but I didn't think the host would be particularly appreciative of flippancy at this point. I was pretty sure I already knew what he was referring to. "I used myself as bait in order to lure the enemy reinforcements into a trap, and then sprung a counter ambush on them." Simple and to the point, my response made Homura narrow his eyes even further.

"You deliberately put yourself at risk? You knew that they were going to attack you? Shirou, do I even need to tell you just how reckless that was?" My calm response seemed to set him even further on edge as he began to clench his fist, the leather of his glove creaking as he did so.

"No. You don't. I took a calculated risk based on what I know about the abilities of Sekirei in relation to my own abilities and decided that it was reasonably certain that I would either be able to win or to hold them off long enough for either you or Akitsu to finish your own opponents and then come to my assistance," I told him bluntly. Homura's fists relaxed as I explained my reasoning. "You are already aware of my fighting abilities," I reminded him, and I could see him take a deep breath as he recalled my spar with Miya nearly a week ago. "Based on what you recall from that time, do you feel my judgment was in error?"

Homura closed his eyes and I could see him take several deep breaths as the tension started to go out of his frame. "I'll admit," he began, and then took a final deep breath. "I'll admit that you are certainly competent enough with your swords," he allowed, his eyes opening so he could study the blood stained blade still in my hand. "But that doesn't change the fact that you took one hell of a risk. What would you have done if they had proven to be too much?"

I was silent for a moment, considering the implications of his question. So far, the only ones from his species that I had to be wary of were those who wielded elemental powers. I'd have to ask Homura and Akitsu to experiment with me a bit, but the way the Sekirei seemed to be able to accomplish magnificent feats with their elements with seemingly no effort at all was enough to make me wary of them. Miya was another that had me on edge, but I still wasn't quite certain just what the landlady was. Beyond that, the only Sekirei I had come across that I wasn't certain I could hold my own against had been the first one, Karasuba, but if someone like her had been around, I was fairly certain they would have been targeting either Homura or Tsukiumi as those two were the biggest threats and using a power house like that on an Ashikabi just seemed like a waste.

Still, Homura had asked a question. Better to answer it truthfully. "If that had happened, I would have killed Kakizaki," I admitted honestly. Homura's eyes widened at my confession. I pointed with Bakuya to where Kanshou was still embedded nearly up to its hilt in the neighboring building, and the flame user's eyes tracked, recognizing just what I would have done. "I doubt all the Sekirei here were his," I admitted, recalling the way the now defeated Oriha had talked down to the secretary. "He was most likely just a supervisor, sent by his boss to keep an eye on the flock, but one or two of the Sekirei might have been incapacitated by his death, and I think it would have been radical enough to at least make the rest pause. If they did hesitate, I would be able to put enough space between me and the enemy and then call Akitsu back for protection."

I had expected the Sekirei Guardian to be upset at my confession. To my surprise, my brutal plan seemed to set him a bit at ease. He took a deep breath, and turned his attention to the ice user beside me. "What about you?" he asked her, his voice still angry but no longer bordering on the consuming rage he had displayed earlier. "Did you know about his plan before you left him?" With my own actions explained enough for Homura to at least understand them, even if he didn't seem to agree with them, it seemed the target of his anger was now the one he perceived as having left me in danger.

"No," Akitsu admitted in her usual soft voice after a moment. She seemed completely unconcerned as her admitted ignorance set Homura's hands into fists again.

"Then why did you leave him alone? I told you that you would answer to me if even one of the enemy Sekirei came near him," Homura growled, and small streamers of flame began to emerge from his hands, circling his fists ominously in the same way Tsukiumi's water usually flowed around her.

For a moment the snow woman was silent. "Master's orders were to remove the two from the game," she finally explained in her soft voice. "Master's orders are absolute." Akitsu's eyes were absolutely devoid of anything resembling doubt or hesitation as they met Homura's. For her, even if I ordered her to die, there was no request that was unreasonable or that she wouldn't accomplish.

Briefly, the flames surrounding Homura's fists grew, and I was worried for a moment that my own flock might erupt into a battle, but then Homura sighed, and the fires went out. With a second noisy exhalation, he scrubbed one of his hands through his hair and closed his eyes. "You know what? I don't even care anymore," he admitted, shaking his head. "It's stupid to get worked up over you doing something idiotic. I'm getting the impression that if I did I'd probably end up having worrying myself into an early grave."

I gave a soft snort, a wry smile forming on my lips. "Sorry," I told him. "You won't be the first to have said something like that." It seems he and Saber with kindred spirits when it came to fretting over me whenever I did something reckless. While my confession didn't seem to comfort him, it also looked like it was something he had half expected. It appeared Akitsu wasn't the only one of my Sekirei that was beginning to understand me better.

Homura opened his mouth to respond, when quite suddenly a column of water descended on his head, unexpectedly drenching him and most of the roof surrounding him. At the same time a violent cracking noise above me alerted me to the fact that I now had a large block of ice floating above me, no doubt courtesy of Akitsu.

"You two! Stop ignoring me!" Tsukiumi reminded the two of us that we weren't the only ones on this roof, and that before all this trouble began there had been another matter on the agenda. Without the battle to put it off it seemed that the water user was impatient to conclude our business.

"Sorry," I apologized as Homura began to shake his head to strip off some of the water that had soaked into his hair. With a resigned expression he began to wring out his clothes, even as steam began to rise from his body. It must be handy to have convenient flame powers when it came to drying your clothes. I was just thankful that Akitsu had managed to intercept the call to reality that Tsukiumi had tried to give me. It was still rather cold out and I didn't relish the thought of standing in the mid spring weather in wet clothes. "Why don't we…" I began, turning to face the fuming Tsukiumi, and then froze.

"What is it, monkey?" the water user demanded when she realized that I wasn't going to say anything. Her voice was enough to penetrate my sudden shock, and instantly I turned away, trying hard not to blush. My sudden refusal to look at her apparently angered the proud Sekirei. "Why are you looking away? Didn't we agree that we would finish our conversation after the battle? Surely you're not going to go back on your word?" she accused me, her voice getting louder as she worked herself into a temper at my apparent rudeness.

"Ah," I began, trying not to swallow in nervousness. "It's just…" I continued, trying to find a polite way to tell her why without being crude. Even though I was resolutely looking away from the water user, I could still see Homura as he gave me a curious look. Once he turned his head towards Tsukiumi he seemed to understand why I was looking away, and he snorted in amusement.

"It's because we can see your panties, Tsukiumi," the fire user said bluntly, and I was sure if he didn't have a face mask on right now I'd be able to see him grinning. There was a puzzled moment of silence as Tsukiumi tried to work out what her long time rival was referring to, and then she let out a strangled noise that was half scream of outrage and half gasp of embarrassment.

"W-w-w," Tsukiumi stuttered for a moment, and then finally managed to complete her sentence. "Water Celebration!" she shouted, and once more I was greeted with the sight of the flame user getting soaked and a giant ice cube forming above my head.

I could understand her reaction considering just how much of an understatement Homura's flippant explanation had been. If it had just been a matter of a stray breeze flipping up her skirt briefly then I could have ignored it. Considering just how much Tsukiumi seemed to like hanging around on tall windy buildings while wearing a short tunic I think a few glances must be par for course for her. The problem here was just how little of her skirt was left. Or her coat. Or her tunic top. During the fight with the three enemy Sekirei the water user had seemed to have sharp instincts for avoiding getting hurt directly by the two long distance blade wielders. In fact it looked like she had come out of the fight without so much as a scratch on her body. Those same instincts didn't seem to allow her to guard her clothing though. Her top was reduced to nothing but a few ragged strips that were in all the wrong places if they were going to do anything to protect her modesty. Her skirt was similarly missing nearly a third of its material, and the cloth that remained was ragged and shredded. Her coat had been trimmed by nearly a foot of length at the back and the tails and her sleeves that remained looked as though they were trying to do a Swiss cheese impression.

Come to think of it, the four downed Sekirei were in much the same state. Musubi's enemy had been rendered completely topless by the end of her fight, and Homura's tonfa wielding foe's functional clothes had been reduced to one pant leg and a portion of the her waist. Even the two that Akitsu had swooped in and taken were reduced to a state similar to Tsukiumi's, the dagger like blades of ice that the snow woman favored having shredded the fragile cloth even easier than it had their flesh. For the downed foes it was easy for me to ignore. At this point they were nothing more than casualties, and four of them were either too bloody or too burnt for me to feel any other reaction besides a clinical desire to study their injuries in an effort to see if they'd live.

Tsukiumi on the other hand, especially after the realization I had of just how attractive she really was, provoked a very different feeling from me.

I suppose this is what happens when superhuman fights are performed while wearing normal human fabric. It seemed that despite my dismissal of the species' overall combat ability they were still dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

"It's times like these that I'm thankful I've finally gained full control of my powers," Homura admitted, and even as I watched the steam that he had been emitting earlier nearly doubled. "But was it really necessary to get me wet just because you keep flashing everyone?"

"You're not supposed to look!" Tsukiumi insisted in an outraged tone. She sounded just like Rin used to whenever I'd successfully turn the teasing table on her. It was actually strangely nostalgic, and I had to shake my head at her contrariness. One moment it's 'Why aren't you looking at me?' and the next its 'You're not supposed to look!'

Still, at least I had experience in dealing with rampaging tsunderes.

"Here," I interrupted the brewing argument between the water and fire Sekirei, shrugging out of my denim coat and offered it behind me blindly. It would be a bit chilly but nothing unbearable and if it calmed the wrath of the water user than it would be discomfort well worth enduring.

"Hmph," Tsukiumi grunted, but a few moments later I felt the jacket being taken from my grip. I waited a few more moments, and then turned around to face the now hopefully decent number zero nine. I had to stop my eyes from twitching at the scene that presented itself. I was a great bit taller than the water user, so what came down to my hip on me managed to cover her to mid thigh. The sleeves were far too long for her and covered all but the very tips of her fingers as she held the front of the borrowed coat closed, and she glared up at me from beneath her bangs, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she did so.

I suddenly felt a strange sensation of déjà vu and I knew what she was going to say next even before she spoke.

"I'll have you take responsibility," she ordered me, trying to come off as imperious, but with the too big jacket on her it made her sound more petulant than anything. I could already guess just how she was planning on making me do that, and I resigned myself to the inevitable.

"I should warn you that you'll be my sixth Sekirei," I tell her, fighting a losing action more for the sake of getting it all out in the open then honestly because I think it'll dissuade her at this point. I could already tell she had made up her mind, and right now the only thing that was holding her back was finding an excuse suitable to appease her pride. The warning was enough to make her grimace, but beyond that did nothing to her resolve.

"You stood up to me without fear, and risked your life and the lives of your Sekirei to protect me. Moreover, you saved me from an evil Ashikabi. Not only are you brave, but you are strong as well," she started her speech strong, but the longer she looked up at me while standing so clothes the redder her cheeks turned and the shorter her breath became. "Your name, you said it was Shirou, did you not?"

"Yes. Shirou Emiya," I answered her, and her eyes darted to the side briefly before settling on my face. It looked like she was getting so flustered due to the reaction that she was having trouble meeting my eyes.

"V-very well then," she panted. "Number zero nine, the Sekirei Tsukiumi, gracefully accepts your marriage proposal." She didn't seem at all ashamed to admit exactly what she considered my request to wing her to be, and I suppressed a grimace of annoyance as she abandoned her effort of holding my coat closed so she could reach up and grasp my collar with both hands in order to yank my lips down to hers. If only the other Sekirei had said something like that I wouldn't have had to labor under the false assumptions I had originally made.

And then I was too busy feeling the smaller blond's lips against mine. For a second I only could note the softness of them, and then the all too familiar surge as she drank my od. The wings that emerged from her back were, unsurprisingly, crafted out of water, so pale blue that they were nearly transparent. Almost as though the force of the elemental limbs had pushed her forward, or her legs had lost the strength to fully support her, Tsukiumi collapsed slightly against me, using me for support to keep herself upright. I put the hand not holding a sword on her side, helping her stay upright as best I could.

When her wings finally disappeared she broke the kiss, burying her face in my chest as I straightened. Peering up at me, no longer panting but still blushing madly, she finished her vow. "With this we have been wed. Forever and ever."

I found my own cheeks reddening as well in response to the way she looked, peering up at me nervously as she used me for support. Stupid adorable deredere side. For a few moments I could only stand there, feeling the warmth of the body pressed up against me.

And then I was tackled from the side by exuberant Musubi. "Shirou-san!" she cheered happily. "You did it! You made a new friend!" The sudden weight of the squealing shrine girl nearly knocked all three of us over, and it was only thanks to my combat training and greater size that I managed to keep the three of us from taking a tumble. "I knew you could do it, Shirou-san!" Musubi was apparently too overjoyed in my success at increasing the flock to stand still, and even as Tsukiumi and I struggled to stay upright the shrine girl started bouncing on the balls of her feet even as she kept hugging the two of us.

"Ah! What are you doing?" Tsukiumi demanded, sounding outraged at having our moment broken by the excited shrine girl. "Unhand me and my husband this instant!"

Musubi paused in her fidgeting, and cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "Husband?" she asked, sounding confused by the unfamiliar word. I spent a moment feeling grateful for her short attention span. Considering the fact that she had still been hugging me while she was bouncing, and adding in just what she had been pressing against me at the same time, I didn't think my face could stand to get any redder.

"Yes! Husband!" Tsukiumi repeated, managing to pull herself out of the hug that Musubi had trapped her and I in. The water user put one hand on her hip and pointed the other at the shrine girl in her signature pose. "As his wife it is my right to address him by his proper title of 'huband'," she declared proudly, using the respectful term 'Anata' that was proper for wives to address their husbands with, glaring at her flock sister. "And you, as a concubine, should wait until a proper time before showing your attention to my husband!" Her eyes narrowed and and she looked to the side, growling. "The proper time being never."

For a moment I felt nearly as confused by her declaration as Musubi looked. Then it dawned on me what the water user said and I nearly swallowed my tongue as I started coughing in shock. I had wondered how the proud number zero nine would handle being part of my 'harem', as Uzume was so fond of calling it. It appeared I now had my answer; it looked like the water user was going to try and gain control of the flock in general.

"Concubine?" Musubi repeated, cocking her head to the other side as she continued repeating key words from Tsukiumi's lecture, apparently not quite understanding what the water user was trying to say. Oh boy. Maybe it would be better if I started herding everyone back to Izumi House before this conversation went the way I inevitably saw it going.

"Alright," I interrupted, stepping as casually between the two of them as I could. I hoped that would be enough to delay the brewing argument. "First of all, Tsukiumi," I began, making sure to turn my head away politely, "your jacket?" I reminded her. Even though I was carefully looking away I could make out an embarrassed squeak when she realized that when she had assumed her signature position she had forgotten about holding the borrowed piece of clothes shut. "Second of all, Musubi, I thought you were guarding the fallen Sekirei? What happened? Are they almost here?"

"Ah!" Musubi tapped a closed fist into an open palm and smiled, her earlier confusion already forgotten. "Yes! They're right over there," she pointed, and I followed her finger to find myself making out the source of the helicopter noises which had been growing steadily louder without me realizing it. I cursed myself for not seeing them ahead of time, but rationalized them getting so close with the fact that I had a perfectly justifiable reason for being distracted. The approaching aircrafts were big, double bladed, and militaristic looking in their dark olive coloring. There were four of them coming from the center of the city, a number equaling the downed Sekirei currently present and that was most likely not a coincidence by my guess. I narrowed my eyes, squinting as I trickled a small stream of od into them to make them more able to pick up the details on the incoming vehicles.

"We should probably get out of here," Homura spoke up from my shoulder. "Now that MBI is here they can take care of the rest." From the tone of his voice he sounded like he didn't favor the idea of being anywhere near MBI personel when they showed up.

"Why?" I asked directly, still studying the ever closer incoming helicopters. "I thought we were supposed to wait until the fallen were completely recovered?" I asked, more out of curiosity than confusion.

Homura scowled at the helicopters as they closed in. "At this range they've already managed to identify the parties involved, and they're probably already logged in who was responsible for the victory. It will only take them another minute or so to arrive so it's unlikely anyone would be able to do anything to the downed Sekirei. Even if someone did try, each helicopter carries an armed task force in order to deal with any potential vultures. There's no reason for us to hang around anymore."

I watched the incoming transport carefully. Finally, I reached a decision. "Do you think they'd mind if we stuck around? I would like to see recovery team in action at least once." It wouldn't hurt to familiarize myself with how they operated. What kind of equipment they used, how many soldiers they brought with them, how many medics, how many scientists, that kind of thing.

Homura gave me an odd look at my request, and then sighed. "Well, I'm sure as long as we stay out of the way nothing bad will happen," he capitulated.

*Scene Break*

It took another minute for the helicopters to arrive. The four vessels circled the rooftop once, probably looking for a place to land, before three of them broke off and backed away while the fourth assumed a hovering position above the first of the fallen Sekirei. While I was waiting for the action to start I had Akitsu recover Kanshou from its place buried in the building next door. One of Kanshou and Bakuya's most significant abilities was that the two attracted each other fiercely, and that even if they were to be lost they would find some way to return to their owners hands. Both of these were very handy skills to have in combat, but would take some awkward explaining to do if I were to utilize them in front of the uniformed.

I had just managed to recover the black blade and was inspecting it to see if any of the blood from when I had carved open Toyotama still remained when the first scientist descended from the hovering helicopter via some kind of pulley system reminiscent of what could be found on a standard medical helicopter and began instantly marching towards me and my flock of Sekirei without giving the wounded alien at her feet a second glance.

The moment I glanced up from my sword to see who was approaching I gulped, and quickly put both my hands behind my back, hoping against hope that I somehow managed to conceal them from her eyes.

The rest of my flock seemed to recognize the approaching scientist, and Musubi began to wave cheerfully. "Takami-san!" the shrine girl happily shouted, her voice barely audible over the roar of the four helicopters.

My mother glanced at the shrine girl briefly, giving her a small smile, before she dismissed the others present in favor of focusing her gaze directly on me. She didn't even try to make herself heard over the background noise, instead using the opportunity to give me a careful study, the kind I assume mothers used when they wanted to make sure their children were eating properly after they'd been away from home for a while. After apparently reaching the conclusion that I wasn't starving, Takami's eyes drifted to Tsukiumi, still wrapped in my jacket, to the ground beside me, which I noticed was spotted with puddles of blood from where Toyotama and Ichiya had bled after I had managed to wound them, and then to the space immediately next to me, were I assumed she could make out the tips of my swords also stained red with the fluid and I immediately shifted my arms until they were properly concealed behind me.

Takami's eyes narrowed. "Shirou," she shouted, her voice straining to make itself known over the thunder of the aircrafts which were disgorging medical personal who began treating the fallen Sekirei, "what the hell happened here?"

I groaned and wondered if I could pretend I hadn't heard her and seize the opportunity to make a run for it.

*Scene Break*

"So that's what happened," Takami murmured, absent mindedly pulling out a cigarette while she spoke and tapping its filter against the palm of her hand. It looked like some kind of unconscious gesture on her part, and I narrowed my eyes disapprovingly at the sight of the white and brown cylinder she was about to smoke. I considered taking it and throwing it away as she started to roll it through her fingers but decided that if I just ignored it for now she might return the favor in regards to my swords.

It had taken only ten minutes for the four helicopters to complete their recovery of the downed birds and depart, finally giving the six of us the chance to talk normally without having to shout to be heard. The swarm of scientists and medical personal that had descended from the helicopters had moved with practiced efficiency, only giving the wounded Sekirei the barest minimum of treatment necessary for them to safely load the unmoving aliens onto stretchers and to reel them up to the hovering vehicles. I assumed that once in there they would most likely have better equipment ready for proper treatment. Given the size of the helicopters themselves and the fact that they only loaded one Sekirei to vehicle I assumed they had some kind of special equipment or medical machinery onboard each one that limited how many wounded they could treat at once.

"Well, now that you know how my day's been, do you mind if I ask a question?" I began, cocking my head to the side as I did so. "Why are you out here? I know that you're a part of MBI and that you're familiar with Sekirei. Are you one of the scientists in charge of taking care of them or something?"

"Ah," the white haired scientist muttered, glancing at me distractedly. "Yes," she nodded, reaching under the edge of her lab coat to hold up an identification card hanging from a lanyard she was wearing. The black piece of plastic had her picture beside her name and a title with a long barcode running across the bottom of it. "I'm the one in charge of the Sekirei project, and the head geneticist in MBI employ," she said off handedly, as though she found having such an impressive position to be less interesting than the weather.

"Takami-san is the one responsible for my own adjustments," Musubi chimed in. It took me a moment to remember that 'adjustments' was what the Sekirei referred to the process of limiting their power to keep them from accidently killing off their Ashikabi. The shrine girl seemed honestly happy to see my mother again, beaming a smile at the distracted scientist. Takami gave her former patient a quick smile, before bringing the hand not holding a cigarette up to stroke her chin carefully.

Well, that explained why she was so familiar with the Sekirei, but not why she was here specifically. "So why aren't you back at MBI headquarters doing research or experiments or something?" I prompted her, trying to get her to be a little more complete in her explanation.

"Now that all the Sekirei have been released I don't have to worry about performing adjustments anymore, so instead one of my primary duties is the recovery of defeated Sekirei," she admitted, turning her head a bit so she could focus on me instead of the piece of roof she had been unconsciously staring at. Her eyes were still a bit unfocused, but she started studying me like she had earlier.

"Ah," I nodded, "that makes sense." If she had so much experience with the internal workings of the species from her time as an 'adjuster' then she would probably be the best bet for taking care of Sekirei after they were defeated.

"You two seem quite familiar with each other," Homura interrupted, drawing my attention back to my flock. Though Musubi either didn't notice just how casually Takami and I were talking or simply didn't care, my casual conversation with a prominent MBI employee garnered far more attention from both the flame user and his water using counterpart. Tsukiumi was giving Takami a glare hovered on the border between being respectful and being cautious. It made sense; since Takami had been in charge of the Sekirei project she had probably interacted with the water user before in the past, and I was already certain that Tsukiumi was the kind of person that had a healthy respect for proper authority and tradition. Homura on the other hand sounded like he was treating our unexpected rapport as nothing noteworthy. It looked like he had finally gotten inured to my tendency to attract strange and unusual events and had passed the threshold where he felt a need to react strongly whenever something bizarre happened around me.

The white haired woman in a lab coat ignored the probing nature of the fire user's observation. "You know," she addressed me instead, still twirling the unlit cigarette between her fingers, "I'm not quite sure how I feel about this," she confessed to me, and I raised an eyebrow, curious as to what she was referring to. "On one hand, facing two Sekirei in combat is very impressive. It shows that not only are you capable of taking care of yourself, but you're willing to accept the same risks that your Sekirei are going to take, and that you're strong enough to take care of yourself with your own two hands. I think it's a rather manly choice of action." She definitely looked happy as she admitted her pride in my ability, and I found myself giving her a half smile in response. It gave me a strange sense of joy that she was pleased in my willingness to fight beside my flock. Our relationship as mother and son was rocky enough as it was, and I had been dreading the thought that my actions might have made our growing relationship even more unsteady. Just a week ago the very fact that I had gotten involved in the Sekirei Plan had almost been enough to drive a permanent wedge between us. It seemed as though she had managed to make her peace with me being involved in this twisted game.

More than that though, the idea of my mother praising me gave me a warm feeling in my chest. Takami wasn't usually the type to be impressed. I'd already gotten use to her being an unrelenting cynic and supremely pragmatic. She was the type of woman that would threaten to torture a threat to her company at one moment, and then hack into a school's database to see how well her family did on a test so she wouldn't have to wait to hear the results the next. I think this was the first time I'd heard her say something genuinely emotional.

Still, it was no time to be distracted. "And on the other hand?" I prompted her, pretty sure I already knew what the other half of her mixed emotions would be.

"And on the other hand I'm trying to decide how hard I should smack you for doing something so reckless," she admitted bluntly, confirming my guess. "You might be a grown man now, but you're never too grown for me not to be able to punish you for doing something stupid."

I suppressed a grimace. I definitely got the impression that it was only our estrangement that was causing her to hesitate in dealing out her corporal punishment. She had already admitted that she wasn't trying to decide if she should smack me or not, she was just trying to figure out how hard she could get away with. "Go on," I told her, surrendering to the inevitable. "You don't need to hold back," I assured her. "I'm pretty sure I can take your worst."

My permission didn't seem to set her at ease. Instead of looking relieved that she could hit me without reservation, she instead glared at me. "Oh? My worst is it?" she asked, her voice outraged, and I realized that maybe she was going to take my words as a challenge. The vicious leer that split her face a second later made me swallow in dread. "Well then," she crowed, "I think I'll take you up on that offer."

That was my only warning before the smaller woman crouched down and launched herself at me. I was taller than my mother by a good bit, so in order to compensate she actually jumped, spinning in the air as she did so to unleash a truly devastating open hand slap to the back of my head. The force of the blow actually sent me reeling, and I needed a few steps to regain my balance. It was a strike that spoke of long practice, and I wondered just who it was in her life that warranted her having such proficiency in her slapping skills.

"Good god, woman," I muttered, rubbing the aching back of my skull with Bakuya's pommel. "You weren't kidding about not holding back." My ears were ringing from the well delivered attack, and I had to blink my eyes to keep them from watering.

Takami sniffed in satisfaction. "And let that be a lesson about what will happen next time you do something so dangerous." She cracked her knuckles in a threatening manner, that same vicious smirk on her face. "If you do something like that again, then I'm using a clipboard." I suppressed a shudder at the threat. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that I had thought I was an orphan for so long? I could only quake in terror at the thought of what growing up with Takami as a proper mother would have been like, and I sent a silent prayer of gratitude to the gods that I was apparently too old for the woman to consider spanking as a viable form of punishment.

"Very familiar with each other," Homura corrected his earlier statement, apparently unable to think of any other way to describe the scene he had just witnessed. From the way his mask was turned, I had the definite impression that for all his confusion over just why it was his Ashikabi and the head of the Sekirei Plan were so casual with each other he was even more pleased that someone had been able to deliver a suitable punishment to me for risking my life earlier in his stead. Behind me, Akitsu shifted with the usual clink of chains, and I wasn't certain if she was in agreement with Homura over my chastisement or about to launch an attack at Takami for hitting me. Musubi seemed confused over what was going on, one hand on her chin as she tried to figure out the interplay between the two of us.

"Shirou," Tsukiumi spoke up, her voice disapproving as she alternated glares between Takami and I. "Just what is your relationship with Takami-san?"

"It's complicated," I admitted, still rubbing the back of my head. "This isn't the right place to talk about it, and besides that it would take a bit too long to explain it right now. I suppose I can fill you in when we get back to Izumo House." This really wasn't the best place to hang around for too long. For all that we had managed to drive back Kakizaki earlier, if what he had said about this being someone's territory then it probably wouldn't be smart to stick around for much longer.

"I'm going to enjoy hearing this story later," Homura muttered shaking his head in disbelief. It was obvious his curiosity was getting to him but it seemed he agreed with my observation about this being the wrong place for a long back story. His voice seemed to draw Takami's attention to him. She blinked as though his presence had suddenly reminded her of something and then she glanced down at the cigarette she had been absent mindedly fiddling with during the conversation. With a small noise of acknowledgment she put the filter of the tobacco stick into her mouth and then snapped her finger at Homura.

"If you would be so kind," she said expectantly. I blinked, curious as to what she was talking about, but the fire user gave a little snort of amusement as he seemed to understand precisely what it was the head of the Sekirei Plan was talking about. With a movement that spoke of long practice he reached out and snapped his finger in front of Takami's cigarette, producing a small flame. When Takami used the fire to light her cigarette I snorted as I recognized the bar trick that the flame wielder had shown me awhile back.

"You two seem to be pretty familiar with each other as well," I pointed out as the two separated with a move that spoke of familiarity. I guess this was something they had done quite a bit back when Homura was still in the lab, though I had to wonder if they allowed smoking in there or if Takami had simply ignored the rules and lit up anyways.

Homura alternated a glance between myself and Takami before rolling his shoulders a bit nervously. "Well," he began, "it's a bit complicated too," he returned my earlier brush off to me apologetically before continuing. "I suppose you could say she's one of my most prominent customers."

Customer, eh. Well, I suppose that would explain just why it was that she knew about his little bar trick. I suppose that if I smoked I would probably make use of it myself.

Wait a minute. Customer? Didn't Homura work as a…

Oh. Oh god.

I think I'm going to be sick.

It must have shown on my face because a wave of worry spread through my flock as I began shooting my head back and forth so that I could stare alternatively at Homura and at Takami. Maybe I was misreading the situation here. After all, Homura met lots of people in his job. It didn't mean he… that he…

"Shirou," the fire user said, giving me a worried look. "Are you okay? You look like something is wrong." I studied the concerned face desperately for something which would either confirm or disprove my sudden suspicion. If I was wrong, than there was no reason for me to get bent out of shape. If I was right…

Well, I would probably have to kill him on principle. It would be better than having to live with him as a member of my flock.

"Homura," I began, trying to keep my voice even. "Did you ever have sex with my mom?"

For a moment my question brought nothing but shocked silence to the rooftop. I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for his response. On his part, the host seemed to be completely flabbergasted by my sudden accusation. Finally he managed to stutter out, "W-what? Your mom? What do you mean?"

I decided that I would have to be a little more clear. "Did you," I repeated slowly, pointing at him with Kanshou in order to make sure that there would be no confusion. "Ever have sex with my mom?" I pointed at Takami with the sword next just so he would know for certain whom I was talking about.

Another shocked silence descended on the roof before Tsukiumi, Musubi, and the accused Homura all blurted out in perfect unison, "Your mom!" A half beat behind them I heard Akitsu chime in after her customary pause, "Your mom?" though the ice user sounded more curious then surprised. The three more responsive Sekirei all turned to gape at Takami, as though trying to figure out if I was telling the truth or not.

Rather than trying to deny my announcement or even getting upset about my prying question, my mother was instead blushing slightly, with one hand on her cheek as she puffed happily at her cigarette. "That was the first time you ever called me 'mom' instead of 'Takami' or 'mother'," she noted, sounding as though she was too busy feeling pleased at my familiar title to even consider feeling upset about my personal question about her private life.

The confirmation of our family status seemed to drive both Tsukumi and Musubi catatonic as they stared open mouthed at the usually composed scientist. Homura on the other hand suddenly seemed to have a sudden moment of insight. "You're her son? So that that was why she wasn't concerned when I told her that you had winged Kusano?" I had no idea what he was talking about, but it seemed that whatever incident he was referring to was the kind of thing that had been puzzling him for a while now. He actually looked relieved about something when he turned away from staring at the still euphoric Takami to study me instead.

"So," I reminded him. "Did you or did you not?" My prompting seemed to remind him that I had asked him a question earlier, and he paused as he took a moment to study my body language.

"Shirou," he said slowly, swallowing audibly as he did so. "Um, why don't you put down the swords for a moment so we can talk about this peacefully?" He started to back away nervously.

"No," I shook my head, my tone polite as I did so. "I need them ready in case you don't have a very good explanation. Otherwise, you might have time to run before I can kill you." Just like earlier when Yukari had told me about having a boy in her room I felt a strange vertigo. It was a combination of anger and pure outrage. Instead of fraternal protective instincts I seemed to have discovered some kind of filial piety, a duty of all sons to protect the honor of their mothers.

It looked like sharply honed instincts were letting the host know that if he didn't start talking quick then I would follow through with my casually spoken death threats. It must be something that came about at having been confronted by previous outraged family or boyfriends of his customers. "It's not like that!" he instantly proclaimed, still creeping backwards as he waved his hands furiously in front of him as though to ward me off. "Takami is my source in MBI for finding unwinged Sekirei! She would show up at the club whenever one got released so she could tell me their information so I could watch out for them! The most we ever did was have a few drinks and get some dinner!"

I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously. It sounded plausible. Yes, it sounded very plausible. Still… "Just how many drinks?" I demanded. "You wouldn't have tried to do get her drunk and take advantage of her or anything?"

In his defense, Homura seemed outraged at the accusation. "I would never!" he huffed, his indignation apparently enough to overcome his nervousness at the sight of my blades. "I don't need alcohol to seduce my customers," he declared, a note of professional pride in his voice.

"So you did try to seduce my mom!" I accused, and Homura blinked and winced, no doubt regretting his earlier moment of hubris.

"Homura!" Tsukiumi gasped, her hand up to cover her mouth as she stared at her rival in shock. "So after taking advantage of the mother you then targeted the son!" she accused, apparently misunderstanding the situation in the worst possible way.

Homura and I both sighed, and snapped in perfect unison, "We're not like that!" before I remembered that I was still in the middle of preparing to kill my second Sekirei. Homura kept his eyes carefully on the black and white blades, no doubt remembering just how fast I was with them and preparing to flee when the sudden confrontation was interrupted by Takami taking advantage of my distraction to walk up behind me and whack me upside the head again.

"Enough," the scientist ordered, giving me a glare. I grimaced, coming out of my ready position so I could awkwardly rub my head again. That woman really did have a fierce attack. "First of all, no, Homura has never been anything but a perfect gentleman to me," she began, lecturing me while completely ignoring the fire user as she began to dress me down in front of my flock. "And second of all, I'm a grown woman and if or when I decide to get involved with someone is no business of yours. Especially coming from someone with your unusual background." She glared at me and I winced at the accusation. Seriously, if I had known that she was my mother beforehand I would never have brought up the bit of having two girlfriends in front of her. I was beginning to think she would never let it go.

"That's not fair," I pointed out. "I should be at least allowed to threaten them before hand," I pointed out, trying to negotiate a little room for me to be able to indulge in my protective tendencies regarding my family. "And follow through on those threats if they screw up," I muttered to the side, hopefully in a tone quiet enough for her to not be able to understand me. It didn't look like it worked from the glare Takami was unleashing at me.

"If that's the case then shouldn't you introduce me to your girlfriends as well?" she pointed out, putting a hand on her hip as she took the cigarette from her lip to tap the ash of it. She glared to the side and muttered, "So I can make those harpies lives miserable." It looked like she was attempting the exact same tactic with the exact same amount of success as I had.

"To be fair, they weren't my girlfriends anymore when we met," I countered, waving Kanshou in the air to emphasize my point, deliberately ignoring the implied insult and threat. "And at this point since you were the head of the Sekirei Plan that means you've already met all my Sekirei."

Takami nodded her head reluctantly at my counter to her argument. "True," she admitted, turning a narrowed glare at the female Sekirei in my flock. "I suppose I can make do with them," she acknowledged reluctantly, and from the way even Akitsu seemed to get nervous at her declaration I had the impression that all three of them were well aware of just scary Takami could be if the situation called for it.

"Oh my God," Homura muttered, sounding horrified as he stared wide eyed at Takami and I. "I didn't want to believe it, but it's true. You two really are mother and son." Apparently he didn't realize that he had been speaking out loud because when both of us turned to glare at him he spent a moment staring at us in confusion before realizing why he was now once again being targeted. "I mean," he froze, eyes glancing frantically for some kind of escape route before he thought of something which he could use to distract us. "Shirou! Wouldn't now be a good time to tell Takami about your sister?" he suggested in a rush.

Takami paused, and turned her suspicious look at me, releasing Homura from her deadly glare. "What's this about Yukari, Shirou?" she began looking me over carefully. "You haven't done something as idiotic as getting her involved, have you?"

I grimaced, giving Homura a look to let him know that this wasn't over, not by a long shot. "Not me personally," I admitted to my mother. "But she called me earlier for advice when the boy she was with spontaneously grew wings after she kissed him. She's become an Ashikabi." Takami's eyes widened as I broke the news to her, and then she closed them and let loose an explosive sigh. From the way her eyelids crinkled at the corner I got the impression that she was just as not happy with her daughter getting involved in this farce as she was when I did. I started to reach out to her before realizing that I was still clutching my swords. With a quick movement I sank Kanshou into the roof again, and put the now free hand on her shoulder awkwardly. Takami flinched at the contact briefly, before relaxing and putting a hand of her own over mine. "I'm having her come by the inn later," I told her in as reassuring a voice as I could. "I'll do my best to keep an eye on her."

Takami cracked open an eye and gave me a grateful look as the corner of her lips lifted ever so slightly. "See that you do, Shirou," she told me a touch of relief in her voice as she did so. Gently she removed my hand from her shoulder, straightening as she did so. Her brief moment of weakness over, she set her expression once more into her typical cool attitude. "I suppose I should be heading back to MBI now," she decided, giving my flock a once over. "You should be heading back as well so you can be read for Yukari." Even as she made her decision she took the mostly burnt out cigarette from her lip and dropped it to the ground before casually stomping it out as she reached for a cell phone in the pocket of her lab coat.

"Probably," I agreed, giving my Sekirei a once over. It looked as though Musubi and Tsukiumi were mostly over their shock brought about by discovering my parentage, while Homura had apparently decided that I had been suitably distracted to not come after him anymore, and Akitsu was simply waiting with the patience of a statue. "It would give Tsukiumi a chance to change into something a little more appropriate," I acknowledged, giving the still barely decent water user a once over.

Takami snorted in amusement as she punched a few buttons into her phone before putting it away without ever lifting it to her ear. "I'll have MBI drop off a few spares for her," she promised. "They should be waiting for you by the time you get back."

"That's a relief. Still, I can't go directly back yet," I admitted. "I still have to get Kuu-chan a cat of some sort." Takami gave me a puzzled look, and I sighed. "It's an apology," I explained. "To make up for me being somewhat stupid yesterday."

My mother seemed somewhat amused my admittance to idiocy and gave me a small smirk. "Oh? What about Miya's 'no pet policy'?"

I grimaced. If even my mother knew about it, then I guess the landlady must be serious about not having animals around. "Well," I paused, scratching my head slowly. "I'll have to think of something," I finally gave in. But if I couldn't get an actual cat, than how the hell was I going to keep the angry girl's molars out of my poor tender flesh?

Takami's smirk widened. "I see you don't have much experience with kids, so I'll give you a little bit of advice." I blinked, realizing that for all her normally cool attitude, this was a woman that had raised me until I was five and Yukari for all her life. When my mother continued, my eyes widened, and I grinned. Finally. A way around the meow-meow dilemma.

*Scene Break*

"We're home, landlady!" Musubi's cheerful voice echoed through Izumo Inn as our beleaguered group finally made it back to our home. I breathed a sigh of relief at finally being back among the comforting shoji screen doors. Today had supposed to be a simple matter of tracking down a Sekirei and a cat, and instead had somehow managed contain being chased out of a pet store, an attacked by a group of enemy Sekirei, what was most likely the commencement of a full scale conflict between a powerful Ashikabi that had claimed part of the city as their own, a confusing round of advice to my little sister, a sudden conversation with my mother, and an attempt at shopping while carrying two bloody swords.

I think I was ready to spend some healthy 'me' time in the kitchen.

As the five of us trailed through the doorway, pausing only long enough to remove our shoes before going any further, Homura immediately made a hasty escape to his room. I had managed to calm down enough to decide to believe in his version of the events between him and Takami, but that didn't mean I wasn't still suspicious of his intentions towards my mother. It looked like the flame user had decided to give me some space so I could finish cooling down properly. Or at least until I had put away my swords so they wouldn't be easily accessed if I decided to come after him. It was probably a wise course of action. I was willing to admit academically that the chances of him having ever been with my mom were small, and acknowledge intellectually that even if he had it would be no business of mine, but for some reason the urge to kill him for looking at Takami seemed to linger.

It must be a family thing.

As the host made his escape, Tsukiumi turned to me immediately, one hand on her hip and the other clutching the box we had found at the entrance to the inn, which we had discovered held numerous pairs of her outfit pressed and folded, ready for her to change into. "Shirou," she demanded of me instantly. "Where is our room so I can finally put these on?" She had taken the imposed detour we had to take to pick up Kuu's bribery very well. She had apparently been hoping that we would simply come home immediately, and had been almost as embarrassed as Homura when instead of taking to the roofs I had instead opted to continue walking along at ground level while doing the necessary shopping, especially considering the only thing keeping the water user decent had been my almost too short coat.

"Ah! Our room is this way!" Musubi chimed in, reaching out to casually take the hand Tsukiumi had placed on her hip and starting to drag the tsundere towards the stairs.

"I do not want to know where your room is, concubine," Tsukiumi snapped at the shrine girl, trying to shake off the bear Sekirei's relentless grip and discovering that despite not being able to use an element Musubi more than made up for the lack with brute strength.

"Concubine?" Musubi repeated, still confused by the unfamiliar word even as she continued to drag the protesting water user up the stairs. I suppressed a sigh as the two disappeared along the second floor. I had a feeling that that particular conversation was going to be something I'd be hearing a lot from those two. Out of my flock so far those two seemed to be the ones who settled the easiest into the traditional role of Sekirei being mates. At least, Tsukiumi seemed to anyway. I wasn't quite certain what Musubi's intentions were, but that was more or less due to her rampant naivety rather than any other factor. All the rest of my Sekirei seemed to have extenuating circumstances that kept them from being particularly interested in certain aspects of having been winged. Except for Matsu. She seemed very interested in 'experimenting' but at least she was clever enough to be subtle with it and able to work despite the fact that she still wanted her wedding night.

"Ah," a familiar voice called out, and I nearly groaned in relief as Miya began making her way down the hallway of the first floor, smiling with her crinkled eyes as she did so. "Welcome home! How was your day?" she asked, before noticing Akitsu behind me and pausing in curiosity. As she stopped, the pitter patter of little feet came from behind her and I was greeted to Kuu racing down the hallway at top speed, her long blond hair trailing behind her.

"Onii-chan!" Kuu cried happily, latching onto my leg. I blinked, surprised at the warm greeting from the girl who had been fuming at me this morning. She beamed up at me and I couldn't resist patting her head comfortingly. Had she forgotten about her earlier bad mood already? I started to smile in relief, before I felt the little imp's arms tighten around me, preventing me from moving. Her eyes narrowed childishly as the smile disappeared and she glared up at me. "Onii-chan has meow-meow?" she demanded.

That sneaky little brat. Making sure I couldn't escape. I eyed her carefully, trying to judge if she was going to give me time to bring out the bribe before she commenced the gnawing. "Of course, Kuu-chan," I told her in the most placating tone I could before quickly reaching into the shopping bag to pull out my hopeful substitute meow-meow. Please, let this be enough…

Kuu's eyes widened in joy as she beheld the enormous stuffed cat I had acquired in lieu of an actual pet; the plushy was grey and stuffed well enough to be both soft and yet suitably floppy at the same time, and was nearly as long as the girl herself. "Meow-meow!" she cried happily, releasing me from her threatening hold to reach up and happily snatch the stuffed animal away from me. As she began to cuddle it I let out a sigh of relief. Thank you, Takami, for the wisdom of the ages you have bestowed upon your unworthy son. When in doubt, buy them a new toy.

"Oh my, Emiya-kun," Miya spoke up, eying behind me carefully. "You seem to have brought home some interesting things." Her tone was laced with a probing curiosity, and I already knew precisely what she was looking at even as I turned to confirm. Kuu-chan seemed to pick up on the tension as well, and turned to look at the final member of our company, still standing in her usual post, before freezing and staring up at Akitsu.

"Jiiiiiiiiiiiii," the little girl hummed staring with childlike intensity at the patient ice user. When we had taken the detour to the toy store in order to acquire Kuu's placating gift, I hadn't exactly been able to take in Kanshou and Bakuya as well. Honestly, I was surprised that the police hadn't been called on our group at some point considering how ragtag we must have looked, and being armed to boot. In order to give me freedom to enter the store Akitsu had quietly stepped up to take my two blades for safe keeping. Even once I came out she had seemed reluctant to part with them, holding them gently in her arms as though they were delicate children, so I allowed the snow woman to continue to take care of them like some kind of squire or shield maiden of old. She made for an interesting sight, her quiet composure while caring for her master's weapons, the dark and light of the two blades, still stained slightly crimson from the blood of my foes, contrasting against her pale skin and clothing.

The image was slightly put off by the fact that she had a smaller plush wolf tucked securely into her cleavage. She had said she wanted a dog, and since we couldn't get a real one I had done the best I could. Apparently it was enough, because even with her hands full she had refused to just let the toy stay in the bag with Kuu's meow-meow. It made for somewhat unusual image as she walked down the street, but if it made her happy I was willing to endure a few curious stares.

"Technically, I had them this morning as well," I pointed out to the lavender haired alien, reminding her of the bundle I had set out with earlier today. The landlady nodded her head slightly at the correction, but her eyes had cracked open and were studying my swords with the same intensity she had given me during our spar when I had managed to pluck some hairs from her head.

"I'm certain they were most likely cleaner this morning as well," Miya supplied casually. I nodded my head briefly, my eyes serious as I understood just what it was she was trying to say.

"The day didn't quite go as peacefully as I had hoped it would, despite the fact that Tsukiumi didn't turn out quite as bad as we thought she might," I supplied to her, and that seemed to be enough for her to figure out the important facts: Tsukiumi was successfully winged but we had encountered problems despite that. Problems that we had been required to solve with means other than peaceful.

"Oh my," the landlady sighed, putting one hand to her cheek as she did so. "Would you like to use the furo for a while, and leave dinner to me?" She didn't even hesitate to assume that it hadn't just been my Sekirei that had gotten involved in those less than peaceful methods, and simply gave me a chance to relax if I needed it.

Bless you Miya, bless you.

"No," I shook my head, smiling slightly at the offer. "I should get working on dinner. It seems that my sister has recently gotten herself involved in this mess, and she should be coming over later today. I want to make sure that we have enough for everyone."

"Your sister?" Miya repeated, cocking her head to the side in curiosity. She beamed a smile at me, her eyes crinkling again as she let the tension go out of her. "Ah! We get to meet some of Shirou-chan's family!" she declared happily, once more back to being nothing more than an unthreatening landlady. Then her eyes cracked open and she glared at something to my side. "Kuu-chan! Little girls shouldn't be playing with things like that!"

I blinked, and turned to see that at some point Kuu had tried to reach up and touch my two blades. Akitsu seemed to be in some kind of game of keep away with the younger Sekirei, lifting the two swords continuously out of the green girl's reach.

"Onii-chan has swords!" Kuu declared as she folded her arms and pouted angrily at being denied the opportunity to play with her big brother's weapons.

"Yes," I chimed in, reaching over to relieve Akitsu of the weapons, making sure to keep them out of the smaller girl's reach as Kuu jumped eagerly, trying to get an opportunity to touch the familiar blades. "But Kuu-chan shouldn't play with them yet. She's still too small." Kuu didn't seem to take my comment on her size well, and began to fume, releasing her patented 'fuuuuugghhhh!' noise as she did so. Quickly, I sought some way to distract her before she decided to once more unleash her wrath upon my poor leg. "Look!" I quickly declared, pointing at Akitsu's chest. "Aki-chan has a woof-woof!" Kuu glanced instinctively in the direction my finger led and gasped as she realized that she wasn't the only one to acquire a new toy today. Akitsu cocked her head to the side, and then looked down obediently at her cleavage as well, despite already knowing what she'd find there. "Why don't you two play together for a bit while onii-chan puts these away?"

"Okay!" Kuu chirped happily, the sight of the cute plushy enough to distract her away from the lethal implements I was now hiding behind my back. "Come on, Aki-chan!" the little girl ordered imperiously, reaching out to take one of the patient snow woman's hands and began to drag the docile older Sekirei after her. Akitsu gave me a brief glance, and when I nodded she obediently let herself get pulled along behind the child, leaving just Miya and myself in the corridor.

For a moment, there was just silence in the corridor, broken only by the distant sounds of Kuu and Akitsu getting acquainted with their new belongings and Tsukiumi and Musubi arguing in the background. Finally, Miya spoke, her eyes open, but her smile remaining on her face. "Well, Emiya-kun. Aren't you going to put those two away?"

For a moment I considered making a brief trip out to my workshop to maintain the illusion of normalcy, but then, I decided against it. Miya already knew, to a certain extent, that I wasn't normal. I also knew that the dangerous creature was discreet enough and experienced enough not to make a big deal out of it.

Instead of making the detour, I simply allowed the od that I had carefully formed into my chosen weapons to disperse, causing both the swords to disintegrate into nothing. The blood streaks still staining the blades, long since dried, chipped into flakes as their support was lost and fell in a brief cloud of dark red dust. Miya noted the phenomenon with nothing more than a brief widening of her eyes and a profound sense of curiosity. If anything, she seemed more interested in the fact that I hadn't bothered to hide my ability rather than in the display herself. I met her curious stare calmly, my face serious.

"There are a few things I'd like to talk to you about regarding my sister," I told her, my voice resolute. There was no point in the two of us going out of the way to conceal things from each other. We both knew that the other was odd, and not in the same way as the rest of the residents were unusual. I had no doubt that neither of us were about to sit down and half a heart to heart bonding moment. I got the impression that we both simply had too many things that we simply weren't comfortable sharing casually, but if making a pointless attempt at maintaining the ruse that was fooling the rest of the house kept me from taking care of something more important, then to hell with the ruse.

Miya seemed to understand that sentiment. She smiled serenely at me, making no comment about the mystery she had just witnessed. "Why don't you come to my office and we can talk about it?" she offered instead.

I nodded, and she led the way.

*Scene Break*

"Shirou," Tsukiumi growled out, standing furiously with her hands clenched in fists at her side as her hair and cloak started billowing around her. "This is one of your other Sekirei?" she demanded, pointing at Matsu as the redhead sat patiently at the head of the table. The glasses wearing Sekirei didn't seem intimidated in the least, simply smiling happily up at the furious water user.

"That's the way it is," Matsu acknowledged easily, the light glinting off her glasses as she did so. "Nice to meet you, Tsukiumi-tan!" The hacker Sekirei seemed to find the water user's vehemence to be more amusing than intimidating.

"There's no need for something like '-tan'," Tsukiumi declared, glaring at Matsu angrily. The water user had spent the last few hours with Musubi, and it looked like the innocent confusion of the shrine girl at all the water user's attempts to exert her dominance had started to wear away at Tsukiumi's patience.

"Now, now," I chimed in, trying to regain a little bit of piece by interrupting the argument before it could properly start as I set the food out on the table. "That's just Matsu's way." It was early in the evening, and it was already growing dark outside by the time dinner was nearly ready to eat. The smell of the finished meal was usually enough to cause the rest of the residents of the house to began to trickle into the dining room, expectantly waiting to be fed, so I held off from calling for them at the moment. So far Matsu was the first, but I'm sure the rest would be along soon enough.

"It's simply not an appropriate way for a concubine to talk to a wife," Tsukiumi declared stamping one foot insistently. Matsu seemed to have a better understanding of just what it was the water user was implying with her statement, but rather than take offense at it the hacker seemed to find it amusing. Actually, judging from the perverted giggles that the glasses wearing Sekirei started emitting at her title, she might even find it intriguing. I purposely did not try to figure out just why she would find it that way, as it most likely involved things I'd rather not know about.

"We have plenty of time to figure out what title is appropriate for everyone later," I interrupted my newest Sekirei's rant before it could properly start. "For now, can we please all get along? At least while my sister is here?" It was nearly time for Yukari to show up, and there were a number of things that I wanted to explain to her that I simply considered more important than letting the group dynamics run their course.

"Whose sister is what now?" a new voice interrupted the brewing argument, and Uzume poked her head into the dining room, yawning widely as she stumbled in. The long haired brunette paused in the middle of her jaw cracking gape to blink at the newest addition to my flock. "Wow," she muttered, giving me a sideways look. "So you went ahead and got another one anyway, eh bro? I guess you got over last night pretty fast."

I winced. "Not precisely, and I'm sorry for last night." I bowed, mindful not to spill the bowl of soup I was setting up in the center of the table. "I was way out of line, and I'm afraid I might have taken too much of it out on you." I peered upwards, hoping that the star shirt Sekirei would accept my apology. I hadn't had a chance to give one to her this morning, and she had still been sleeping by the time we had all returned.

Uzume gave me a stern once over, trying her best to look intimidating, but it seemed she just didn't have the character for it. "He-heh. No prob. In fact, I think I might have a way for you to make it up to me later," she forgave me, giving the blond newcomer a quick glance.

"Shirou! Is this yet another of yours?" Tsukiumi demanded, turning red in the face as she took in the busty brunette leaning casually against the door. "And what were you doing last night that you have to apologize for?"

"He-heh. Well, we got real loud last night, and he really took the day's frustration out on me," Uzume elaborated, giving me a wicked glance as she did. "By the time he was done I couldn't even move afterwards! In fact, I think he shocked everyone with just how thoroughly he let me have it!"

Tsukiumi blinked at the description of last night's events, and then the red in her face slowly transformed from rage to embarrassment. I glared at Uzume, fighting off a blush of my own at the way she had described my minor breakdown. While what she said was technically true, I had no doubt that she had chosen her words quite carefully and for the maximum effect. "This is for me abandoning you to Miya, isn't it?" I accused her, and her grin got wider.

"Sh-sh-Shirou!" Tsukiumi finally managed to blurt out, one of her hands tightening into a shaking fist as she put together her conclusion on what the two of us had been doing. I was quickly coming to suspect that for all the vehement denials her own interest in certain aspects of just what a Sekirei and Ashkiabi could get up to might be a bit higher than she let on. It would be typical tsundere behavior after all. The stuttering water user finally managed to find her voice. "Water Celebration!" she shouted, pointing her finger at me and sending a quick splash of water that was probably designed not so much to hurt me as to get me wet.

Naturally, it was quickly transformed into block of ice that instantly shattered by my dutiful bodyguard Akitsu. The snow woman's repeated interruptions of the water user's chastisements seemed to grate on Tsukiumi almost as much as Musubi's ignorance of what a concubine was. The blond snapped a finger to point at the Scrapped Number, scowling as she did so. "Stop doing that! And what are you doing here? Are you yet another of his concubines?"

"Ah," Akitsu began, and then paused her customary moment, an act which seemed to annoy the impatient Tsukiumi even further. "I am his sex slave," the snow woman finished finally. Dead silence permeated the room at her confession.

I wasn't sure how I knew this, but I was certain that this was Yukari's fault. I wasn't certain if I was eager for her to hurry up and arrive so that she could be forced to endure this madness as well, or terrified that when she finally did arrive she would somehow manage to contribute to it instead.

I was saved from the impending explosion by my wish being fulfilled. A loud knocking from the front door echoed through the frozen scene, followed by a cry of, "Onii-chan! I've come to play!"

"Well," I said quickly, darting past the frozen Tsukiumi and an Uzume who looked like she was about get over her shock at Akitsu's statement and collapse into hysterics, "I guess I better go get that!"

I was in such a rush to get to the door in time to have Yukari provide a suitable distraction that I nearly forgot to prepare myself. I paused right before I opened the entrance, and took a deep breath, setting my shoulders and legs carefully. "Yukari," I began, sliding the door open fully. "Welcome…" was about as far as I got before I caught sight of my little sister.

I only had a second to realize that she had backed up to the edge of the yard at some point after knocking in order to get a running start before she tackled me full force around the middle from a dead sprint, nearly knocking the air out of my stomach and forcing me back a few steps, her war cry of '"ONIII-CHAAAAN!" echoing through the relatively quiet house as she did so. When my back pacing put my foot against the stairs, I nearly lost my balance, but managed to right myself in time.

"Y-Yukari," I gasped, trying to recover my breath. "Are you trying to kill me or something?" I complained, still too winded to shout at my little sister. In response she glared up at me.

"Mou!" she huffed, giving me an accusing look. "Why won't you just fall down like you're supposed to, nii-chan?" she demanded as though I was the one in the wrong about this situation.

"Besides the fact that I'd probably crack my head open if I did?" I returned, trying to keep my exasperation from showing. "I still have to meet your Sekirei," I pointed out, glancing towards the door. The only one there was one of Yukari's friends, a young looking girl in a white shirt and tan shorts, with light hair of an indistinct shade in the dark. She glanced shyly up at me, tapping one of her feet on the ground as she did so. "So where is he?" I prompted, trying to see where the alien that had chosen my sister was hiding. I still hadn't decided if I was going to have to give a threatening speech about minding my sister's boundaries or if I would just distract Yukari with something in the dining room and then take the interloper out back and beat him senseless. There was always the option of me just taking him out of the game entirely. That way Yukari would be aware of what was going on in Shin Tokyo while not necessarily being forced to put herself in harm's way.

Mention of her new alien partner seemed to be enough to convince Yukari to let me go, and she instantly straightened, rushing over to her friend's side. Though she unashamedly grabbed her friend's arm the contact seemed to make my little sister blush. Dragging the young girl over, Yukari presented her to me. "This is my Sekirei, Shiina," she proclaimed, her voice overjoyed. "Isn't he beautiful? He's a bishounen!"

I paused, rubbed my eyes, and looked again. Wait. That's a boy? I studied the newcomer more carefully, taking in his features now that they were more fully revealed in the house's lights. He had a slim frame combined with very delicate features, and was dressed like something I'd expect out of his species, his white shirt and tan shorts graced by what looked like a decorate back pack and a variety of extra belts. Truthfully, his features were so fine that he appeared almost androgynous. Come to think of it, the only other male Sekirei I had come across was Homura, and this new male Sekirei had many of the same qualities when it came to physical appearance.

The young man fidgeted briefly at being pulled in front of me, and glanced down at the floor shyly during my inspection. "Ah," he began, his voice a light tenor, "are you the mistress' Aniki?" he asked hesitantly, using the respectful term for 'older brother' in conjunction with a very polite form of address. "I'm number one hundred and seven, Shiina," he continued. "Though we've only just been winged, I look forward to working with your sister, and promise to do all I can to look out for her. Please, look out for me!" he finished in a rush, bowing deeply as he used the formulaic greeting for when two people met for the first time.

I suppressed a twitch. This was Yukari's Sekirei? How was I supposed to threaten this? He looked so fragile that I felt as though my earlier plans of physical violence were now in the same realm as kicking a puppy or something. And he was so polite! How was I supposed to threaten him in regards to my sister without coming across as a savage violent brute?

It took me a second to realize that Shiina was waiting for a response, and seemed to grow more and more downcast every moment he didn't receive one. Hastily, I bowed in response. "Ah," I stuttered, feeling like a country bumpkin in response to the Sekirei's manners. "I'm called Shirou Emiya. Pleased to meet you," I finally managed to get out. Shiina beamed a smile at me, looking ecstatic that I had accepted him.

"Thank you, sir," he gushed at me. "I promise to be the absolute best partner a Sekirei can be for Yukari-san!"

Yukari seemed equally happy that the two of us seemed to be getting along. "I already told Shiina-kun about your own Sekirei, Akitsu," she hurriedly picked up the conversation again. "We were both really surprised when we realized that you were an Ashikabi as well. Shiina's already managed to tell me most of what he knows about the Sekirei Plan, but we decided to ask you for any advice you could give us since you're our senpai now. And from what you said on the phone earlier you already have one more Sekirei and been in some fights, so we're really looking forward to learning from your experience!"

"Yes," I began slowly, my eyes darting towards the inn behind me. "One more Sekirei." I grimaced. "Actually, about that…" I began, trying to decide how I was going to break the news to my little sister when Tsukiumi's voice broke in from the end of the hallway.

"Shirou! What does Akitsu mean by 'sex slave'!" the ardent water user demanded, marching out of the dining room. Akitsu trailed behind her as well, carefully watching Tsukiumi so she could interrupt any more attacks as needs be. Matsu and Uzume were both leaning out of the door frame, just their heads visible with Uzume's on top and Matsu's on the bottom, and they both looked like they were struggling to hold back laughter at the scene that promised to present itself.

"Ma, Tsukiumi," Homura chimed in, the door to his room opening as he began to exit, no doubt ready to risk my lingering wrath in the name of scoring some of my dinner. "There's no need to be so loud."

"Oh! Shirou-san! Is this your younger sister?" Musubi added, standing above me on the stairs and staring down at the foyer, her hands pressed together as she peered eagerly at the newcomers. Behind her Miya rapped her lightly on the head with her sheathed sword.

"It's impolite to block the staircase, Musubi-chan," the landlady chided the shrine girl as Musubi comically held her head where she had been tapped.

"Sorry, landlady," the penitent Sekirei moaned.

Yukari seemed stunned by the sudden influx of people. "Wait a second," she began slowly, her eyes darting from person to person intently. "Onii-chan," she began slowly, trying to take in all the new faces. "Are these all….?" Yukari trailed off as began to put the pieces together. I sighed in response.

"Not all of them," I admitted. "Just most of them." Yukari's eyes widened until I was faintly worried that they were about to pop out of her head.

"So big," she whispered, and I suddenly realized that it wasn't just the faces my little sister was staring at, and had to physically stop myself from slapping my forehead. "And that one…" she continued, her eyes drifting to Homura worshipfully. "Another bishounen." That caused my eyes to narrow. I might not be able to beat up Shiina without feeling like a first class heel, but Homura was already on shaky ground as it was.

"Mistress," Shiina began, eying the gathering masses carefully. It looked like while Yukari was too busy being entranced by the bodies of my flock to consider the ramifications Shiina was starting to get nervous. It seemed he already realized that the two of them had just stepped into a den of potential enemies and were now hopelessly outnumbered and on enemy territory to boot. He gave me a cautious look, and despite myself I chalked that up as a point in his favor. If he was worried about the danger to Yukari, then maybe he might be able to take care of her properly in the upcoming conflict. True, he didn't look like much, appearing too frail to engage in physical combat, but I had already seen just how power some of the more esoteric abilities his species wielded could be.

"Relax," I told him gently. "There is no violence at Izumo House. This isn't an ambush, just a chance for me to make sure my sister knows everything she needs to know about the Sekirei Plan." My reassurance didn't seem to put him completely at ease, but he relaxed a little, and seemed ready to take my words at face value for the moment when…

"Shii-chan!" Kuu's excited voice ripped through the air, startling everyone as the young girl shrieked unexpectedly. Shiina's eyes widened in surprise, and he whipped around to face the staircase with the speed of his species just in time to see Kuu as she launched herself off the stairs and into his arms, crying while she did so. "Shii-chan! Shii-chan!" the young girl said over and over again even as the tears continued to roll down her face.

"Kuu-chan?" the male Sekirei said, his voice shocked. "Kuu-chan!" he repeated himself, and this time his voice was just as excited as the young girl's. "Kuu! You're alright! I was so worried about you!"

As the boyish Sekirei also succumbed to tears, falling to his knees next to my youngest Sekirei so he could hug her better, the rest of the House froze, not sure what to make of the scene. Finally, Musubi spoke up, no doubt voicing everyone's thoughts as she asked, "Um. What's going on?"

*Scene Break*

It took nearly two hours, until about the end of dinner, before explanations on all sides were finished. "So, since you two have such complimentary powers and were being adjusted at about the same time they used to keep you two together?" I summed up, looking at Shiina and Kuu as the two sat together across the table from me. It was the first time that Kuu had ever voluntarily forfeited her usual place at my right, something which Akitsu took advantage of while Musubi claimed my left side. On the other side of the snow woman was Homura, as far away from Yukari as I could safely manage to place him. My little sister sat squeezed in between her own Shiina and Uzume on the other side from me. At the heads of the table Tsukiumi was on the side nearest Homura while Miya and Matsu were crowded together on the opposite side near Uzume.

If this kept up then I would probably have to see about helping Miya find a new table. The current one was moving beyond the 'comfortably packed' phase and into the 'just plain crowded' end of the spectrum.

"Yes," the young man in front of me responded eagerly, nodding his head enthusiastically when he saw that I had managed to grasp their circumstances. "After I found out that Kuu-chan was attacked and released early, I broke out of MBI myself as well so that I could try and find her. I'd been worried sick about whether or not she managed to find a kind Ashikabi or not, and if the Ashikabi was treating her right," he admitted, giving the green girl beside him a small smile. Kuu had one arm wrapped securely around the boy's arm while the other had a similar grip over her cat plushy at the same time. She seemed absolutely determined not to let either one go, even if it made her wielding her spoon awkward during the meal. During the entire length of dinner she had alternated between stuffing her own face, pretending to feed her 'meow-meow', trying to feed Shiina, and babbling loudly about all the things that she'd seen since she left the laboratories. Shiina seemed familiar with Kuu-chan's attention, and smiled benevolently at the girl even when she would interrupt his attempts to converse with the rest of the table by shoving spoonfuls of food into his mouth at random occurrences.

"Well if she managed to find Onii-chan, then at least you can rest easily knowing she got a good one," Yukari chimed in, and it looked like she was having as much trouble splitting her attention as Kuu-chan was. My little sister ran the gauntlet between concentrating on the food, listening to my extended explanation of the Sekirei Plan, competing with Kuu for Shiina's attention, and gawking open mouth at my own flock. Her lecherous leer would alternate between Homura, who seemed to be an object of lust in her eyes, and every other one of the mature female members of my Sekirei; or more accurately, at their bust lines. So far she had managed to hold back from repeating the way she had molested Akitsu on their first meeting, but I feared that had more to do with her trying to select an appropriate first target rather than her showing genuine restraint.

"Yes!" Musubi chimed in happily, holding up a fist for emphasis. The bouncy nature of the shrine girl drew Yukari's eyes to her chest, and my sister let out an involuntary perverted giggle as she watched Musubi's movements cause her to jiggle slightly. "Shirou-san is very kind!" The shrine girl returned her attention away from her interruption to focus on her own chosen task. "Now say, 'ahh', Shirou-san!" she implored me, leaning over with her chopsticks holding a piece of omelet as she tried to take a page from Kuu-chan's book and attempted to feed me by hand.

"Shi-ro-u," Tsukiumi growled out, clenching her chopsticks so hard that I could hear them splinter in her group. "I shouldn't have to say this, but if you eat that, then I shall be forced to kill you." The water user hadn't been very happy when, unused to the frantic scrambling that usually came with my flock trying to claim the empty seat on my left, she hadn't even realized there was a competition to claim my side and had lost her chance to sit next to me. The proud blond had been fuming the entire meal, alternating in sending her death glances at either me or the two Sekirei at my side.

"Fufufufufu," Matsu giggled from the safe end of the table, watching as the disaster in front of her unfolded. "It's like a soap opera! A soap opera!" the hacker Sekirei insisted, eyes eagerly following the growing chaos around her. After who knows how many years stuck in her room with only the previous residents and her computers to keep her occupied, it appeared that suddenly having all these new people around, people she could actually interact with, had driven her mad with joy.

"It has gotten a whole lot more exciting around here, hasn't it?" Uzume chimed in leaning back casually on her arms and watching the shenanigans around her with a look that said she wished she had a bowl of popcorn. Beside her, Miya nodded, smiling softly.

"It has grown a bit more fun these days, hasn't it," the landlady agreed gently.

Ignoring the chaos around him, Shiina continued to address me respectfully, gratitude apparent in his face. "Seeing Kuu like this, so happy, it makes me relieved to know that she's in good hands." He beamed at me, looking so pleased with his little sister's safety that I had to suppress another flinch at my earlier plans to take him out back and beat him for coming near my sister. Dear god, is there anything about this boy that doesn't somehow scream 'ideal boyfriend for little sister'? He's young, unthreatening, polite, earnest, and has a little sister of his own to feel protective about. This just wasn't fair. How was I supposed to put the fear of god into someone like that? I had been feeling so fraternal earlier when I found out that my little sister had a boy over that I had even began composing 'If you break her heart then I'll break your face' speeches. Though in my case 'break your face' was more along the lines of 'impale you with three feet of cold steel', true, but considering the circumstances I didn't really think that was an entirely unjustified course of action.

"Think nothing of it," I told the young man. "I'm just glad I managed to find her in time before some of the less scrupulous Ashikabi did." We had already gone over the circumstances of Kuu's winging earlier, and if anything that just seemed to make Shiina's admiration for me grow.

"Onii-chan has swords!" Kuu chimed in, adding her own contribution to the conversation.

Ignoring the rest of the conversation going on around her, Tsukiumi continued to growl at Musubi and Akitsu angrily. "Why is it that I, the legal wife, am forced to sit apart from my husband while you, his concubine and his slave, are allowed to be near him?" she demanded spitefully. Beside me, Musubi frowned, her attention finally being drawn away from her attempts to feed me, and on my other side Akitsu rustled, her chains clinking ominously.

"I am not his concubine! I'm his legal wife too!" the shrine girl finally retaliated, even her usually unflappable cheer reaching its limits in the face of constant aggravation by the newcomer.

Shiina ignored the escalating argument completely in favor of continuing his conversation with me. "I was originally going to ask that my Mistress help me in finding Kuu-chan before we started participating in the Sekirei Plan proper," the young man admitted, glancing downwards guiltily at the thought of his indulgence. "But now that I know she is safe, I feel I can truly dedicate myself to protecting her and only her!" He glanced over at Yukari, an expression of absolute devotion on his face as he did so. My little sister was torn away from her ogling of my flock at that announcement, and began to blush helplessly in the face of her Sekirei's oath.

"Ah," she managed to get out, swallowing hard as her face lit up like a Christmas tree's light. When faced with her 'bishounen' Sekirei's devotion to her, it looked like the normally indomitable Yukari found herself completely at a loss for words, and could do nothing more but blush helplessly. I was willing to admit that the polite young man in front of me was most likely a specimen every bit as attractive as Homura was, though a great deal more earnest then the flame user's own well honed charms. It seemed that finding Sekirei to be dangerous was something that ran in the family, if Yukari's sudden inability to form coherent thought was any measure of that kind of thing.

Damn it. I hated to admit it, but Shiina might actually be good for my little sister. I hadn't heard her quote manga even once since she arrived, and her usual duffle bag of sources was nowhere in sight.

"Do you even know what 'legal wife' means?" Tsukiumi demanded, apparently reaching the end of her patience in dealing with the somewhat ignorant Musubi as she leapt to her feet, pointing one finger at Musubi in accusation.

Musubi responded to the challenge with all the grace and dignity I've come to expect from her. "No I don't!" she answered honestly, launching herself upright as well to glare at the water user. The blunt reply seemed to throw Tsukiumi for a loop as the proud blond gaped at the resolute brunette.

Shiina finally seemed to realize the growing conflict erupting at the dinner table as he glanced up in alarm at the two now standing Sekirei. "Ah, aniki," he began nervously, breaking his eye lock with Yukari as he started to fidget anxiously. Without her Sekirei's gaze freezing her Yukari also seemed to recognize the growing tension between the two members of my flock. "Shouldn't you do something about this?" he began hesitantly, but I cut him off with a shake of my head.

"It's alright," I told him. "There is no violence in Izumo House." My reassurance didn't seem to set him at ease. Yukari, apparently recovering from her 'bishounen shock' that Shiina's presence seemed to put her into, took one look at the oncoming chaos and leapt to her own conclusion.

"That's right!" she declared, leaping to her own feet as well so she could imitate Tsukiumi's signature stance and point at me accusingly. "Now that we've found Shiina's little sister, it's time to get back to the Sekirei Plan! Onii-chan! It's time to duel!" she declared.

I blinked at her, unsure just where this new turn of events came from. And for some reason, her choice of words seemed to fill me with a despair whose origin I couldn't quite place.

At the head of the table, Tsukiumi seemed to approve of the unexpected turn of mood towards violence. "You bitch!" she snapped at Musubi. "If that's how it's going to be, let's fight!" Water began to form out of the air, pooling at the end of the blonds fingers as it grew into a miniaturized maelstrom, roaring to be released.

"That's just what I want!" Musubi snapped back, her eyes eager as she settled into a fighting position of her own.

"Let's go!" Yukari chimed in eagerly as she got into the mood. "Number one hundred and seven, Shiina! I choose you!" Beside her, the young man looked up at her with a puzzled expression, not quite understanding either how the atmosphere so quickly descended into one of violence, or why his mistress had chosen such an unusual phrase. I, on the other hand, groaned as I realized that it was less a matter of Yukari having abandoned manga for inspiration and simply shifted to another kind of source material. I sank my head into my hands, not even having to look up to know what would come next.

The only warning the three would be combatants received was a 'whooshing' noise, the sound of air rustling some kind of loose clothes, and then I was greeted by three nearly simultaneous 'thump' noises and three startled cries of 'ow', 'oof', and 'ugh'. When I pulled my head from my hands the scene before me had changed as though by magic. Yukari, Tsukiumi, and Musubi were all clutching the backs of their heads, looking absolutely flabbergasted at the sudden and unexpected assault. Miya had somehow managed to transport herself from her original seated position to the other end of the room, and was clutching a surprisingly clean ladle that had originally been intended to be used for serving the soup in her hand like it was a weapon.

"Ara ara," Miya 'tsked' the group at large, her smile wide and benevolent and her eyes crinkled shut. "Didn't Emiya-kun already say?" It gathered behind her, a darkness composed of pure malice and eye gouging hate. Slowly, strands of dark hair began to slither over the lavender mane of the alien landlady, a gruesome mass edging its way up wards, until finally like Sadako emerging from her well, the hannya mask snapped itself upright, glaring down at the gathered masses with a gaze that could freeze the heart. "There is no violence in Izumo House," Miya repeated, still beaming beatifically at the now cowering residents and guests.

Tsukiumi had at some point abandoned her pride and now clutched onto Musubi, an embrace that was returned for comfort's sake as the shrine girl tried not to be overwhelmed by the hideous specter before her as well. Yukari had dropped behind Shiina, burying her face into his shoulder to block out the horrific sight before her, and Kuu had plunged her face into her other surrogate brother's chest to block the vision before her, leaving poor Shiina to bear witness to the unfolding traumatic event alone.

That's it. Forget the profiles about the so called 'Ashikabi of the East'. Forget getting to know the capabilities of my gathered flock. Forget mastering my Reality Marble. Forget perfecting my runes. Forget even honing my sword play. I had a new priority.

I was going to learn this technique, or I was going to die trying.


	16. Sixteenth Wing

In Flight: Sixteenth Wing

_Author's Notes: Well, that took a great deal more time than I anticipated. I'd like to take the opportunity to blame some anime, or perhaps mention that I was on another sabbatical, but actually, the reason this chapter took so long to write was because it was just plain hard to write. I've never had quite so many characters or personalities mixed together, and I must have rewritten every scene in this chapter at least three times trying to make sure no one was too out of character or forgotten or that the conversations didn't branch into strange directions. Phew. Luckily, next chapter should be a bit easier to write._

_Onto reviews. A lot of good feedback from people, though it appears that a lot of people have been using my review section for debates. Since I'm actually really interested in some of the points that people bring up, I've decided to take one reviewers advice and start a forum for discussions. Now, I'm actually about as computer savvy as Shirou is, and I don't have much experience with forums at all, so it might take me some time to get it up and running properly, but once it does, I look forward to seeing what debates pop up._

_The forum is rather unoriginality named 'The Mechanics of In Flight', by the way.  
_

_Another section that people are focusing on are the reactions of the cast to Shirou's combat prowess. To that end, I'd like to go ahead and clarify that it is not impossible for humans to overcome Sekirei. At the end of the escape arc MBI's soldiers successfully subdued both Musubi and Tsukiumi using some high tech fancy net shooting guns, and for most of the series both Musubi and Tsukiumi also were under the impression that Miya was just a normal human who could somehow manage to kick their butts through pure skill and didn't seem to have any trouble accepting that. That being said, nine times out of ten, human vs sekirei ends poorly for the humans, unless the human is particularly skilled, has the advantage of surprise, or superior weaponry on their side. So far every time Shirou has engaged a Sekirei, save for Miya, he's had all three of those working for him. _

_Now, onto chapter specifics:_

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_I'm sure a lot of you guessed that this chapter would end up being a slice of life type thing, and that's pretty much the way it ended coming out. I wanted to show some passage of time here, put a bit off buffer into the story. The actual time line in Sekirei has been stretching on for months. They mention how Miya goes to see her husband's grave the same day every month, and I think there have been four or five instances where they mentioned her doing just that. I wanted to show that time was passing and that all of Izumo House was slowly settling down into a comfortable routine as they all calmed down after the exciting first week and a half of Shirou's career as an Ashikabi. I tried to use the first section to show just that happening, once more using my tried and true 'shirou waking up under a pile of pretty ladies' technique. A little cliche, I know, but I've used it before and I think it gives readers a good way to connect back to earlier parts of the story, give it a kind of uniformity. How's that working out for all of you? _

_The second part I wanted to bring up was Matsu. Matsu and Shirou's strategy sessions are turning into just as useful scenes as waking up scenes. They give me a chance for Matsu to describe various aspects of the Sekirei world both to readers unfamiliar with Sekirei and to Shirou himself. Since she's also a pretty fun character to write it lets me break up what would otherwise be long boring explanation and info dump with little spices of humor and quirks._

_Beyond that, this chapter is pretty generic, so I tried to at least keep it humorous throughout. Yukari works great for lightening scenes at the moment. _

_Now the next chapter I'm sure everyone will be much more interested in, seeing as this is going to be the one that really shows just what Shirou's combat capabilities really are. I'm going to have to go back and review a few specific portions of the game and a few chapters of Fate/Zero first, but once I got the facts straight in my head this should be pretty quick to write, knock on wood._

_And oh yeah, it finally begins. You all really didn't think that I'd keep Shirou's obsession with Miya's Hannya Technique a running gag the entire time? Soon, the time of horror will begin for the rest of Izumo House as they must now face double the terror! Mwahahahahaha!_

_As always, you like it, give a shout. Questions/comments/concerns? Go ahead and through them out there. When I get the forum up and running, I should be checking that pretty often as well. And as always, enjoy._

_*Story Start*_

I woke to the faint predawn light seeping through my window gently to rest on my face, blinking my eyes a few times to clear them properly. The mid spring air that seeped through the crack in the window was still cool, but not longer as biting as it had been the last few weeks. From my angle on the floor I couldn't quite make out the cherry trees that lined the fence to Izumo House, but I could already picture the tiny buds that were starting to form there which would soon blossom into new leaves and flowers.

Despite my usual habit of getting up immediately so that I could finish my workout with enough time for me to start preparing breakfast before the rest of the house roused themselves, I found myself lingering on my futon. It was hard to believe that less than a month ago I was still studying for exams in that cramped little apartment with only the faintest idea of the creatures which were roaming the city, or the powers that were moving behind the scene of what would otherwise be a picture book representation of an average metropolitan city. I'd hesitate to call myself average back then, but at least then the things I dealt with which were beyond the scope of the truly average were at least familiar. I knew what I could expect when it came to the Mage's Association and the perils it represented.

Now though, ever since the day I came face to face with Homura on that busy street, and then came across Akitsu looking so desolate and forsaken, my life had taken a turn towards the chaotic so unexpectedly that even my previous experience hadn't been enough to prepare my properly. That first week after I had accepted my first Sekirei had seemed to happen so fast that even my prior experience hadn't been enough to keep me from reeling from it. Finding a new apartment, forming my strange new bonds with my flock, learning of the secret battles that were happening around me, of the shadowy threats which hovered out of sight, and even the strange new twists in the relationships I had been working on with my new family, it had all happened so fast that I had felt like I was trying to keep my head above the water while wearing lead shoes.

It had been nine days since I had winged Tsukiumi, so far life hasn't seen fit to throw me yet another unexpected bump. With the time to finally sort everything out, I was finally starting to feel like I had a handle on the situation, like things were beginning to settle down into something I could call 'everyday life'. In the quiet moments of predawn, I was fully able to have a moment's peace, and a chance to reflect on the new rituals that had started to develop and the habits that were beginning to form.

A rustle beside me reminded me of the great weight pinning me down, and I had to suppress a groan as the first of one such habit made itself known for the day. I sincerely hoped that I didn't end up reacting with another Sekirei, because if they insisted on joining in, well, I was out of convenient limbs and I was worried what they would latch onto.

It no longer surprised me when I woke up to find myself virtually buried under a mass of women, well, female Sekirei anyway. I idly noted the positions they had all ended up in this time. Akitsu was as usual on my left, a position she steadfastly refused to relinquish to anyone. I took it as a sign of her growing comfort that the normally quiet snow lady was willing to stand up for herself in the face of relentless pressure from the others of my flock. As was my usual habit I had pulled her close during my sleep, and by now she had grown confident enough to allow herself to rest one of her hands on my chest when I did so, her body barely touching my own. My Sekirei had quickly realized my tendency to cuddle while unconscious, and thus the battle for my right side was now quite fierce. It seemed that this time it was Tsukiumi who had managed to claim that spot. Musubi and Matsu had comforted themselves with the consolation prizes, my right and left leg respectively. Kuu-chan on the other hand had taken to ignoring the pecking order completely and just flopping down on my chest, her inhuman ability to sleep no matter how bumpy her mattress proving itself time and time again.

It was an incredibly awkward position for me to sleep in. I wasn't really a restless sleeper per say, but I did like to shift around a bit during the night. Sometimes I would find myself jerking awake as I tried to move to relieve a cramp and discover that I was effectively pinned in place. It wasn't quite enough to make me claustrophobic, but sometimes Kuu's weight, no matter how slight it was, would shift in just the wrong way to make it a bit difficult to breathe as well. It also made getting out of bed each morning a chore in itself. Kuu was usually pretty simple, a deep enough sleeper that I could just pick her up and place her on one of the other girls, and Matsu would usually be stirred awake by me but she was generally good at falling back asleep afterwards. Tsukiumi was proving to be a bit clingy, though nowhere near as bad as Musubi was, but it was generally simple enough to escape out of the water user's grasp with nothing more than her stirring restlessly in her sleep and sometimes emitting unhappy noises without waking up.

There were other problems associated with this arrangement, problems that tended to…er… arise when one finds oneself waking up to the feel of four very attractive female bodies pressing against oneself. Problems that were compounded by their sleep wear as well: Akitsu continued to favor things which she had managed to preserve from her first shopping trip with Yukari, Musubi resolutely held onto her bloomer set, Matsu continued to sport her semi-sheer teddy, and the recent addition of Tsukiumi had added a rather modest and innocent looking white sleeping gown. Problems which were even further complicated thanks to Kuu-chan's innocent presence as well.

Yeah. This was getting ridiculous. And awkward. Very awkward.

"Good morning, Shirou-sama," Akitsu greeted me in a quiet voice so as not to disturb the rest of the sleeping flock. The snow woman was as usual already awake, watching me quietly from her position at my side. I wasn't certain if it was due to her, as an unusually powerful Scrapped Number, requiring less sleep than myself and the rest of the Sekirei, or if she simply had her internal alarm clock set earlier than my own dawn one, but Akitsu was always awake before me. I nodded to her, blinking again to make sure all the sleep was out of my eyes before shifting slightly in preparation of abandoning my warm futon for the start of the day. Obediently, Akitsu began to separate herself from me.

"Good morning, Akitsu," I returned as the snow woman began helping me dig myself out of my Sekirei pile. As she casually plucked a snoring Kusano off my chest, I began untangling myself from Tsukiumi's grasp. The water user mumbled unhappily, but once I was free Akitsu placed Kuu in the other woman's arms and she quieted down. Tsukiumi's grasp had much less pressure than Musubi's and in the end she looked almost maternal holding the younger Sekirei gently. Getting Musubi off was a bit more difficult, especially since I had to bend over awkwardly to pry her off, but once Matsu had replaced my limb I was able to stand up. I cracked my back gently, stretching slightly and looking away from where I knew Akitsu was already changing into her clothes without a thought to my presence, before heading to the closet to pick up my own outfit for the day. Repeated exposure to the snow woman's blatant disregard for modesty hadn't yet completely inured me to her nudity, but it had definitely made it easier for me to know where not to look until she was fully clothed again.

As I headed towards the door, both my workout clothes and a change for afterward already under my arm, Akitsu fell into step behind me. More out of habit then necessity these days I quietly asked her, "Did you remember your panties, Akitsu?"

"Ah," the snow woman hesitated in thought despite the fact that she had been changing only moments before. "I remembered," she finally confirmed.

With a nod, I left the room to start the day.

*Scene Break*

I had grown use to Miya, Akitsu, and I being the first ones up every day, and as I put the finishing touches on the day's breakfast I could make out the noises from the rest of the house as they began to stir as well. Even though I'd mastered the art of escaping my bed without waking her Musubi was generally the first one to get up after the three of us. I could always tell when that was because it would invariably be followed by an excited cry of, 'Landlady!' and the noise of furious combat. I rarely got the opportunity to look in on their training, but the few times I did showed just how much Musubi had improved since the sessions began. As though this was the signal the rest of the house needed, the various other Sekirei began to stir from their nests.

The first one that actually made their way into the kitchen while I was setting the table was unusually enough Homura. "Good morning, Shirou," he yawned at me, rubbing his chest as he did so, as he made his way into the dining room. It was strange to see him so early in the morning mostly because he was generally a pretty nocturnal person. The last few days had he had been taking off from work more and more often, instead opting to spend time around the house instead. I wasn't certain why, but I had a feeling that he was probably going to quit his job entirely soon. I suppose, in a way, it made sense. He had originally chosen to be a host so that he could search for his Ashikabi after all, and with that taken care of there hadn't been nearly as pressing a reason for him to spend all his time at the club.

It also might have been his way to try and set me at ease I suppose. I might have spent the first few days after he met Yukari watching him a little more suspiciously than was entirely appropriate. I kind of felt bad about that, actually. I knew that I was being paranoid and unreasonable, and I was trying to not go overboard, but there was just something so off putting about the thought one of my flock being with one of my family. Fortunately, it seemed that Homura was going out of his way to avoid Yukari. It looked like since she was my sister she had officially been placed in the 'no touch zone'. I was pretty certain it was as much an attempt to keep me from getting upset as it was adherence to the unwritten rule that guys don't date their other guy friends' sisters.

Whatever the reasons for his slow withdraw from his work, it meant he was spending a lot more time around the house. He wasn't here all the time, since I think he was taking advantage of Matsu's research to track down unwinged Sekirei's in order to guard them with more efficiency, but he was usually around for at least breakfast and dinner nowadays.

"Morning, Homura," I returned his greeting as he slumped down lazily. Maybe it was because I was used to seeing him either impeccably dressed before work or in his full Sekirei combat garb, but lately it seemed that he had been getting a little more slovenly. He'd taken to leaving a button or two on the top of his shirt undone, and had started walking around with it untucked as well. Maybe he was just getting more relaxed with me and the rest of the residents at Izumo House.

"Omelets?" he asked, glancing down at the food I was loading onto the table, still scratching at his chest as he did so. I nodded in response, setting the plate piled with vegetarian omelets down next to the ones with ham. I had gotten accustomed to the amount Sekirei could eat, as well as some of their individual tastes so I had prepared in both great quantity and great variety.

"Oh! Good morning, Aniki, Sempai, Akitsu-san," a new voice chimed in, and I glanced over to find Shiina smiling brightly at the two of us. "Would you like some help setting the table?" he continued shyly. After Miya had calmed the situation down and explained certain ground rules to my sister and her Sekirei, it hadn't taken much effort for me to convince the two to move in as well. The damage that Shiina's winging had done to her small room at the dorm for the college she would be attending soon, combined with both Shiina's desire to spend time with Kusano, and Yukari leaping at the opportunity to spend some time with me as well had led to my sister moving in the very next day, with me and my flock's aid at moving her belongings.

I had discreetly made use of the opportunity to 'accidently' lose a few of her more, how do I put it, questionable manga.

"Good morning," Homura and I returned in perfect unison, turning to glance at each other briefly in surprise. I was aware that Sekirei were all mildly psychic to one degree or another, and that after being winged they imprinted strongly on their Ashikabi, but it still surprised me when the eerie moments of synchronicity shined through. It didn't happen as much between me and the female members of my flock, so I assumed it must be some kind of side effect of the two of us just having more compatible behaviors due to our being the same gender. Or maybe it was some side effect of Homura's own personal nature. He had warned me in the past that his bonding would be particular intense.

Setting aside the minor awkward moment, I turned back to the waiting Shiina with a polite smile. "Its fine," I assured him. "Why don't you sit with Homura for a bit instead?" The flame user gave a brief smile to the younger member of his species, who fidgeted briefly in indecision. It really didn't surprise me that the two had ended up getting along so well. The more I looked over the profiles and records Matsu had gathered the more I was struck by the difference in gender for the species. I had thought that the primary reason I was constantly coming across female Sekirei had something to do with the fact that I as a male simply only attracted them. The truth was that there just weren't many male Sekirei in the first place; truthfully, the total count of males in the species came up to five. I wasn't certain if this was a result of the circumstances that had caused the alien race to land here in the first place, or just a characteristic of the species as a whole. Maybe whatever disaster or war that had reduced their number to only one hundred and eight had been particularly devastating to the males, or maybe they simply tended to produce mostly females due to a trick of their genetics. For whatever the reason, Shiina was overjoyed to have male role models to look up to and had taken to trying to spend as much time with the two of us as he could.

"But," Shiina continued, glancing nervously at the plates I was still putting out. "I wouldn't mind helping," he finally spat out in a rush, still fidgeting. I had to fight to keep a grimace off my face, knowing that the negative expression would probably set the young man into a spiral of depression. Honestly, I think the boy needed more than just two male influences in his life. Both he and Homura had delicate and refined features, but Homura at least managed to come off as masculine even if he had resorted to being something of a playboy in order to reinforce that image. Shiina tended to straddle the female side of androgynous, maybe because he was still young. Combined with the fact that our gender was hopelessly outnumbered here at Izumo House, and that I was already getting the impression that Yukari was most likely trying to emphasize the young man's good looks and it seemed that it would fall to Homura and I to make sure that Shiina wasn't completely emasculated by the end of it.

"Well, if you want, you can help me with the dishes afterwards," I supplied for him, and he beamed up at me happily at the compromise. As the young man took a seat at the table, I noticed him favoring his leg a little, and my eyes narrowed a little bit. "By the way," I began casually, trying to keep my voice relaxed. "I thought I heard someone moving around last night. Did the two of you go out last night?" Shiina froze and glanced away nervously.

"Um," he began, "go out?" he asked, trying to dodge the question and telling me everything I needed to know at the same time. For the first few days after Yukari and he had moved in, my sister had just been happy to spend time getting to know her Sekirei and being around me. Alas, it didn't seem to take long before she began to get bored. The first hint had been when I noticed the manga she was constantly pulling out had less to do with brother and sister relationships, and started to have more to do with fighting and tournaments. The shift from 'shoujo', girl comics with an emphasis on relationships and drama, to 'shounen', boy comics centered on action and adventure, was enough for me to make a guess at what would come next.

Yukari was the type to devote herself wholeheartedly to whatever it was she was doing. When she had discovered that she had a still living brother, she had launched herself into being the best little sister she could be. Now that she was a participant in a secret combat tournament that same enthusiasm had found a new outlet.

The first time she had snuck out late at night dragging a quietly protesting Shiina behind her, I was ready. With Akitsu's aid I was able to follow them in secret. I don't know if it was good luck or bad luck that on their first 'patrol' they had managed to find another participant in the Plan, but when the enemy Sekirei, wielding some kind of unfolding staff, launched herself at my little sister's Sekirei it had only been force of will that kept me from tracing something nasty and killing the enemy Ashikabi where he stood. I managed to hold off long enough to see if Shiina would be capable of protecting his Ashikabi. That was when I got my first glimpse of just what the young man had meant when he said that his and Kuu's power had been compatible.

I hadn't been certain what to make of Shiina's power originally. His scent was, well, strange. It somehow managed to remind me of a combination of road kill that had been out in the sun for far too long and of a compost heat, yet despite the negative implications of both of those managed to avoid being nauseating. When the young man's first opponent came within arm's reach of him he did nothing more but reach out and touch them and that had been the end. The enemy Sekirei's weapon, her clothing, and a good portion of the cement around the male Sekirei's feet simply disappeared and the Sekirei fell to the earth looking like she was half dead already.

If Kuu-chan's power was the power of 'growth', then the boy's power could be accurately called 'decay'. It was unnerving to see that kind of power displayed so casually. The boy, for all his gentle nature, was a walking apocalypse.

After Shiina had finished the fallen Sekirei with a touch to her crest, reciting his Norito quietly, I had a brief moment of worry when the enemy Ashikabi tried to rough my sister up in retaliation. I was still standing by to intervene, but then, Yukari took care of it on her own; with extreme prejudice and unreasoning violence. I would never look at my sister's boots in the same way, ever again.

I was still nervous about letting my little sister out on her own, but it seemed that she and her Sekirei were more than capable of taking care of herself. I wanted more than anything else to simply tell her to stay locked in the inn where she would have both Miya and myself to look after her, but if I tried to force her then she would only rebel against my highhandedness. For now, the Sekirei Plan should be mostly safe, and if she didn't get experience now then she might not be prepared for when that changed.

That didn't stop me from having to unlock my jaw to keep from grinding my teeth. "Its fine," I told the still nervous Shiina as he tried to find a way to avoid my question. "I probably imagined it." I had a new sympathy for how Takami had reacted when she had discovered my own involvement in the Plan. The thought of my sister being out there being involved in this twisted game, even if she was capable of taking care of herself, was nerve-wracking.

Shiina relaxed as I withdrew my question, relieved that he wouldn't have to talk about his late night activities with my sister. She had most likely ordered him not to tell me, probably thinking that she was successfully keeping her activities a secret from me. I could pretend for now not to know.

Still, there was one benefit of my little sister spending her nights patrolling the streets looking for fights, I admitted to myself as the young man turned to say something to Homura while I headed back to the kitchen to get the next load of omelets. If she was busy spending her nights hunting down enemy Ashikabi, then it kept her from doing other late night activities with her Sekirei. I was prepared to acknowledge my little sister's right to enter the battlefield, but I don't think I was quite prepared for the thought of my little sister getting up to other things with her newly mated alien.

There it was again: that fierce urge to threaten the gentle looking Sekirei. This was going to take some getting used to.

*Scene Break*

"My, my," Miya tsked thoughtfully from her spot at the head of the table while sipping a cup of tea slowly. "They sure sound lively over there, don't they?"

"He-heh," Uzume chimed in between a mouthful of eggs. "I gotta say this, Shirou, but your little sister is a riot!" I repressed a sigh at the amusement the ponytailed Sekirei was getting out of the situation while Homura chuckled into his hand and Shiina lowered his head regretfully.

"Mistress," he groaned in a resigned tone. Kuu reached up from her position between the master of decay and myself to pat her other older brother gently on the shoulder while making comforting noises.

With so many people in the house it had gotten harder and harder to fit everyone around the table at once, so adjustments had been made. Breakfast had become buffet style, with me setting it all up ahead of time and the rest of the residents eating at their own pace whenever they drifted in. Lunch was handled much in the same way, though more often than not I wasn't the one responsible for it. I still had my work as a repairman to handle, and though it was getting harder to squeeze it in with all the demands on my time I still managed to get a few hours a day in my workshop. Although nobody had ever stated it explicitly, dinner was still the time when the dining room saw the greatest number of people in it. Sometimes one or two residents wouldn't be able to make it, most often Uzume, Homura, or Matsu, but for the most part dinner was the unofficial chance for everyone to come together. Though Homura was spending less and less time at work, he still occasionally had to spend his time away for his duties as the Sekirei Guardian on occasion, and just because Matsu had completed the profiles it didn't mean that there were other tasks I occasionally required of her that she would get caught up in and forget to eat. I wasn't sure what Uzume got up to, but she had been going out more and more often lately. Still, she wasn't my Sekirei, so it wasn't my place to pry. Occasionally she would come to me and ask for some information on specific Sekirei, seemingly at random, so I had an idea of just what she was up to.

At the moment Homura, Akitsu, Shiina, Miya, Uzume, Kuu, and I were the ones in the dining room, though at this point only Kuu-chan and Uzume were still eating. Musubi had taken to grabbing a quick bath in the morning after her workout. Surprisingly enough, Tsukiumi and Matsu had started joining her at those times. I wasn't certain where this solidarity came from, but it was reassuring to me to see it. Considering the way Tsukiumi had initially been attempting to conquer my flock from the inside and how the water user had nearly provoked Musubi enough for the two to almost come to blows, I had been seriously worried about whether or not my Sekirei would be able to get along with each other at first. Luckily with the threat of Miya's fearsome intimidation technique hanging over her the water user had settled down pretty quickly.

Unfortunately for the three, it seemed that they had an unexpected visitor to their pre-breakfast soak. The lively sound of splashing and indistinct angry shouts drifted down through the otherwise silent inn. It had become an occurrence so regular that even though the seven of us were across the house from the baths, all of us could already tell exactly what had happened.

As the thumping started making its way out of the bathroom and down the hall towards where the rest of us gathered Miya 'tsked' again. "Really, Emiya-kun," she chided me gently, "You're sister is such an excitable girl!"

With a groan I rubbed my forehead. "I'm sorry about this, Miya-san," I apologized, not sure what else I could do. I had already talked to Yukari about her behavior nearly a dozen times, but she seemed to be exercising the sacred right of bratty little sisters everywhere to completely ignore their brothers when they scolded them.

With a loud thump, the screen door to the dining room slammed open revealing pretty much exactly what I thought I would find on the other side. "Onii-chan! Save me!" Yukari shouted, darting across the room and diving over the dinner table so she could position me between her and the door. She was still dripping wet from the bath she had snuck into and was wearing nothing but a towel hastily wrapped around her slim body. She slipped a bit, her wet feet not quite finding enough purchase for her to land properly but recovered in time to be peeking out over my shoulder as the second set of thumping noises resolved itself into a furious Tsukiumi, equally wet and garbed in the same way and clutching one hand over her chest protectively to keep her towel closed.

"How dare you t-t-touch me there!" Tsukiumi demanded angrily, catching sight of her prey's forehead over my shoulder. "Not even Shirou has touched me there yet!" the angry water user proclaimed, pointing an angry finger at me. "Water Celebration!" she announced, shooting a small stream of water at the two of us. I could feel Yukari hunker down, no doubt planning to let me take the brunt of the wrath that she had invoked from my most temperamental Sekirei, but at the last second I simply leaned out of the way, exposing my sister to the punishment she had earned.

"Huh?" was all Yukari had time to get out before she took the stream of water square in the face. "Blub blub!" she yelped, whatever she was trying to say lost as the water invaded her mouth and turning her words into nothing but useless gargling noises. From the corner of my eye I saw her fall backwards, her limbs flailing as she lost her balance.

"Mistress!" Shiina gulped, scrambling on all fours to his Ashikabi's side. "Your towel!"

"Eek! Shiina! Don't look," Yukari replied, sounding appalled at the thought of her Sekirei seeing her naked. Shiina immediately averted his eyes, blushing as he did so. "Onii-chan! Why did you move? You were supposed to protect your delicate little sister!" She sounded honestly aggrieved by my failure to keep her safe as I could hear her scrambling about behind me, no doubt trying to recover her modesty.

"Because you earned it," I told her bluntly. "What have I told you about molesting my Sekirei?"

"But Onii-chan," Yukari continued, a whining tone entering her voice as she continued to scuffle about behind me. "They're just so big!" A teasing tone entered her voice as she continued. "It's not my fault that you don't want to take advantage of them!"

I scowled, turning to face her directly now that I could assume she had fixed her towel enough to be decent. "It has nothing to do with whether or not I take advantage of them. It has everything to do with acceptable behavior around others- and you're doing it again!" I yelped, finally finding that at some point during my lecture Yukari had snuck up behind Akitsu and snaked her hands around to heft the passive snow woman's breasts. Akitsu continued staring ahead for a moment, before finally glancing down to where my sister was moving her assets about.

"Stop that immediately!" Tsukiumi ordered, sounding equally distraught at I was at my sister's apparent inability to respect personal space. "It's indecent!" The water user tried to aim another blast of water at my sister, but paused as she tried to find a shot. Prior experience had revealed that attempting to use her element against the quiet ice user never turned out well.

"Akitsu, Musubi, and Matsu don't complain when I do it," Yukari countered, not even bothering to stop her hefting. "And if it was onii-chan doing it than you wouldn't be complaining either."

Tsukiumi glanced involuntarily over at me, and then flushed at Yukari's accusation. "T-t-that's different!" she immediately countered, avoiding my gaze as she stuttered briefly. Recovering her anger she turned to scowl back at her target. "It's indecent to do those kinds of things, you perverted monkey!" It looked like Tsukiumi's favorite insult for Ashikabi had found a new target, though the flustered water user was apparently uncertain how to respond to the fact that the 'perverted monkey' in this situation was also female.

Whatever Yukari was about to say in response to Tsukiumi's accusation was lost as they were interrupted by a delicate cough. When they turned to see whom it was that was cutting in on their argument, the water user flinched backwards and my sister cowered further behind Akitsu, though she still refused to relinquish her hand holds. That was probably an unwise choice of actions, considering the one who had interrupted was Miya.

"Oh my," the landlady sighed, one hand on her cheek as she shook her head sadly. Both of the towel clad females knew through experience just what was about to happen next. Yukari seemed to believe that by keeping Akitsu between herself and the purple haired landlady she might be able to avoid her fate, but for some reason she glanced down to the side before shrieking and jumping over the table as though the hounds of hell were after her, bumping into her previous pursuer without even realizing it. I had no idea what it was she had seen, or just how Miya had managed to sneak it across the room without anyone noticing it, but with both of her targets in one place, the air around the landlady began to darken in preparation of her signature technique. Shiina raised one hand as though to try and aid his Mistress, but I gently pushed it down, shaking my head sternly. I understood his desire to protect his Ashikabi, but Yukari had earned this. The more experienced residents of Izumo House were already preparing themselves for what came next.

"Wandering around in bath towels," Miya began, the air still darkening around her, "violence," Miya gave Tsukiumi a pointed look at that before turning to scowl slightly at Yukari while she continued, "and lewd, shameless acts of molestation are all prohibited in Izumo House," she reminded them. The air behind her, so far clear of anything besides the darkness, erupted as dozens of masks, apparently concealed by dint of their coloration began to turn around to glare at the two offenders. The two newcomers to Izumo House clutched each other desperately; Yukari too scared to realize that the chest she had so coveted was pressed against her and Tsukiumi equally too terrified to make the same connection.

As Miya continued to lecture the two quivering girls I couldn't completely suppress a grimace of annoyance. This really was starting to get a bit out of hand.

*Scene Break*

"It's entirely your fault, Shirou-tan," Matsu pointed out to me later in her room where I was slowly pecking away at the keyboard in front of me. It turned out that she had been just as serious about showing me the wonders of her chosen instruments as I had been about her collecting the profiles. It was early afternoon and my work appointments had all been taken care of. Before I would take this time to retreat into the sanctuary of my workshop in order to continue with my attempts at creating a mystic household appliance, but ever since the series of events that had put me into conflict with the so called 'Ashikabi of the East' I had began slipping into Matsu's room for an hour or so of going over the fruits of the hacker Sekirei's labor. Matsu had been using the time to slowly bring me up to speed on using the high tech instruments that littered her refuge, showing me how to bring up the different programs that I would need to view the completed files.

"How is my sister being crazy my fault?" I couldn't help but retort as I glanced away from screen long enough to scowl at the redhead. The only other people in the room were Akitsu, in her normal station on my left, and Kuu who was lying down on her stomach and kicking her feet lazily in the air as she scribbled with a crayon on a small pile of papers. Though Matsu had put me on the main screen so that she could track my progress more easily she was currently kneeling at my side and facing another wall as she typed into yet another keyboard. The screens were flicking back and forth so fast that I couldn't make heads or tails of just what she was looking at, or even figure out how she managed understand herself. "Aren't you the one that's encouraging her?"

For all that Yukari was the type to run wild on her own, it seemed that she had found a sister in arms in my shameless hacker Sekirei. I could only hazard guesses of what the two were talking about when I came across them huddled up in a corner of the dining room, whispering dramatically while giving brief looks at the other residents before giggling, and quite frankly none of those guesses boded well for the future.

Matsu let loose her signature perverted giggle at my accusation. "May-be, Shirou-tan," she drawled in a sing song voice. "If I was would Shirou-tan punish me?" I tried very hard to ignore the hopeful tone in her question, or just what that meant. I wasn't entirely successful, so I tried to conceal the red leaking onto my face by focusing on the computer screen in front of me. I was almost successful in burying my embarrassment with lines of information about the state of the competitors of the Sekirei Plan when out of nowhere a window on the screen suddenly opened, playing a video of what appeared to be a woman getting spanked, and apparently enjoying the process immensely. Thankfully, despite the woman's mouth moving it appeared that the video was muted due to the lack of noise.

"Matsu!" I snapped, the flush on my face growing as I tried desperately to figure out how to close the adult video that the impish hacker had snuck onto my screen. "Not in front of Kuu!" I barely managed to get rid of the embarrassing scene before the aforementioned little girl looked up curiously to see what had disturbed her onii-chan to find me giving her a forced smile. "Ah, don't worry about it Kuu-chan," I assured the confused girl nervously, trying not to betray either my embarrassment or my anger. Beside me I heard Matsu stifling a giggle and suppressed a twitch. Alright. That was it. As soon as Kuu turned back to her doodling I was going to give Matsu a piece of my mind.

"An Ashikabi who can't control his Sekirei is pretty pathetic, Shirou-tan," the hacker snickered at me, and from the corner of my eye I managed to make out her putting a hand to cover her mouth as her shoulders shook with repressed mirth. I tried to suppress a glare at her as Kuu cocked her head to the side curiously as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"Ah," Akitsu spoke up, and I glanced over to find her looking at the screen where the video had been playing earlier. "I liked that," she finally admitted, a small blush forming high on her cheeks. The snow woman's confession caused me to freeze, though it appeared to serve as further flame for Matsu's humor.

"Onii-chan?" Kuu finally spoke up. "What's going on?" The small blond was nibbling at the edge of her crayon while giving me a suspicious look.

"It's nothing, Kuu-chan," I reassured the young Sekirei, trying desperately to think of some way to distract the girl before Matsu did something else. "Why don't you show me what you've been working on?" I settled on, giving the paper in front of her an exaggerated look. Kuu's eyes lit up as she hurriedly pushed herself up onto her knees, lifting her doodle in front of her so she could proudly display it, both arms extended as she presented the results of her artistic talent to me.

"Onii-chan has swords!" she proclaimed happily, "and so does Kuu-chan!" I blinked at the strange addition to her usual catchphrase, though a glance at the picture revealed what she was implying. She had drawn two little figures, one tall and one short, with the kind of skill one would expect from a girl her age. The two blocky forms were standing near each other, big smiley faces under scribbles of red and yellow representing our faces. In the tall one's hands, presumably the figure representing me from her earlier words, she had scribbled in two long sticks, one black and the other pink. It appeared that Kuu had been trying to represent my two blades, but hadn't been able to find a white crayon for Bakuya and so had settled for the lightest color she could. She had given the smaller figure, herself I was willing to bet, a set of scribbled weapons the exact same shade as well. The two were standing on a bright green line with a happy yellow sun that had been gifted with a smiley face of its own blazing above them.

I wasn't certain if I found the additions of my weapons to what would otherwise be a very stereotypical image to be either disturbing or cute, but I made certain to smile encouragingly at the proud girl. "That looks wonderful," I praised her shamelessly, and Kuu wiggled happily, humming as she did so. "Why don't you take it down to Miya-neechan so she can see it?"

"MmMmm!" the girl nodded excitedly, humming again, this time in in affirmation, as she crawled to her feet, happily skipping to the exit of Matsu's room, her hands held away from her side with one of them clutching the childish drawing as she did so.

"Hmmm. Kuu-tan really seems to like swords now, doesn't she?" Matsu continued to giggle. "Since Shirou-tan sent Kuu-tan away, does that mean it's time for Matsu's wedding night?" she continued, the light reflecting off her glasses in an ominous way.

"Matsu," I began, trying to suppress the twitch that was forming in my eye. I slowly turned to face the perverted Sekirei. "Doing lewd things in front of Kuu-chan is prohibited in Izumo House." I must have been spending too much time with Miya lately if that was the first thing that came to mind. If the landlady were here I had no doubt that the scolding she would let loose on the white clad Sekirei would be absolutely epic.

I was surprised when instead of finding the whimsical hacker smirking in pride over her successful flustering of me, she 'eeped', her face going white as she suddenly began shrinking down to make herself a smaller target. I tried to calm down. I was upset, yes, but did she think that I was about to take my anger out on her physically or something? I would never do something like that!

"N-no," Matsu whimpered, staring at my face with unblinking eyes. "N-no way. Y-you actually m-managed to…" she trailed off, sounding as though she was baring witness to some kind sanity robbing abomination rather than an embarrassed an angry Ashikabi. No. She wasn't staring at my face. She was looking at my shoulder…

For a second, I was confused, and then I realized what was happening. I tried my best to catalogue how it felt, glancing eagerly over the shoulder the hacker was cowering from, hoping to catch sight of it, but my sudden change from anger to eager seemed to throw off the technique. Instantly, Matsu relaxed, color coming back to her face. "Damnit," I swore under my breath. I had my suspicions before, but this was a big step forward! Soon Miya, your technique will be mine. Just you wait and see.

"You actually did it," Matsu muttered, sounding as though she was equally impressed as she was appalled at the thought. "You actually managed to do it."

"Not yet," I muttered, trying to go over the events in my head. "Almost, but not yet."

"B-but that wasn't a hannya," Matsu continued, apparently not having heard my own contribution to the conversation. I looked at her and realized that apparently my near recreation of Miya's infamous technique had driven her into a state nearing shock. "What was that? Why wasn't it a hannya…"

"It wasn't?" I asked, blinking in surprise. Rather than answer me Matsu seemed to be unable to do anything other than mutter things like 'That wasn't a hannya. What was it?', and 'You actually did it.'

Definitely in shock. "Akitsu," I began, turning to the ice woman, ready to ask her for some assistance in getting Matsu to react and instead found her with her head cocked to the side, studying over my should intently. "What?" I asked, confused by her intensity. "Did it come back?" I asked hopefully, glancing over my shoulder to see if I had began to unconsciously project my newly discovered technique, only to find that it had been the screen behind me Akitsu was focused on. At some point when my attention had been focused elsewhere, probably right after Kuu had left, Matsu had snuck yet another video onto the screen. It was my turn to 'eep' in surprise, and I felt the flush return with renewed intensity. Rather than a woman getting spanked it appeared that Matsu had decided to forgo subtlety completely, not that I had ever considered spanking to be subtle before this instant. I wasn't quite sure what was happening to the female lead in this one and I had trouble believing that anyone could really enjoy what was being done to her, but from the expression on her face either she was an incredible actress or as depraved as they come.

"So that's what that was for," I muttered, feeling my own case of shock setting in as I recognized one of the contraptions that Yukari had gotten for me nearly a month ago being put to use, feeling light headed when I discovered precisely what the toy was meant for. If Matsu was still going to try and convince me that the internet wasn't porn, than I don't think she was making a very convincing argument at the moment.

"Ah," Akitsu chimed in. "I like that too," she murmured, her own blush returning.

*Scene Break*

"So," I began, my voice firm as I stood above a penitent Matsu, eyes narrowed as I glared sternly down at her. The hacker looked like a wilted flower where she knelt in a slump at my feet. It had taken a bit of time for me to compel my body to drag itself out of its frozen state, turn off the internet that Matsu had snuck onto my screen, console a disappointed Akitsu at the loss of her focus, and then snap a shocked Matsu back into consciousness, but it hadn't been enough time for me to forget precisely what Matsu had been talking about before the entire chain of events blew itself out of proportion. "What did you mean by this being my fault? For that matter, what was that whole line about an Ashikabi not being able to control their Sekirei being pathetic?"

Matsu snuck a quick look up at me probably to judge just how upset I was by the earlier accusations before glancing down quickly. It looked like the revelation of my newly discovered ability to manifest hallucinations of pure malice had shaken her up pretty good. "Matsu was just trying to motivate Shirou-tan to take charge," she finally admitted, her tone higher pitched and more childish as she did so. "Matsu is sorry," she added, glancing at the floor, her tone regretful.

One of my eyebrows rose as I took in her excuse. "What do you mean by taking charge?" I finally asked, confused by her confession. Matsu snuck me another sideways glance, taking in my change in expression. My transformation from stern to curious seemed to be enough to cause the braided Sekirei to relax, and she straightened a bit from her slump.

"It's because Shirou-tan doesn't do anything to settle down his Sekirei," she continued, her voice stronger now. "When Tsukiumi-tan first showed up, he didn't do anything to stop her from fighting with Musubi-tan," she explained. "And even though Tsukumi-tan and Musubi-tan still fight and compete, Shirou-tan doesn't do anything about it. He doesn't do anything when Yukari-tan doesn't listen to him, or when Homura-tan goes off without telling him either. He always lets Miya-tan take care of it for him. Matsu was trying to get Shirou-tan to stand up for himself."

I blinked in surprise at Matsu's confession. Was that what she was trying to do? To get me mad enough to take charge of my flock? More than that, was that how it looked to her? That I was just sitting aside and letting Miya take care of everything? I sighed, rubbing my forehead as I considered things from Matsu's point of view. Finally, I let myself flop back down so that I was on eye level with the bespectacled Sekirei. "I see," I muttered, "So that wasn't just you trying to tease me or seduce me?"

"That too!" Matsu admitted with a grin. She began to let loose her perverted giggle, her hands rising as she started wiggling her fingers as she tried to close in on me.

I narrowed my eyes. "Lewd acts in Izumo House are prohibited," I told her, and Matsu froze, her eyes darting to my shoulder as she did so. When nothing appeared I grimaced. Well, so much for that being an Aria for producing the technique. "Well, looks like I still need some more practice," I muttered to myself. Matsu sighed in relief at being spared a confrontation with whatever it was that my half hazard copy of Miya's fiercesome ability brought into existence. "Look," I continued, taking advantage of the lecherous alien's pause. "It's not that I don't think I could handle taking charge, it's just that I'm not sure if it's the right time to do that yet." Now it was Matsu's turn to look confused.

"Right time?" Matsu repeated, cocking her head to the side as she considered my argument. "What do you mean, Shirou-tan?"

"Look," I began, trying to find the appropriate way to explain my inaction to the alien. "Right now we're all just a bunch of people that have pretty much only just started to get to know each other, right? I mean despite the fact that we're all living together, and that I've winged you and the rest, as it stands now we don't know each other very well. Yet despite all that, I'm supposed to be an Ashikabi, your leader and your mate," I was pleased that I didn't stumble over the 'mate' part, "and all of you are supposed to be with me, and yet you have to put up with each other at the same time."

"And Shirou-tan is still nervous about having winged so many before realizing that he wasn't just helping us with our powers?" Matsu asked, her head still cocked to the side. It seemed she was trying to figure out where I was going with my halting explanation and had reached the conclusion that I was still dealing with the fact that I had inadvertently created myself a harem.

I shook my head to deny the assumption. "No, it's not that," I corrected. Like I had mentioned to Miya back in my workshop, I knew the Sekirei weren't human. I knew that they didn't have the same customs or even biology as I did. Yes, I would have liked a bit more warning about what I was getting into, but it wasn't their fault that they had been following their ways and I had just misinterpreted them. And like I had mentioned to Homura, considering the circumstances of most of our initial meetings I had the feeling that I would have ended up getting myself involved in the end anyway. "I'm more worried about whether or not everyone can get along."

"What do you mean?" Matsu prompted, still not understanding my concern.

"Well," I began, deciding to give an example rather than keep stumbling around. "What do you think would have happened if I had stepped in and told Tsukiumi to back down that first day? She was already nervous about having an Ashikabi, and I don't think she was prepared for the fact that I already had so many Sekirei either. If I had told her to back down then wouldn't it have seemed like I was just taking Musubi's side because she had been here longer? Wouldn't that make it harder for her to find her own place here? Maybe make her resent the fact that she was being called out specifically just because she was the newest, or maybe make her feel like I was playing favorites, or that I didn't hold her in the same regards as the others?"

"Oh! I see!" Matsu brightened as she realized what I was trying to say. "You're worried about team dynamics!"

I nodded, smiling in relief at the intelligent alien's summation. "Yes, exactly. I mean, I'm pretty certain that if I did step in, I'd be able to settle the arguments, but that wouldn't really make it easier for everyone to get along. It would just seem like I was choosing one over the other, and though it might stop one or two of the fights, then wouldn't they just wait until I wasn't around to pick right back up where they left off?"

"But won't the same thing happen even if it's Miya-tan who's stopping the fights?" Matsu countered, considering the scenario I was describing. I nodded in response, but continued.

"Maybe, but Miya isn't someone directly involved in the whole thing. She's an outsider, and someone that everyone here respects. If she corrects them, then they can take it as just a correction. But if I do it, then it's me taking a side. If that happens too much, then it might build up into resentment, either at me or the one whose side I took. And if that resentment becomes a grudge, then they might try to take it out on the other, maybe even in combat." My eyes narrowed and I could picture it in my mind. A bit of friendly fire at the wrong moment in the middle of an engagement like the one that had happened during Tsukiumi's winging, maybe denying valuable assistance for just a little too long, and 'bam', problem solved for the resentful Sekirei.

"So then you're never going to try and take charge, Shirou-tan? Just because you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings?" Matsu frowned at me. "That's pretty cowardly," she pointed out.

I shook my head. "It's not that I'll never step up. I just want to wait long enough to give everyone a chance to get to know each other, to work out their problems on their own first before I start making things worse." I rubbed my chin, considering my flock. "It's been working pretty well so far," I pointed out. "Tsukiumi and Matsu have both started to get along, even if they do argue the most. Also, both Tsukiumi and Homura are starting to warm up to Akitsu," I glanced over at the quiet scrapped number, but she didn't respond overtly to my including the obvious distaste many of the Sekirei seemed to display towards the snow woman due to her status. Tsukiumi had only taken a few days before she simply started treating Akitsu as another member of my flock instead, though that meant she changed from distaste for a scrapped number to distaste for a rival. Homura still didn't seem to like talking to the snow woman, but he no longer seemed to dislike her presence. It looked like he had accepted both Akitsu's desire to serve me to the best of her ability and my insistence that Akitsu be included in my flock.

"Hmmmm," Matsu made a small noise in the back of her throat as she mentally reviewed my argument. "Shirou-tan really does like planning things out, doesn't he? But then again, this seems like something Shirou-tan has experience with," she finally concluded. The Sekirei in white shifted until her legs were out from underneath her and on the same side, peeking out from the long slits of her dress, and leaning over to support herself with one hand as she made herself comfortable while she used her other hand to remove her glasses. "Was it something like this before, Emiya-san?" she asked me her voice losing its childish inflection, and without her glasses on it was suddenly very easy to remember that the lady before me wasn't nearly as immature as she made herself out to be. "Back when you were with your two human lovers, Rin and Saber?"

I tensed when the intelligent beauty across from me said their names, but kept myself from reaction any stronger. For a moment I considered just changing the subject or ignoring her question, but then I sighed and forced myself to relax. This was Matsu, the one I was relying on the most for the Sekirei Plan preparations, the alien I was working the hardest for the moment. More than that, she was one of my flock. She wasn't trying to pry into my personal affairs simply out of curiosity or some kind of feeling of familial obligation. It was one of the reasons I had so much trouble talking about what had happened with Takami or Yukari.

I knew, intellectually, that they were just trying to get to know me better, but a part of me couldn't help but wonder if they were just making the effort because it was expected of them. I mean, what relationship did I have with my two family members anyway? One might be my mother and the other my sister, but in the end, I didn't remember either of them at all from before the fire. We were just people who shared similar genetic data while having none of the emotional bonds or memories that really made someone family. I wanted to have those two things, wanted to try and create a real connection between the three of us, but in the end the two were strangers to me. And I wasn't certain whether or not I could ever truthfully have that connection with them, so I held things back. Maybe it was because I wasn't sure how they'd react if they knew the truth of the situation, of all my situations.

Maybe it was because I didn't want them to know. There were pieces of my past that I wasn't proud of, pieces that were just plain dangerous to know.

Matsu, no, all of my Sekirei, for them it was different. They were already involved. They were already connected irrevocably to me, all the dangerous and horrifying aspects. If the Ashikabi died, then the Sekirei fell as well. Was it really fair for me to hold back as much to them as I did everyone else around me? Was it fair for me to force them to bear the risks of being associated with me without even knowing that the risks were there?

So I hardened my resolve, and for the first time since I left London spoke about my two lost lovers.

"Sometimes," I admitted, trying to keep the hesitation out of my voice as I answered Matsu's probing question. "Back then we would get in fights, just like any other couple. The problem was that if it was just two fighting, then if the third got involved, things tended to get complicated. Things like picking sides and ganging up could get pretty nasty." All three of us, Saber, Rin, and I, well, we were all pretty hard headed people. Sometimes saying you were sorry and admitting you were wrong, well, that could be pretty difficult. Considering how difficult compromise could be at times, sometimes it really was for the best for the third member of our group to just stay out of the argument and let the two who were fighting settle it on their own. "And you're being unfair to me as well," I continued, giving Matsu a pointed look, causing her to blink. "It's true, I haven't been getting involved. But then again, no one has asked me to get in the middle of things either. If Tsukiumi and Musubi wanted me to settle things between them, they could ask. Just like if you had wanted to know why I was staying out of things, you could have asked as well instead of trying to force me into something."

Matsu glanced down, her cheeks red with embarrassment. Without her glasses on, her maturity made the expression less juvenile that it usually was, and reminded me quite sharply that Sekirei were dangerous in more ways than one. She let out an indistinct noise of agreement, before managing to get a hold of herself. "Maybe you're right, Emiya-san," she finally admitted, still using a more mature way of talking. "But then again," she continued, giving me an almost serene look as she launched her counter attack, "I think you're mistaking several things as well."

I narrowed my eyes, preparing myself for her argument. I'd already come to acknowledge the intellectual power of the hacker, and if she had something to say in the face of my own explanation that I should hear it. "And that is?"

Matsu smiled slightly. "You're treating this like you would if we were all humans," she pointed out bluntly. "We're not. We're Sekirei. Ashikabi-sama," she continued, using my proper title for the first time, "if you were to step in and tell us not to fight, than we wouldn't. We wouldn't try to resume later on outside of your sight. If you ordered it, then we would obey, willingly." Her eyes sought mine, and for a second I had trouble breathing.

Oh yeah. It was easy to forget sometimes, but in the end, there was always that one little fact that seemed to slip my mind; Not Human.

"Emiya-san," Matsu continued, her voice gentle but firm. "You are our Ashikabi. Not our commander in battle, or something we use to release our powers. It's like Musubi said: we love you." I had to suppress a swallow at the conviction in her voice. "I know that for you that might be hard to believe," she allowed, her eyes drifting downwards briefly before rising back up to lock on mine, "but it's the truth. You are the one who resonates in our soul, who makes our breaths short and our hearts race. More than just resonation, you are the one who winged us. You are the one who claimed us. Whatever it is you ask of us, Ashikabi-sama, we will gladly give for you."

It was a jarring thing to hear. It was the kind of thing I would expect from Akitsu, with her fanatic devotion, not from Matsu with her playful ways and impish jokes. If I were to hear something like this from a human woman, I think I might find it a bit frightening. Such absolute surety in her devotion, such complete commitment, if it was a human female saying these things to me I wouldn't have trusted it, wouldn't have believed it was true, would have doubted and discarded and then avoided it like the plague.

Not Human. Tell yourself again. Not Human.

"I'll keep that in mind," I finally responded, my mouth dry as I forced the words out. "But so far my way seems to be working out well enough."

Matsu smiled at my decision to continue my present course of action, and put her glasses back on. As though the action was a switch the next time she spoke she was back to using her childish speech patterns. "Is that why Shirou-tan still won't let Matsu experiment on him?" she asked petulantly.

I nearly sighed in relief that the topic had returned to more familiar grounds, even if those grounds were treacherous. "Pretty much," I admitted. "What do you think would happen if I was to let you experiment and then Tsukiumi or Musubi were to find out? Not to mention what Miya would do."

Matsu folded her arms and pouted. "Matsu could make it so they'd never know," she muttered, sounding more like she was protesting for the sake of protesting than because she actually believed her declaration. Miya would know. Miya always knew. "So how long until Shirou-tan thinks everyone is ready? You can't keep us at arm's length forever," she pointed out.

I grimaced. That was true. Sooner or later an equilibrium would be made as my Sekirei became more and more familiar with each other. Once that happened they would start putting greater pressure on me to start taking up some of my other duties as their mate. If they decided to start working together then I wasn't certain how long I would be able to resist, or even if I wanted to resist for that matter. It had almost half a year since I had separated with Saber and Rin. The circumstances behind us parting might have been complicated, but that didn't change the fact that I was now free to move on to new relationships. And the fact of the matter was that most of my Sekirei were absolutely stunning, each in their own different ways, barring off course Homura and Kuu.

Still, even if I wasn't exactly adverse to the idea, there was no need to rush into things. My last relationship had been jump started by life or death combat and brutal violence. It had hardly been a conventional relationship at all, despite the fact that we had made it work. This new situation didn't promise to be any more conventional, but that didn't mean I couldn't at least try to go about it in a normal way, however unlikely the success of trying would be. "There's nothing wrong with taking my time to get to know you all for a bit," I staunchly defended my stance to the patient hacker. "Sometimes people will date for months before taking it to the next level."

"Matsu isn't 'people'," the childish Sekirei protested. "Matsu is a Sekirei! She doesn't want to wait for months!"

"Well, I am a human," I countered back stubbornly. "And I've been pretty fair about putting up with the fact that you all aren't, and I like to think that I've been fair about dealing with a lot of the differences that means, but it's not fair to me if you aren't willing to do the same. If I can deal with suddenly discovering that I married half a dozen aliens, than you can deal with waiting a bit before you get to do your experiments."

Matsu blinked, and looked honestly surprised at my counter argument. "That's right," she muttered quietly, sounding lost in thought. "Shirou-tan is a human after all, not a Sekirei." For some reason she seemed to find that obvious fact to be something of a revelation. For a moment I could only wonder if that simple truth had never really occurred to her. I had taken to repeating my mantra of 'Not Human' whenever one of the members of her species did something completely outlandish. I wondered if Matsu would find herself repeating the phrase 'Not Sekirei' on occasion after this.

I was preparing to press my advantage and make sure that Matsu really understood my position, when I instead froze. A scent had just washed over me, a familiar one, one that I had been both dreading and resigned to one day coming across. My eyes narrowed, and I purposefully took a deep breath in order to force my body to calm itself. What should I do? How should I respond to this?

First, get out of this conversation. After that, my workshop. Once I was at my workshop I should be able to get everything I needed.

"Look, Matsu," I began, feeling an itch of anticipation forming in me, urging me to hurry up. The redhead glanced up at me, as though remembering that I was still in the room with her. "This conversation has gone on a lot longer than I thought it would. I need to be getting to my workshop. I left something that I was playing around with plugged in, and if I don't take care of it then I might have to tell Miya that I burnt down her shack." I put on a wry face. "If that were to happen, well I think you might be down one Ashikabi by the time she finished with me."

Matsu gave me an answering grimace. "Then you better hurry, Shirou-tan." She looked like she was willing to use the opportunity to end the conversation as well. It seemed as though she needed some time of her own to go over some of the points I had made during my explanation.

The itch inside me growing, I made my excuses and left her room, trying to keep my pace from speeding up as I did so. It was taking more effort than I thought to keep myself from breaking into a sprint towards my workshop. A rustle behind me reminded me of my faithful Akitsu's presence. That wouldn't do. The snow woman knew better than to go into my workshop, but she usually made up for that by patiently waiting by the gait between the empty lot and the inn proper. Better find something for her to occupy herself with.

"Akitsu," I began, glancing over my shoulder. "I should be out at the shed a bit longer than normal today. Why don't you go find Kuu-chan and see if she's ready for a nap? Maybe get a game of Mr. Woof-Woof and Ms. Meow-Meow going?" For a moment, the ice user was silent, but I was accustomed to her taking her time preparing her responses. Finally, Akitsu nodded, and while I continued on the way out to the shed next door she obediently turned towards the kitchen where I could make out the excited voice of Kuu and the amused voice of Miya emitting from. Good. That should keep her busy long enough.

Free from the sight of the rest of Izumo House's residents, I couldn't stop myself from picking up my pace as I rushed towards my workshop. Frantically, as the itch within me continued to grow, I had time to grab a handful of tools and a few carefully prepared items before I found my feet drawing me back out the door of my shop.

With one last look at Izumo House to make sure that there was no one watching, I slipped out the other side of the lot, my fast paced steps drawing me away from the safety and comfort of my home.

Back in my old home in Fuyuki City, my father had once held a protective ward around the house that had lasted for a long while after his death. It had only been meant as a warning system but even Rin had been impressed by it, before Caster had torn it down without much effort. It had only been meant as an early warning system, and would chime the moment anyone with hostile intent entered the premise.

I really wasn't that good with wards or bounded fields, yet despite my lack of aptitude for them after my Reality Marble they were some of the most complicated and powerful magecraft I had right now. Rin had insisted on it, even going out of her way to help me develop them. After all, without them I would have no way of protecting my workshop or defending my territory from enemies. Despite the proficiency that I had hammered into my skull, I could never make them release anything as delicate as a chime in warning. After all, it was easier for my brain to interpret magecraft as a smell than a sound.

The scent of power in the air that I followed was warning enough for me to know what had happened. I had escaped across the ocean, and concealed myself in a city full of decoys, but the time had finally come. It had taken six months, but at long last magi besides me were in Shin Tokyo.

The Clock Tower had found me.


	17. Seventeenth Wing

In Flight: Seventeenth Wing

_Author's notes: Well, here we are! Number 17, out and ready. Not much to respond to in reviews here. Most people were kind enough to not hold last chapters slice of life against me, and excite to see what would come next. Technical debates about various elements of the story are all being held in the forums, and raise several interesting points that I hadn't considered, so thanks for that as well guys._

_For those of you wondering why my update speed has dropped off, I'm pleased to announce its due to my new job. Many of you will be saddened, thinking this will further slow my update speed. In that, you are wrong! You see, with this new source of income you no longer have to worry about the inevitable day when my electicity and internet are shut off due to delinquicy, nor worry about me being kicked out of my place and starving to death on the street! All these factors would have surely slowed my updates far more than this new healthy development. I'll aim to try to get a chapter out in about 10-15 days, so expect an update schedule more like that from this point onwards._

_Now, onto the chapter._

_*SERIOUS SPOILER ALERTS*_

_First off, this chapter is almost an info dump, seeing as its the first time Shirou has actually used the full extent of his magical abilities in battle. Not wanting to just assume that every reader knew every point I was going to mention, a few of what some might consider the more obvious points I brought of were explained a bit more in depth. If you already know what I was trying to explain, I at least tried to spice it up with Shirou's own outlook on various points. In future battles there will be less in depth explanation and more asskickery, though I like to think I managed to keep a fairly decent amount of asskickery in this particular chapter._

_Second off. I have done radical things with certain elements of Nasu-fandom. Things like Shirou deploying his Reality Marble within himself for instance. I know that it can be done, NERO Chaos doing that in Tsukihime for one, but I don't think I've ever seen a fic where Shirou ever tried that tactic. There are other tidbits I'm sure some people want to comment on as well. I'd like to remind people that commenting on the story should be done in the reviews. I'll be setting up a chapter 17 post on my forum if anyone wants to try to debate various uses of magecraft that I had Shirou use. I will look forward to hearing points of view other than my own, but flamers beware. _

_I actually have reference points from Nasu's works bookmarked for counter arguments. Seriously. You want to debate, that's fine. You want to denounce and decry, be prepared to defend yourself as thoroughly as I have._

_Third off, Archibald. My first original character for In Flight. Archibald's brother, Kayneth, is from Fate/Zero. As is his Mystic Code. When I first tried to brainstorm ideas for having magi show up in the story, I had originally thought that I could use other characters from Nasu's work. Unfortunately, Nasu usually has his characters pretty well developed. Either they're the kind of person that wouldn't come after Shirou, the kind of person who could cleanly kick Shirou's ass, or they're the kind of person I could have had Shirou fight but were already killed off. However, Nasu also has very developed families and organizations of magi as well. If I can't use a specific character, I can however craft a character using the families sorcerous traits or inherited magecraft. Thus, I had to fall to an original character. I liked Archibald's Mystic Code from Fate/Zero, and I thought I had a pretty good backstory for the brother that shows up in here. I tried to keep the fight original and different, perhaps as a contrast between Shirou and Kiritsugu's fighting style. Did it work? Was it an interesting read for those who have already read Fate/Zero? For those who haven't, was it still enjoyable? Let me know what you think,_

_Anyway, those are the main points I wanted to bring up. Next chapter shall finally reinvolve one of my favorite characters in Sekirei, so look forward to some hot Karasuba loving, coming soon!_

_Like it? Review! Questions/comments/concerns? Go ahead and list em out. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

I did my best to keep my pace steady, though the itching inside me wouldn't let me stop altogether. I could feel it growing within, starting at my circuits and spreading outwards. It wasn't a painful feeling, nor was it in anyway debilitating. The sensation seemed to pulse in time with my heartbeat, and every step made me thrum in anticipation like a plucked bow string.

And it wasn't a metaphorical itch either, not by a long shot. My od really was resonating with something. If I hadn't known what it was precisely, then I might have found it worrying, some sign of an attack of some sort or something similar. Instead of panic though the feeling only brought excitement at the thought of what was to come, excitement which steeled itself into resolution with each step I took.

Early on in my training Rin had been absolutely adamant that I learn everything that was necessary for the creation and protection of a proper workshop. She'd claimed that learning how to protect my territory would be the first step out of 'third rate magi' territory and into 'second rate', even if I could never properly make it all the way up to 'first rate'. Honestly, I had very little interest in the subject, mostly because I never really saw myself as a 'settle down in a lab' type of person. Still, it had been a perquisite for the tiny girl so I had shouldered on.

Naturally it was a laborious process made no easier when I changed over from using the more popular styles of evocation magecraft to runes. Rin used the more common style of focusing her energy and her concentration in accordance to the specific rules that magi had engraved upon the world centuries ago directly instead of the way runes built upon each other as the caster etched them one by one. She had set about studying this new type of magic at the same time as me, and had feverishly worked to try and reproduce her own defenses in the entirely new medium. I had had to endure much shouting and teeth gnashing at the time while she basically started relearning magecraft from scratch. Rin was a little too used to being very good at what she did and one of her favorite ways to deal with her earlier failures was with temper tantrums.

In the end the best she could manage was weak copy of her own rigorous ward system, something which anyone but an absolute failure as a magi would be able to destroy effortlessly. She had despaired about whether I would ever be able to defend my workshop when I stumbled across an answer to her concerns almost completely by accident.

It had been when I was researching, mostly out of curiosity, several of the Servants from the Grail War. Back when we had actually been fighting for our lives I had been content to know the basics of the Heroic Spirits' lives, but when a little more free time was available I had amused myself by tracking down more detailed accounts of their myths and legends. I even managed to slog my way through 'Surpassing All Other Kings', or what is more commonly known these days as 'The Epic of Gilgamesh', at one point. The answer to my problem for defending my workshop came when I was reviewing the stories of Cu Chulainn.

I for one had had no idea that the renowned Lancer, the Hound of Culainn, had trained under Schatach, warrior mage and Queen of the Land of Shadows, as a magus. It was the stories of how he had single handedly held off the army of Medb with one of his signature spells that finally gave me the inspiration I needed to create an appropriate defense for my workshop.

The idea was simple enough. First of all, start off with a ward meant to announce the arrival of any magi that tried to pass through it that was so pathetic that no magi alive would ever be able to respect it or consider it worthy of any more attention than it would take to destroy it off hand as an affront to bounded fields everywhere. Magi were for the most part inordinately proud in their own abilities, a not entirely unjustified stance: in the end they were humans who had managed to surpass the natural laws of the world after all. Many of the more powerful magi had generations of pride behind them and wouldn't hesitate to display their superiority by crushing the pathetic attempts of a sub-average magus such as myself. Even those without the pride of history to lure them into breaking the ward would most likely take the opportunity to show that they were above at least one other magus in the world by breaking the bounded field.

And in doing so they were in effect issuing me a challenge, allowing me to evoke Ath nGabla upon them. It was the spell used by Cu Chulainn when the armies of Medb, queen of Connacht invaded his homeland; once evoked it caused the caster to be forbidden from retreating while the target could no longer refuse combat. It was a spell for creating death matches.

Rin had hated the idea at once. Not so much the concept of using the defensive magic to force a battle where only one could survive. After all, it was in defense of the workshop. In the eyes of magi the workshop was the holiest of holies. It was the center of a magus' research, the repository of all their knowledge and hard work, the culmination of generations of efforts put in by their family and themselves. To attempt to violate another's workshop, to even enter it without permission, was the greatest insult a magus could deal to another. Bluntly put, to do so was the equivalent of pissing on someone's face while making lewd 'your momma' jokes and killing a sibling simultaneously. It wasn't too different from the rest of the world for that matter. My own mother had come to me with Karasuba in tow when she thought I was an agent from another organization attempting to infiltrate MBI after all. No, it wasn't the inherent lethality of the countermeasure that Rin had hated but rather the fact that it would put me, the magus, in direct confrontation with whoever was trying to steal my research. It was entirely too direct for her tastes, almost vulgar even. In her eyes it should be the wards themselves punishing the intruder rather than the magus.

Strangely enough, Saber had actually liked the idea. I think it appealed to her old fashioned view of confronting an opponent, defending one's ideals and honor face to face on the battlefield. She was always direct like that.

I finally managed to convince Rin into helping me design the wards after putting out the idea of establishing a battleground for the fight first. Instead of the intruder and myself being forced to meet face to face at the earliest possible convenience we would instead have a designated place where we would be compelled to meet first. That way I would have the opportunity to trap the battleground beforehand just to ensure I would be able to survive against a stronger magus if the occasion came up. Rin had liked the idea of preparing the field before confronting the enemy there. Saber had found it to be a considerably less honorable course, but she had caved in when I pointed out that I would be able to keep innocent bystanders away from whatever fight might ensue.

It had taken months for Rin and me to finally manage to create the planned defense, much of that time devoted to obscure research into runes and their uses for bounded fields, but in the end we had managed to accomplish it. It was the second longest period of time I had ever spent on a specific spell, besides my attempts at projection magic, and the reason why bounded fields could be considered my strongest field of thaumaturgy at the moment.

And a few years later it even worked. Of course, that had been what set me into a collision course with the Mage's Association's Enforcers in the first place.

That was the source of the itching I was feeling, of the sheer effort it was requiring to keep myself from breaking into a sprint towards my final destination. One of the reasons runes were so disfavored by most magi was the difficulty it took to cast them at other magi; the innate magic resistance of another mage made distance casting a tricky thing and often the only way you could force a spell to stick was by inscribing it directly on the target, a tricky proposition when you're dealing with a hostile magus. Instead I used myself as a catalyst to cause the Ath nGabla to have effect from such a range through another trick I picked up from Cu Chulainn: geas. Geas were essentially contracts wherein as long as the one under the geas carried forth a set condition they could achieve some kind of effect. Cu Cuhlainn made many such oaths in his time, from achieving great strength through denying the consumption of dogs to the deal of 'one win, one loss' with his old friend Fergus. In my case the geas I had placed myself under was that I would willingly go to the battle that awaited me, despite not knowing the strength or number of the enemy that awaited me, and in return my enemy would have no choice but to do the same.

It was an insane sort of ward. No magi would ever dream of forcing themselves to engage in a battle with an unknown enemy like this. A duel between magi was something which should be prepared for carefully, a challenge being issued well ahead of time so proper preparations could be made and ceremonies performed; not something engaged in at the drop of a hat and without forewarning. There was not even a way to know just how many foes waited for me at the appointed place either. No magi would ever dream that there really was someone stupid enough to design something like my bounded field.

Well, I always knew I was a third rate magus and not anywhere near as smart or talented as others my age might be, so the potential blow to my reputation didn't particularly concern me. The ward would keep enemy magi away, warn me of their intentions, or force them to confront me, so it served its purpose in my eyes. Even knowing that I could be walking into overwhelming opposition didn't worry me too much. If the Clock Tower minions waiting for me at the battlefield had simply been attempting a scouting mission to determine my defenses then it was entirely possible that they wouldn't be adequately prepared to face me at the moment after having been forced into a confrontation with me so abruptly. If they had been about to engage in a full scale attack on me, doubtful considering the likelihood of something like that drawing attention at this time of the day, then the upcoming fight would have been unavoidable anyway and at least this way I could keep it away from Izumo House proper.

The itching of the geas within me grew, and I couldn't keep myself from picking up my pace a little. It wouldn't do to keep the Clock Tower waiting after all.

*Scene Break*

It took me nearly fifteen minutes at a brisk pace to make it to the designated location where the battle would take place. It had been one of the earlier tasks I had set Matsu on once she had finished the profiles. The New Osaka Park was one of the lingering jokes that the original planners for Shin Tokyo had come up with, no doubt in a case of whimsy. It had been named after one of the original capitals of Japan, probably meant to reflect on some sort of historic nostalgia or something like that. I call the naming a whimsy because if they were ever trying to cast some kind of pride on the historic reference it failed miserably.

Osaka Park was a shithole, no other way to describe it.

Located in the middle of an industrial sector the plant life here was no doubt constantly exposed to lingering chemicals and polluting agents, making many of the trees and shrubs here scraggly and ugly things. The few trees that did manage to survive the harsher environment were tough and crooked, their branches interlocking and twisted. The park was probably meant to serve as an oasis of green in an otherwise drag concrete environment, and while it served its purpose of looking pleasant for anyone who glances out of the windows of their workplace no one really visited except for punks and hoodlums. Graffiti was common on all the stone or buildings within the park, and it had a bad reputation as being the kind of place you don't want to be around after dark. I furthered that reputation with a bit more when I first scouted this place out. I didn't want to put a bounded field here, preferring to limit my magecraft's presence, but I could put up a few runes that made people uneasy to be around. I think by now even the gangs that liked to hang around here acting tough would have gotten sick of the place and moved on to other unsavory locations.

It was the perfect place to arrange a private duel. Matsu no doubt thought I had intended it as a place for Sekirei to fight it out, and it would serve just as well for that too. The interlocking satellite system above Shin Tokyo only had one satellite present above Osaka Park, making the observation here from above easily cancelled with her ability to control a limited number of the orbiting spies, and even if she couldn't the interlocking branches of the trees served to block a good portion of the park from above. Even from the ground level visibility was limited due to the plant life that did manage to prosper here. Combined with the fact that very few people came here anyway and it made a good out of the way place with little to no chances of either observation or interruption.

It was just pushing towards mid-afternoon by the time I arrived at the chosen field. A little early for my tastes as there would still be workers present in the surrounding vicinity, but at least it was after lunch and before the day's closing when risk of traffic here would be at its highest. If anything, it would at least serve to keep the Enforcers from being able to do anything flashy while the risk of being witnessed remained. It would limit me too, but then again most of my skills weren't anywhere near as obvious as shooting fireballs or lightning or such. I'm sure that anyone in Shin Tokyo who did receive reports about something unusual happening would most likely either be in the know about the Sekirei Plan or under the thumb of someone who was and probably dismiss any reports accordingly. With any luck the Enforcers wouldn't be aware of that fact, so if I did get pressed enough to do something noticeable they most likely won't expect me to do so until it was too late.

By the time I arrived at the exact location where the death match would begin I was prepared. My mind was already going over the terrain, recalling key points for ambushes or chokepoints to retreat to if I was in danger of being overwhelmed. In my mind I had already prepared a dozen blades to be traced, going over each step for each one and then preserving the blueprints in my memory so that I could form them in an instant. More than that I had entered the mindset I needed for combat, the intense state of concentration where every inch of my attention was focused on battle, my reflects heightened to the pinnacle of my ability..

Which was why when I arrived at the small clearing I had chosen for the location my spell sent me too and discovered just what was waiting for me I didn't do anything more than raise an eyebrow. "You are not an Enforcer," I pointed out bluntly.

Rather than a team of prepared combat focused magi I instead found only one man waiting for me in the clearing. He was older than me, probably in his early to mid forties, and glancing around the surroundings with the kind of practiced sneer that I've come to expect out of magi with a long lineage to their name and the assumed air of aristocracy that came with it. The glare he was leveling at the ugly plant life seemed to indicate that merely being in such an unrefined environment was an affront to his dignity, though I got the impression that even if I had chosen a palatial mansion filled with alabaster busts of ancient philosophers and paintings worth more than most houses he would be wearing the same expression. I wasn't certain if the Enforcers had a uniform, but if they did it probably wouldn't be what the man was wearing. His dark pinstriped double-breasted well tailored suit looked like it was made out of silk and was also probably worth more than what I would make in three years as a repairman. Even the only possession he had brought with him added to the image of wealth he was projecting: a large porcelain vase artistically decorated with some kind of wave motif.

The man who stood before me looked like nothing other than an elitist socialite that had managed to wander into the bad part of town while shopping for some new extremely expensive knickknack that he had just dropped an enormous amount of money on and would promptly forget about once he made it back to his home.

This actually managed to reinforce my impression that whatever he might look like he was most likely from the Clock Tower. After all, that described about nine tenths of the magi who attended there.

"An Enforcer?" the man snapped, distain dripping from his words as his sneer increased. "Why on earth would I be one of those miscreants?" He sniffed, placing the vase he was cradling in one arm on the ground, supporting it in an upright position with one hand while pulling out a lace handkerchief with the other to hold in front of his nose as he did so. "As though one of the House of Archibald would deign to spoil their good name by joining with those dogs."

I suppressed a snort at the blatant disrespect the man was showing to the Enforcers in general. While nowhere near as rampant as it was towards Asians, the Enforcers were also popularly looked down upon by others in the Mage's Association. Most magi considered themselves primarily and above all else researchers. They spent all their time embroiled in experimentation and study, occasionally deigning to release a fragment of their discoveries to the rest of the world at large in order to build up their reputations. To most magi the most important point of their abilities was to find a way to the Holy Grail of thaumaturgy, the Akashic Record, the Root of the Origin. The Root was believed to be the center of all things, the pure source that lay behind all the phenomenon of the universe. The dream of all magi was to somehow find their way to that theoretical thing through their research.

Enforcers on the other hand were combat personnel. Rather than fill their brains with endless facts and statistics, or attempting to reach a phenomenon that may or may not exist like the Root, they most commonly only focused on a few noteworthy abilities and then mastered them until they could be used in battle effectively. It was due to their abandoning what most magi considered to be the ideal path of attempting to reach the Akashic Record that they were frequently looked down upon. It could be said that while most magi were focused on 'pure science', the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge's sake, Enforcers were instead focused on 'applied science', the pursuit of practical knowledge that could be beneficially used in everyday life. Naturally, all the 'pure science' magi considered the 'applied science' magi to be sell outs for daring to find a way to actually do something constructive with themselves.

I most firmly fell on the line of 'applied science', and if I wasn't so focused I would have bristled at hearing the Enforcers mocked. They might be hunting me, and I might have come here with the intention of killing them, but if things had gone a little differently I could have very well ended up an Enforcer myself.

"I presume that you are one of these 'House Archibald's then?" I asked, cocking my head to the side as I did so. "Very well. Why have you come here?"

The man sniffed again, his nose still concealed by his handkerchief. "To speak so crudely to your better, apprentice? Truly, you are a contemptible creature. No doubt every bit as treacherous as your father." At the final comment the loathing in his voice increased to the point where I was surprised that I hadn't sensed any killing intent from him. My eyes widened briefly at his words.

"My father?" I prompted, suddenly having a very good idea where this was going but needing to confirm anyway. "What grudge did you have with Kiritsugu Emiya?"

"Grudge?" the man snorted at my choice of words. "To presume that one as ignoble as the Magus Killer was worthy of something as noble as a grudge from an Archibald is insulting. I do not know what trickery the dog used, but after the insult he dealt my family it fell upon me to see that the chore of eliminating every trace of his line from the earth."

I don't know if he practiced being that condescending or if it just came to him naturally, but I paid no attention to his choice of words. After all, both the Archers I had come across had been much better at talking down to me, though one used his personal knowledge to do so while the other just looked down on the world in general. Instead I focused on the content of his speech instead. So, it looked like someone my father had once pissed off had decided to take a little bit of vengeance by killing me, his son.

It wouldn't be the first time.

I suppose it could be said that Kiritsugu left me two things as his legacy by adopting me. The first was his ideals, the belief in the inherent nobility of saving others tempered by the knowledge that sometimes sacrifices had to be made to do so. Even if my life wasn't quite going as I had thought it would at the moment those were still beliefs I claimed as my own. I still admired the pure joy that came across Kiritsugu's face that day so long ago amidst the fire and the rain as he lifted me up from the wreckage of my old life, and I still longed to experience that joy for myself as well. There was a part of me that still ached to save everyone and yet was tempered by the knowledge that if I tried to save everyone I might fail and lose everyone instead. All those beliefs that the Counter Guardian Emiya once upheld and that he had mocked me for, no matter how hypocritical I knew they were, still lingered.

The other thing that Kiritsugu had left me was the legacy of his reputation. I had only ever really known the kind, bumbling Kiritsugu who would sit and sip tea with me, who took in a neighborhood girl because of her spunk, and who never could manage to get the stove to work without setting a pan on fire. It wasn't until I spent some time reminiscing with Saber, and when I finally arrived at the Clock Tower and had the opportunity to go over some of their records that I was introduced to the other side of Kiritsugu.

The bitter truth of the matter was that Kiritsugu Emiya had been a monster.

The son of another Seal Designate, he had killed his own father once the man's research into vampirism destroyed the village they were hiding in. From there his infamy only increased. He would kill anyone, no matter of age or gender or innocence, as long as it would save the lives of others. Wherever he went, no matter the good that might have come from his actions, he left behind him a trail of bodies. When it became known just how many of those bodies were magi he even caught the Mage Association's eyes. Though he never joined the Association, preferring to remain a freelancer, he was frequently hired by them to perform duties that their own Enforcers were unable to handle. Kiritsugu would only accept targets that were a danger to others, usually those who received their Seal Designations for researching forbidden dangerous magic or particularly indiscriminate vampiric Apostles, but once he accepted a target no matter how strong the protection or how fast they might flee he always made the kill. He became so famous for it that the Clock Tower had created a title for him, one that they now granted only to the most effective and dangerous of Enforcers: Magus Killer.

Saber had hated him, and after hearing some of her own personal stories from the fourth Grail War it didn't surprise me in the least. The blond haired swordswoman told me that Kiritsugu used to call it 'The Path of the Asura': the act of weighing all the lives around him and ruthlessly choosing a course of action most guaranteed to be successful without regard to the lives it might cost.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the legend he had carved for himself one day allowed him to ascend to being a Heroic Spirit himself. I'm sure he would get along fine with Counter Guardian Emiya if that ever happens.

And now, so many years after his death, there are still those who had lost love ones or had their pride damaged by my father that sought what vengeance they could by trying to take their anger out on his son.

"Archibald," I murmured, thoughts of Saber helping me recall where I had heard that name before. "As in Kayneth Archibald? The Master of Lancer during the fourth Grail War?" If that were the case than I suppose I could understand why this man was here before me. Saber had told me the details of what Kiritsugu had done to Kayneth in order to defeat him and even I had to admit that what my father had done was sickening.

Apparently I had hit the bull's-eye with my guess because the moment I said the name the hand holding the delicate looking handkerchief to the man's nose clenched into a fist, crushing the lacy piece of cloth. "I've no idea what trickery that man used," he growled, his normally refined method of speaking slipping in his anger, "but the insult to House Archibald will never be forgiven! To think that one as strong as my brother could possibly fall to another in an honorable duel is preposterous!" His eyes narrowed as he glared at me, his body shaking with rage. "Do not think that I will be held here forever," he warned me. "Whatever deceit you've used to draw me here, I will unravel it and then you will be at my mercy."

If I wasn't so focused I would have snorted at his pretention. "If your brother had been a proper Master he should have gone into the Grail War prepared for his own death," I told the well dressed man in front of me. "To carry a grudge over what happens in a battle is juvenile. You should go home and focus on teaching your family's heir rather than come out here and waste your life against me."

For all that I was almost certain that it was unavoidable at this point, I did my best to convince the man to leave. Though my original ward was designed to invoke a death match it had been designed for use in protecting my workshop. Something like that wasn't appropriate for defending my home, especially when there was the risk of it accidently being destroyed by one of the Sekirei. I still wasn't certain if the magical race had the ability to trigger my ward scheme, but I didn't want to risk being forced to battle one of my flock or housemates to the death just because their presence accidently set off my protections. Besides that there was always the possibility of magi who had no real relation to the Clock Tower stumbling upon my bounded field by chance as well. It had taken me a few days to work it out, but the solution I had finally came across was to introduce a delay into the casting of Ath nGabla. I had already managed to work in a geas to force both the combatants to a specific location, and the final result was putting in one chance for the spell to be canceled. The trigger to releasing the spell was for the one who had set it off to apologize for breaking my original ward. I was bound to offer anyone trapped by my wards one chance to make amends. If they did so then the geas on both of us would be released. If they refused, then there was no more escaping the fight.

I still vaguely hoped that the man in front of me would give up and go home, but if he had managed to track me down and come this far I really doubted that would actually happen.

The man in front of me didn't seem to care for my admonishments. "Juvenile?" he sputtered in outrage. "You insolent little whelp! Do not presume to lecture me on the obligations of duelers! I have stood undefeated through over fifty matches. Moreover, I AM the heir of the House Archibald!"

That actually managed to make my eyebrow rise. "I had heard that Kayneth was considered the undisputed prodigy of his generation," I pointed out. "Why would your family name you and not him as the heir?" To be the heir of a Magi household meant to be the one who would receive the family's Magical Crest. Magical Crests' were the crystallization of a lineage's magical studies. Magi would spend their lives pursuing and mastering a form of magic, and then using rituals I wasn't quite aware of engrave the spell onto their own flesh. After that the crest would function almost like a second magical circuit, allowing the body to channel even more prana than it once would have been capable of with its own circuits. More than that, they functioned almost like pre-prepared spells as well. All it would take to cast the circuit's magecraft was to simply channel od through it, allowing the user to bypass incantations and rituals normally required in casting. I knew for a fact that a good number of Rin's own crest were dedicated to spells that affected the body, her favorite being her infamous Gandr, a disease curse that she had mastered to the point where it actually was capable of achieving enough force to damage inanimate objects that weren't capable of being sick.

I didn't have a Crest myself, seeing as Kiritsugu had never passed his on to me, but even he hadn't had much of one to begin with. When the Mage Association took his father's body in they had only allowed maybe a fifth of his family's crest to be passed onto him. The rest, well, Kiritsugu's father had received a Sealing Designation after all. I had little doubt that somewhere in the heart of the Clock Tower even now it was being studied or experimented on.

Archibald's face went red at my casual observation, and I could make out his teeth gritting across from me. From the looks of it I had apparently rendered him too enraged to form coherent words. It took a few moments of silence before I finally made the connection. "He had been the heir, hadn't he?" I shook my head, connecting the dots. "But if he died during the Grail War then it should have been his offspring whom had received the Crest's responsibility to become the next heir. But if they named you the heir instead, it meant that he never had a child, and when he died he hadn't passed on his Crest yet." My voice was flat and impersonal as I analyzed the situation. "Which meant they must have been able to salvage at least portions of it from his body to graft them onto you, but you were a bit too to be a proper match, so some of it was lost."

That made Archibald's grudge against my father a lot more understandable than just him having killed his brother. Crests were the crystallization of generations of research and effort after all, and allowed the bearer power far surpassing that of their own circuits. If they hadn't been able to recover the crest in its entirety from Kayneth's body than the House of Archibald had literally lost decades' worth of power and skill. It would probably take two or three generations before they finally managed to recover to where they once had been.

The well dressed man in front of me growled. The hand clutching his handkerchief fell to his side, the fist formed there trembling with the force he was making it with. "Don't pretend you know nothing about it, apprentice." His anger made his voice nearly incomprehensible. "Whatever that treacherous snake did, he was thorough in it. There was no part of the crest that was salvageable. Now release whatever petty trick you are using to stay my hand so that I can kill you, or flee like the coward you are, Emiya!"

His admittance of the fate of his family's crest was enough to draw a small gasp from me despite the fact that I was currently in battle mode. The absolute destruction of the Archibald crest. It was something that even someone like me, a third rate magus with no real history of my own besides what I had assumed when I took the Emiya name, could understand. Whatever it was Kiritsugu had done, he had effectively destroyed the Archibald. The family might have retained their research, might have the ability to rebuild themselves someday, but for now they were effectively starting over again from scratch. All their long history had been rendered moot, they were now effectively nothing more than a first generation magi like myself with a couple of helpful books.

And the amusing part was that it really wasn't my father's fault this time. It was the Archibald's. He should have been prepared to face death and made sure his legacy was already assured. That he hadn't meant that he hadn't even considered the possibility that he would die. What arrogance. The destruction of the Archibald's family's legacy was all on this man's brother's shoulders. Of course, there was no way I was going to be able to convince him of that.

I closed my eyes briefly, and when I opened them I asked the raging well dressed man in front of me, "Will you apologize for destroying my ward?"

There would be no way for me to talk him out of this. The only ways the man in front of me was leaving this park were after trampling over my dead mutilated corpse or in a body bag.

Archibald seemed even further enraged by my question. I didn't blame him. He had just admitted that he blamed my family for the destruction of his own, and I was asking him to apologize for destroying a pathetic, barely functioning in his eyes, ward. "No, I will…" he began no doubt planning another diatribe where he cursed my father's name before I interrupted him with a broadsword shot at his head at nearly ninety seven miles per hour.

This had been one of the first skills that Archer had thrown around that I had managed to reproduce as of now. My Reality Marble, the Unlimited Blade Works, served as a repository for a recording of every blade I have ever seen. Tracing was what I referred to the process of realizing those copies into the real world. It had eight steps, judging the concept of creation, hypothesizing the basic structure, duplicating the composition material, imitating the skill of its making, sympathizing with the experience of its growth, reproducing the accumulated years, and excelling every manufacturing process. Normally this would be enough for me to recreate a sword, but that was just it, all I could do was recreate it. In the beginning I wasn't capable of making my blades any other way besides in my hands. It had only taken me about a week of study before I was able to start tampering with the recreation process.

Now, instead of simply recreating a weapon in my hand I was able to recreate it in a radius of two dozen yards around me. And it was even simpler for me to add something as basic as slipping a trait like 'moving at the speed of a well thrown fastball' into the 'sympathizing with the experience of its growth' step. Swords are quite naturally very heavy things, and simple physics limit the speed that a normal unenhanced person can throw something as ungainly as four feet of steel, not to mention that the shape of a sword makes it difficult to ensure that the weapon once thrown will do anything more than bounce off its target even if manages to hit it.

The sword I had created and launched the moment Archibald denied my request for an apology and invoked our death match was not burdened with those two little facts about swords. It flew faster and truer than any human could ever hope to accomplish. I had a brief moment to hope that this would be enough, that he would be unable to react in time, and this battle would quickly come to a close.

After all, I had to be home by at least five if I wanted to make sure that dinner was ready on time.

It wasn't enough though. Archibald had mentioned earlier that he had been the victor in over fifty duels, and his reflexes shown through in time for him to take action. The hand over his vase opened, and he quickly chanted, "Fervor, mei sanquis. Automatoportum defensio."

Even as my first attack was mere feet away from ending this fight the vase at Archibald's side erupted, a stream of silver like liquefied moonlight erupting to encase the well dressed man in a partial sphere. It intercepted my launched blade effortlessly, and the tip of my sword didn't even scratch it, simply meeting the curved surface and skittering off into the air where it promptly dissolved as I released the od holding it together. A four pound sword hitting point first at nearly a hundred miles per hour should have been enough to puncture an engine block on a car, and whatever defense Archibald managed to erect in time deflected it like it was nothing.

"Ha!" I heard the man within the sphere crow as the strange silvery substance began to lower from its previous shape. "Do you see the power of my…" was as far as he got before he realized I had closed the dozen yards between us, Kanshou a black shadow in my left hand and Bakuya a silver gleam in my right. His eyes narrowed as the two scissored in to remove his head from his shoulder, but a small sneer sprouted on his laps as well. Once again the gleaming wall of silver sprouted, and both blades were stopped instantly. From within I heard his voice again, muffled by the obstructing barrier. "Dilectus incursio."

I was already moving by the time the first syllable was uttered, my reinforced body putting as much distance between me and my enemy as possible. Whatever he was saying was obviously some sort of spell or command, and judging from the last expression I had seen on his face it was most likely not something that would be good for me to be near. The moment his invocation was completed the liquid metal, quicksilver I finally identified it as, flowed again. I had to lower myself nearly to the ground while I ran as a thin flexible whip emerged from the sphere, slicing horizontally through the air aiming at the spot I had been standing in only moments ago. The very tip of the thin arc of mercury passed through one of the nearby trees, slicing through the thick trunk nearly completely with the ease of a hot knife through butter.

"Don't think that just because…" Archibald began, the dome around him once more melting to begin puddling at his feet when I cut him off yet again. When his eyes had been concealed by his own defenses I had once more projected. Being so close to my enemy might have put me in danger of his counterattack, but it had also brought him to nearly the center of the sphere of my ability to create blades. Nine swords were already forming around him, targeting him from all directions. With a thought they closed in just as fast as my original attack had. Again, just like with the first time, they were defeated, the sphere enclosing around him this time completely. Even as he remained safe the tentacles lashed at the place I had once stood only to find me already gone.

I circled him, all along keeping my rain of steel assaulting his defenses. Back when I had first fought Gilgamesh at the end of the Grail War a relentless assault like this would have been impossible to me. That was when I was still laboring under the mistaken impression of the nature of my circuits. I had spent my whole life up to that point believing that in order to use my magecraft I had to carefully construct a circuit out of my own nerves, a painful and dangerous process. Even once I figured out that I already had circuits present and that all I had to do was open them rather than create them, I had still clung to the belief that I had only one circuit. It hadn't been until the first time I cast Unlimited Blade Works that the concept that I might have more than one of the mystic channels in my body hadn't even occurred to me. Back then I had been forced to match Gilgamesh's onslaught of Noble Phantasms with that single channel, pushing myself beyond all reasonable limits to do so.

Now though, now I knew the truth. It had been one of the first tests Rin had performed on me when I became her apprentice. It wasn't just one circuit that I had. It was twenty seven.

In order to properly trace a weapon all eight steps had to be carried out, but they didn't have to be used immediately. Gilgamesh had been able to tell that time when I traced seventeen of his treasures at once just how many of his treasures I had copied. But tracing wasn't all there was to it. Tracing was, after all, just preparing the weapon in my head. Projecting was the skill I used to properly manifest them into the real world, a much more efficient form of the Gradiation Air that other magi used to form their od. During my confrontation with the King of Heroes I had been limited to projecting only one blade at a time due partly to my inexperience with the technique and partly to the limitations of my magical energy. Now though, after years of training with Rin, I still wasn't able to utilize all twenty seven of my circuits, but I could reliably use up to seventeen at a time now. Moreover, at the moment there was no need for me to use something as draining as a Noble Phantom. The blades I was launching at Archibald were simple mundane ones that I could trace in a matter of moments, and I could effectively project up to three safely, four in a pinch, at a time from each circuit. So long as I kept it at this level I could create anywhere from fifty one to ninety eight of my current swords at a time. More than enough to keep my enemy perpetually locked within his own defenses.

So far every blade I threw at Archibald was brushed aside effortlessly by his glimmering protection, but I kept the pressure up anyway. It might not be enough to hurt him at the moment, but it did keep him completely cut off from the environment by his own wall. Even as I circled around him his whip like attacks remained focused on the area that he had last seen me.

I wouldn't win with this onslaught assault, but it did let me buy time to try and find a way around his defenses without letting him have the opportunity to counterattack.

I was fully on the opposite side of the clearing from where Archibald's counter attacks were focused when I heard his voice again. "Automatoportum quaerere," his muffled command reached my ears, and I narrowed my eyes and increased the number of swords being launched at him from nine at a time to twenty. My circuits began to warm within me as they warmed up to the power flowing through them.

Even as he continued to block my pressuring attack a new series of tendrils emerged, nearly a dozen of them no more than a centimeter thick, rocketing swiftly away from him in all directions. I prepared myself to dodge when one of them got near me, but before it closed in enough to be a threat it froze, and all the thin tendrils immediately began withdrawing into the mercury orb. I had a moment to try and puzzle out just what that implied before the whips that had been busy eradicating most of the plant life on the other end of the clearing withdrew and a glimmering arc of silver launched itself directly at me.

I managed to get both Kanshou and Bakuya up in time to keep my head attached to my shoulders, but the power behind the tendril forced me back, nearly costing me my balance. Damnit Shirou, I cursed myself even as I struggled to regain my footing, dodging and blocking the follow up attacks as I struggled to get out of range. Of course anyone who designed a defense like that would have come up with a way to circumvent the obvious potential of being blinded by their own magecraft. Those last tendrils must have been some kind of sensory function. Now too busy trying to stay one step ahead of being carved open by the lethal flow of quicksilver to keep up my barrage the sphere of mercury slowly dissolved revealing Archibald's superior smirk.

"Now then," he continued, finally being able to complete a sentence since I was currently on the defensive. "Behold the power of my Mystic Code. It was originally created by my brother, whom brought it with him for the Heaven's Feel ritual," Archibald boasted, using the archaic name for the Grail War. While Grail War was in my mind a much more appropriate title for the bloody rite, it had originally meant to be nothing more than a ritual for achieving the Third Sorcery, the materialization of a soul, known as Heaven's feel. The arrogant aristocrat brought one hand up to brush it through his hair in what was most likely meant to be a gesture of arrogance only to stop when he realized he was still clutching his rumpled handkerchief. It appeared that me being pushed back was enough to calm his earlier rage down to manageable levels and he once more began carrying on with his pompous airs. "Impregnable defense combined with unstoppable offense and superior sensing capacity. Do you understand now, apprentice?" he mocked me using my official title from my time in the Clock Tower. "Surely there is no other method of defeating such a tool than treachery. I don't know what manner of trickery your father employed, but now you can pay the price for his insolence."

A Mystic Code. An artifact or weapon wielded by magi, magically prepared tools used to either strengthen a magus' normal skills or to perform a specific function. Rin was quite fond of using jewels as Codes, collecting her unnecessary energy within them until she needed to do something that required more energy than she could normally produce. I had never seen a code like this before. This really was an amazing bit of magecraft, to combine the three traits Archibald had described into one versatile package. It almost made me feel like praising him, which was what he no doubt expected me to begin doing.

The closest thing I had to a proper Mystic Code at the moment was the half finished washing machine sitting in my workshop. I wondered if it would have been worth the effort to lug it over here just so I could see the expression on his face when he realized what it was.

Archibald had said he had survived over fifty duels. Duels between magi were chances for magi to show off their skill and powers. They mostly consisted of each of the combatants taking turns, casting their attacks at their opponents and defending to the best of their ability. It wasn't uncommon for the duelers to be more concerned about unraveling the mystery of the technique they were fighting against than actually winning the battle, even if defeat meant death in a duel. If one of the duelers managed to unravel the craft being used against them they would frequently gloat about having done so, or even praise their opponent for their ingenuity and skill. It would explain just why the aristocrat in front of me was so concerned with trying to get a word in edge wise earlier when I assumed the offensive. He no doubt considered it simply a matter of me giving him his turn to try and impress me before he killed me. Now that he had managed to take the offense, rather than use one of his other spells to finish me off while I was off balance he was instead simply waiting for me to fall to his Code.

In many ways duels between magi reminded me of the Sekirei Plan: structured, vaguely polite conflicts with unspoken rules of etiquette that both sides adhered to for the most part. In the end, they both seemed like nothing more than high stake games.

Unfortunately, I don't play games. And just as unfortunately for Archibald, he had chosen to try and kill me by using a weapon. If he had simply stuck to normal magecraft like a gandr or his element I would never be able to do what I was about to.

"Trace on," I muttered as I continued my haphazard attempt to defend myself from the razor whips while retreating out of their range. Archibald seemed to recognize my attempt to pull back to get enough space to work with and was amusing himself by matching each step backwards I took with one forward of his own. "Structural Analysis," I continued. It was the first magecraft I ever managed, and my oldest and best skill, a spell that let me analyze to the greatest detail the construction of whatever it was I was targeting. It was what I was using to make a living as a repair man, being able to understand even the most obscure and out of date appliances and pinpoint exactly what was wrong with them in seconds. It was the basis of my Reality Marble, an ability I had mastered to a point where my grasp at it was probably just under the level of sorcery, moving beyond even the physical components to spiritual, magical, and even historic elements of whatever it was I targeted . My father had once told me it was an utterly useless skill for a magus to have. He had said that it would never serve any kind of purpose in a battle between magi.

If I was the more vindictive sort and my father was still alive I'd take the moment to point my finger and tell him, 'Ha!'

Even as I continued fending off the assaults in my mind I could already see the details of the Mystic Code in front of me. It was composed of over three hundred pounds of pure mercury, no support structure, and no other material elements. The magic that went into it was a bit trickier to figure out, but compared to something like the composition of a Noble Phantom it was only a minimal effort. This Code in front of me required both wind and water affinity to use, using the pressure of the wind and the flow of the water to shape the mass of quicksilver. It reacted automatically to any attack, maybe the result of some kind of innate enchantment similar to the intention ward my father had left on the Emiya property, but required focus to use it to attack or search.

All said and done it was nothing I could ever use on my own, even if I did attempt to recreate it. I simply didn't have the skill or the elemental affinity necessary to properly craft or control something like this. However, the analysis had done its part.

Archibald threw back his head and laughed when he heard my incantation. "Structural Analysis? Truly? Is this the best the son of the Magus Killer could accomplish?" He lowered his head to give me a condescending smirk. "Then again, I suppose all that you really are is an apprentice, and a worthless one at that. Someone like that would stand no chance against the power and skill of the Archibald family." He gestured with one hand, no doubt meant simply for dramatics rather than control issues. "Then if there's nothing else you can do, I'll make this quick."

The moment he began what he thought would be the finishing move, I was ready for him. Even as the whip he thought would end me formed at the edge of the pool of mercury surrounding him, I allowed Kanshou to disappear from my hand. The whip that it had meant to intercept continued uninterrupted at me, and I shifted my head enough to protect me life, though the tip of it did cut deeply into my cheek. I could almost hear the noise it made when it caressed my cheekbone, though it was more likely the vibration of the touch buzzing my skull than an actual noise. With my now free hand I traced my finger in the air, sketching out the two characters whose names I whispered. "Ansuz. Tiwaz."

Runes are rarely ever used in combat. The simple fact of the matter was that they just weren't effective against other people, and were most useful for either preparing Mystic Codes or, and I haven't quite managed to figure this one out yet, cast enhancement spells on one's own self. It was too easy for their effects to be overcome by the innate magic resistance of an enemy magus, and even if I was trying to cast it on Archibald right now the only thing I would accomplish would be triggering the automatic defense mechanism. The magecraft animating the quicksilver would have simply blocked the spell with the minimum amount of force necessary. However, that same defense mechanism only worked when the magus wielding it was threatened.

Instead, I aimed right at the base of the tentacle as the two runes that I had discovered by accident didn't get along glowed for a moment, etched at a distance onto the mercury. They were visible only for a moment, glowing representations of my magecraft. Then they exploded with satisfying force. The Code only automatically adjusted itself for defensive measures in the protection of its wielder. It had no such self preservation abilities for itself. The thin piece of quicksilver connecting the rest of the whip to the central mass severed, and in an instant the entire whip melted, falling to the ground like any other inert liquid would in a glistening stream.

Archibald stared in shock at where a portion of his supposedly unbeatable Code was now laying useless. "Wha-?" he began to say, before my sudden movement brought his attention back to me. His eyes widened and his shock grew as he realized that I was no longer holding Bakuya either, and was no sprinting empty handed directly at him. Instantly yet another set of whips came at me, most likely an instinctive response to my unexpected charge. "What are you...?" he tried again before he once more cut himself off as instead of driving me back like he thought they would I simply dodged the new assault, ducking under one whip and twisting out of the way of a second without delaying my charge in the slightest.

I hadn't been just been blocking his attacks and running away earlier. For all the versatility in function his Code brought to the table, it didn't really have much variety in its offensive abilities. The whips needed to form at the edge of the circle of quicksilver that his code formed when it wasn't protecting him, and from there they needed to build up centrifugal force by spinning in order to become dangerous. They couldn't change direction once their path had been set. They were fast, yes, and dangerous too, but my entire style was based on judging where an attack would come from and blocking it before it was even launched. Against these razor whips, that were all but broadcasting to me where they were going to strike, the only problem had been learning just how fast they could be, and where my opponent was most likely to aim them. After spending a few minutes listening to the magus in front of me mock me while learning their timing I was ready to risk getting close enough again for my next attack.

I suppose that in dueler terms it meant that it was my turn now. I hated how that made me feel like I was playing along with his stupid perceptions of how this fight was supposed to go, but in the end that was just the way the flow of battle had went.

Still, it didn't mean that I was in the clear yet. Regardless of how well I could read the movements, that didn't mean I was going to be able to block all of the now frantically forming attacks. Archibald seemed to realize that I was closing in, and maybe some part of him sensed that when I did reached him this battle was most likely finished. His already wide eyes managed to stretch even further, showing the white completely around his pupils and the number of whips forming doubled.

There was no way I was going to come out of this charge unscathed, and with the force and sharpness of those tendrils any attack that hit me full on would most likely cut me in to pieces.

"My body is made of swords," I grit out through clenched teeth as I forced myself to both move faster and concentrate on my Aria. "Iron is my blood, and glass is my heart." I could already make out the attack I wouldn't be able to dodge. I was maybe a dozen feet away from the now backpedaling Archibald, my reinforced limbs closing faster than he could escape. There were four attacks that would endanger me before I managed to catch up with him. One coming straight down from above, easily sidestepped. The second coming low at my feet, a well placed step would allow me to skip right over it. The last two were coming from either side at an upward angle that would cut me in two from hip to shoulder. There was only time to dodge one of them, and while I could re-trace Kanshou and use it to block that would force me to delay my rush and allow Archibald time to get enough distance to be safe enough for another wave of attacks. If that happened there was no reason to think that he wouldn't be more cautious in denying me a chance like this again.

So with the final strike closing in, I deployed my Reality Marble.

Reality Marble. It's such a simple thing to say, and yet the words aren't enough to properly describe just what a Reality Marble truly was. A Reality Marble was an innate bounded field. Innate, as in it was a fundamental aspect of myself. Unlimited Blade Works wasn't a spell, or an effect. It was a perception, a viewpoint. It wasn't just a few brief moments where I could force an enemy to confront me in a chosen location, that vast desolate plain filled with blades. It was a state of being, a restructuring of REALITY ITSELF in accordance with my own viewpoint. A Reality Marble in its most common occurrence was the alien perception of reality by something which was Not Human, like a demon or an elemental, being transported and overwriting the very basic fabric of existence itself.

Reality Marbles were a forbidden magic, and there was a reason that it was forbidden. It wasn't because of the power that it granted its wielder or the mass amount of effort or training that most magi had to put into accomplishing one. It was forbidden because to truly reshape ones perception of reality, to truly alter the very basis of one's viewpoint of all of creation enough to achieve the feat, well, there was a reason that there have only been six recorded occurrences of a pure human like myself achieving it.

That reason had to do with the number who had died or driven themselves insane trying to achieve what I had come across by what must seem almost an accident.

I think Rin, before she ever knew about my ability, before she ever considered the possibility of me having such a trait, had put it best: I was distorted.

I still couldn't manifest Unlimited Blade Works, not on the same scope that Counter Guardian Emiya could. It was partially on account of my lack of power. I just didn't have the magical capacity at the moment to draw a foe into my altered perception of the world. Maybe, someday, if I trained until I could use every last one of my magical circuits to their fullest, maybe then I could do so. Then again, the other reason I couldn't quite manifest it might have to be with perception. Archer had been the one to originally discover our Reality Marble after all. He had been the one to painstakingly reveal our nature over the course of fire and bloodshed and suffering. Magecraft was influenced by perception, after all. Aria weren't just there for show. There weren't any set incantations which automatically invoked the mana of the world around. Magecraft was all about putting oneself into the proper mindset, of focusing ones will and belief to the set rules that had been defined to circumvent the fundamental laws of reality to achieve what magi called 'mysteries', spells. Archer had truly believed in his invocation when he called our Reality Marble to the world. That belief right there was enough to give his spellwork power.

I didn't have that conviction. Not yet anyway. I knew that someday I could have the same faith and concentration to achieve a complete manifestation of the Unlimited Blade Works like I had once before with Rin's aid during my final confrontation with Gilgamesh. But I still had a ways to go before I could manage that.

What I could do, however, was change myself in accordance with my own inner perceptions. That was a feat which required significantly less concentration that altering the world and an equally significant less drain on my od.

And so, at that moment, my incantation was true. My body truly WAS made of blades. For only a handful of heartbeats, Unlimited Blade Works was manifested within myself. I still moved like a human, thought like a human, fundamentally was a human, but at the same time I was very much something which was Not Human.

When the fourth silver whip struck me, it cut instantly through the sleeve of my shirt and then through my skin as well. But it went no further than that. Instead of soft muscle and flesh it found nothing but pure steel, an interlocking web of blades. It scraped across the phalanx barrier, a noise not unlike fingernails on a chalkboard, before I could shrug my shoulders and properly deflect it.

In its passage it revealed gleaming metal, dulled only slightly by the blood my torn away skin shed on it. For the few moments when I deployed my Unlimited Blade Works within myself my body was made of swords.

Archibald's eyes widened when he took in just what had happened and then darted up to meet mine. By the time he realized that no, I wasn't simply an apprentice, or the son of his hated enemy, but a magus which had managed to receive a Sealing Designation before the age of twenty for achievements in forbidden magecraft and was a genuinely dangerous entity on my own, I was already within his guard, standing face to face with him and separated by less than three feet. His Code reacted to my intent, forming around him, blocking his face from my view, but by then it was already too late.

I brought both my hands together, the traced weapon in my mind already prepared for projection. A moment after completing its creation I employed it, dropping Unlimited Blade Works as I did so. I would need all the prana I could muster for this, and tying up my od with my Reality Marble would just get in the way.

"Rule Breaker!" I shouted, the iridescent vorpal dagger in my hand stabbing into the liquid quicksilver of my enemy's code. Rule Breaker. Oh, how I both hated and admired the thin piece of twisted metal in my hands. It was Rule Breaker which had severed my contract with Saber, which had allowed Archer to come for my life after betraying Rin. Rule Breaker, the weapon of Medea of Colchis, the ritualistic athame granted to her by the gods, a blade uniquely unsuited for combat in its thinness and brittleness and, most of all, the blade which was the absolute pinnacle of anti-magecraft weaponry.

Rule Breaker wasn't meant to cut flesh. No, it was meant to cut magic. It was a dagger which destroyed all contracts, all bindings. With Rule Breaker there was no mystic law that couldn't be ended, couldn't be destroyed. Against magecraft of any kind, no matter its power, no matter the costs, Rule Breaker could end it.

I hadn't been certain when I first started to test Archibald's defenses. Whatever it was that he was utilizing to defend himself it could have been a spell or maybe a Conceptual Weapon, or any of a dozen other mysteries I could think up off the top of my head. For all I knew he could have had a genuine Noble Phantasm on him through some manner of spellwork. Against a Conceptual Weapon or a Noble Phantasm, Rule Breaker would have been meaningless. Both of those two were things which existed beyond mere magecraft. If it had been a spell, then perhaps Rule Breaker would have been worthwhile to use, but then again maybe not. It would have depended on how quickly he could have reconstructed his mystery, and just how much effort it would have taken him to do so. But no; the quicksilver obstruction in front of me had been a Mystic Code. I had hesitated to act, knowing what the consequences might be if I utilized Rule Breaker against a poor target, but the moment the truth behind the mystery Archibald had been utilizing was revealed I knew I could win.

The problem now came with the price. The moment the twisted blade came in contact with the mercury construct my enemy was using, the point in time where I activated the Noble Phantasm I had acquired from that which Caster, my circuits burned.

Rule Breaker was considered a 'C' class Noble Phantom. That had more to do with the difficulties in utilizing it than its actual power. It was the ultimate anti-magic artifact, no other feeble creation made by man could ever match its true godlike ability to end spell work, yes. But that came with a price. Thaumaturgy was based around equivalent exchange. Rule Breaker might be able to sever any contract, null any magecraft, and destroy any magical creation, but that ability was not without a price of its own. Foremost of which was the fact that the blade had to come in contract with the spell itself, no easy task considering just how puny the Noble Phantasm truly was, being no more than a foot in length and half that wasted on the strange vorpal curves of the blade making the total reach of Rule Breaker to be maybe seven inches. The second and most important limitation of the Noble Phantasm was that magecraft was based around equivalent exchange: in other words in order to utilize the blade to nullify a spell I had to provide an amount of mana equal to the magecraft I was destroying.

I have no idea if when Caster had used Rule Breaker to sever the contracts of a Servant she had been able to do so because the contract binding Servant to Master was simply a spell which had a relatively low mana cost, albeit extremely complicated in its utilization, or if it was because she had the power of hundreds of drained human victims behind her to empower herself. Whichever it was, she had made it look easy to violate the rules of the contract that the Grail War enforced. In my case however, Archibald's code was a powerful and well crafted artifact and I was trying to match however much magic had been pumped into its creation with a mere seventeen magic circuits.

I could feel fire scorch through my soul as my circuits desperately tried to keep up with the demand for magic that the small dagger in my hand was putting on me. Not many knew that when a magi cast magecraft it caused their circuits to raise the internal temperature of the caster as the energy flowing through the magical channels in a person's body affected them physically. At the moment I activated the dagger I could definitely feel the knowledge of that effect throughout my body as the feeling of having molten steel poured through my veins encompassed me. Gritting my teeth, I ignored it and ruthlessly poured the energy needed into my blade. It was nothing more than the consequence of using magic beyond my ability. It wouldn't be the first time I forced myself past my limits. And if I was extremely lucky, it wouldn't be the last either.

The lessening on my circuits was enough for me to know that my ploy had been successful. It had been a close thing; the magecraft utilized to create that impenetrable wall of quicksilver had been no small amount. But in the instant when Rule Breaker met mercury, when it drank of me far too deeply for my comfort, the rules and spells which allowed the Code to function were severed cleanly. The stirring silver tendrils and the half formed barrier protecting my enemy from my wrath lost cohesion and fell to the packed dirt ground around us. Splatters of the liquid metal were propelled in waves around me as the droplets already in motion traced the path physics had put them on only to splash against whatever scenery finally managed to arrest their motion. I could feel a cold trickling of the fluid element trace itself down the back of my neck and across my arms, and had a brief moment or worry over the potential heavy metal poisoning that might ensue if the flow managed to reach an open wound before dismissing the thought.

I had other things to worry about right now. First and foremost was the hand Archibald was holding in front of him, fingers spread and palm towards me as a desperately rushed incantation in what was most likely Latin ended in a shrill shriek of "Ventus!"

I would have liked to just ignore it, to call up Kanshou, brush whatever spell he was just finishing up aside, and then finish him with a quick Bakuya to the chest, but that wasn't going to happen, not right now. My body was still on fire from defeating his Code. Even as I reacted to the final word of his spell by forcing my legs to push my body to the side and away from the hand I could see my breath steaming in front of me like I would expect it to if I were breathing out in the middle of a freezing cold winter. Considering that it was now pushing mid spring and the weather was reaching the point where it was warm enough for me to comfortably stand outside without a coat that spoke volumes of just how much pressure I had been placing on my circuits to raise my internal body temperature to that point and just how much danger that was putting my body in.

I barely managed to throw my body aside in time to clear Archibald's attack, but it still managed to clip my shoulder and side. Whether it was just the nature of the spell or the fact that he had been too startled by the sudden defeat of his Code to properly prepare his magecraft, the wind based attack he threw at me was thankfully only blunt force rather than a cutting attack like most spells of that element tended towards. If it had been a razor wind then it could very well have severed my arm between my elbow and shoulder. As it was the force of the strike was enough to send me spinning off balance as half my body tried to go one way while the rest was suddenly compelled to move the other way. Rather than try to fight the motion I rolled with it, letting my body fall to the ground so I could tumble twice before reclaiming control of myself and raising my body onto all fours on the ground in a sprinter position. I was poised to launch myself either at towards or away from Archibald, another dozen simple blades and Kanshou and Bakuya both ready to be projected when I froze.

Archibald seemed confused by something, his mouth opening and shutting mechanically. He cocked his head to the side, staring at me in consternation before finally glancing down, one hand coming up to touch his chest. It came away shiny and wet, stained crimson from the blood which was pouring from the new and unexpected hole that had formed there. His eyes left the wound and traveled to the ground in front of him at the same time mine did.

There, buried in the earth was a foot long icicle, drops of the life fluid staining it beginning to slowly trace their way down its length.

On the other side of the clearing, arm outstretched, Akitsu spoke up. "I will not allow you to hurt my master," she informed the dying Archibald, a coldness to her voice that echoed well her element and a wall of floating razor sharp icy death already prepared behind her. A circle of frost had formed around her, any plant unlucky enough to be caught within it already nothing more than a fragile ice sculpture, and the mist beginning to form around her was growing thick enough that it was beginning to obscure her body. It would be the last thing the confused magus ever heard as the pale Sekirei brought her outstretched hand down, and the storm of razor shards she had prepared unleashed themselves.

It was like an avalanche, if there had ever been an avalanche composed of nothing but needle sharp death rather than loose rocks and dirt. Dagger after dagger cut into the unprepared magi, and endless stream of them piercing through his center and flanks, pieces of loose flesh being shed behind them. I'd never seen a body put through a wood chipper before, but if I had I was fairly certain it would have looked somewhat similar to the way the magus in front of me dissolved, under the ferocious onslaught brought down on his unprepared back. If nothing else, I had to give Akitsu this much: when she decided to kill someone she did so in a very thorough manner.

Silence settled over the small clearing in the park, broken only by the noises of the city that surrounded it, the rumbling of cars and the soft muttering of distant voices. The fight had lasted at best ten minutes, and I had apparently chosen the battlefield well because judging from the lack of horrified outcries not one soul beside Akitsu and myself had born witness to it.

I remained where I was, frozen on all fours, my mind frantically racing as I tried to piece together what had just happened. Where had Akitsu came from? Why was she here? How long had she watched the fight? How had she gotten right next to me so damn fast?

Wait, right next to me?

I finally managed to regain the sense of mind to move as I yelped and nearly fell over at the sudden proximity of the kimono clad snow woman. She knelt, her face inches away from torn flesh of my arm, one hand reaching out as though to touch it but stopping before her thin white fingers actually touched the mangled meat. The air around her was cold, hoarfrost already spreading across the ground, though a great deal warmer than it probably had been a few moments ago.. "Shirou-sama," she murmured, and even in her usually placid voice I could hear worry. "Are you all right, master?" she asked, her body tense as she took in the damage I had received. Unlimited Blade Works might have stopped the razor whip from cutting me in two, but it hadn't stopped the attack from scrapping a six by four inch swath of skin off of me. Without it there the dark red of my muscles and yellow of my fat were clearly exposed. I looked like some kind of flayed anatomy model.

Under Akitsu's intense scrutiny I finally stood back up, my free hand coming up to awkwardly cover the wound as I straightened. "It's nothing," I told her, my mind racing as I tried to make sense of the situation. "Akitsu, what are you doing here? I thought you were taking a nap with Kuu-chan," I finally got out, hoping that her answer would explain just why one of my Sekirei had shown up in the middle of a death match between magi out of nowhere. I had been so certain that none of them would even realize I wasn't in my workshop.

The concerned alien wasn't about to be put off so easily by just a change of subject. Despite the hand getting in her way she simply adjusted her head so she could peer past it and at the target of her worry. "Matsu woke me and told me that she had seen you leave on her cameras and had tracked you here," she explained, her soft voice still tinged with emotion. I tried to block her line of vision again and she simply arched her head in a different direction, not willing to take her eyes off the gruesome sight. "She was worried about you being alone and attacked by other Ashikabi."

"Wait," I began, confused. "Cameras? What cameras?" Rather than helping my troubled state of mind that only added to my confusion. I tried to turn angle my body so that it got between her and my arm, but the usually disinterested Sekirei simply followed my arm patiently, stepping around me in time with my efforts. Normally I would take her assertiveness as a good thing, but right now I just wished she'd hold off for a few minutes.

"The cameras she has all over Izumo House," Akitsu responded quietly. "Please, hold still, Shirou-sama," she continued, an unusual note of command infringing in her tone, finally losing her reluctance to touch me and grasping my arm firmly but gently. I was so surprised by the sudden contact that I nearly didn't catch her first statement.

"Wait," I yelped, "she has cameras all over Izumo House? As in like spy cameras?" My outrage at the implicit invasion of my privacy was enough to outweigh my halfhearted attempt to keep Akitsu away from my wound as I froze at the implications. Forgetting about covering my arm I instead reached out and grasped both of Akitsu's shoulders forcing her to face me directly. "Does she have any in my workshop?" I demanded, suddenly anxious. If she had some in there, then she would have seen precisely what it was I did in my sanctum. Some of those things would be very hard to explain while preserving the secrecy of thaumaturgy. Things like…

I realized Akitsu wasn't even bothering to look at me, instead still focusing on my arm. For a moment more she was tense, and then suddenly her body relaxed. I glanced down, already aware of just what it was that had caused a change in her posture. It was only visible if you looked at it long enough, but despite the gruesome nature of my wound the flesh at the edges was visibly healing. Slowly, like molasses being poured from a jar, the skin at the edges of my avulsion was re-growing. At its current rate the flesh of my arm would be indistinguishable from before it had been torn away within an hour, maybe two.

Things like that, I completed my earlier thought, lowering my eyes. "You saw?" I asked Akitsu, resignation in my voice. I wasn't sure if I was referring to my arm, or the battle that she had so abruptly ended for me. Which, in retrospect, was kind of irritating. I had it well in hand before she stepped in.

"Yes," Akitsu nodded, once, her expression once more slipping back into her usual mask of disinterest. I let my wounded arm drop to my side, my other hand coming up to delicately probe my regenerating body. Though the most visible the skin off my arm hadn't been my only injury. That final blast of wind by Archibald might have only clipped me but I could still feel the bruising forming along my arm and side, and tightness in my chest spoke of a broken rib. I grimaced and hoped that moving around wouldn't complicate that particular injury. My body might heal an incredible rate, but I had never been able to direct that recovery process in any kind of meaningful way. If the broken rib were to puncture a lung there was no way of knowing if the lung would heal first or if it would come second to the substantially less dangerous bruising.

I waited a moment for the questions I knew Akitsu must be having, but the ice user said nothing else, simply remaining standing in front of me, no indication of her earlier worry visible. Finally, fighting the urge to fidget, I prompted her, "Surely there must be something you want to ask?"

To my surprise, rather than use the opportunity to get answers from me Akitsu only shook her head. "If Shirou-sama wants me to know, than you will tell me. If you do not want me to know, then you won't." Apparently having said all she was going to, she briskly walked right past me, before turning on her heal and facing resolutely ahead, once more behind me and on my left in her usual post. When I half turned to try and follow her movement she simply stepped so that she would still be in the same position in relation to me.

Understanding washed through me and a rueful smile came to my lips. That's right. I suppose that was Akitsu's way of saying that she didn't care about my circumstances so long as I was alright. Was that trust yet another sign of her devotion, or was it in some way a means to return my own dismissal of her own unfortunate fate? Either way, despite my long cultured distaste of speaking of my status of a magus, Akitsu was one who I was fairly certain could keep it a secret. If I asked her to not tell anyone she would most likely bite off her own tongue before ever betraying my request. More than that, if I had ever needed more proof of her convictions, then I had received it here today: without hesitation, without doubt, and without remorse she had killed for me a few minutes ago.

There were reasons I didn't reveal just what I was in its entirety to my flock. While I originally kept it away from them due to doubts of whether their full loyalty rested with me or if some part of it still was attached to MBI. Matsu's earlier speech about how Sekirei feel about their Ashikabi allayed a great deal of that worry. But more than that I still had doubts to their ability to keep such a secret away from the rest of the world. Especially in Musubi's case. And even further than that, I wasn't certain whether they were ready for the reality of life as a practitioner of thaumaturgy. Most of my flock still clung to the idea of respecting their opponent, holding back from lethal attacks, and of guarding the fallen enemy afterwards. I couldn't help but fear that if any of the rest of my flock had been with me today, they wouldn't have been able to deal with the only inevitable outcome of this fight: kill or be killed. And if it had been me that died here, there would have been no respect for my corpse: just dissection and experimentation.

I glanced down at my arm, once more trying to calculate how long it would take until it healed. Then I looked around the clearing as well. Finally, I made my decision.

"Here," I said, holding out my hand to Akitsu and tracing a shovel there. Akitsu made no motion of surprise at the sudden appearance of the implement, simply obediently stepping forward to take it from me. She cradled it awkwardly, as though not quite sure just what to do with it but willing to obey my order to receive it. "We can talk while we work." I traced my own shovel as well, hefting the manufactured instrument to get a feel for its weight.

"Ah," Akitsu murmured, once more slipping back to her usual verbal tic of pausing before speaking. "Work?" she finally asked, her tone once more expressionless but her head cocked ever so slightly to the side betraying her curiosity at my statement.

"It'll be an hour or so before I'm healed up enough to pass inspection from the rest," I explained. "And someone has to take care of this before someone else stumbles across it." Akitsu glanced when I gestured to the clearing around us: great pools of quicksilver were slowly running along the earth, pooling in various places, still trickling in others. Besides that there were a great number of, well for lack of more delicate way to phrase it, chunks of Archibald spilled about, splashes of sprayed blood surrounding the central mass where the now deceased magus had originally been standing. I 'tsked' at the sight of the body. "We'll start by getting all the body parts in one spot so I can burn it. After that, we'll dig a few holes and try to get the mercury to drain into them. Then we'll cover them with dirt and in a few days call the police and tell them that someone was illegally dumping dangerous materials in the park." It wouldn't do to leave a toxic metal like that laying around where just anyone could stumble on it. I mean, it wasn't that likely considering how deserted this place usually was, but you never know. Better safe than sorry.

From the corner of my eye I was treated to the sight of Akitsu actually fidgeting for a brief moment. "Ah," she concluded, and it seemed that the snow woman was definitely in the most expressive mood I'd ever seen her in. "Sorry." That had definitely sounded like embarrassment for her overzealousness.

*Scene Break*

It was late into five o'clock, closer to six actually by the time Akitsu and I returned to Izumo House. Part of that time had been spent with me explaining some of the basics of what I was, keeping it mostly vague more out of a need to cover a lot of ground than to conceal matters, but by the end of my explanation Akitsu was at least forearmed with a few basic facts. One, magic was real. Two, people who use magic generally weren't very nice. And three, a lot of these not nice people were out to get me. That had apparently been enough for the snow lady, and the rest of the time we spent collecting body pieces and burying mercury was spent by me trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do next.

I had been found, that was the bottom line. I don't know why it had been Archibald that had first came after me. If my location was revealed to the Clock Tower in general than they would probably have spent a few weeks trying to determine if I was worth the effort to go after, a process no doubt involving useless backstabbing and politicking all around, but if they finally came to the conclusion that I was worth reclaiming it wouldn't have been one pompous fallen noble with an impressive Mystic Code that came after me. It would have been a team of elite Enforcers, men and women who trained night and day to be able to wield their magecraft in proper battles and wouldn't have made half the mistakes that Archibald did. If they came after me it wouldn't have been a pseudo-duel like it had turned out with my now dead foe. It would have been a professional military action with a team of experienced veterans. Archibald had come after me as an apprentice and the son of his families most hated enemy.

The Enforcers would come at me as a target to be put down in the most ruthless way possible.

I don't know how the fallen family had been the first one to locate me. Maybe they just had the money and the motivation to commit more effort to it. Maybe they had bribed or blackmailed someone on the chain of command to look the other way and sit on whatever information they had on me for a bit while the Archibalds moved in for the first strike. Whatever the case was, I had been found. And if I had been found once, then there was a good chance my cover wasn't good enough and I'd be found again.

While I trudged out of my workshop, where I had stopped to put on a shirt that wasn't ragged and bloodstained, I came to the only conclusion I could in this situation: it was time to leave.

It would be hard to break to my family and flock. Takami and I were truly starting to connect in a meaningful way, and Yukari had been overjoyed for the chance to live with me like a proper sibling should. I wasn't quite sure how my flock would react. Whatever their differences were Musubi and Tsukiumi were both entirely dedicated to the Sekirei Plan. Those two lived and breathed battle, and fleeing now would probably be too much to ask of them. Homura still had duties here in his role as the Sekirei Guardian. He wouldn't leave until that was over, and by then I would have already disappeared again. Kuu would be heartbroken to see her onii-chan go, but there was no way in hell that I would bring a young girl like that along with me while on the run from the Enforcers. Especially considering what would happen to her if the Clock Tower realized she wasn't human as well. I could leave her here with Miya and Shiina though. Those two would be able to help her get over it. Matsu, well, she might actually be interested in coming with me. She was a fugitive herself. The chance to properly disappear for a bit might be beneficial to her.

I think it went without saying what Akitsu would feel about leaving.

Now the only question was how to put it out there? It wouldn't be a stretch if I told them that people from my much abridged version of the events that had happened in London had finally caught up with me. I shook my head, sliding open the shogi door to the corridor as I made my way slowly into the inn, Akitsu trailing wordlessly behind me as like normal. I couldn't quite be sure, but I think she had actually moved a full six inches closer to me from her usual spot. I suppose an assassination attempt by a vengeful magus beholden to a powerful secret organization might have made her a bit nervous for my safety.

The moment the two of us stepped in, it was as though we were entering a different world, one where there were no burnt corpses or quicksilver stained with blood as it flowed across barren earth. One where I could hear Kuu laughing as she played with her other onii-chan while Homura could look on and add his own advice to the younger alien, where Miya despite her own dark past could laugh at the two, and where I could already hear excited shouts from the bath as Yukari succeeded in riling up Tsukiumi while Musubi laughed.

I slowly closed the shogi door behind me, my eyes half closed as I savored the warmth, not just from being indoors, but from being around this strange collection of people. It reminded me of the days after the Grail War, when Saber and Rin and Taiga and Sakura and myself would all gather together, loud and laughing and silly. Or the times when it was just Saber, Rin, and I in a too small apartment in a loud and busy corner of London.

Had it only taken two weeks for me to come to have the same feelings for Izumo House as I had for my other two homes? I had never felt this way about the apartment I had moved out of so recently.

"Hey bro," a voice jolted me from my thoughts and I glanced up to see that somehow Uzume had appeared before me. Was I really so out of it that I hadn't noticed her until she spoke up? "You look like you were thinking deep thoughts, man," she commented, offering me a half smile. For someone trying to call another out on their concerns, I could recognize what her expression really said. It probably looked exactly like the one I tried to return to her. I didn't know what it was that was affecting her, but Uzume looked exactly like how I felt.

"Maybe," I admitted, knowing that it would take me a few minutes before I could lie effectively enough to convince anyone that I wasn't really upset. Uzume seemed to recognize the reluctance of my honesty and her grin became a little less forced.

"He-heh," she gave her signature laugh, one hand tucked under her breasts and holding onto the ribs on the opposite side of her body while the other came up to play with her bangs. "Well, cheer up!" she told me, sounding like the order was as much to herself as it was to me. "After all, it could always be worse!"

I took a deep breath before releasing it slowly. "Yeah," I agreed, my mind already playing scenarios for how today could have gone much, much worse than it had. "I suppose it could." I gave her a more serious study before finally venturing, "Going to the baths?" Uzume's grin was almost genuine by now.

"Hell yeah!" she crowed exuberantly. She leaned in, her smile mischievous. "Gotta get there in time for the fireworks!" I groaned, embarrassment over how the fact that my sister had become a source of drama and amusement to the inn in general finally managing to pull my thoughts away from the fact that I was about to disappear from the lives of most of the residents here. From where I stood I could already hear the 'fireworks' beginning. It sounded like Tsukiumi had reached that shrill pitch she usually managed to make right before Yukari finally crossed the line and initiated another 'naked but for a towel' chase around Izumo House in general.

"Well," I muttered, rubbing my forehead gently to relieve the growing ache I could already anticipate forming. "Don't let me stop you." I gave her a half mocking bow as I indicated down the hallway towards where the baths lay and her entertainment waited. The ponytailed Sekirei gave me a brilliant grin as she began trotting towards her evening amusement. It was only because I was shaking my head in embarrassment that I caught sight of her back once she passed me. "Uzume!" I barely managed to keep myself from shouting as I noticed one particular detail. The sharpness of my tone caught the brunette's attention and she turned to give me a curious look.

"What's up?" she asked, her tone once more lighthearted. She leered. "Gonna profess your love to me and try to get me and my Ashikabi to join your harem?" She leaned forward, the arm under her breasts giving her chest emphasis as she did so. Despite what the real reason I stopped her I couldn't stop myself from gaping at her in surprise.

"W-w-wait, what?" I stuttered, not quite sure where that comment had come from but definitely not liking the implications, but already feeling my face redden at what she was implying. I shook my head furiously, recollecting myself before deliberately glancing away. "No, that's not it," I told her, deliberately keeping my voice bland and disinterested. "It's just, well, you have a little…" I trailed off, raising one leg as I did so to tap the back of my jeans right above my ankle deliberately.

"Oh?" Uzume drawled, lifting her leg up so she could look at the place on her I had indicated. "I have a little-Oh." She stopped halfway through her teasing, the humor draining out of her voice in an instant. She found what I was referring to. It was only a small stain, but right above her ankle a dark red splotch stained her own pair of jeans. Considering just how much of it I had to clean up earlier, I could tell in a heartbeat the source of the offending patch.

Blood. And fairly fresh blood at that too if the dampness of the stain was anything to judge by.

"Ah," Uzume began, putting her foot down instantly and hiding it behind her other, crossing her legs in a pose that looked almost girlish considering what had caused it, "That is… Well, its…"

"It's none of my business is what it is," I interrupted her, my voice soothing. Uzume grimaced and looked to the side, her expression a mix between shame and anger at having been caught with such damning evidence. "You just might want to take care of that before anyone else sees it." I glanced at her and gave her a small reassuring smile. She returned my look with a helpless gaze of her own, before glancing to the side, all her previously reacquired good cheer disappearing in a heartbeat. "I'll just be heading to the kitchen now," I told her, offering no other judgment and asking no other questions.

Uzume had already come to me on a few occasions asking for information on various Sekirei. It didn't take a genius to put together the fact that after she came asking most of those Sekirei would show up a day or two later, usually listed as a level three, and once as a level four, and always with no listed winner. I saw no reason to judge. For all the peaceful atmosphere of Izumo House, the Sekirei Plan continued. Just because Uzume's Ashikabi had apparently decided to take a more active role in the game was no cause for alarm in my book. So long as they kept their targets to participants and stayed away from residents of the inn, well, their strategy was their strategy.

I had made it two steps towards the sanctuary of the kitchen and the peace of mind it would bring when Uzume suddenly spoke up. "Shirou!" she also sounded like she was trying to keep her voice down. Blandly, I looked over my shoulder, letting no judgment over her course of action shine through. Her eyes serious, she studied me for a moment as though seeing me for the first time. Finally, she continued. "You have a little…" she trailed off, and indicated towards her bare feet.

I glanced down instinctively, and saw what she was referring too. It looked like Uzume hadn't been the only one careless with the cuff of their jeans. I sighed, my expression rueful. Considering just how many puddles I had probably stepped in, I suppose I should be thankful I had left my sneakers in my workshop. Lifting my head to meet the now cautious brunette's eyes, I gave her a half smile and a shrug. "Legacy of a misspent youth?" I offered her, falling back on my customary excuse.

For a moment Uzume didn't respond. Then, almost against her will it seemed, a small smile spread on her lips. It was the same one that had graced them back when we had agreed on our unofficial truce on the Izumo's grounds: partly understanding, partly cynical, and partly resigned. "I guess everyone has problems of their own, even if they aren't Sekirei." She closed her eyes and shook her head before glancing down the hallway towards the baths. The excited and innocent shouts that came from them echoed softly through the corridor. When the ponytailed Sekirei looked back at me, that was much more understanding in her gaze. "I guess sometimes there are people who just aren't cut out for certain things, and then there are people who are." I had no doubt what she was implying with that statement.

My own smile was a bit wistful. "You ever wonder what it's like for the ones who aren't?" I asked her, half in jest and half in curiosity. The moment the words left my lips I shook my head. "Never mind," I retracted the question. It really wasn't appropriate for the environment, all things considered. Instead I changed the subject. "Have you seen Matsu recently? There are a few things I really want to talk to her about."

Things like cameras. And inappropriate uses for MBI satellites; uses like tracking her Ashikabi down after he deliberately went out of his way to be alone in order to fight an enemy magus to the death in an abandoned park.

"Oh," Uzume paused for a moment, her free hand coming up to tap her chin as she thought. "I think she's…" she began only to be interrupted.

"Shirou-tan!" the aforementioned hacker Sekirei shrieked from her room. A loud thump accompanied her words as her hidden door was thrown open and she began to thump down the stairs at apparently full speed. "Shirou-tan! The T.V!"

"Ah, Matsu," I began, my voice flat. "Just the girl I wanted to see. Tell me, just how long…"

That was as far as I got before the redhead in white raced past me, grabbing my arm and nearly yanking it from the socket as she dragged me along with her. "Not right now!" she ordered me in what was quite possibly the most authoritative voice I've ever heard her use with me. "The T.V! Quick!"

I had no more time than to make a quick 'Hrk?' noise before I discovered that while Matsu didn't quite have the enhanced powers that most of her species did, her being a brain type and all, she did have a bit more strength than I would expect from someone her size. I caught a quick glance of both Uzume and Akitsu looking confused before I was dragged away down the hall towards the dining room. "Matsu," I began, desperately trying to keep my footing as I was forced to follow the frantic redhead, "if this is another attempt to initiate 'experimentation' than going directly towards Miya probably isn't the smartest ide-whoa!" I finished my sentence with a surprised yelp as Matsu threw open the doors to the dining room where Miya, Homura, Shiina, and Kuu were all present, tossed me to the ground next to them and rushed over to the television, frantically scrabbling for the remote.

"Matsu-san!" Miya chimed in, raising one hand to cover her mouth as she began chiding the hacker. "What on earth…."

The landlady trailed off as the redhead finally managed to turn on the television. There, looking almost larger than life and entirely too pleased with himself, was Hiroto Minaka, the Director and head of MBI.

"People of Shin Tokyo," the effigy on the screen proclaimed in a voice laced with glee. "Rejoice! For a new age of the gods is upon us!"

All thoughts of how I would break the news of my imminent departure to my Sekirei vanished, as did all thoughts of just how I was going to make my displeasure about Matsu's spy system known to her. In fact, all movement in the room ceased as one. Even Kuu, as young as she was, seemed to sense the gravity of the situation.

"MBI has now officially moved to occupy Shin Tokyo," the Director of MBI continued. The white haired man in a completely white suit was standing in front of what appeared to be the giant clock present at the top of MBI headquarters. The background behind him was dark, darker than the current levels of light that had been present when I first returned back to Izumo House, indicating that this was prerecorded. "Though MBI will now take control of the city, the average citizen has no need to worry. We will not interfere with your daily lives. However, we will be beginning inspections of all who wish to enter or leave the capital. Have no fear; this will not impede the routine of the city." Here, Minaka paused, and his wide smiling face turned somewhat sinister in my eyes. "For most of you that is. However, there are a few in the city whom have certain responsibilities that they have accepted. As an issue of national security, I'm afraid that their continued presence remains paramount, and am thus forced to ensure their attendance to certain events through these measures. Do not worry. If you have not yet been informed of holding such duties, than you do not have them and are thus free to move about as you will. If you do have those duties however," and here Minaka seemed to channel his inner megalomaniac as he raised both hands up in a dramatic gesture, "then I look forward to seeing you carry them out, to the absolute best of your ability."

"It's finally here," Matsu whispered, her wide eyes locked on the screen, her face pale. Behind us out of the corner of my eye I could make out the rest of the house gathering, those fresh from the baths wearing nothing but their towels as they tried to figure out what had caused the outcry that had lured them from their warm water.

"What is going on here?" Tsukiumi demanded, her wet blond hair flopping about as she pointed a finger at the screen as though to skewer it for the impudence of interrupting her bath.

"The second stage of the Sekirei Plan has begun," I answered her, Matsu too busy taking in every detail of the broadcast as Minaka rambled on about the glory of the coming new age of the gods.

After that, in the silence my answer had brought, I felt myself compelled to express my emotional response in the most eloquent fashion available to me.

"Fuck."

Minaka had just announced that he was locking down the capital to a certain select few people. Obviously, those people were Ashikabi, the humans involved in the Sekirei Plan. I myself was one of those, which meant what might have been a tricky prospect of me escaping into unknown oblivion and disappearing from the eyes of the Mage's Association had now been rendered an infinitely more difficult task. Not only was I now going to be hunted by the Mage's Association if I remained still, but if I tried to flee MBI would take up the chase with equal fervor.

I said it again.

"Fuck."


	18. Eighteenth Wing

In Flight: Eighteenth Wing

_Author's notes: Well, here it is, another addition to In Flight. Let's see, first of all, reviews. A lot of disappointment that Shirou wasn't able to finish of his fight with Archibald without Akitsu busting down the door. Heh. Yeah, poor Shirou. It does look like having so many Sekirei is gonna result with him constantly getting interrupted before he can finish his own beat downs. Also, lots of curiosity with how Archibald had gotten his incantation out so fast. I probably should have considered making the distance between them a bit bigger, but I'm gonna have to say it was because he practiced a lot. New definition to the phrase 'fast talker' I suppose._

_I've been following my forums, and I'm pleased to see that a lot of interesting debates are forming there. It really gives me a chance to answer direct questions that readers might have, and has also been a good source of information on some of the more obscure points of the two universes I'm throwing at each other. Thanks a lot to all you posters out there. Now, chapter specifics._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_After just having mentioned how much I'm enjoying the forums, it's gonna seem like I might be throwing a shout out to them when Shirou mentions surfing some on his own. While it is pretty convenient, this was actually planned for a while. Sekirei, the series, always mentions how Ashikabi use certain sites to spread rumors and information. There was a point where an Ashikabi who lost his Sekirei used the site to post a bounty on Yukari and Shiina. Minato might never use them personally, but he tends to not be very proactive. Shirou on the other hand, well, he's soaking in information like a guy lost in a desert would soak in a cup of ice cold water. I'd been planning on having him access the sites since Matsu conned him into taking computer lessons from her._

_Next up, and this one is interesting to work with, Karasuba. The anime tends to portray her as a fiendish obsessive psychopath who cares only for the blood of her enemies and the inevitable duel with Musubi. Strangely enough, in the comics she comes across more as an approachable character rather polite to the people around her but a bit distant. I always got the impression that she enjoys fighting and killing, yes, but not slaughter. One of the reasons she's so obsessed with Musubi was because Musubi had the potential to be Yume's equal, and Karasuba always regretted not having beaten Yume before the number 8 died. Consequentially, I've chosen to portray her kind of like Lancer was, a straightforward fighter that will kill you, but only face to face and after the best fight he can get out of you. Shirou noticing this and getting along with her well enough is supposed to reflect that. Also, her reacting to Shirou. Well, in the original comic she started to react with Natsuo after he expresses a wish to have everyone in the world suffer like his friend had. I think she tends to react to people that are a little blood thirsty, and Shirou tends to fit that role well. He might not go out looking for a fight, but he's more than willing to enjoy the ones that come his way and end them without hesitation as well. I honestly think the two of them would get along pretty well. However, that would make Shirou by far the most broken Ashikabi in the game, and thus the two shall not be joined. Expect her to show up periodically wherein they will both tease each other mercilessly, and occasionally compliment the others kills._

_Finally, what I consider just as important an event as Karasuba and Shirou meeting, Musubi. When I first started In Flight, I had already dismissed Musubi as a relevant character at all and only kept her around for Karasuba. However, after long research for various scenes it struck me just how similar she was to Shirou in the first place. Both saved from hellish events, both adopting ideals from their saviors, Yume's love for love in Musubi's case, both too used to battle and pain, both capable of getting up from lethal injuries through sheer force of GAR, both starting out weak at the beginning and getting strong enough at the end to face down the most dangerous member of their respective tournaments, etc, etc. I wanted a point for Shirou to connect with each of his Sekirei with in order to keep all of them from being flat characters, and thus Musubi's distortion was formed. She won't be forming a reality marble of her own anytime soon, but now Shirou is going to have to deal with someone every bit as twisted as himself, and it'll be interesting to see how he handles that in the future, don't you think?_

_Now, if you enjoy the chapter, give me a shout. Questions, comments, concerns? Reviews or forums await. And join us next time, where bathroom shenanigans, Homura making Shirou very uncomfortable, and Miya finds herself a rival all await!_

_*Story Start*_

"You know," Seo began in a slow drawl. "When I first gave you my card, I really didn't expect you to use it for things like this." The man sitting beside me gave me a quick amused look before turning to face forward again.

"Oh?" I asked, leaning back in my seat. "What were you thinking I'd call you for?"

"Well," Seo began, extending the word for a moment or two. "I thought it'd be more along the lines of the Sekirei Plan. Ya know, tracking down Ashikabi or fighting off Sekirei or something. Not for using me to pick up broken heaters."

I shrugged. "It couldn't be helped. I don't have a driver's license after all." The beaten down old pickup truck that I was sitting in the passenger seat of hit a speed bump at a speed which was considerably faster than I thought appropriate, bouncing me against my seatbelt. "Besides, you have nothing to complain about," I continued, giving him a pointed look. "It's a fairly steady job, and it makes Miya a bit more generous when you come around for handouts. Hikari and Hibiki would toast you if you passed it up."

It had started a few days after Seo had originally given me his business card. For the most part I could handle my job as a repair man pretty easily. I could scan any appliance in a matter of seconds and detail precisely what was wrong with it in a heartbeat. Even getting the tools for the job had been simple, thanks to my ex-landlord. The hardest part had been getting to and from my appointments. I had managed it well enough, though I probably had looked fairly silly lugging a toolbox around over the mass transit system of Shin Tokyo, and had gotten even stranger looks when Akitsu had started carrying the box for me. But I had come across a small problem with my job when it came to picking up or dropping off appliances, or when I had to carry a great deal of spare parts for the job.

I had originally called Seo mostly because I wanted to have an excuse to spend some time with him so I could discreetly try and get a better feel of his character while building a good relationship with him. For all that I was fairly certain that he would have made a good ally, it never hurts to be on good terms with someone that I might be forced to rely on in combat. At first I had just wanted him to come along as an extra pair of hands to help carry things. He hadn't been too interested at just being a pack mule, so I had jokingly asked him if he had a car.

The next day when he was supposed to show up to give me a hand I discovered that he did indeed have one. I have no idea where he managed to scrounge it up, though my first guess would be that he had stole it from some kind of scrapheap. The battered hunk of mobile rust was the oldest and most uninspired mode of transportation I had ever come across. It must have taken a level of mechanical skill that would translate over to magecraft as the level of sorcery, but somehow the scruffy looking man had managed to get the rolling hunk of rust to work. Since then whenever I needed a way to transport something unusually heavy and bulky, rather than have Akitsu do it and get stared at, I had called upon my new unofficial taxi service.

Seo hadn't been too thrilled about such an inglorious part time job, but his girls had apparently been adamant that he take the opportunity and make enough money for them to eat something other than rice. Since then I was probably Seo's most regular employer. That had apparently been enough for even the thunder and lightning twins to warm up to my presence, despite Seo assuring me that I still apparently gave them the heebie jeebies.

"Ha! Ain't that the truth," the other Ashikabi laughed uproariously at my observation. "I think Miya just does that so she can get a kick out of watching me suffer through having to lift the damn things." I shook my head, not mentioning that I agreed with his guess. Whenever it was time to move whatever new gadget I was working on at the moment from the beat up old truck to my workshop, Miya would always insist that there was something I needed to attend to in the house, and then stick around to watch her husband's old friend grumble as he was forced to manhandle whatever heavy and awkward thing I was working on by himself. "What the hell did you do to manage to get on her good side so fast?"

"You know, I have no idea," I admitted. "Maybe it was the time that I managed to keep up with her in a spar for five minutes." The car jerked as Seo unconsciously twitched at my musing. "Whatever it was, it wasn't enough to get her to teach me that technique of hers." I grumbled. Progress had been made in developing it myself, progress aided by the assistance of an unlucky test subject.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't what Matsu had been expecting when I told her that to make up for the spy camera's she would be helping me with some 'experimentation'. I had reached the point where I could get it down one out of every three times, though I still haven't figured out just what it was I was making. Matsu's terrified gibbering usually involved phrases like 'too many arms' and 'dear god, why does it have so many faces?'

Well, no use worrying about it. Matsu still had two more days of enforced assistance in her punishment, and I was making steady progress.

"I don't think Shin Tokyo is ready for two hannyas," Seo told me, giving me a weird look. I decided not to correct him about the assumption. He appeared to give the idea thought, and then shuddered briefly and turned back to keeping his attention on the road. "So just why are you still doing this anyway?" he asked quickly, sounding like he was trying to change the subject in order to help himself think about something else.

"Doing what?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. Seo gestured vaguely behind him, towards the bed of the truck and the three heaters I was going to have to disassemble later on in order to get to the parts that needed replacing. Akitsu was huddled amongst them, my loyal Sekirei unable to fit into the cab of the truck and thus forced to ride in back with the merchandise. Well, she could fit I suppose, but when the option of sitting on my lap had arisen her cheeks had colored and she had silently moved to sit amongst my work load. She had been making real progress with human contact, but it seemed there were still things she wasn't quite comfortable with.

"This," he responded vaguely. "I mean, keeping up with the job and all. It can't be easy, now that the second stage has begun," he pointed out, and it was all I could do to keep a grimace off my face.

It had been five days since I had my encounter with Archibald. Five days since I determined that the only option left to me was to disappear. Five days since the city had been locked down so tightly that that option was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Minaka hadn't played around when it came to making sure that none of the players in the Sekirei Plan would have the chance of leaving the game. After his original proclamation was aired, overnight Shin Tokyo had transformed into something I would expect out of a warzone. By dawn the next day all the roads out of the city had been blockaded. Not just with a few personnel with stop signs, but by genuine armored vehicles, and whole squads of soldiers. Not only the roads, but the train stations as well had full squads patrolling them, armed with rifles and PDA's that they used to check everyone going into or out of a station. Not just the trains out of Shin Tokyo, but even the ones that only ran within the city limits. Even the streets themselves were being patrolled by soldiers on foot, armored vehicles in caravans, and even freaking helicopters circling the city at apparently random.

I had no idea that MBI had had such an enormous number of combat force available to it, and it must have cost a fortune to hire, train, outfit, and deploy them, but they were out in force now. Part of me had to admire the thoroughness of the company's preparation. From an objective standpoint I could even consider it a good idea. With this much weight behind them MBI would have no problem evacuating innocent bystanders out of the way of any potential battles between Sekirei, and respond just as quickly to retrieve and supply medical attention to any of the aliens that needed it.

A much larger part of me on the other hand was slumped over in despair and pounding its fists on the floor in rage. This was not what I needed, not now, not with the Clock Tower closing in on me.

At least, I assumed the Clock Tower was closing in on me anyway. It had been five days, and there had been no further attempts by magi to retrieve me. That was not the Enforcer's MO at all. In five days any Sealing Designate that they were attempting to capture would have more than enough time to collect their research, destroy their workshop, and then disappear. If it hadn't been for the second stage choosing precisely the worst moment to start I could have done the same in three hours. The best I could figure out for why it was that I hadn't been turned into a specimen by now was that maybe the Clock Tower just didn't know where I was. The Archibald family was an old one, and that meant old money. In order to satisfy their grudge against Kiritsugu they very well could have been using their own resources to find me completely without the Clock Tower's knowledge.

Even if that was the case, it wouldn't matter. I might have a bit more time before I have to seriously face off against the might of the Mage's Association, but that wouldn't last long. However they had managed to locate me the fact was that the Archibalds had located me. If it could be done once, it could be done again. Or with their new heir already dead, they might simply decide to cut their losses and give my location away to the Enforcers themselves, using the trained combat magi to take their revenge for them. The fact was that every day I spent in the same location they had found me increased the likelihood of them coming for me again.

The only potential redeeming aspect of MBI's occupation was that if more magi did come after me, then it could serve every bit as much an impediment to them as it had to me. It wouldn't be easy to get a significant number of Enforcer's into the city, not in its current state. Nor would they be able to use the full range of their spells, not with so many potential witnesses. And even if they did capture me, trying to smuggle my body out of the city would be no easy task; especially since I was an Ashikabi and one of the people that the troops were here to stop from leaving in the first place.

"Well," I began, finally answering Seo's question. "Gotta find a way to make money somehow. Just because the Sekirei Plan has advanced doesn't change the fact that I need to pay the bills."

"Oh?" Seo raised an eyebrow, sneaking another quick glance at me as he took a turn at speeds that probably weren't safe in order to sneak past a yellow light about to go red. "What about your MBI card? The thing has no limit and you should have gotten one from each of your Sekirei."

I snorted at the suggestion. "So why aren't you using yours instead of begging off of Miya?" I challenged him back. Seo's eyes narrowed and a fierce grin split his lips as he let the topic go. The man was canny. I had little doubt he had destroyed his card the moment he received it. I had contemplated doing just that, but decided to hold off for the moment. Who knows, I might find a use for the thing eventually.

The scruffy man in the driver's seat next to me shook his head in amusement. "Who would have thought, the Ashikabi of the North forced to do things like fix washing machines despite his fearsome reputation."

This time I didn't bother to hold back my grimace. "That is without a doubt the stupidest title I've ever heard."

The Ashikabi of the North. Back when I first encountered Kakizaki he had said that his employer was the 'Ashikabi of the East', Izumi Higa. I hadn't understood what the title had meant at the time, but it had only taken one session with Matsu and the profiles to realize the implications.

Homura had once told me that while it wasn't common, at times there would be Ashikabi that could attract multiple Sekirei. With the second stage in motion it meant that the number of unwinged Sekirei left was only ten, maybe less by this point. With over ninety eight Sekirei winged by this point there were now only eight Ashikabi that had multiple Sekirei. Four of them, Seo included, had simply winged a pair of Sekirei, in two cases twin sisters like Hibiki and Hikari were. Seo himself didn't have an interest in participating in the Sekirei plan, and from what I could tell from the research Matsu had done the other twin Sekitei and their Ashikabi tended to keep to themselves as well. The third Ashikabi with two Sekirei I had already met: Kakizaki himself. I was already quite familiar with his two Sekirei, seeing as we had nearly had the chance to fight to the death not so long ago. The final one, well, that Ashikabi was in the employ of MBI itself, and the two Sekirei he had were mostly occupied with running errands for the company.

However, the last four Ashikabi, myself included, had somehow managed to evolve into the unofficial powers that resided in the city.

One of the first things that Matsu had taught me about using a computer was about 'forums'. The idea of socializing with people that I had never met and would probably never see face to face was a little disturbing to me, but I guess it was a good way for people of great geographical distance from each other to communicate about topics they were interested in. It shouldn't have surprised me in the least that the Ashikabi residing in Shin Tokyo had created a place to discuss the Sekirei Plan amongst themselves, and somewhere along the line a site for Ashikabi to gather had came into being.

For the most part the forum was filled with speculation about the Plan, questions about other's Sekirei, and bragging about their own aliens. There were a few threads that were actually interesting, including one that was apparently meant for Ashikabi to use to schedule matches between the Sekirei, and another one that listed dangerous Ashikabi and Sekirei. Listed most prominently among the dangerous Ashikabi were the four of us who had managed to find ourselves with numerous partners. For some reason posters had taken to dividing the city into four parts, one for each of the cardinal directions, and the title of 'Ashikabi of the…' had been attributed to whichever of us were living in that part of the city.

The first was the one of the West, Nishi Sanada. With only three Sekirei he had the smallest force gathered to him of the Four Great Ashikabi. Kakizaki had described him as an 'uncouth and scruffy miscreant' and from what I had gathered he fit the description rather well; a biker, no set residence, no employment, and no close family in the area. Everything I had gathered about him indicated that he had no particular interest in the Sekirei Plan at all.

The second was the one of the South, Mikogami Hayato. A young wealthy heir with a mansion in the southern part of Shin Tokyo, he was the Ashikabi in the city that had the single largest number of Sekirei under him. With twenty three Sekirei winged, the thought of him was enough to raise my hackles. I could have seen Nishi winging three naturally and according to their own choice, but causing nearly two dozen Sekirei to react? Either Mikogami was some kind of natural born high powered Ashikabi like I was myself, or he was one of the unscrupulous people who have been taking the aliens by force.

I already was familiar with the third great Ashikabi, Izumi Higa. Another wealthy heir, this time to a medical company which he was the CEO of that was located to the East. I was already well aware of his nature. Considering what I knew of his methods it was possible that he had even more than the fifteen Sekirei MBI's database had attributed to him at his beck and call through blackmail, intimidation, or flat out hiring.

I suppose that if I had a little more public exposure the title of Ashikabi of the North might have become known as mine. My original plan had been to remain the hidden and unnoted presence in the north, appearing only when it was important for me to achieve my objectives. I had cast that hope aside once Kakizaki had ambushed and identified me. However, it looked like that for all my certainty that I would achieve widespread recognition for my deeds when searching for Tsukiumi I had somehow managed to slip the noose. It looked like I wasn't the only noticeable figure of the north.

However, despite my lucky dodge over wide spread fame, Seo had somehow managed to put together the fact that I was, be it officially or unofficially, the best candidate for the title Ashikabi of the North.

And he never let me forget it either, the jerk.

Seo laughed at my grumbling. "Come on now," he goaded me. "It can't be that bad. You should cheer up! You're a big shot! You should hear some of the scary rumors that are being spread around."

"You mean the one about how if you're naughty in the North a hannya will eat you?" I volunteered, and we both grinned at that one. I don't know who had done it, but at one point it seemed a particularly stupid Ashikabi had managed to piss of Miya. The legend the incident had spawned continued to grow with each post. She had a dozen threads dedicated to her, and most of them involved advice like 'always carry a protective charm on nights with no moon'.

"Nah," Seo continued, slamming on the breaks and causing the tires to screech across the asphalt as he skidded to a halt inches away from the fender of the car stopped at the red light ahead of us. "The one about the 'Grim Reaper' Sekirei and the 'Devil' Ashikabi. Finally get bored of sitting around?" he gave me a measuring look hid behind a grin as he asked me whether I had started to officially participate in the Sekirei Plan. He seemed surprised when I shook my head negative.

"No," I sighed, propping my forehead onto my hand as I did so. "That one's my sister." Once more protective big brother instincts began to war with a growing pride over my siblings success, pride which was quickly overshadowed by the embarrassment of the manner in which she claimed her victories. The stories being spread about her on the internet were starting to get almost as wild as the ones about Miya. A thread was already beginning to grow, and the advice given there was 'always wear a cup'. I shuddered as I remembered the night I bore witness to just what it was Yukari could do with those boots of hers.

"That little shrew?" Seo whistled, impressed. It had been impossible to keep the two from meeting, seeing how often I was forced to rely on Seo's truck in my line of work. The meeting had me nervous about whether or not I would be forced to kill the roguish man in order to protect my precocious little sister at first, and then Seo had mentioned something about his preference in breast size in comparison to hers and the next thing I knew Yukari was storming off and Seo was clutching his groin and wheezing. Miya had been so amused that she had even forgone her patented 'No Violence in Izumo House' speeches. "That somehow doesn't surprise me in the least," the gregarious man laughed. I guess only someone who was used to being electrocuted regularly would be able to laugh at an incident like that later.

"So far I only managed to find one rumor about me personally," I admitted, leaning back further in the seat as Seo cut through two lanes of traffic and took a turn with a symphony of angry horns behind him.

"Oh?" Seo raised an eyebrow, curious to hear just what the internet had to say about someone like me. "What's that?"

"'If you see an Ashikabi with two swords, run,'" I quoted. It looks like the impression I had made on Kakizaki had been a lasting one.

"That one's about you?" Seo shook his head, 'tsking' under his breath. "Well, it looks like the North is turning into a pretty scary place," he concluded. "With three different rumors most Ashikabi are starting to prefer staying out of this corner of the city." He gave me a wicked grin. "But that's probably what you were trying for anyway, wasn't it?"

I shook my head ruefully. "Anyone ever tell you you're a lot smarter than you look?" I adjusted my weight as he took another curve at high speeds, the battered truck actually managing to drift around the corner before settling into the lane he had been aiming for.

"Not that often," he chuckled.

*Scene Break*

By the time we had finished unloading the heaters into my warehouse, a growing feeling of unease had begun in me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, just what was wrong, but as Seo gave me a careless wave over his shoulder while pulling out of the lot empty except for my shed I knew that something wasn't quite right.

"Akitsu," I began as I made my way towards the shoji screen that would lead into the inn, a rustling from her place letting me know I had her attention. "Be ready." A second rustling, this time accompanied by a clink of her chains let me know that she had taken my warning seriously. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but then again when you have an organization of magi after you there might be no such thing as being paranoid.

At first glance, it didn't seem that there was anything amiss, but the house seemed unusually quiet for some reason. It wasn't unusual for Yukari to have taken Shiina out with her at this time of the day, usually to abuse her MBI card in order to further her collection of 'research material'. A scent of the air let me know that Uzume was gone as well. However, Miya, Matsu, Homura, Tsukiumi, Kuu, and Musubi were all within range of my detection. Normally I'd expect to hear Tsukiumi's strident voice being punctuated with Musubi's own cheerful interjections, or maybe Kuu's laugh as she played around with her 'nee-sans'. I strained my ears, running a trace of od through them in order to reinforce them slightly, and I could make out Musubi chatting with someone quietly from our room.

She didn't sound like she was troubled, but she did sound excited for some reason, so I began making my way down the hall, intending to see what going on. It wasn't until I made it to the stairs that I finally ran into someone else. Tsukiumi had perched herself underneath the steps, leaning backwards with one leg propped against the wall with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

"Tsukiumi," I began, meaning to ask her what it was that was going on when I was interrupted by her startling, nearly losing her balance and sliding down the wall a few inches before recovering herself.

"Shirou," she snapped, surprise etched on her face. "You're back!" For a moment, relief tinged her voice, and a smile started to form, but then she froze. "Damn," the water user swore, one hand trailing up to her lips as she started to gnaw on her thumb. "You couldn't have taken another hour or so?"

Now that was a reaction that surprised me. Ever since the water user had joined my flock, she had seemed to regard my absence as akin to a personal insult to her. When she had learned that I would spend most of my mornings away from the house and alone with Akitsu while I was earning money for the rent, she had snapped and demanded that she be allowed to accompany the two of us to ensure that we weren't just slipping away in order to get some private time together. She had spent five days stalking me while I was on the clock before she finally conceded that I really was working, and opting out of coming with me every day. It had taken a direct order to keep her from following me into my workshop, but she had been assuaged by the fact that not even Akitsu was allowed into my sanctum and let that one slide. Despite her making concessions to me not spending every waking hour with her, it wasn't uncommon for her to pin me to a wall the moment I got back and grill me incessantly over what had happened while I was out.

This was the first time she had ever greeted my return by saying it would be better if I had taken longer.

"Tsukiumi," I began, my eyes narrowing as I started to grow tense. "What's going on?"

"Musubi has an unpleasant guest," the water user explained, her eyes trailing up to the second floor as she scowled in the direction of our room. "It might be better if you were to head to your little shack and stay there for an hour or two."

"An unpleasant guest?" I repeated, relaxing slightly. If it was just an acquaintance of Musubi then it was unlikely that it was associated with anything that had to do with thaumaturgy. Mostly unlikely. I suppose there was the possibility that it could be a magi hypnotizing the cheerful brunette, but I wasn't certain that was possible at this point. Sekirei were, after all, a different species despite how closely they resembled my own. There was no way of knowing if they were even compatible enough for mind affecting magecraft to be effective on them. Well, if it was just an old friend of Musubi's then it was most likely a Sekirei. I scented the air, paying more attention to the powers I detected. It was difficult, with so many of the species around to, to make out individual scents at this point. It was only thanks to long exposure to my own flock that I was able to accurately deduce who was or wasn't present. Maybe that was the source of my unease? If there was a new power mixed into the lot then it might be too faint for me to identify it properly and yet still recognize that there was something off. "Anyone I know?" I asked halfheartedly, mostly on reflex.

Tsukiumi snorted, an unfeminine sound bordering on a growl. "Not unless you've met MBI's Dog before," she muttered, her eyes lifting up again as though to glare through the walls and floor at the source of her ire. Beside me, from Akitsu's usual position, I felt the temperature of the air plummet, falling at least ten degrees in a matter of seconds. "Please, Shirou," she began again, her anger disappearing as she gave me a worried glance. "Just go back out to your shed for an hour or so. I won't feel safe knowing something like that is near you."

"MBI's Dog?" I repeated, glancing over at Akitsu in surprise as I noticed wisps of fog forming in the air around her. Alright, if it was someone they all knew and apparently didn't like very much at all then it was fair to guess that it wasn't a magi at least. I focused harder, trying to discern the powers surrounding me, and then I finally noticed what was disturbing me. It was Miya, or her scent anyway. There was something missing from it. The coppery tinge of blood was there, yes, but the accompanying honey sweet odor that all Sekirei possessed was different, less full, less tangible. More than that, the third scent was gone entirely, the lingering remorse that hung around the landlady. It only took me a few moments to realize that the power I had taken as the landlady's was someone else's entirely.

Despite the differences I couldn't help but feel I had felt this aura before. The scent of blood, the instant apparent distaste and dislike from every other Sekirei who knew the person, except for Musubi apparently…

Ah.

"You mean Karasuba, don't you?" I half asked half announced. Tsukiumi started at my guess, giving me a brief look of surprised before resuming biting her thumbs in worry. At the name the air around me cooled a few more degrees, before Akitsu apparently realized what she was doing and relaxed her power a bit, allowing the room to begin warming again.

"How do you know the Black Sekirei?" Tsukiumi demanded of me, gnawing away at her finger as she did so. With a sigh, I began heading towards the stairs.

"We've met," I told the newest addition to my flock. She hadn't been here when I first gave the brief description of my introduction to the first Sekirei I ever met, but from the clink of Akitsu's chain I could tell she remembered what had happened well enough. When Tsukiumi saw that I was about to ignore her advice about going to my workshop until the guest was gone she started to push herself up off the wall where she had been standing guard before hesitating, my confession of being previously acquainted with the blood soaked Sekirei giving her pause. I started to head upstairs as I continued, "It wouldn't do to not say hello while she's around."

I had only managed to make it three steps up the stairway when I felt something tug at my pant leg. "Wait, Shirou!" Tsukiumi gasped, clutching onto the piece of fabric she had grasped. "You may have met before, but you have no idea what that monster is really like," she told me, her eyes frantic.

"Oh, I might have an idea or two," I assured her dryly. "Don't worry. I'm sure that Musubi and Akitsu will be enough to keep her from trying something. And if worse comes to worse, we can always sic Miya on her."

The haughty blonde flushed at my words, but they seemed to be enough for her to slowly release my pant leg, as she turned away, folding her arms imperiously. "O-of course I'm allowed to be worried," she huffed, refusing to look in my direction. "I am your legal wife after all." She darted a quick glance at me before looking away just as fast. "Just be careful, Shirou," she ordered me.

"Yes, dear," I couldn't keep a grin from my face as my proper use of the term to address a wife lit her already red cheeks up like a spotlight. Resuming my pace it was a matter of moments before I was in front of the door to our room, Musubi's cheerful voice muffled but audible behind it. I considered just going in, but decided since she had company knocking would be more appropriate. Gently rapping my knuckle against the closed door, I called out. "Musubi, are you there? I heard you had a guest."

"Ah! Shirou-san," the excitable shrine girl called out in response to my redundant question. "It's Karasuba-sama. She came to visit. Come in!"

I had been expecting the invitation, so I was already opening the door by the time I heard the sanguine Sekirei speak up in what sounded like amusement. "Muu-chan, maybe it would be better if I…" was as far as Karasuba managed to get before the door was open enough for me to see into the room, and instantly I slammed the door shut again, my face turning red as I did so.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Minato-chan?" the amused sound of Karasuba's raised voice drifted into the hallway as I took deep breaths to try and suppress my embarrassment.

"Karasuba," I began, hoping I kept the fluster out of my voice. "Why are you naked?" I had expected to find the ash haired Sekirei in the same black and grey ensemble that she had sported the first time we had met, or maybe a more casual set of clothes, not to find the her wearing nothing but a smile and a scrunchy. The tall swordswoman laughed at my direct question, no doubt enjoying my discomfort.

"This scatterbrain here was watering the lawn and didn't notice me coming until she had already soaked me," Karasuba explained, her use of the word 'scatterbrain' tinged with affectionate amusement. "Muu-chan was just about to lend me something to wear while my clothes dried when you came in."

"Minato?" Musubi chimed in, sounding confused by the unfamiliar name before apparently dismissing it in favor of her curiosity. "Shirou-san, why didn't you come in?"

"Musubi," I began slowly, finally getting control of myself. "I want you to think carefully about my lessons and tell me how you think inviting a man into a room with a naked woman falls under them."

A moment of silence settled in the hallway before Musubi let loose an understanding gasp. "Oh! That wouldn't be 'decent' or 'common sense' at all, would it?" she finally concluded, and I heard a thump sound as she either pounded one fist against an open hand in understanding or bonked the fist against her head in self recrimination. "Who would have thought decency and common sense would be so hard?" she lamented mournfully.

"We'll keep working on them," I promised the shrine girl who I was pretty certain at the moment was looking like a kicked dog.

A soft laugh drifted through the closed door. "So Minato-chan is your Ashikabi, Muu-chan?" the swordswoman asked. "Who would have thought."

"Don't call me that," I spoke up, finally noticing just which name Karasuba was using to refer to me. "And if you're dressed, then why don't you two come down stairs to the dining room? I can make some tea and snacks while we're waiting for your clothes to dry."

"Yay! Snacks!" Musubi cheered, and then paused. "And who's Minato?"

*Scene Break*

"Muu-chan said that you were a wonderful cook," Karasuba remarked, taking a dainty bite out of one of the sandwiches I had thrown together in a hurry. "She's right. Even if these are simple they're surprisingly good." The ponytailed Sekirei gave me a gentle smile, her eyes half lidded in her usual benevolent expression.

"Thank you," I told her politely. "If you had a bit more time then I could have made something a little more complicated. Are you sure you don't want to stay over for dinner?" Tsukiumi gaped at me after I gave my invitation, and I'm pretty sure that the look Akitsu threw me was equally incredulous; at least by the snow woman's standards anyway.

"That would be great! I could introduce you to everyone else as well," Musubi nodded instantly, sounding like she would truly enjoy having the grey haired Sekirei over longer. She pouted when Karasuba shook her head negative.

"I wouldn't mind, but I don't think the landlady would appreciate the extra company," she explained, sounding amused by both the offer and the imagined consequences of accepting said offer.

It was like a surreal scene straight out of Alice in Wonderland, lacking only a mad hatter. I still wasn't sure where Kuu or Homura were, and I could make a guess as why Matsu was deliberately hiding from an MBI agent, but when Tsukiumi had heard that I was going to be treating MBI's Dog to tea she had insisted on being present. Her and Akitsu had both claimed spots at the table at my side and were now using the opportunity to glare wordlessly at the unconcerned swordswoman who sat with the last present member of my flock opposite me. Musubi hadn't seemed to notice the tension the two of them were feeling, and both Karasuba and I were treating the encounter as just an ordinary meeting between a girl's friend and her, well I guess boyfriend counted as the best term.

"So how have you been, Minato-chan?" the alien opposite me asked with honest curiosity in her tone. So far the blood soaked Sekirei hadn't made one threatening move at me, or even displayed anything resembling hostility. Instead she kept her half lidded eyes politely on my face, only glancing away whenever Musubi spoke up so she could pay attention to the shrine girl.

"Don't call me that," I corrected her instantly, a brief grimace crossing my face. "And as for how I'm doing, well…" I trailed off. How was I doing? I was currently involved in a massive battle royale that I was inadvertently entered in after accidently mating with half a dozen alien creatures and had a ancient intercontinental secret organization attempting to either assassinate me or lock me up for a leisurely dissection. "Well, I'm surviving for the moment," I finally finished, scratching the back of my head awkwardly as I did so. "How about yourself? Still roughing up innocent airline passengers, or is your duty in the Disciplinary Squad keeping you too busy?"

The Disciplinary Squad was MBI's small flock of personal enforcers, the unit of Sekirei bound to one of their employees and responsible for making sure that the others of their species continued to abide by the rules. When Matsu had first told me of their existence she had warned me that they were dangerous and to be avoided at all costs. I wasn't too certain of that myself. So far the Disciplinary Squad was responsible for three level threes and two level fours, all of which had originally been attempting to violate the rules of the Plan. Currently my own flock had a total of four level threes and my own personal contribution of a level four. If the fight between Toyotama and Ichiya hadn't been interrupted than I was sure that there would have been at least two more level fours, possibly level fives depending on how the battle had went.

All said and done it was hard for me to look at a group that had the same number of 'kills' and had done all of theirs for the sake of protecting the integrity of the game with instant contempt. Hell, if the Grail War had had an organization as efficient as the Disciplinary Squad instead of the crooked priest Kirei maybe it wouldn't have turned out as bloody as it had.

"No, you're still a special case, Mina-chan," Karasuba laughed before sipping her tea. A brief look of enjoyment flushed across her face as she glanced down at her cup, before her smile widened and she took a second sip. "As for work, I tend to delegate most of the jobs to my subordinates."

"One of the perks to being at the top," I noted. "And don't call me that either."

"Shirou," Tsukiumi chimed in, alternating between glaring at Karasuba and giving me an accusing look of my own. "Why does that," she emphasized 'that' while glaring across the table at the grey haired Sekirei who responded to the hostility with a brief widening of her smile, "keep calling 'Minato'?"

I shrugged. "Because that's what my name used to be: Minato Sahashi," I admitted. Tsukiumi blinked in surprise and my confession, and I decided to give her a brief explanation. "When I was young there was a fire, and everyone thought I was orphaned. My new name is the one I was adopted under."

Musubi tilted her head to the side, one hand resting on her chin as she gave me a curious look. "So if you know what your old name was, why didn't you go back to using it?" she asked me innocently.

I gave my third Sekirei a brief smile. "I've been Shirou Emiya for a long time now. It's the name that means the most to me."

Karasuba shook her head in amused consternation at my reply. "You know, Muu-chan," she turned briefly to her friend. "You really do have an interesting Ashikabi." The bear Sekirei blinked, and then beamed back at the older alien next to her.

"Shirou-san is the best," she crowed. "He's kind, and a good cook, and strong enough to beat Sekirei on his own, and he can smell Sekirei…"

"Musubi!" I snapped at the same time Tsukiumi did, the two of us interrupting the shrine girl's list of just why I was the best Ashikabi ever, but by then the damage had been done. Karasuba's gaze drifted back to me, and one of her eyebrows cocked as her smile widened even more. With a sigh I buried my face into my hand. "Musubi, I think the next thing we're going to have to work on is 'discretion'."

"'Discretion'?" Musubi repeated, glancing back and forth between a furiously glaring Tsukiumi and myself. "It that important?"

"Smell Sekirei?" Karasuba repeated, her voice curious. I glanced up to find her giving me teasing glare. "So what do I smell like, Sahashi-chan?" she joked.

"The blood of the countless hundreds you've slaughtered," I told her, and then frowned. "And I told you, my name is Shirou Emiya," I corrected her again, warning in my voice. The sanguine Sekirei blinked at my bluntness, looking surprised at my declaration. At my side Akitsu shifted, her chain clinking at her fidgeting, and Tsukiumi gave me a startled look as I revealed that yes, I really did know what kind of woman Karasuba was.

"And that doesn't bother you at all?" Karasuba asked, curiosity dominant in her voice. I got the impression that she wasn't used to people treating her battle accomplishments so lightly.

"You came here without a sword to talk to an old friend, despite knowing that it would put you in the nest of a flock," I pointed out. With a sigh I straightened, taking a sip of tea as I did so. "You had to have known just who this building belongs to. Whatever might happen later, right now you're just a guest. Besides, I have a pretty good idea just why it was you killed most of the people you did, so I can't really hold it against you."

"Shirou," Tsukiumi began, but trailed off, the look she was giving full of confusion. Finally she nodded. "Of course," she began, her voice confident. "I've been lax in my duty as the legal wife. Straightening, she bowed to the surprised Karasuba. "Welcome to our home," she declared sternly. "Please, enjoy your time here."

"I'm the legal wife too!" Musubi chimed in, fuming at the water user at having claimed the title the two did battle over regularly.

"There can be only one legal wife," Tsukiumi retorted, now turning her glare at her rival. "And that's me. You're the concubine." Musubi didn't appear to want to take that decision lying down, but right when she was about to retort she was interrupted as Karasuba began to chuckle softly.

"Muu-chan really did find a good Ashikabi," she decided, taking another bite of sandwich as she did so. "I wonder if I'll find one that's as fun as you, 'Nato-chan."

"I'm sure you will, Karasuba-sama," Musubi began, just as I spoke out, the warning in my voice growing, "If you call me by that name one more time…"

"Oh?" Karasuba spoke up, apparently deciding to answer my response first. "If I call you that one more time, what?" She didn't sound like she took my threat at all seriously; using the same affectionate tone she had when she called Musubi a scatterbrain. Still, the challenge had been set. Deliberately, I cleared the remaining sandwiches I had assembled off the round silver platter I had brought them out on. Taking the platter, I put it directly in front of me, the knife I had used to cut the sandwiches beside it. The rest of the room looked on in curiosity at my unusual behavior, Karasuba cocking her head to the side as she tried to figure out what I was doing.

Finally, I looked her dead in the eyes and told her, "Try it and find out."

For a moment, Karasuba studied me carefully, and then her smile returned. "Mina-"

Before she could get the third syllable of my birth name out I had already picked up the silver tray. With a brief round of Alteration, the disc turned from a dull serving utensil to a dangerous albeit unusual blade. I launched myself out of my sitting position, crossing the table in a heartbeat, and brought the improvised weapon down in a move which would have buried it into Karasuba's forehead if she hadn't already been moving. The blood soaked Sekirei twisted, her body moving fast out of the line of attack, her hand automatically drifting towards her side to grasp a sword that wasn't there. Her eyes widened, and the grin on her face turned savage as the platter buried itself into the tatami mat where she had been sitting moments ago. Her eager eyes met my serious ones, and then we both froze, separated by less than a foot of distance.

"My name," I repeated, my voice hard, "is Shirou Emiya." I had fought and killed for the sake of this name. I had worn it across countless battlefields, bore it and the history and the ideals it represented proudly. I would be damned if let some bloodthirsty upstart alien try to trample on it. Not even my own mother was allowed to do that.

"Shirou/Shirou-san, what are you doing?" two voices shrieked out in perfect unison except for an honorific as both Musubi and Tsukiumi reacted to my sudden and unexpected attack. A cracking noise came as all the tea on the table suddenly froze, shattering under the unexpected stress the reaction had put the ice structures through, and the air temperature in the room dropped noticeably.

Neither Karasuba nor I reacted to the rest of the room's shock. We both knew that hadn't been a serious attack, and now it was obvious Karasuba was trying to decide if she was just going to let it go or escalate the situation. We were too busy staring each other down, unwilling to be the first to break the deadlock. The promise of combat seemed to excite the swordswoman, her breath coming in small but noticeable gasps, and heat came to her cheeks as her body quivered in anticipation. I had little doubt that anyone who had seen as much combat as she had would also enjoy the battlefields she found herself in. It was a feeling I was familiar with. She looked like she was enjoying it so much that it vaguely reminded me of…

"Oh hell," I swore, backing away quickly, once more startling the room around me. Karasuba blinked, surprise drifting across her face as if she had completely forgotten just what was going on and only now realized where she was. "You're reacting!" I accused the Sekirei frozen in the motion of drawing a sword that wasn't there.

Once more, my actions caused the room to freeze. For a moment the rest of my flock was as motionless as the still blinking Karasuba. Tsukiumi was the first to properly recover.

"Shi-ro-u," the blonde ground out, glaring at me. One hand clenched in a fist, she pointed a finger across the table at Karasuba. "Are you trying to tell me that you're going to get ANOTHER Sekirei?" Rather than seem upset over the fact that I was reacting with a walking genocide the water user seemed focused on the fact that there might soon be yet another rival for my affection entering the scene.

Musubi on the other hand seemed frozen in place, staring wide eyed at her friend. "Karasuba-sama," the normally excitable girl sounded like she was feeling faint and having trouble focusing. "Is it true?"

"Looks like the secrets out," Karasuba admitted, her grin sheepish as she held up her hands as if to say 'oops'. Rather than address her friend directly the swordswoman's eyes were focused on me, fully opened, her look measuring. I met her gaze just as directly as I had when I had swung the platter at her, though now I was once more across the table from her. I briefly considered backing away further. After all, I tended to put the 'react' in 'overreact' sometimes. I wasn't certain I wanted to see an overwhelmed Karasuba come after my lips anytime soon. I don't think the proud swordswoman would like having her control compromised like that.

The happy squeal that Musubi released at the confirmation was loud enough that I was faintly worried it might shatter the teacups as the shrine girl launched herself into a vigorous tackle hug. I was faintly surprised that it didn't send the ash haired Sekirei to the ground with its force, but Musubi really hadn't had much space to build up momentum and I was pretty sure that Karasuba was a lot tougher than her thin frame implied. "That's great, Karasuba-sama!" she shrieked, her arms around her prey as she bounced excitedly in place. "I'm so happy! We can both be together with Shirou, and we can take baths together, and sleep together, and…"

Even as Musubi continued to hastily list all the things being on my flock would mean, Karasuba never took her eyes off me. I had a suspicion that things weren't going to work out quite as neatly as Musubi seemed to think they would.

"Do you want to get winged by me?" I finally interrupted her when the shrine girl paused to take a breath, still bouncing in place with her arms around the motionless Karasuba. MBI's dog cocked her head to the side, eyes still open and a playful smirk dancing on her lips.

"What would you do if I said 'no'?" she retorted in a teasing tone. Musubi flinched, drawing back to arms length as her head whipped back and forth between the two of us. Tsukiumi was quietly chewing on her thumb again, her own expression worried. Akitsu shifted once, her chain clinking, and gave no other reaction to the unfolding conversation.

"Leave the room," I answered bluntly. It apparently wasn't the response she had been expecting because she blinked twice at it and her expression turned curious. I elaborated. "You look like you're handling it well enough, but I tend to cause extreme reactions if I'm around an unwinged Sekirei for too long. If you don't want me to wing you then it would be better if we not met again until you have an Ashikabi to counter the effect."

"How thoughtful of you," Karasuba responded, her smile returning. Even the Mona Lisa's expression was easier to read than the blood soaked Sekirei's. I had no idea what was going on behind those studying eyes and twisted lips.

A sudden bang interrupted our staring match as we both jumped in surprise. On the other side of the table Musubi had slammed both her palms onto the table top. The shrine girl was on her knees, leaning forward so she was halfway over the surface, and for the third time ever I had the opportunity to witness Musubi enraged. "Stop that!" she shouted, her voice unreasonably loud. "Stop talking like that! Karasuba-sama," Karasuba twitched, honest surprise on her face at the interruption. She had probably never seen her friend act like this before. "You're reacting to Shirou-san! This is your chance to be with your Ashikabi, your destined one! Stop acting like you're not going to accept it!"

"Muu-chan," Karasuba murmured, a thoughtful look on her face. On my right Tsukiumi was also staring at the angry Musubi. The water user was more used to the irrepressible and bubbly version of the shrine girl, not this new furious Musubi. The only one in the room not staring at Musubi was Akitsu, the snow woman's eyes still locked firmly on Karasuba in an unwavering vigil.

After spending what seemed like an eternal moment pinned by her friend's angry glare, Karasuba smiled, her eyes crinkling as she did so. "But if I did that, Muu-chan," she began. "It would interfere with our promise."

"This is more important than the promise! This is about your finding your love," Musubi declared, and Karasuba's smile slipped slightly. "Love is more important than anything else!"

"Not to me," Karasuba's simple response caused Musubi to stumble as though she had been physically struck by the slim Sekirei. "To me, the promise is much more important."

Desperately, Musubi turned to me, her expression twisted in frustration. "Shirou-sama," she pleaded with me. "Please, Shirou-sama, wing Karasuba. If it's you, I'm sure she can find love." The shrine girl sounded like she was in physical pain as she begged me to help her convince her friend to be mated to me.

I closed my eyes. "I will not wing a Sekirei by force, Musubi," I told desperate Sekirei. When I opened my eyes my expression was firm, but gentle. "In the end, sometimes love isn't enough." The same words I had said to her when I had been ready to walk away from Tsukiumi after she rejected me the first time. Once more, the words might have well been a slap to Musubi. Her face twisted as she tried to think of something, anything, which would convince the two of us to change our decisions.

There was nothing. It was something I would not do, take a Sekirei by force. It was wrong, an act of enslavement. I was beginning to understand just how strong the bonding ritual was, and there was no way I was going to abuse it. The thought of taking a normal woman by force was already sickening to me, but with the Sekirei there was the enforcement aspect as well, the impulse to obey their Ashikabi. It must be a strong impulse, if even those who were unwillingly winged never sought to strike back at the ones who took them. Karasuba seemed equally insistent in her decision. I had no idea what the promise she spoke of was, but she had flat out said that it mattered more to her than love.

Tears began to leak from Musubi's eyes as she realized that despite the two of us being right here in front of each other, despite the fact that Karasuba had already admitted to reacting to me, we might have well been on opposite sides of the world. The shrine girl lifted one arm from where it was still planted on the table and roughly scrubbed it across her face. When that proved to not be enough to stop the leakage she abruptly stood and half stumbled half ran from the dining room.

"Musubi," Tsukiumi called out, starting to rise herself, her voice worried as she did so, but she stopped awkwardly half way up. Her blonde hair trailing behind her she shot a frustrated look of worry first at me, then at Karasuba, then to the door Musubi had just ran through, and then back to me. It looked like she wanted to go after her primary rival for the position of legal wife, but wasn't certain if it was safe to leave me behind with Karasuba. I was more worried about Musubi's breakdown then Karasuba's threat at that point so I jerked my head towards the door, and Tsukiumi took that as permission. "Musubi, wait," she called out, finishing getting to her feet and darting towards the hallway after the shrine girl.

Karasuba sighed, and my attention turned back to the still sitting Sekirei. With a rueful expression on her face she was shaking her head slowly. "Well, I knew Muu-chan was passionate. I suppose that could have gone much better than it did."

I took a slow sip of my tea, my eyes studying her carefully. "If you knew that you were reacting to me and that you were just going to reject my offer, why did you come here in the first place?" I did my best to keep my tone steady, but if she had simply came here to start trouble, than there was a good chance I would never forgive her for this.

Karasuba seemed to sense the hidden meaning behind my question and raised both her hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I just came here to confirm my promise with Muu-chan," she assured me. "I already have an Ashikabi picked out back at headquarters." She raised one eyebrow and returned my pointed look with an amused one. "It's partially your fault," she pointed out. "If you hadn't noticed and brought it up Muu-chan would have never known."

I sighed and put my cup down so I could once more sink my head into my hands. "I guess I just have way too much experience with reacting Sekirei," I admitted. There had been five already, not including Akitsu, six if I wanted to add Karasuba to the tally. "I guess it makes sense. It wouldn't do for MBI's top enforcer to have an Ashikabi that wasn't part of the company."

"Of course," Karasuba agreed easily. I pulled my head out of my hands to catch her running one finger gently over the platter that was still embedded into the floor. "I suppose my kimono should be dried by now. I should be heading out." She took her eyes from the improvised weapon she had been fondling to give me one last teasing look. "Sure you don't want to try and take me by force, Shiroi-chan?"

It still wasn't my proper name, instead the childhood nickname that was the base of my current name, but I decided that there had been enough drama for the day and let it go. "Well, you still haven't sat seiza and apologized, so I'm afraid I'll have to pass."

Karasuba didn't seem to understand for a moment, and then her eyes widened as she remembered my original plan in the airport for what kind of hush money I'd need and started to laugh. As she shook her head in mirth she finally grasped the platter directly and pulled it free easily. "I still have the knife from back then," she admitted, turning the plate over in her hand. "I think I'm going to keep this as prize for our second meeting." She held up the disc in her hand, as though asking me for permission before taking it.

"Only if you let me blame the mark I left on the floor on you," I told her back, eying the slice in the tatami. That was going to be hell to explain to Miya, but hey, if she already didn't like Karasuba, maybe I could use her to absorb the blame. The grey haired Sekirei blinked in surprise, and then laughed again.

"Deal."

*Scene Break*

"Shirou-tan," Matsu wailed, so distraught she was actually chewing on her sleeve as she wept. "Why didn't you wing the Black Sekirei when you had the chance?"

Miya gave out a delicate sounding snort at the hacker's moans. "Probably because Emiya-kun has enough common sense to know better than to associate with something like that." The landlady gave a brief scowl at the mar in the room's flooring. "Really," she hugged, "shamelessly damaging another's property and then stealing from them as well. If I see that one again then I shall be certain to give her a piece of my mind."

"I know," I instantly nodded my head in agreement with Miya, trying my best to not look suspicious as I did so. Inside I was very thankful that Karasuba had let me place the blame squarely on her head for the simple bribe of a silver plate. There would be hell to pay if the lavender haired alien ever found the true perpetrator. "Who does she think she is?"

"Another one," Uzume muttered, slumping backwards on one hand as she rubbed her forehead. "I mean, yeah, you got out of this one, bro," she continued, giving me a look that was somewhere between amazement and amusement. "But even with the ones you have already, even with their only being, like, ten Sekirei left, you're still pulling in new ones?" She shook her head in mock sorrow. "When will your harem be enough, Shirou? When?"

"I honestly expected something like this to happen," Homura added his two cents in, his expression resigned. "I've already given up on being surprised by anything you do. Really. I have." I don't think anyone was at all convinced by his own contribution to the conversation, but they all let it slide so they could continue to take their cheap shots at me instead.

It was dinner now, already several hours after the events of the mid afternoon debacle and as was the norm nearly the entirety if Izumo House had once more gathered to take part in consuming the feast I had prepared. I had originally debated between mentioning just what had happened between me and MBI's dog, but in the end knew that there would be no way to conceal the events that had happened earlier. Akitsu might have been able to keep it a secret from the rest of the house in general, but I had already witnessed just how pointless it was to try and keep anything that Musubi was in on a secret, and I doubted that anyone would be able to ignore the usually verbose Tsukiumi sitting silently. Even when Yukari had snuck in a quick grope on the well endowed water user the haughty Sekirei's only reaction had been to absentmindedly throw a small burst of water at my sister rather than erupt into the temper we'd all come to expect from her.

That and the fact that nearly four hours after the events that had occurred had passed and Musubi still hadn't emerged from our room. Tsukiumi had assured me that the shrine girl had at least stopped crying by this point, but the blonde had been strangely protective of her brunette rival and had asked me to give her a bit more time before I confronted her about her reaction earlier. If it meant more time not being exposed to a crying girl than I was willing to heed that advice.

Not the bravest courses of actions, sure, but one I wasn't too proud to accept. I knew that Musubi took the bond between Sekirei and Ashikabi seriously having seen her try her best to enforce it every time I had been hesitant to welcome a new member to my flock, but never before had she reacted so violently to the idea that I wouldn't be brining a new alien into the fold.

"To be fair," I began, trying my best to give myself a proper excuse this time, "it wasn't like I went looking for a new one or anything. Karasuba already admitted that she had another Ashikabi lined up and was just here to see Musubi. This time was definitely not my fault, and at least the whole mess managed to resolve itself without a new face being added to the mix."

Kuu-chan was sitting next to me, and the tiny blond reached over to pat my leg in a consolatory manner. "There, there," the young girl told me, beaming up at me as she did her best to assure me that whatever else might happen, Kuu-chan would always love her big brother. I gave the young Sekirei a brief smile in return and she nodded decisively, happy in the knowledge that she had successfully cheered me up, before turning to Shiina sitting on her left and tried to feed her other big brother a much too large piece of sausage.

The god of decay delicately pushed Kuu's hand down, and gently began helping the younger girl cut the enormous morsel into more manageable pieces, frowning all the while. "To think, the Black Sekirei would be here," the youngest male in the room muttered. His androgynous face was crinkled into a worried scowl as he contemplated the events I had described. "And that she would have a connection with you, Aniki." Shiina turned earnest eyes towards me, even as Kuu clapped in delight and started waving one of the more manageable pieces of meat in the direction of his mouth. "What might have happened to you if she hadn't been satisfied with just finding a new Ashikabi?" Shiina was apparently very much aware of Karasuba's history, and he seemed honestly concerned that something so dangerous had shown up here while he was gone and posed a danger to his mistress' older brother.

Yukari on the other hand seemed to have bigger concerns. "Why does that brat get to sit between my onii-chan and my bishounen while I have to sit over here?" she complained, glaring at Kuu while she did so. Kuu paused in her attempt to forcefully feed her other big brother so that she could glare across the table at her own rival. Yukari had grown up knowing about her lost elder brother and dreaming of what it might be like to know me. When she learned that I was alive and that she would have her chance to fulfill that wish she had thrown herself into it with all her might. Then the Sekirei Plan had begun, and I found myself bonded to another girl who came to think of me as an unofficial onii-chan, a girl who was much younger, who I had rescued from a dangerous situation, and was pretty much the incarnation of 'moe' given body and set loose upon the world. A girl who also had a connection with Shiina besides myself, and who was just small and cute enough to get away with outrageous demands like that she gets to sit between us and play with us whenever she desired.

I wasn't certain if Yukari was outraged that Kuu managed to monopolize a good portion of the time of two of the most important males in her life, or jealous that the young Sekirei managed to get away with doing so while she had been denied the opportunity herself earlier in life. Either way, I think the only reason she hadn't tried to pick on the smaller girl was that she knew if she did neither Shiina or I would forgive her.

Kuu seemed to realize this as well, and shamelessly took advantage of her superior positioning to drop her fork and grab Shiina and my own arms with both of hers and stuck her tongue out at my biological sister with a 'biyah' noise. Yukari started to fume at the blatant show of familiarity, and this time it was Shiina instead of me who sighed the sigh of the long suffering.

"Mistress," he began, calling my sister's attention to her Sekirei. "It might be more important to focus on the dangerous Sekirei who set her sights on Aniki?" His delicate attempt to focus his Ashikabi's attention on the important point of the conversation was greeted with a blank stare. Yukari seemed to take a second to understand what he was referring to and then gave an 'oh yeah' before putting her chin in her palm and contemplated furiously.

"Well," she began, her tone serious. "How big were her breasts?"

A moment of silence settled on the room, as everyone, Tsukiumi included, turned to stare at my little sister in silence. Despite the weight of the attention being focused on her, Yukari remained firm, her expression earnest as she waited for a response to her perverse question. Matsu was the first of us to break free from the consternation that seemed to sprout from around my little sister at every moment.

"Her breasts don't matter!" the glasses wearing Sekirei asserted, her tone aggrieved. That raised an eyebrow from many of the listeners. Matsu made no secret of the fact that out of all my flock she was the most, how to put it, attune with Yukari on certain topics. It was unusual for the brain type Sekirei to disagree with my sister on the importance of breasts. "Shirou-tan!" she snapped, pointing at me while the light hit her glasses in an ominous fashion. "You should have winged her! Without her sword, and with Akitsu-tan, Tsukiumi-tan, and Musubi-tan you should have been able to beat her even if she tried to resist! Why didn't you do it?" she wailed again.

"Because it would be unethical, wrong, and completely against my moral code to do so?" I supplied, giving Matsu a pointed look as I did so. When I felt Yukari's stern gaze linger on me I sighed, and gave in to the inevitable. "And they were high A, low B cup size at the best, Yukari."

"Ah!" My little sister nodded decisively. "Then you were better off without her, onii-chan," she told me firmly, before returning to glare at Kuu. "Now when is it my turn to sit between you two?" she demanded.

"Shirou," Tsukiumi finally spoke up. The long haired blonde spoke up for the first time since the house had gathered for dinner. The usually haughty water user had been abnormally quiet since the incident, and I was starting to grow concerned for the welfare of her thumb as she worried it nearly constantly. "It might have been better if you had taken her." She blushed as I gave her an incredulous stare. "You don't know what she's like," she hurriedly explained, worry in her tone. "The things she's done, just how dangerous she really is…" Tsukiumi gave me an earnest look. "If you had taken her then you would have prevented her from becoming a powerful enemy later."

Matsu seemed relieved to have an ally in her quest to chastise me for not seizing the opportunity to strengthen my flock. "Exactly! If you had winged her, that power would have been ours! Ohohohoho!" Matsu broke down into a fit of evil laughter, her eyes distant as she no doubt imagined a future that would probably have made me very uncomfortable to know about.

"Karasuba, number zero four, nicknamed: Black Sekirei, MBI's Dog. One of the first five Sekirei activated, responsible for protection of the mother ship from various government attempts to seize control of the technology from MBI," I began, listing off the information Matsu had put together on the profile of this specific Sekirei. Tsukiumi seemed surprised at the depth of the knowledge I actually had on Karasuba when I had gone up to talk to her. "During the course of the conflict primary job was extermination of foot soldiers, estimated kill count between nine and fifteen hundred men. Only one of the original five to stay with MBI, remaining in service of the unit that would eventually come to be known as the Disciplinary Squad in all incarnations of the unit. Current responsibilities involve seeing to the enforcement of the Sekirei Plan's rules, total number of Sekirei terminated currently at two, both level fours." I gave Tsukiumi a dry look after I finished my recitation. "Trust me. I made it a point to know all the dangerous Sekirei in the Plan."

"Nine and fifteen hundred people?" Yukari whispered, horror growing on her face as she started focusing on something besides the newcomer's bust. "And something that evil tried to seduce my gentle onii-chan?" she demanded, outrage spreading. "Shiina! We're going to hunt that bimbo down and beat her!"

"Gentle?" Homura chimed in, giving me a wry look. I shrugged and tried to look innocent. Yukari had never seen me in a combat situation after all. I think she took my love of cooking and inferred that I was more of a househusband than a warrior. I saw no reason to disillusion her of that belief.

"That might not be the best idea, mistress," the young man began his tentative efforts to talk down my sister from doing something stupid. On the other hand my summation made Tsukiumi scowl.

"You knew all that and you still acted so friendly with her?" she demanded, and I shrugged in response.

"To be fair, she was a soldier in a war fighting to preserve the rest of her species from being kidnapped and dissected by various governments all of the world," I pointed out, brushing away Karasuba's blood soaked past. It was no worse than some of the things Saber had been forced to do during her time as a king, after all. Conflict was always an inevitability in this world, and there was no reason to discriminate from those who are called upon to settle some things with violence. It wasn't like I had the moral high ground in that area after all. "And as for getting along with her," I hesitated before finally admitting in a sheepish tone, "she's actually kind of easy to get along with."

Silence fell across the room as everyone present stared at me after my confession. Finally, Miya spoke up. "You find it easy to get along with a person who has killed hundreds and threatened your life in the past?" she asked me, sounding more disappointed than shocked, her normally crinkled eyes half open as she studied me. I don't know what it was that had happened between the landlady and her former subordinate, but whatever it was had left the lavenderette with a very poor opinion of the Black Sekirei.

"Wouldn't be the first time," I pointed out, and Miya's eyes drifted to the side as she bit her lip slightly. Realizing that my statement might be implied as having been directed at her, I hastily continued. "She actually reminds me a lot of a guy I used to know, personality wise. He used to say that there was nothing wrong with staying up all night drinking with someone you get along with, even if you have to fight them in the morning."

"And did he put a sword to your throat as well?" Homura asked, his tone skeptical as he shook his head in consternation. I cleared my throat glancing to the side.

"Um, actually he stabbed me with a lance," I admitted. "Twice," I added. "Then he helped me and a few of my friends out of a pretty dangerous situation." Akitsu shifted on my other side, and I got the impression that she was reflectively studying me to see if those two wounds were recent. Lancer had always been a twisted sort of hero, but he had been an upfront kind of guy as well. After I had studied his history I had come to respect him a bit more than I had when during the Grail War. Then again, at the time the only thing I knew about him was that he had stabbed me in the heart and then tracked me home to try and kill me again, so maybe my previous hesitancy in getting along with him was justified.

"Now I really want to know what it is you get up to in your spare time, onii-chan," Yukari said after it appeared no one was quite certain how to take news of my previous shenanigans.

"Hmmm," Tsukiumi hummed, one hand on her chin as she did so. "Well," she conceded. "I did try to kill you the first time we met too. I suppose you raise a good point." She shook her head briefly, and appeared to remember what the original topic was. "Still, I think it might have been for the best if you had winged her, Shirou," she repeated, reminding ever one else as well.

"Yes! It might not be too late yet, Shirou-tan," Matsu jumped on the opening. "If you let me use my Norito I can track her down and trap her in an elevator until you can get her!" I wasn't sure if her plan would actually require her to use her Norito or if she had just thrown that in there in order to take advantage of the situation, but I shook my head.

"I cannot believe that we're having this conversation again," I said, my voice firm. "And I can't believe I'm hearing this from you of all people, Tsukiumi," I added, eying the water user as I did so. "I will not wing and unwilling Sekirei. And that's final."

"But Shirou-tan," Matsu wailed, drawing out my name as she did so. Tsukiumi flinched briefly at my accusation, but held her ground.

"It's not my belief that such things should be forced," the blonde admitted, "but it would have kept us from having to fight against her some day. Karasuba will be a dangerous opponent."

"They're not wrong about that, Shirou," Homura chimed in, his tone serious as he did so. The fire user had been content to watch most of the conversation drift by, only occasionally adding his own opinion to the vocal chaos, but it seemed he felt the topic serious enough to warrant a full contribution now. "Not about winging her by force," he added, shaking his head at that. "About how dangerous the Black Sekirei is. Karasuba is probably the most dangerous Sekirei in the Plan."

"Better a dangerous opponent then an unwilling wife," I stated, conviction in my voice. "If we do end up having to fight her, then we'll just have to be sure we're strong enough to win. That's all there is to it."

*Scene Break*

It wasn't until an hour or two after dinner, when most of the females in the inn had adjourned for their nightly baths, when I finally realized that Musubi wasn't in our room. I had wanted to check up on her while we had the chance to be alone to see how she was doing, but after she didn't respond to my knocks I snuck a peak to see if she was sleeping and found out that the room was empty. For a moment I was worried that maybe she had run away from home after having both her friend and her Ashikabi bluntly tell her that they would have nothing to do with each other despite her wishes, but I could still feel the lingering scent of her power, so I knew she had to be close by.

I finally managed to track the bear Sekirei down to the empty lot that surrounded my workshop. I paused at the gap in the fence, and took in the scene I had stumbled upon. At some point in time the normally excitable Sekirei had changed into her bloomer and t-shirt combination, and was at the moment darting around the clearing, throwing kicks and punches at invisible opponents. The speed of her attacks cut through the air, and I could make out audible 'whoosh' sounds with each blow she delivered

It had been a while since I had a chance to sit in on one of Musubi and Miya's practice session, but the speed and power that used to be all the shrine girl could bring to a fight had been joined with the beginnings of definite technique as well. She had once told me that she had lacked experience, and since that day she had spent hours each morning training with the one I really considered to be the most powerful entity in the city and engaged in two Sekirei battles. She had lost the first one but been preserved due to Akitsu's presence, and the second one she had won with ease. It appeared as though she had come a long way in gaining the experience she desired.

I hesitated, not sure how to gain her attention, of even if I should. The look on her face was intense, and her eyes were narrowed as she focused on practicing her techniques. She had been so upset earlier, that I couldn't help but wonder if the imaginary foes she was fighting might not have been mental projections of me to take her frustration out on.

Well, if everything I knew about Sekirei was right, then I had a fairly good chance that if she realized I was here and was still mad at me she wouldn't attack me at least. It was more of an assurance than I ever had when I was fighting with Saber or Rin. "Musubi," I called out, and the bloomer clad girl paused mid kick, her leg still fully extended.

"Ah!" she chirped, her voice cheerful. "Shirou-san! I didn't hear you come out. Have you been here long?" I blinked, surprised at her reaction. There was absolutely no hint of the previous tears and outrage she had displayed after Karasuba and I both rejected the winging.

"Um, no," I finally answered her question, not sure what was going on with my third Sekirei. "I just got here. Musubi," I hesitated, not sure what would happen if I brought up the afternoon while she was acting like this, "how are you?"

"I'm fine, Shirou-san," Musubi answered, sounding puzzled by my question. "Why do you ask?"

Okay. I knew Musubi tended to be a little flaky, but this was just pushing it. "Well, earlier, after Karasuba turned me down, you seemed pretty upset." Upset was a bit of an understatement, judging from the sheer frustration that had been in her tears when she had fled the room.

"Well, after I got the room I decided to take a nap," she responded brightly, rubbing one forearm across her forehead. Even in the pale light of the partial moon I could make out the thin sheen of sweat on her skin. "I must have been pretty tired, 'cause when I woke up I had slept right through dinner." She knuckled her forehead and stuck her tongue out sheepishly. "I thought about getting something from the fridge, but then I realized that I had slept so long that it might be hard for me to go to bed tonight, so I decided to get some exercise first."

"That's it?" I asked, not sure if she was just being obtuse about what I was trying to ask her about, or if she was deliberately ignoring the incident. I tried to probe a little deeper, to see if she really was over the episode. "You really were pretty upset about what happened. Are you sure you're okay?"

Musubi nodded once, bringing both hands up to clench them into fists as she beamed at me. "Yes. Musubi is tough!"

For a second I could only look at her helplessly, and then a small laugh escaped me. "Yes," I admitted, "I guess you are pretty thick." Musubi continued to grin, not even realizing that what I had just said might have been a subtle jibe at her as easily as it had been a compliment. I decided that I would have to mark this firmly into the list of reasons just why I would never understand women. Well, females I suppose would be the better term here. "Ready to go in? The others are already in the bath." I held my hand out to the shrine girl in invitation, and she took it happily.

However, when I tried to lead her back towards the warmth of Izumo House, I found that she was unmovable. I turned to give her a questioning look, and found the expression on her face to be more serious than her usual one.

If this was Rin, I would begin to suspect that she had just been acting in order to get me close enough to set a trap. Musubi would never do that though. Would she?

"Shirou-sama," Musubi began, her tone still warm, but also serious as well. "There's something I would like to talk to you about."

"Oh?" I grunted, worried if this was the point where I would have to start running. Akitsu had joined the rest in the bath, so I wouldn't be able to rely on her as a shield like I did when Tsukiumi decided she wanted to make a point with ice cold water. "About?"

"About the promise I made with Karasuba-sama," she admitted, her eyes briefly lowering. I felt myself relax. Alright, looks like I wouldn't have to make an escape. When I didn't say anything Musubi raised her eyes to me hesitantly, and I nodded my encouragement. "I love you, Shirou-san," she told me, gently lifting my hand up and stepping forward to close the distance between the two of us so she could rest my palm against her chest. "Can you feel it? My heart?"

I think I might have been more comfortable if she had swung at me. This was the second time she had put my hand upon her after telling me she loved me. The first time she had done so I had been more consumed by the implications of her confession that the words themselves. This time, more properly prepared, my reaction was different from the raw panic I had first experienced. I could feel it, the racing of her heart. Through the thin fabric of her gym clothes, the pulsing of the blood through her veins rose, the rate increasing as though in anticipation of my touch.

Under the moonlight, close enough for me to feel her warmth, smiling in contentment at just being in my presence, and bathed with the healthy glow of vitality that her post work out sweat gave her, it hit me like a sledge hammer. Tsukiumi wasn't the only beautiful girl in my harem. When I had first met her, Musubi had just been a girl in trouble. Then she had become a partner in battle. Now though, now I couldn't think of her in any other way, not after her confession, as a woman who both desired me and was desirable in return.

Musubi's heart rate wasn't the only one that started to increase.

"I can feel it," I told her, trying to ignore the dryness in my throat, trying to focus on her pulse rather than on the soft flesh of her breasts. Think soothing thoughts, Shirou, I ordered myself. Swords. Yeah. Think of swords. That will help. Long, sharp, erect swords, being stabbed into soft pliant flesh….

I need a better meditation technique. Not only was this one entirely too morbid, but it had an unfortunate tendency to slide into double entendre territory.

"Every time I'm near you, my heart beats like this; when you smile at me, when you brush against me, when you're happy, when you're sad. All of it. This feeling of warmth spreads through me, just knowing you are here," she told me, her eyes drifting shut as a contented smile spread across her lips. "I thank the gods for the chance to have met you. Not just you, Shirou-sama. Through you I managed to meet so many more people, good people who I can smile and laugh with, who can help me when I need it, and who I can help in return. It is the power of life, expressed as love." Her eyes opened and her serene smile of contentment made my heart skip a beat. "What I want more than anything is for everyone to have the chance to feel this. All of my fellow Sekirei, even the Black Sekirei deserve to experience this."

This was not what I expected to hear from the shrine girl. Not from the battle maniac that had already promised to one day fight Uzume despite their friendship, and had relentlessly destroyed her second Sekirei opponent. Slowly she trailed my hand up her body until it rested against her face. Maybe I was wrong in my assessment of the shrine girl. Rather than a battle maniac the shrine girl in front of me might be better described as a love freak. Musubi continued her eyes closed as she held my hand to her cheek.

"But that Sekirei, Karasuba-sama, she's like a child. She doesn't understand love, how this feeling can only make you stronger." Her eyes drifted open, unfocused as her tone turned sad. "She's like a child who can't properly grow up. Even when it was right in front of her, she didn't understand what she could have had." Her sorrow was almost palpable, and her voice was laced with pity. "Our promise, between the two of us, was that we would fight and fight until we were the last two Sekirei, and then we would fight each other. If I win, then it would be proof that I am right, and that love is the strongest force there is, and then I'll be able to set the rest of my fellow birds free." She smiled up at me, quiet conviction echoing through her oath

I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was the atmosphere, or the intimacy of just the two of us being together alone for the first time since we met, or the conviction with which she was speaking, or maybe it was just because I finally realized just how beautiful the creature was and how strong her emotions were, but whatever it was I didn't realize I was moving until I was already embracing the petite brunette. "Shirou-sama!" she yelped, surprised at my movement. I was taller than her by a great deal, and her head barely came up to the center of my chest. Slowly, in response to my arms around her, her own drifted to wrap around me at my waist. I could feel her as she set her cheek against my chest, her ear pressed so she could hear my own heartbeat as well.

I think this was the first genuine affectionate gesture I had ever shown one of my flock. Maybe I had been wrong when I had assured Matsu that I wasn't still off balance from suddenly finding out I was mated to the six creatures, five discounting Homura because I really didn't want to think of what being his mate would imply. Maybe I had been off balance due to the absolute conviction with which they treated their emotions towards me. I was not used to love. Not love like the kind Sekirei seemed to offer their Ashikabi, the kind of total dedication and absolute certainty. I was used to the measured and hesitant love between magi, two people who existed in a world of secrecy where wearing your heart on your sleeve just meant it was more likely to be stabbed. I was used to the independent Rin, and the proud Saber, not the submissive yet devoted Musubi and the rest of my flock.

Still. This might be something new, but that didn't necessarily mean that it was unpleasant.

"Hehe," Musubi giggled as she relaxed against me. "Maybe my dream is a bit big," she admitted, her voice upbeat, her previous seriousness replaced with her usual cheer. "I know I'm not ready yet, but someday I'll be as strong as Shirou-san!"

I swallowed the dryness in my throat, and slowly separated from my Sekirei. "You should probably aim higher than that," I told her, trying to keep my voice as light as hers. "I'm not sure if I would be able to win against Karasuba." Musubi's wide eyes met mine and allowed herself to be pulled away from me.

"No," she said, absolute confidence in her voice. "Shirou-san is strong! I'm sure you could win against even Karasuba-sama."

What a strange and paradoxical creature Musubi was. On one hand, she believed entirely in the power of love, yet on the other hand she was perfectly willing to defeat her fellow Sekirei and thus deprive them of the Ashikabi she believed that all Sekirei should be with. She wanted to show her old friend what it meant to be with an Ashikabi, and yet had already planned to battle her as the last two survivors of the Plan.

Still, there was one point that I was curious about. "How do you even know Karasuba anyway? You two," I tried to find a polite way to say that they seemed to have absolutely nothing in common, and settled finally on, "don't seem like a likely couple."

"Oh!" Musubi chirped, smiling innocently. "That's because I was saved by her."

I blinked, not having expected such a simple response. "Saved?" I repeated. I couldn't help but focus on that particular word. 'Saved' and I have always had a long and strange relationship after all. "From what?"

Musubi grinned. "A long time ago Musubi was kidnapped!" she proclaimed as though mentioning something like having stubbed a toe or tripped in the sand. "It was Karasuba-sama and Yume-sama who saved me. But Yume-sama isn't here anymore," she admitted, still smiling at me. "I think that Yume-sama was Karasuba-sama's best friend, so she used to visit me while I was recovering."

A wave of vertigo struck me, and I tried my best not to let it show. "Recovering?" I echoed, feeling like a broken record as I did so. Musubi nodded.

"Yes. When I was kidnapped, they did all kinds of things to me. If it wasn't for Yume-sama, then I would have surely died." A shudder swept through me as Musubi elaborated. "It was thanks to Yume-sama that I… Shirou-san?" the shrine girl trailed off, giving me an innocently curious look as I stood silently.

"You were saved," I repeated. That word again: saved. A distant memory, a hellish landscape, the scent of smoke and the sounds of screams and weeping, my body failing me, hope disappearing, my inevitable death a welcome release, and then a face, so happy to see me, weeping at having found me, overcome with relief at having been able to rescue one soul from the inferno he had been the cause of, of the thought of wanting to be as happy as that man was at that very moment….

I should be used to this. I really should be. This was the second time Musubi's innocent words had literally shattered my confidence in my understanding of the situation. I should have seen this coming. A belief so strong that even when forced to act in a way that was contradictory to it the act would be committed in its name. To casually dismiss the horrors and agony and death that must have happened in their life, despite how much those thoughts should linger. That blatant inconsistencies, the strange responses to casual stimuli. It all added up to a horrible conclusion, one I shouldn't have had to see coming, but was experienced with nonetheless.

"Musubi-chan," I murmured, staring at the shrine girl who was looking at me in curiosity at my response to her story. "You're distorted."

Distorted. Was this what Rin felt, so long ago, when she labeled me so? The sudden realization that it wasn't just an abnormal character trait that caused the person you were addressing to act like they did, and that there truly was something seriously wrong with the person, something they couldn't see, something they wouldn't see, or something they did see and simply didn't care about?

"Distorted?" Musubi repeated, tilting her head to the side curiously. "Is that like 'discretion'?" she ventured cautiously. "If it is, I don't think I'm quite ready for it. We haven't even gotten started on 'discretion' yet."

"It's nothing," I told her, feeling more like I was watching myself speak from a distance rather than committing the act myself. "Why don't you head in and take a bath, and I'll whip you up something to eat for when you get out?"

"Okay," Musubi crowed, turning to flounce back to the inn, eager to spend time with her sister Sekirei before having her loved one make her some food to fill that ravenous hole she called a stomach.

I stayed out in the warming mid spring night, and felt far colder than it really was outside.

Love was not enough, I had said to her. Maybe I should have just told her to drown in her ideals and die. If what I suspected was true then it would have been just as callous a thing to say.

What the hell had happened between Yume, Karasuba, and Musubi?

Looks like Matsu was in luck. I wanted that information. I wanted it now. And if it took a full blown tantric ritual to get it, than that was exactly how far I was willing to go to get it.


	19. Nineteenth Wing

In Flight Nineteenth Wing

_Author's notes. Well, here's number 19 for you all. Responses to reviews first. I'm glad to see that so many people were interested in my Musubi=distorted gambit. From the responses it seems that a good number of people agree with the parallels I had found. For future clarification, no Musubi will never get a Reality Marble. Not in my fic anyway. Makes you wonder just what kind of marble she would have though._

_Another trend I've noticed is people wondering how long In Flight is going to go on. Its already rapidly closing in on Hill of Swords when it comes to pure length and chapters. In response to that, if things go at the current rate, I'd probably estimate a good thirty to forty chapters before I finish it off. It'll depend entirely on how my writing changes. I've already noticed a trend forming of me getting less accomplished in my chapters then I originally anticipated, so the number should be variable._

_Now, onto the chapter itself_

_*Spoilers Alert*_

_The Dining Room. I've already noticed the trend of large info drops being staged in Matsu's lair, and magecraft explanations going on in the workshop. It appears the dining room has become my go to scene for displaying the chaos of having so many people interacting at once. I've found myself writing multiple simultaneous conversations every time I set the stage in there. It working out well enough in the eyes of the readers? Let me know what you think._

_Second off, Yukari. I was aiming to give her a scene in this chapter where she was used for more than just convenient comic relief. I was hoping to accurately portray a decent brother sister interaction here, but seeing as I lack sisters myself I was forced to frequently review 'My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute' for inspiration. Hoped that worked out._

_Third, Uzume. Another brief moment between her and Shirou here. It looks like their relationship is evolving in a strange way too. A sort of quiet mutual understanding between two of the more dirty members of the Plan. I kind of like where this is going, so while infrequent there should be development in their relationship too._

_Fourth, Shirou's demon head. Now that the long road of acquiring it has been finished, it seems he must take the even long path of mastering it. With Miya before him as a goal as he sets about learning its nuances, surely soon enough he will master the bleeding eyes! As soon as he figures out just what it is he's projecting. I was going to work a scene where he finally figures out his mystery mask, but this chapter ran a little long, and my original planned scene got set aside for more important conversations. Many reviewers had already guessed accurately at what it will be, but I'll hold off saying it directly until it comes up in the story for those who want to wait to learn when Shirou learns.  
_

_Fifth, Homura. This is more or less his chapter in my eyes. The original Sekirei series never really explores just how the Sekirei Guardian is really affected by his changing nature. Well, they do, but its more a matter of Homura breaking down and going on a suicide run in order to avoid what's happening in his body. Homura here is a little more grounded and with already being winged and in control of his power has less stress on him than the original character, so he's able to deal with it a little more healthily, but its still an interesting theme that I'm going to try and take seriously rather than just use as a deus ex machina to give every member of Minato's flock boobies._

_Finally, my explanation of scrapped numbers and Homura's instability. The manga never really explores it besides using being scrapped as an excuse to make Akitsu more powerful, but I like to think that my made up story about earlier uncertainties in the adjusting process being responsible for the outcast Sekirei. In regards to me labeling Yume as a scrapped, in Pure Engagement, I think around episode four or five Karasuba has a flash back where Yume refers to how she will help the other Sekirei find love because she herself will never be able to do so. I might be reaching in the dark here, but one reason she can't find love on her own could be because she was scrapped herself. It would explain the unusual location of her crest, on the stomach rather than the neck, and why she was so powerful that Karasuba looked at her as a rival. It would even explain why she was willing to give up her own life to save Musubi. As for Akitsu being numbered as 07, there's no proof of this in the original series, but it does make sense. Number 07 is the only single digit not yet revealed, and since most of the single digits use some kind of elemental power, I think Akitsu fits as the original 07 quite nicely so I decided to go with it._

_That's all for my authors notes for now. If you like it, give me a good review. Questions/comments/concerns? Reviews are just as good a spot, though you're more likely to get a response to any particular questions if you head over to the forums._

_And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"Shirou-tan," Matsu whined, her voice aggrieved. "Stop stealing my tablet!"

"It's your own fault," I told her without pity. "If you would just let me get you a printer, then you wouldn't have to worry about me taking your little doohickey."

"I refuse," the redhead huffed, folding her arms as she pouted. "Too many print outs are bad for the environment. It's better for the earth if all offices are paperless." She grumbled something else that sounded vaguely like 'primitive' and 'stone aged' but I was honestly too busy trying to figure out how to get the contraption in my hand to do what I wanted it to then to pay attention.

"I think I'm more surprised that Shirou has actually managed to figure out how to use a data pad," Homura chimed in, sounding far too amused at my expense for my comfort. "I'm shocked you even know what one is. Looks like those lessons are really starting to pay off."

"Data pad," I repeated, tasting the word as I gave the slim machine in my hand a cautious look. I had known before that computers were getting smaller and faster by the day, but I had no idea that they had managed to make it this far. The small machine in my hand was a thin rectangle of what my senses told me was nothing but plastic, copper, silicon, and a dozen other trace minerals and yet somehow managed to be counted as some kind of computer. "Is that what this is called? I've just been referring to it as 'the doohickey'," I admitted sheepishly. I had heard they were properly called i-something-or-others, but the name had never really stuck in my head. Whatever it was, it had a touch sensitive screen and somehow managed to connect to the rest of Matsu's impressive network upstairs. Now I could continue my research without having to worry about being trapped alone with the amorous hacker. Too many ambushes that would have resulted in unethical experimentation the likes of which would make even the most amoral of magi cringe had been launched at me in the lair of the beast.

Homura shook his head, chuckling softly. "Well, that's reassuring at least," he admitted. "I was worried that you had changed so much that it would feel like I didn't even know you anymore."

"Har har," I replied, my voice deadpanned as I continued to try and get the doohickey to bring up the information that Matsu had managed to accumulate for me. It was made infinitely trickier by the fact that Matsu had begun to conceal false caches of files throughout her system. Her lessons had progressed to the point that I felt like I had become semi-competent at using computers, even going so far as to be willing to risk the internet and all its perils on occasion, and so Matsu had stepped up her attempt to teach me how to use the complex little machines.

At least that's what she claimed she was doing. After she had explained a certain process to me once, she had taken to setting up several false processes whenever I tried to access or use a program. If I didn't do it precisely the right way, I would suddenly be treated to yet another surprise showing of whatever debauched adult video she had stored away in the false trail. She claimed it was for the purpose of motivating me to pay attention, but I couldn't help but feel that she had more sinister motives. Whatever the case might be I couldn't suppress a grimace and a small blush as my latest attempt to access a profile brought a video clip displaying just how many ways a couple could use three boxes of saran wrap, two cucumbers, and a feather duster.

Where the hell was she finding this stuff? More importantly, who the hell comes up with something like, well, like THAT?

I shuddered and gave Matsu a small glare as I closed the latest trap I had stumbled upon. Despite being upset over me having liberated her doohickey she couldn't suppress an evil grin. With her ability to access computers remotely she had probably seen just what it was she had exposed me to even though I had made sure to sit with my back to a wall to keep anyone from looking over my shoulder.

"Now, now," Miya chimed in, her tone vaguely amused as she covered her mouth with one hand. "Emiya-kun," she began, "I know it's natural for boys to do that kind of thing," she emphasized her use of the word 'that', somehow managing to make it imply some kind of dirty act, "but shouldn't you look at your internet when there isn't company around?"

I snorted, more amused at the jibe than insulted, though Matsu seemed to take the implication a bit more personally. "The internet is not porn," she muttered, glowering at the ground in futile rage. As though to punctuate her statement I stumbled across yet another of her hidden traps, and learned precisely how to use chopsticks, ice, and two rubber bands in a way that I really did not want to contemplate while eating. Matsu flushed, no doubt seeing the same thing I was. "Well, not just porn," she admitted sheepishly, knowing she had lost the battle but trying anyway.

Yukari snickered from across the table. "He really said that?" she stage whispered to Uzume who was leaning back on her hands next to my sister and grinning conspiratorially at the Sekirei in a star shirt. The ponytailed Sekirei grinned back, nodding her head solemnly. Her snickers turned into guffaws as collapsed on to the table in front of her. Beside her Shiina sighed, giving me a sheepish look as his mistress continued to be amused at my expense. "O-o-onii-chan," she gasped through her laughter. "D-d-don't worry. If you c-can't get used to the internet, there are still book stores that sell them!"

"Enough!" Tsukiumi interrupted, her face even redder than mine. "Shirou doesn't need that kind of thing!" Standing proudly as she came to my defense, the blond thrust her arm to the side as though to brush the evil erotic material from my presence. "Besides," she continued, "if he did need something like that, h-he would only n-need to ask…." Her voice trailed off as her face got redder and redder the further she got into her sentence. "To ask me," she finally completed, her tone an embarrassed whisper.

"Me too!" Musubi chimed in, throwing both arms into the air in agreement, before pausing and putting one finger to her chin as she tilted her head in confusion. "What's porn again?" she asked, not sounding at all ashamed at her ignorance.

"Kuu-chan too!" the other blond in the room chimed in, standing proudly next to her nee-chans and thumping her chest to emphasize her commitment to the cause. I shuddered.

"That would be wrong on so many levels, Kuu-chan," I told her firmly. "And illegal." Kuu didn't seem to appreciate having her offer shot down and glowered at me, her customary angry 'Fuuuuuu' noise emitting from deep in her tiny chest.

"Now, now," Miya chimed in, clucking her tongue in disappointment. "I certainly hope that no one is planning on doing something improper, now are they?"

As the rest of the room scrambled to protect themselves from potential scolding, I shook my head in amusement. That's what they get for trying to gang up on me like that. Briefly, my eyes lingered on Musubi, the shrine girl trying to get Tsukiumi to explain just what this mysterious 'porn' was, before I dragged my gaze down to the doohickey in my hands.

It had been five days since the moment in the moon light when I realized just how twisted my third Sekirei was. Five more days, and still no movement from the Clock Tower. I'd been busy in those five days. Working at my job, messing around in my workshop, cooking, cleaning, and above all else, preparing. With no movement from the magi corner, I had decided to set Matsu loose on them. The hacker now had an updated list of important names. With all traffic in and out of the city being monitored I had the brain type Sekirei hack into the database used by the check points all around the city. The same system that was being used to keep me and the rest of the Ashikabi and Sekirei trapped here now had new names added to their watch list thanks to Matsu's techno wizardry. Not specific names, but I was aware enough of the most important magi lineages to watch out for; names like Einzberg, Barthomeloi, and even Aozaki. I wouldn't be able to list all the names of every potential Enforcer of Freelancer, but I could make certain that I would have some kind of warning from the most dangerous potential enemies.

Beyond just hacking MBI's system to set an early alert system for potential magi entering I had her check all hotel registries and property transactions for the same names. I didn't believe for a second that a few hired soldiers with a list of names and some modern weaponry could really stop a magus from entering. All it would take would be a brief round of hypnotism or a well crafted ward and they would get in despite the best efforts of MBI to monitor all newcomers. That didn't mean that they would be completely off the map though. One thing to say about the old blood that so many families were proud of is that they like their creature comforts. It had only taken Matsu about ten minutes to discover where Archibald had been setting up shop: the top suite at the most expensive hotel in Shin Tokyo.

Yeah, magi don't tend to be very subtle about that kind of thing.

It had taken two days and three Noritos, but Matsu had set up some kind of program or system that would report any instance of those names coming up, and shown me how to access it through the doohickey or my phone as needed. That was one of the reasons that I was sitting in the corner of the dining room after having finished my meal quickly while the rest of the house looked on in amusement.

It had taken two more days and six Noritos before the other reason for me being a recluse had been accomplished. Despite my primary interest in Yume being her relationship to Musubi and Karasuba, there was a reason that that finding the information about her had taken so much effort on Matsu's behalf. It was because just about every aspect of the participants was protected at a level that left even the accomplished hacker's best efforts barely enough for the task.

Yume. Former number zero eight. First addition to the diminished Disciplinary squad after numbers zero one, zero two, zero three, and zero five had all abandoned the unit. Said to be the 'Sekirei of Destiny'. Powers over light or, as some researchers speculated, plasma. The second of the Scrapped Numbers.

Just hearing that had been enough to pique my interest. I had never really thought of it, Akitsu's condition, beside however long it took for me to dismiss it as at all relevant, but I should probably have suspected that there were more out there with the same condition as the quiet ice user. Whenever one of the Sekirei had identified her condition they had always referred to her as 'A Scrapped Number', not 'THE Scrapped Number'. They even had a proper title for the state of being self winged, which implies by itself that it must have happened several times. It had taken two of the Noritos I had given Matsu to discover just what being scrapped implied. It was one of the most closely guarded secrets MBI appeared to have in regards to the aliens.

I had originally thought that the Sekirei and MBI were in some kind of contract or agreement: MBI gets the technology and in return it helps the alien race alter itself sufficiently to be able to mate with the current dominant species, humanity. I had thought that MBI had just backstabbed the species in order to force them to participate in this ridiculous farce of a plan. Turns out I was wrong. There was no contract, no agreement, and no betrayal. Rather than enter into partnership with MBI the species had actually been discovered, their ship crashed and broken, and the only occupants being one adult member of the species, eight embryos, and ninety nine fertilized eggs. From the beginning the Sekirei were reliant on MBI for protection and supplies.

I glanced up at the lavender haired land lady as she scolded the rest of the house for making inappropriate comments. I had a fairly good guess over who the original adult was. It would also make sense what happened to the eight embryos. There was a rumor that single digits were more powerful than the rest of their species, and if they had been further matured when they were discovered it would make sense that they would be different from the rest. When MBI began 'adjusting' as they called it they had been venturing into uncharted territory. They were being called on to manipulate the genetic information of a new species with almost no information on the species itself. It was a wonder the Sekirei had turned out as well as they had. It was only thanks to the contribution of a genius geneticist, whom I was astonished to discover was none other than Takehito Asama, Miya's late husband, that they had so many successes with the process.

The Scrapped Numbers were the ones who didn't turn out as well as the rest. That was the only way I could think to describe it because that was the only information Matsu could find. Whatever had gone wrong with the process, whatever mistakes or errors that had occurred during the adjustment, the information simply didn't exist on MBI's mainframe. Matsu told me that MBI most likely had another database somewhere, one that was completely independent and shielded, that had the information but unless she could physically locate it her power was useless for trying to find out anymore.

In the end there had been three Sekirei designated as 'Scrap'. The third had been number sixty seven, the only one of the fertilized eggs that hadn't taken to the adjusting process. The first had been Akitsu, the former number zero seven. Yume had been the only one to be allowed to leave the lab, and only then so that she could join the diminished Disciplinary squad. Her unusually high power had allowed her to take the lead of the unit, stronger even than the experienced and dangerous Karasuba. Number sixty seven still remained confined in the bowels of MBI headquarters. Only number zero seven had ever escaped, an escape that was no doubt a violent one given the blood that had been on Akitsu's coat when I had found her in the park.

The mystery behind Yume continued, as even finding information on the incident that had occurred had taken a Norito all on its own. Once Minaka had finally created MBI and started to release the technology he had reverse engineered from the wreckage of the ship word had leaked out that the company had certain advantages that allowed them to be so ground breaking. And once word leaked out, people wanted it. Not just other companies. Entire governments had salivated at the thought of just what kind of advantage having genuine aliens and a genuine spaceship could give them. So they had tried to take it for themselves through military force. When they did, well, that was the point where Karasuba began making a name for herself. Not just her, all of the original five numbers.

Except for Matsu. She wasn't exactly the type to carve a legend for herself out of a pile of bodies like the other four did.

When the governments trying to claim the aliens as their own realized force wouldn't be an option, they had resorted to espionage. It was no wonder Takami had reacted to my potential as an agent for a foreign government or company by bringing along Karasuba. One of those agents back then had actually succeeded in spiriting away a specimen: Musubi. In response MBI had dispatched the then Disciplinary Squad in its second generation, Yume and Karasuba. When the humans in charge of the facility had tried to stop them the results were about what could be expected.

And here is where the story cuts off. The entire mission was so classified it had taken the last two Noritos I had given Matsu to uncover the only other information from the report. It simply consisted of two sentences: 'After retrieval of number eighty eight's solid state, irreversible damage to the tama was diagnosed: recovery only possible due to sacrifice of zero eight's own core.'

Left with even more questions I had set about trying to discover what the enigmatic statement meant. The Sekirei's 'tama'? Their 'core'? The 'solid state'? I had wanted to focus on the newest development in the mystery of Musubi's distortion, but came up against an unexpected barrier.

For the second time since I had winged her, Matsu had refused to reveal any information on a topic. Just like the first time she told me, "Sometimes there are things I really can't talk about."

And so I sat in the corner, endlessly reviewing what information I did have. I could make a few guesses as to what had occurred. Even if they had recovered Musubi, she had spent an indeterminate amount of time at the mercy of her kidnappers. I had plenty of time on my own to imagine just what kind of experiments she must have gone under. Probably the same that awaited me if the Clock Tower ever got hold of me. I could make guesses on what happened to Yume too. 'Recovery only possible due to sacrifice of zero eight's core.' Generally when the word 'sacrifice' came up in regards to another's recovery it meant bad things for the one who had done the sacrificing. At least, that was the way in the magi world anyway.

It wasn't enough. I mean, it was enough for me to know that something terrible had once happened to the cheerful and exuberant shrine girl. The thought that the beautiful and innocent Sekirei, the Musubi who was so eager to fight, so earnest in her efforts, so dedicated to seeing the others around her happy, having been subjected to what she no doubt had was enough to set my teeth on edge. Even sitting in the dining room, surrounded by the laughter and cheer of Izumo House in general was not enough to keep half traced swords from forming in my mind, the thrill of od through my circuits begging to be unleashed on the perpetrators in a hail of silvery death. But it wasn't enough for me to know the exact nature of Musubi's distortion, or even if she really was distorted. Maybe I was just trying to project myself onto the innocent shrine girl. Maybe I was reading far too deep into this.

I did however resolve to send Karasuba an appropriate gift at a later time for her contribution in the incident. Maybe flowers with a note thanking her for her hard work? No, flowers might not be appropriate, seeing how they might be misconstrued as romantic. It wouldn't do to appear to be hitting on her now that she probably had another Ashikabi. Maybe a fruit basket?

"Shirou!" a voice dragged me back from my thoughts, and I started, blinking as I looked up to see what was going on. It seemed that at some point while I was lost in thought Tsukiumi had managed to place herself directly in front of me, one hand on her hip as she pointed her finger in her trademarked stance at me. "Are you listening?"

"Huh?" I managed to blurt out, probably more or less confirming that no, I hadn't been listening at all. The water user glowered at me while she shook her hand for emphasis.

"Why is that that you are letting her get so close when you won't let the rest of us?" she demanded, and I realized that it wasn't me the finger was directed at. In surprise I flinched back reflectively as I discovered that while I had been distracted with my musing Akitsu had somehow managed to kneel right next to me without my knowledge, and was currently leaning into me, her head nearly right next to mine as she glanced down. I followed her gaze only to have to suppress a blush as I realized that while I had been absentmindedly fiddling with the doohickey I must have tripped one of Matsu's explicit traps. Akitsu was studying the scene intensely as it played out, showing me that not even fly swatters, clothes pins, and fur lined parkas were safe from the depraved minds of perverts everywhere.

With a sigh I closed the screen and Akitsu simultaneously straightened from her leaning position and sagged in disappoint in her now upright pose. Well, sagged might have been an overstatement but the long familiarity of having her presence around me was starting to be enough to clue me in on some of the snow woman's more subtle nuances. Either that or she was just getting relaxed enough to display them in my presence.

"Ah," I rubbed the back of my head apologetically. "Sorry. Sometimes I don't even notice her there." This did not seem to be the right thing to say, and Tsukiumi's glower deepened.

"It's not fair," she ground out through grit teeth, stomping one of her feet gently as both her hands sank to her side in fists. "I am the proper wife! Why am I not allowed to sit beside you while you're working? And more importantly, why is it that I haven't had a…." she trailed off, a light blush spreading high on her cheeks.

"I am a proper wife too!" Musubi chimed in immediately.

"Kuu-chan too!" the green girl added helpfully.

"A soap opera!" Matsu chimed in unhelpfully, giggling her perverted giggle.

I chose to ignore the peanut gallery and focus on Tsukiumi for the moment. After waiting a few seconds for her to finish on her own prompted her, "Had a what?"

"A Norito!" she finally blurted, her flush spreading. She stomped again, her fists shaking. "A man shouldn't make a lady say something like that!" she scolded me, embarrassed having to name the act. "Why is it that only Matsu has been able to do such a thing with you?"

I got the impression that she was less concerned with unlocking and exercising her true powers and more interested in what the process involved. Matsu giggled again.

"It's just because Matsu is the one who is most able to help her Ashikabi right now," she proclaimed, proudly jutting out her chest as she adjusted her gleaming glasses. Her shameless bragging didn't seem to set the rest of my flock at ease. Despite being the physically weakest of my flock, besides Kuu-chan, Matsu didn't seem at all disturbed by the angry glares she received from Musubi and Tsukiumi. Matsu had assured me before that as their Ashikabi they would obey me without hesitation, but I had the impression that if it wasn't for Miya's presence the hacker Sekirei might have been in for a bit of unfriendly bullying. Quickly, I moved to cut off the impending argument.

"You know," I said loudly, drawing attention back to me. Even Yukari and Uzume, who had both retreated to the far side of the dining room to better enjoy their floor seats, and Shiina ,who was embarrassedly sitting near them and looking on with the airs of someone who really would rather be somewhere else, glanced over at me. Miya, in the midst of clearing the table of the remains of the meal I had prepared, merely shook her head in amusement, her eyes crinkled as she smiled at the excitement in her house. "I really haven't been very fair about that, have I?" I admitted. "Tell you what," I continued, "I know an out of the way place a few blocks from here. How about we head over there tomorrow night and you all can have a chance to experiment with your Noritos?"

That caught my flock's attention. Tsukiumi and Musubi both froze, their eyes widening in surprise at finally having a chance to do something physically intimate with me. Kuu didn't seem to have the same reservations and skipped over to plop herself down in my lap and hug my neck for all she was worth.

"Really, Shirou-san?" Musubi chimed in, her eyes wide and glistening with excitement as she clutched both her fists under her chin in joy. At the same time Tsukiumi chimed in, her own voice stuttering slightly as she voiced her own, "R-really, Shirou?" It was vaguely amusing the way the two of them despite arguing so much and claiming each other as rivals somehow managed to find the same synchronicity that Homura and I would sometimes slip into during times like these.

"Absolutely," I assured them, smiling back at them comfortingly. I had been meaning to suggest it for a while now actually. I was already familiar with just what Matsu's own Norito allowed her to do. So far she had been the only one whose powers I really needed, but now the second stage had begun. Matsu still wouldn't tell me what the third stage entailed, but she had admitted there would be fighting in it. Now would probably be the best time for me to familiarize myself with the capabilities of my combat types. "But it will be up to you to decide who goes first."

Both of the now celebrating aliens froze, and then with the same identical movements Musubi and Tsukiumi turned to meet each other's eyes. "Me first!" they both shouted at the exact same time.

"Now see here, Musubi," Tsukiumi began, eyeing her rival with a frown. "Obviously, as the legal wife…"

"Musubi is a legal wife too!" the shrine girl instantly countered. As the argument degenerated into its predictable patterns, I shook my head. It was almost a comforting routine to see those two go at it. When Kuu decided to join in, I was finally once more free to turn to my doohickey and resume my study.

With the familiar argument in the back ground I almost didn't notice as my sister made her way over to me. "Geez, onii-chan," Yukari sighed, plopping down next to me and leaning against the wall at my side. "All you ever do is study these days," she pouted at me. "What is it that's so important that you would ignore your precious little imouto?" Leaning towards my shoulder like Akitsu had earlier the younger brunette tried to look at what it was that had been consuming her onii-chan's interest for most of the night.

"Now, now, mistress," Shiina chimed in, sounding like he was split between attending to his Ashikabi and trying to intervene in the escalating debate over who would be the first to kiss me tomorrow. "Aniki is just very diligent."

"Diligent is one way to put it," a new voice chimed in as Uzume moved over to join us. The perky brunette had somehow managed to snatch the last of the botamochi, the sweet rice packed in red bean paste customarily served in spring, from the table and was now casually snacking on the last half dozen balls or so. From the way she was eying the unfolding drama of my flock's argument I had no problems imagining the plate being replaced with a bowl of popcorn in my head. "Bro there is real keen on being prepared." She gave me a quick amused glance and offered me the plate.

I snagged one of the sweet treats, an act quickly imitated by Yukari and Shiina. As Uzume began to withdraw the plate Akitsu twitched, and slowly reached out to take her own share of the spoils. Uzume grinned at the slow snow woman and held the plate closer so the ice wielder could help herself at her own pace. "There's nothing wrong with being prepared," I told the brunette Sekirei, my voice somewhat muffled as I spoke through my first bite of the confection. "Knowing what to expect can mean the difference between life and death in the days to come."

Yukari rolled her eyes at my solemn proclamation. "Geez, onii-chan," she moaned. "You make everything sound so serious." Pausing to take a bite of her own she thumped her chest enthusiastically. "Don't you worry! Yukari-sama is on the job! You just stay safe here with your girls and everything will be fine."

Uzume snorted, and then coughed slightly as her expression of disbelief had somehow managed to coincide with an attempt at swallowing her current mouthful. "Yeah," she drawled after she finished coughing up the rice that had gone down the wrong pipe. "Wouldn't want bro here to get into a dangerous situation. Who knows what might happen to him." Unlike my little sister, Uzume seemed to have a much better idea of what the likely outcome would be if I were to find myself in a conflict with another Ashikabi.

I blamed Rin for what happened next. I always knew the sharp little magus was a bad influence on me. Still, Yukari had it coming. I might still be new to this whole 'brother and sister jibing' thing, but I hadn't forgotten Yukari's earlier willingness to mock me for having a better understanding of the true nature of the internet than she apparently did.

"But imouto," I began, trying my best to keep my voice unsuspicious. "Why would you have to take care of me? After all, you've been staying her and safe too, right?" Yukari twitched, and I made a mental note to try and lure her into a game of cards at some point. If she was this easy to read it would mean that a potential poker night might be a nice way to make some pocket cash off my little sister. "And there are just so many rumors about dangerous Ashikabi these days." Keeping the doohickey carefully angled away from the three new comers in case I tripped another of Matsu's porn traps I brought up one of the forums I had been frequenting recently. "See," I angled the screen when I had the appropriate thread up. "There's all this talk about a 'Devil' Ashikabi and her 'Grim Reaper' Sekirei. They she's a complete pervert that likes to strip down her defeated enemies and then do all kinds of deviant things to them." Yukari perked up, leaning in eagerly to try and read the information on the screen. It appeared she hadn't quite made the connection yet. Maybe I should try to be a little more direct? "It says here that she especially likes stomping on the defeated Ashikabi, and that she has huge boots."

That appeared to do it. I was treated to the extremely satisfying sight of my little sister turning bone white as she realized just what kind of rumors her actions had spawned. At her side Shiina glanced away, refusing to meet the eyes of the rest of the small group that had gathered in shame.

"What?" Yukari growled, her eyes darting left to right as she read the text I had pulled up for her. "'A vicious, underdeveloped, rude, little girl'? 'Barely out of puberty'? 'Probably overcompensating for her loli features'?"

There were other threads dedicated to Yukari's exploits, ones that which spoke of her in a much more cautious fashion, but this one in particular was dedicated to those who didn't have the common sense to realize that they could very well end up meeting the one they wanted to trash talk. Thus, the posters really didn't seem to feel a need to hold back.

"I know that you would never go off on your own in the middle of the night and made me worry in order to do something so dangerous," I admonished my seething little sister, my voice earnest. "And I'm glad. Who knows what might happen if you were to come across someone so twisted. Why, they might even try to take advantage of you afterwards!"

"Those sneaky, conniving, little sore losers," Yukari fumed, her face reddening as her knuckles went white from the force they were being clenched with. "Saying things like that about…"

"Mistress," Shiina suddenly piped in, putting one of his delicate hands on my little sister's arm. "Please, Yukari-sama, calm down," he entreated her. At her Sekirei's touch Yukari froze, apparently realizing that she had been about to melt down in front of her 'gentle' brother. She began to blush, letting go of the doohickey as she did so.

"I mean," she began before trailing off, her eyes darting left and right as she tried to think up an excuse for why the reporting of an apparently dangerous and completely unrelated Ashikabi had been setting her off. "That is…" she tried again, and she looked so piteously cornered that I decided to throw her a bone.

"That is that you were really sneaking off in the middle of the night so as not to worry me while you do dangerous things?" I supplied her and she latched onto my excise before she fully had time to process it.

"Yes! That's it!" she announced instantly. "I was just sneaking away so that…" she froze half way through the sentence as she realized that not only had she just announced her midnight expeditions, but that I had already known of them before hand. "You," she began before trailing off. Yukari swallowed and then tried again. "You already knew?" she whispered, her head dropping as she realized that I was fully aware of just what it was she had been up to for the past couple of weeks.

"Of course I did," I told her, unable to suppress a crooked half smile from forming. "You're my sister, and I worry about you." Yukari glanced up at me, a hopeful look on her face as she did so. With a soft sight I put one arm around my sister's shoulders. "Did you really think that I wouldn't find out?" I asked her, my tone mildly aggrieved. "Please. I'm your big brother. I'm supposed to know these kinds of things. I might have failed the entrance exam once but that doesn't mean I'm an idiot."

Yukari flushed, but rather than look embarrassed she actually seemed pleased. "Man," she moaned. "I should have known. Onii-chans always find out in the books."

"Mistress," Shiina chimed in, sounding as though he was reiterating an often repeated argument. "I really don't think that manga are always right."

"Listen to your Sekirei," I added, trying to sound mature and reasonable. "He speaks the truth."

"Geez," Yukari huffed, crossing her arms in a pout. Despite her disgruntled tone she leaned a bit closer to me, resting her shoulder against mine. "Having a brother is hard."

"Not as hard as having a sister," I retorted. The petite brunette responded by digging one of her elbows into my rib and I let out a grunt at the sharp blow. "Yukari," I began, my tone slipping out of the more casual one I had been using and into something more serious. "I know that you're a grown girl, and that you can take care of yourself. But I worry. Be careful out there, okay?"

Yukari met my serious eyes for a second, and then she glanced away again, her flush increasing. She curled herself up a bit, drawing her knees up to her chest so she could hide her face behind them. "Well, maybe having an onii-chan is pretty cool too," she mumbled. I had the feeling that I had just fulfilled one of her child hood fantasies of what it would have been like if I had never been separated from my biological family. It wouldn't surprise me if getting a 'worried big brother' speech was on the same imaginary list she had that included things like 'falling down after getting hugged' and 'harassing the big brother's girlfriend'.

I honestly hadn't put nearly as much thought into all the experiences we had missed out on growing up separated, but if more quiet moments like this were on the list then maybe I regretted not having been around back then, even if it meant I wouldn't be the man I was today.

"He-heh," a new voice chimed in, and Yukari and I both seemed to realize that our quiet interlude hadn't gone unobserved. The rest of my flock save Homura might still have been busy haggling out who got to go first in tomorrow's Norito experiment, but Uzme seemed to now be dividing her attention between the ongoing argument and Yukari and me's sibling bonding. Judging from the grin on her face and the way she continued to chow down on her botamochi it seemed that once more she was firmly enjoying the drama my life was filled with from the side lines the same way anyone else would enjoy a daytime soap opera. "Wow. Looks like you two are getting pretty lovey-dovey. The tender and intimate love between brother and sister starting to come out?" The leer on her face made me absolutely sure she wasn't referring to the platonic feelings that two people who had the same parents were supposed to feel.

"Well," Yukari's voice was muffled from where she was still hiding her face in her legs. "That happens a lot in books too…" she began slowly, and I instantly cut her off.

"No. Not happening. Ever," I told her bluntly. Yukari peeked up from her legs, her blush receding as she chimed in eagerly.

"No, really. It happens a lot, onii-chan," she began, with the firm conviction of someone who considered themselves well informed. "Like in that one book, 'Love Love Onii-chan'…"

"Why don't I show you some of my research on dangerous Sekirei so that you'll know who to look out for when you're out late at night," I cut her off instantly, my voice a bit louder than earlier as I firmly overrode her impending argument on why incest would ever be considered an acceptable course of action.

"But really," Yukari tried to continue, her arm reaching out to pat the ground next to her. "Here look at this…" she trailed off as she realized what she was looking for wasn't where she had expected it to be. "Where did I put my H books again?" she muttered to herself. I groaned, thankful that a good portion of her less reputable collection had been among the ones I had discreetly done away with when helping her move.

"Actually, Yukari-sama," Shiina chimed in, sounding apologetic at interrupting his mistress. "If you wouldn't mind, could we focus on the dangerous Sekirei?" The young man was ever a diligent Sekirei, and it didn't surprise me that he would prefer to see who his future opponents might be rather than listen to his mistress list reasons why she should cheat on him with her brother. Actually, I don't think being a diligent Sekirei had anything to do with the last bit. I don't think anyone would like to listen to their girlfriend try to seduce her brother directly in front of them. "Like this one," he continued, pointing to one particular thread on the screen. It was directly below the one that had originally set off Yukari earlier. "The veiled Sekirei."

With the rest of the room either involved in an argument or busy looking at the doohickey in my hands, I was fairly confident I was the only one who noticed the way Uzume stiffened.

"Appears without warning, never announces her name, leaves her victims half dead, and disappears without guarding them until MBI arrives?" Yukari read off, the distraction being successful in drawing her attention away from trying to convince me that comics were right about just how close siblings should be. "What is this!" she yelped, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"Whoever it is they sound dangerous, mistress," Shiina added, his expression earnest. Once more, from the corner of my eye, I saw Uzume react, glancing to the side and lowering her head until her bangs covered her eyes.

"What kind of fiend would do something so unfair?" Yukari growled, the righteous fires of passion filling her eyes. "Shiina!" she snapped, launching to her feet and pointing towards the door. "We're going to track the veiled Sekirei down and bring her to justice!" Once more I saw the influence of all the manga my little sister read shining through. It was just the kind of thing one could expect from the protagonist of a shonen comic.

"Yukari-sama," Shiina yelped as his Ashikabi started working herself into rampage in the name of justice. "We don't even know where she is! Besides, shouldn't we be avoiding dangerous Sekirei?" He stumbled to his feet, chasing after Yukari as she began storming towards the exit of the dining room.

Leaving just Uzume, Akitsu, and myself sitting in the corner quietly. From my side I heard Akitsu stir, the rustle of her chain a comforting and familiar sound.

After a moments silence, I addressed Uzume quietly. "It's a good plan."

"What do you mean, Shirou?" the ponytailed brunette said, her voice dull. The veiled Sekirei. From reports of the Ashikabi who had seen her, she was a Sekirei wrapped all over with long bolts of white cloth that concealed her face and body, cloth that moved about her as though it were alive, that could cut like a knife or bind like a chain.

If I were to hazard a guess, it would appear I finally understood why Uzume's Sekirei power reminded me of a linen closet.

"It keeps the Sekirei's true identity a secret, making sure that anyone who had seen her wouldn't be able to identify her afterwards as long as they changed into normal clothing. It keeps any attempt at retribution from other Ashikabi from happening, keeping the Sekirei and her Ashikabi safe," I continued, my tone holding no judgment in it.

It was a good plan. Hell, if it hadn't been for the debacle between my flock and the Ashikabi of the East it would have been the plan I would have used. If I could have convinced any of them to go along with it that is. Tsukiumi was a firm believer in the propriety of the fights, always naming herself and announcing her number before engaging. Musubi was equally insistent on guarding the fallen afterwards. Homura might have gone along with it, but I wouldn't ask that of him since it would go against his role as the Sekirei Guardian.

Uzume gave me a hard look from beneath her bangs, one that said she didn't agree with my summation of her actions at all, but then she paused. Her eyes flickered to where Akitsu knelt patiently beside me. Then they flickered down to my lap, or more specifically toward my ankle, and then they came up to my face. Her gaze softened.

"You know, bro," she began softly. "If anyone else had said that, I probably would have smacked them." In her mind perhaps she was remembering my own blood stained jeans. She had no way of knowing that my victim hadn't been just another member of the Sekirei Plan, and she could probably make a judgment on just which of my flock I would involve if it came to doing something shady.

Akitsu shifted again, her kimono a sound like settling feathers. If I had asked Akitsu to do something like that, I already knew precisely what her response would be. She had already killed for me, after all.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing it was me then," I told her dryly, my eyes drifting to the argument. From the sound of it they had finally decided that the Norito experiment would be conducted in order of winging. It was a fair enough way I supposed, and it wouldn't imply any kind of favoritism on my part. Tsukiumi was unsurprisingly trying to convince the rest that it should be in reverse order, seeing as she had been the last one winged and all, but looked to be losing on that front.

A movement from Uzume's direction pulled my attention back to her. She was holding the plate with the last botamochi up in offering to me. "I guess everyone has their own circumstances in the end. Does anyone have the right to complain about another's choices, when it comes right down to it?" Her question was mostly directed at herself I think, but it had a touch of desperate curiosity in it, as though she was seeking approval from someone else who might understand her actions.

"The only one who a person has to answer to is themselves," was my own response. As someone who often made choices that others disapproved of, as someone who had chosen a path in life that would be full of despair and hopelessness, as someone who already knew just what awaited me on my path, it was a statement I believed in.

Uzume was silent for a moment, and then a small smile crept onto her lips. "Thanks bro," she told me softly. Her expression lightened, she raised her voice, shouting into the argument in the middle of the room. "But what about Homura? When does he get to kiss Shirou?"

"Wait, what?" Homura yelped, looking surprised that he had been dragged into the debate of kissing order. Musubi and Tsukiumi both paused and turned to give the flame wielder a speculative look.

"Well," Tsukiumi began, sounding reluctant. "I suppose as my rival who came to my aid and as a senior member of Shirou's Sekirei I could make an allowance and allow him to go first." It seemed that since Homura was a male and therefore not a rival in her eyes the water user felt it was okay to make concessions regarding his seniority.

"Right!" Musubi chimed in. "Since Homura-san was the first to get winged he should get to go first as well!"

"Wait, what?" Homura repeated, eyes frantically darting between the two rivals. "Why is it you two only get along during times like these?" he began as the two aggressive females of his species began to close in on him.

"Yes! Homura-tan and Shirou-tan should get more comfortable with each other!" Matsu instantly agreed. She began emitting her perverted, "Fuhuhu Fuhuhu," laugh, adjusting her glasses so they glinted ominously in the light.

"We don't need that kind of comfort, you lascivious witch," Homura snapped back. A new argument started, this one with the rest of my flock doing their absolute best to try and convince the only other male in our group to participate in what was effectively our first group bonding experience. I gave Uzume a dry look.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" I asked her already sure that she had known just how much gas she was dumping on a fire when she had thrown in her own contribution to the debate. In response she grinned back, sticking her tongue out at me as she did so. With a sigh I turned back to my doohickey, only to discover that at some point while I was distracted Akitsu had apparently tripped one of Uzume's porn traps on purpose and was now studying the screen intently. This one seemed to involve shibari, candlesticks, and a full body costume of a bear.

I sighed again. I could remember a point in my life when things were sane. Technically speaking it should only have been a few weeks ago. Why was it that at times like this it felt like that was another life entirely?

*Scene Break*

"Aniki?" Shiina's voice broke me out of my concentration, and I glanced up in surprise. It had been an hour or two since the debacle that dinner had become had ended, and I had finally managed to get some good work time in. "Yukari-sama and Matsu-san wanted me to let you know that the bath was ready," the young male Sekirei told me, smiling hopefully down at me.

"Already?" I muttered. "They're usually in there pretty late. What time is…" I trailed off as I realized how dark it had become outside. "Oh," I finished off my statement in a less that articulate fashion.

To be fair, I was trying to juggle memorizing one hundred and eight Sekirei profiles, upwards of sixty more Ashikabi profiles, the incident reports for Musubi's past incident, and monitor a couple dozen threads on the internet. Add in that most of the profiles were being updated daily as battles continued to spread across the city and new data was collected. Add on again that I was also trying to keep track of any potential magi intrusions with the half hazard warning net I had Matsu put together.

To think, I use to think that nothing could be as all consuming of my attention as swords. I wished, not for the first time, that I had Rin around to help me with this kind of thing. Matsu was proving to be the most effective information gatherer that I had ever come across, but that didn't help when it came to analyzing the data she soaked up like a sponge.

"Aniki," Shiina began, his voice concerned. "You're working too hard. You need to stop for a bit." Hesitantly, the walking apocalypse put a gentle hand on my shoulder. "You should put the tablet aside and take a long bath. It will help relax you."

Belatedly I realized that my eyes were aching. Just how long had I been staring at the dim screen of the doohickey? I couldn't help one hand from coming up to rub at the over used orbs, and I grimaced when I found that even my touch made the already sore sensory organs throb.

"You know," I admitted. "You may be right. Are the girls out then?" It was a question that begged answering before I could ever dream of using the bath myself. Not so much that I was worried I might walk in on one of my flock or housemates. No, it had more to do with survival instincts. It seemed that the combination of having a mating bond with a good number of the females at Izumo house, combined with the spacious and tempting bathing facilities, and with a sprinkling of lack of nudity taboos, all the factors had added together to present a situation where it was very difficult for me to avoid either walking in on one of them when they were using the facilities or keep them from doing the same to me.

"Its fine, Aniki," Shiina told me. "The girls are all done."

"Alright," I capitulated, flicking the button on the doohickey to turn it off. When I stood I could feel my joints pop, the sound audible in the mostly quiet dining room as yet another reminder of just how long I had been immersed in my studies. From deeper in the house and upstairs I could make out the sounds of the other residents, and from the kitchen I could hear the clink of silverware as it was washed. "They could have told me that they were doing the dishes," I muttered as I started making my way to the hallway. "I would have been glad to help."

It was a short walk to the bathroom. Izumo House was a traditional Japanese style house, and whoever had originally designed it hadn't skimped on the baths. Bathing was something of a not so secret pleasure for most Japanese. While size restrictions in cities often made the building designers forced to skimp on bathrooms in apartments, putting in much more size efficient showers, bathhouses made good business of the love my countrymen held for the large communal facilities that let the bather properly enjoy the experience. Whoever had originally constructed Izumo had obviously been a bath fanatic themselves. The facilities were large, so large they were almost a wing to the house on their own. Maybe because Izumo had originally been meant to be an inn rather than a border house but the foyer leading into the facilities proper had a large shelf with multiple baskets for the bather to first put their clothes in before it opened into a spacious room with multiple faucets so the bather could wash themselves first before going to one of the three large tubs where they could soak in the hot water at their leisure.

I felt my bones creak again as I began to undress, peeling off my long sleeve shirt with a grimace. It was starting to make it to mid spring, and I wasn't certain how much longer my usual choice of shirts was going to be comfortable. I would have to make a shopping trip soon to see if I could find some thinner long sleeves, something that would provide the same coverage but be more bearable once it truly started to get hot out.

My preference in concealing clothing stemmed mostly from their combat utility. The sleeves provided an extra layer around my skin, something which could in a pinch be reinforced to the toughness of hardened leather. Against some of the more dangerous attacks that might be directed at me the extra armor might not be enough to stop it, but it would be enough for lesser attacks or even shrapnel or flying rubble. More than that, it provided me an avenue for when I started to finally work on how to use runes for personal enhancement. It would take some experimentation, but I had heard how some proficient rune users could empower their garments to give them extra strength or protection, or even their shoes for things like speed enhancements and such. I would have to wait until I could work out proper combinations, but it would be good for me to get used to wearing long sleeves at all times.

Well, all that and there was the simple fact that they concealed my body. I was a bit worried of the consequences if my flock were to ever see my body fully.

It was while I was considering just this fact that I finished disrobing and entered the bath proper only to discover that it was in fact already being occupied.

"Shirou!" Homura yelped, splashing backwards from where he was just about to enter the soaking facilities. I grimaced. Hadn't Shiina said the bath was empty? No, wait, he only said that there were none of the girls in it. I generally preferred to bathe alone, a habit that had developed probably from the long years when I lived alone after Kiritsugu had died. I know that a good number of Japanese people considered bathing to be a communal act, but I just preferred to use my cleaning time as a chance to be alone with my own thoughts.

Still, I wasn't like I never occasionally used communal facilities. It was a bit awkward, but it wouldn't be the first time I had been naked with another naked man around. It wasn't like either of us had something the other hadn't seen before, breasts aside.

Wait. Breasts?

"Hrk," I managed to get out eloquently as my eyes locked on the grey haired man's chest. Maybe I was seeing things? Sometimes if you spent too long in a hot bath it could make a person light headed. Sure, I hadn't gotten into a bath yet, but I'm sure I could justify this hallucination that way if I tried hard enough. Or maybe my eyes were just tired from staring at the screen of the doohickey for too long. Yeah. That must be it.

I rubbed my eyes and double checked. Yup. Still there. I knew that Homura was male, but for some reason perched right there where there should have been the harder and flatter muscles of a man's chest were too medium sized globes of flesh that I would have more likely expected to see on a female.

Homura looked every bit as surprised as I was to find that he wasn't alone in the room, and stood frozen for a moment, arms at his side before realizing what I was staring at. Both of his arms came up in a panicked motion, crossing over the unexpected parts of his body. "Shirou! What the hell are you doing here?" he squawked, his voice high pitched in surprise.

"Erg?" I answered. Maybe Homura had just been concealing his gender? Maybe what I had thought was a 'he' all this time was actually a well concealed 'she'? Maybe 'she' had somehow managed to conceal that fact from MBI, Miya, Matsu, and Uzume for all this time, however improbably? And in order to conceal the fact that 'she' was actually interested in the same gender had hidden 'her' true self in order to avoid potential harassment?

My eyes drifted downwards. Nope. That impossible theory was right out.

"Nrk?" I managed to get out in response to proof that Homura was definitely male. My head was spinning and I felt like my legs might be a little unsteady. The fire user realized where I was looking at now and one hand shot down to conceal himself.

"Wait," the host Sekirei yelped, concealing both of his distinguishing features while glancing around wildly. "I can explain!" he assured me before deciding the best way to keep himself covered would be to jump into the bath and sink low enough that the water would hide his, hers, whatevers body.

"Ngh," I assured him, reaching out weakly to support myself on the wall next to me. Yes. An explanation would appreciated right now; a very good explanation.

"Its," the flame user began, his eyes darting wildly as his cheeks flushed before apparently running out of words. "Well, you see, the thing is," he began again, his eyes darting over to me to check my reaction. Then he froze. The realization that while Homura had managed to take proper steps to conceal himself, I was still standing in my birthday suit frozen in shock hit me. Quickly I tried to conceal myself but it was too late. It was Homura's turn to be stuck staring at something he hadn't been expecting. "Shirou," he began, the panic in his voice replaced by suspicion. "What the hell is that?"

Just like his had earlier, one of my hands instinctively came up to cover my chest. It wasn't to conceal a pair of secondary sex organs found on females however. It was to cover the massive scar that blossomed dead center over my heart like a warped red star.

It had taken nearly a year and a half before Rin and Saber and I had managed to figure out just why it was that my body seemed to recover from ridiculously lethal wounds with startling speed and regularity. It had taken several long conversations and some mostly fruitless investigations to figure out how. The truth, once revealed, had set about a very embarrassing series of events.

Fifteen years ago, my father had originally summoned Saber to serve in the Fourth Grail War. In order to summon a Heroic Spirit, a catalyst was needed. The one Kiritsugu used had been the sheath of Saber's legendary sword Excalibur, Avalon the Distant Utopia. It was a conceptual weapon, the crystallization of the ideal of peace that Saber once held and gifted to her by the faeries to aid her. The bearer of it was gifted limited regenerative protection, and once called upon it could transport the wielder to the realm of the faeries, granting them protection from all attacks, even those as powerful as sorcery. During the Fourth Grail War Kiritsugu had used it to protect first his wife, Irisviel, and then himself against potential attacks by other Masters or Servants. After the final battle of the war, in the haunted inferno that Fuyuki City had become, he had used it one last time on the only survivor he had come across, the one soul that had survived the consequences of his final act as a Master: myself. It was only thanks to Avalon that I did not die that day. It had rested inside of me ever since, and been the catalyst I had unconsciously used in order to call forth Saber again during the Fifth War.

Once we had discovered 'why' I was able to recover from ridiculous injury, the question we had had to puzzle out was 'how'? Avalon had been created for Saber herself, not for anyone else. While just bearing it was enough for the Heroic Spirit to reap its benefits, it didn't work that well in the hands of others. We had managed to discover that her presence nearby was enough to provide the sheath with the mana it needed to heal a user even if it wasn't Saber herself, but that didn't explain why I was so durable even when she wasn't around. The answer to that had been surprising. It had been close to fifteen years since the day that Kiritsugu implanted Avalon inside of me. That's a decade and a half, including my original growth spurts and puberty that the sacred relic had permeated my very existence. In that time, however unconsciously it had happened, Avalon had become more than just sheath to me.

It had become a part of my body. For fifteen years it had been dissolved into my blood and marrow and flesh, a part of every system of my body, as intrinsic to my very nature as any of my other organs. Originally, a bearer of the sheath besides Saber would require the swordswoman to be nearby. Her presence was enough to feed her mana into the blade, allowing it to function as it originally intended. However, after so long with it being a part of me I had effectively reached the point where I could manipulate it directly as yet another part of my body. It was costly, and took nearly twice as much power for an effect then if I simply relied on Saber's presence, but even alone I could continue to feed Avalon the mana it needed to protect me. It could be removed without damaging me, yes, but after so long the question had been would it be better to return the Conceptual Weapon back to its original owner, or just leave it where it was? In the end, both Saber and Rin had decided if I was going to keep doing stupidly dangerous things it might be better if I had a little insurance.

The embarrassing series of events afterwards had resulted from Saber casually calling me 'her sheath' and Rin taking the literal statement far, far out of context. I had been teased mercilessly with various sex toys that were designed to allow a female to take the usual male role in intercourse for weeks. I had been very thankful that when Yukari had gotten me my 'start up kit' back when I first took on Akitsu there had been no strap-ons in it. I'm afraid I might have used my magecraft to destroy it on reflex, and then that would have opened a whole new can of worms.

"I did mention I had been stabbed by a spear," I finally managed to explain the fierce looking scar to the impatient flame user. The spot had been where I had my fist encounter with the brutality of the Grail War, when Lancer had tracked me down and slipped that cursed spear of his into my chest for being a witness. Back then I might have still had Avalon within me, but it had been there for years, doing its best to heal my body without ever receiving any new prana either from my own untrained self or from being in Saber's presence. It had managed to keep me from dying from the fatal wound long enough for Rin to finish the healing, but Gae Bolg had been a cursed lance of the highest order. Malicious power like that doesn't heal easily, and when it does it does so begrudgingly. It had been three years, and the puckered scar over my heart still looked every bit as fresh as the day I had first looked down and seen it.

"You neglected to mention where," Homura spat out, his indignation tinged with worry. His eyes flickered again, and I could track just where they were going by the position of his eyes. They lingered on the mark across my left pectoral and down the arm to mid bicep following the jagged white claw marks where I had gotten a little too close to an apostle on my first vampire hunt, and then down to my right thigh and the splotchy flesh that indicated the time I had pissed off an elemental. I might have been able to manipulate Avalon into healing those wounds, but sometimes there were powerful magics or creatures that managed to leave lingering remains of the damage they did to me despite the sheath's power. It was probably a side effect of my imperfect usage of the Conceptual Weapon. I've had other more dangerous wounds, and some of them have left marks on my body as well, but generally whenever I was in Saber's presence they would heal unblemished. Only when I was alone to recover did I receive tokens of my past misdemeanors. "Just where the hell did you get all those?"

Despite the fact that he was still trying to keep his body concealed under the water in the tub, it seemed that he couldn't quite control his anger properly, and he leaned forward, both hands gripping the edge of bath, his chest partially rising out of the concealing fluid. By this point I was familiar enough with Homura's moods to understand his anger. The cool host was generally very good at controlling himself, but I'd noticed the most reliable way to heat his temper was for me to do something stupid and put myself in direct risk, like the times I had faced other Sekirei directly, or the spar with Miya. Regardless of our same gender interfering with the usual bonds of the mating contract, Homura had found his own way to show his loyalty to me as his Ashikabi, loyalty which usually involved him being rather overprotective of me when I was placed in danger.

My eyes drifted to the slope of the breasts barely peeking out of the bath. Wait, did same gender apply here?

I shook my head rapidly and decided to do my very best to pretend that I had not had the revelation that I had been presented with here. I was very much not ready to think about all the implications at the moment. Very, very, very much not ready. I opened my mouth to explain away the scars and Homura cut me off, his glare increasing as the room temperature began to rise noticeably. "So help me, Shirou," he growled, "if you tell me 'legacy of a misspent youth' again I will set your hair on fire."

"Um," I hemmed, buying time to think up a new excuse. Damn. I thought I could keep getting away with that for a while. "You should see the other guy?" I tried lamely. I considered telling him 'a wizard did it', but wasn't sure if he'd take the semi accurate description as a joke like I intended or if he would take me seriously in the current state he was.

Judging from the growl that was starting to emit from the flame user I don't think my explanation was quite enough to keep me from having to get a haircut later. I was almost thankful when the door in the foyer leading to the hallway opened, and Homura's eyes widened as he instantly sank himself lower into the water to conceal himself once more.

"Ah, Aniki, Sempai," Shiina chimed in, sounding hopeful. "Do you mind if I join you two?"

"Join us?" I asked, not quite sure what the master of decay was getting at. "Wait, you knew Homura was in here when you sent me?" If he knew ahead of time then why the hell had he sent me into this incredibly awkward situation? Shiina beamed up at me, nodding enthusiastically.

"Yes," he admitted shamelessly. "It's just that whenever Yukari-sama and the others are in the bath they always seem to be having so much fun. I thought that maybe if the three of us were to bath together than it might be more enjoyable."

Homura and I shared a look, are previous confrontation forgotten as we both grimaced at the innocence the younger Sekirei was displaying. "Look, Shiina," I began, trying to be patient as I turned to explain certain things to the young man. "First of all, it's generally considered polite to ask if it's okay to bathe together first."

"Unless you're in a public place where it's already a given that there will be other people present, like in an onsen or a public bath," Homura added, beginning to rub his forehead as he tried to keep himself patient. It seemed like the stress of the unexpected situation was beginning to get to him. "And Shirou," he continued, his voice holding a tinge of anger in it once more. "Why is there a matching scar on your back?"

"That was the exit wound," I told him over my shoulder. I was more focused on helping my unofficial brother in law understand the nuances of the situation than to try and calm down the flame user. "Also, you have to remember that there are different etiquettes for bathing between male and females. I'm sure a lot of the things that the girls do in the bath and find amusing us men would not find anywhere near as fun."

Shiina seemed honestly shocked by the revelation, his eyes downcast. I really hated to burst his bubble about this whole situation, but if I didn't stand up and give him some male guidance than I was worried Yukari would somehow end up putting him in a dress or something. "So then I'm not supposed to grope either of you?" he asked, sounding like he was confused.

Homura and I both froze. "What?" I asked, not sure if I heard that last statement properly, and desperately hoping I hadn't.

"Well, after you left the dining room, some of the others came back in," he explained. That didn't surprise me. The dining room was the largest room in the house and the only one that had a television. It was pretty common for everyone to gather there and socialize when there was nothing else going on. "When I asked for advice, Yukari-sama said that the best way to have fun in the bath was to grope someone."

I felt a twitch at my eyebrows. Really, Yukari? Really?

Apparently not noticing my reaction, Shiina continued. "Matsu-san agreed as well," he continued, looking up at me apologetically. "So did Uzume-san." He paused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Tsukiumi-san didn't seem to think it was such a good idea though," he admitted.

"That lascivious witch," Homura growled again, using his favorite nickname for the shameless hacker.

"I see," I said my voice toneless. "And are they still in the dining room now?" I asked hopefully. At Shiina's nod I reached out and snagged a bath towel to wrap around my waist. I had to hurry. Matsu must know the potential danger she had put herself in, and if I didn't get to the dining hall before she had a chance to escape it might be hours before I could track her down. She knew all the best hiding places in Izumo House. "Shiina, why don't you wait outside so Homura can get dressed," I told him, my voice helpful. "I need to go have a word with my sister and my Sekirei."

I'm sure the sound of bare feet on wood was a warning to the rest of the residents as I marched my way down the hall, but when I slammed open the sliding door, one hand carefully holding my towel together, seeing me in my current state must have been a bit unexpected.

Uzume whistled, raising one eyebrow. "Wow bro," she spoke up, cocking her head to the side. "Not bad," she leered at me.

"Uh," Yukari managed to get out, her eyes so wide I could see the whites of them. She swallowed, flushing slowly. "Definitily not bishounen," she finally managed to squeak out. Tsukiumi seemed to be reduced to a wordless state where she could only flush and stare.

I was aware enough of the reason that I was getting responses like that. It hadn't just been scars that I was trying to conceal with baggy clothes. I was someone who spent my entire life preparing for the time when I would be required to fight dangerous creatures. I worked myself hard to be in peak physical condition for when I was called upon to go to such battles. I was aware, objectively, that at least according to Rin and Saber all that physical preparation had left me with an attractive body. I had muscles that had been trained to be able to swing heavy swords for hours, and very little body fat on me besides. I had been more than a little worried, perhaps narcissistically, that if my flock grew aware of my physical appearance it might cause extra tension in the already tense atmosphere of being mated without having actually committed the act yet. Right now, I had more important things to worry about.

Musubi just beamed up at me happily from where she was sitting with the rest of the residents around the table. "Good evening, Shirou-san," she said. "Did you have a nice bath?"

"Not quite yet," I told her, my eyes focusing on Matsu and Yukari, the main instigators of Shiina's social faux passé. Kuu gave me a curious look, too young to understand the reaction that I was inspiring in the older members of her species before shaking her head and going back to her doodling.

"Onii-chan is silly," she commented idly. Akitsu, sitting beside the younger blonde and joining her in her childish play seemed to have forgotten the crayon she was holding in favor of focusing all her attention on me. It didn't escape my notice that two very small spots of red had begun to form on her cheeks.

"Oh my," Miya chimed in, looking at me with amusement. "Emiya-kun," she began, her voice tinged with warning. "Do I have to have a talk with you about the inappropriateness of wandering Izumo House in a towel?" If it had been anyone else, I was sure she would have already released that hellish mask of hers on them. I was most likely spared instant scolding due to the well known fact that I was trying to reproduce the effect.

"Don't worry," I told her, still glaring at the two instigators. "This will only take a second."

"Fuhuhuhu," Matsu's old man laugh seemed a little breathless. "Is it time for experimentation then, Shirou-tan?" she asked, even her voice sounding dirty and lustful.

I smiled at her. "Yes," I told her, surprising the room. "Yes it is." Matsu blinked, apparently not having expected that response, before her eyes widened as she realized what I was referring to.

"Wait," she began desperately. "Matsu is sorry! She won't do it again! Just don't…"

"Matsu," I began, cutting her off, my gaze shifting between her and my sister, "Yukari." The rest of the room barely had a chance to wonder what had caused the sudden violent backpedaling that the shameless Sekirei was performing when the air around me began to darken. "Manipulating innocent and sheltered young men into performing lewd acts in order to satiate your homoerotic fantasies is forbidden in Izumo House."

The reaction in the rest of the house was instantaneous, and pretty much exactly what I had expected to occur. Tsukiumi and Musubi, both sitting next to each other, latched onto one another, shock at the sudden manifestation of horror that I had managed to successfully produce. Kuu-chan buried her face into Akitsu's chest in order to spare herself the terror, while the snow woman froze, sitting even stiller than she usually did. Uzume dropped the tea she was holding into her lap, her face going white. Yukari and Matsu, the focus of the dreadful avatar of hate I was producing, both started crawling backwards, trying to put distance between themselves and I until they found themselves backed against the wall with nowhere else to escape too.

I had every intention of continuing my lecture, using several key elements that I had adopted from Miya's more comment scolding, when a small noise broke my concentration and caused me to drop my technique so that I could stare in surprise at Miya.

"Did you just 'eep'?" I asked her, unable to believe that the fearsome sword wielding landlady, the creature whose aura spoke of a life of bloodshed and battle, and whose power could most likely destroy half the city in a day, would ever make such a delicate noise of surprise. Miya had both hands over her mouth, her eyes widened in surprise, and seemed to have flinched when my technique caught her off guard. My words seemed to shake her out of her shock, and she blinked when she realized what I had asked. Her eyes darted downwards to where her hands were covering her mouth, and then back up at me guiltily.

Then she began to blush. "Ah," she began, and for the first time I heard the landlady stutter. "Perhaps," she admitted, sounding embarrassed.

"You did it," Uzume's hollow voice was the next to come into the shell shocked silence. "You magnificent son of a bitch. You actually did it." From her tone it appeared she was struggling with being absolutely horrified that I had managed to recreate Miya's otherwise unique ability and awe that I had managed to do just that. "Beach balls," she muttered, the awe apparently winning over. "Giant, brass, beach balls."

"Not in front of Kuu-chan," I reminded her absentmindedly, still staring at the embarrassed Miya. An 'eep'. Miya. Eeping. The very idea of it was mind boggling. Uzume flinched, apparently remembering my compunctions about having adult matters discussed before the youngest resident and realizing I now had the ability to enforce my displeasure without resorting to finding Miya. So far the ponytailed Sekirei seemed to be the only one who had managed to recover from my chastisement, perhaps due to having more practice due to living with Miya for so long.

"What was that, bro?" she finally asked. "I don't know what it was, but I know that wasn't a hannya."

I shook my head briefly, pulling my attention away from the still blushing and slightly fidgeting Miya. "I have no idea what you're talking about," I told her. Uzume flinched.

"Not you too," she moaned, sounding betrayed. When Miya began to giggle I realized that I had unconsciously repeated her usual denial phrase whenever someone tried to call her out on the giant illusory masks she kept throwing around.

I shook my head in denial. "No, not that," I assured her. With the hand not holding my towel I scratched my head awkwardly. "It's just that so far I can only get it to appear behind my head, and it doesn't reflect so I haven't had a chance to see it yet. I'm really not sure just what it is at the moment."

The confession seemed to relieve the star shirted Sekirei. "Pshew," she let out a deep breath. "That's good," she cheered up a bit. "At least you won't be able to make its eyes bleed then. I hate the bleeding eyes," she muttered, glaring to the side.

"Now, now," Miya chimed in, and when I glanced at her I could definitely see the traces of a smug smile appearing on her lips. "Just because you had to scold Yukari-chan and Matsu-chan," she began, and her small smile widened a bit, "is no reason for you to disobey the rules of Izumo House." The air behind her began to darken, and for the first time I began to consider that maybe I shouldn't have shown off my recreation of her ability so casually. "After all," she continued. A mask appeared, small, barely the size of a quarter, behind her like a white star in the darkness. "Whatever the reason may be…" more masks began appearing. The sounds of wood blocks being clashed together and the howl of the wind began to echo. "…in the end…" cold tension erupted in me as I felt something appear behind me, something that I must not turn around and see, something waiting for me to look at it so that it could destroy me. Cold sweat began to appear from my pores. "…wandering Izumo House in a towel is prohibited," she finished. Behind the countless tiny hannya masks a large one began to reveal itself, appearing like the moon behind the stars. Blood poured from its eyes, and its tongue moved, coiling around sharp dagger like teeth.

I swallowed. I think this was the first time I had ever been directly on the receiving end of Miya's horror show. Judging from the proud smile on Miya's face, I think this might have been her way to show me just how far I had to go before I could consider myself a true master of the ability.

"Duly noted," I croaked out. Well. The first step was complete. Just you wait, Miya. Someday, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, I too will master this skill.

*Scene Break*

"Shirou," a soft voice interrupted my contemplation. It had been an hour and a half or so since I learned just how far I had to go to compete with Miya. I had managed to finally get my own bath in, and had had to spend some time calming down the excited Musubi who had been overjoyed that I had learned a new skill and had begged me to teach her it. The rest of my flock had been a bit less pleased with my newfound ability and even less pleased at the idea of it being in the hands of the shrine girl. Now that I had provided definitive proof that it wasn't a trait unique to the landlady it appeared that they were mostly concerned with seeing to it that the horror never spread any further than the two of us. I had finally managed to escape, Akitsu once more resuming her usual position at my side despite the shock I must have given her with my illusion, and had used the quiet moment alone to indulge in my old habit of sitting on the veranda and sipping tea. It was no longer cold enough to require a blanket in order to endure the early spring chill and the kneeling body of Akitsu near mine helped supply enough warmth to fight off what little bite the weather still held.

I glanced up awkwardly at the speaker. "Homura," I responded, not liking the hesitation in my voice as I did so. I had no idea the reason behind what I had seen earlier was, and despite not wanting to let that affect my relationship with my first winged Sekirei I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable now that I knew what lay beneath the flame user's white shirt.

Homura seemed to recognize my discomfort, and glanced away, his face flushed with shame in the pale moonlight. "Look," he began awkwardly, swallowing hard. "Look," he repeated. "I know you must have some questions. About what you saw earlier," he elaborated, one arm wrapped around his waist as the other hung down at his side. He didn't seem capable of meeting my eyes, looking steadfastly out at the courtyard. I nodded, despite knowing he couldn't see me.

"Yeah," I admitted, "you could say that." Knowing that this conversation was most likely going to get even more awkward if one of us didn't make the effort to get it going, I patted the floor next to me. "Why don't you have a seat?" I tried.

Homura glanced at me quickly before looking away again. Slowly, he lowered himself to the floor, on the spot the furthest distance from me. Dangling one leg out into the courtyard, the other drawn up to his chest, he fumbled in his pockets before withdrawing another one of his cigarettes. A finger snap later and the glowing ember on the end of his coffin nail lit his face.

It was several long minutes before either of us spoke again. Homura seemed prepare himself to say something several times, but each time he would grimace and stop himself. I wanted to say something to get the conversation rolling, but I had no idea what would be appropriate. 'So you have tits?' didn't seem a good way to begin the conversation, neither did 'Which gender are you, really?' I might not be the most socially advanced creature out there, but even I knew that something along those lines would most likely not be the best way to start what already appeared to be an extremely difficult and awkward conversation.

"Do you remember, when we first met," Homura finally began, sounding like he had decided on a way to broach the topic. "I told you that I was a little unusual for a Sekirei?"

I nodded, recalling the time in the karaoke booth. "Yeah," I nodded cautiously. "You mentioned that you were different from the rest." It was a hard conversation to forget seeing as it was probably the only time I'd ever talk normally with a person in the middle of spontaneously combusting. Not to mention it was the first time I had ever heard any of the specifics of the strange species that inhabited the same city as I.

"When I said I was a little different," he continued with a grimace, "I might have been understating it slightly." He scowled as he ran his hand through his hair and then continued. "Do you remember when I said that I would be absolutely obedient to you, and become anything you desire?" His voice sounded like he was desperately hoping for a specific response from me. I closed my eyes and thought back to the distant conversation.

"Yeah," I nodded, trying to figure out what he was hinting at before it hit me like a bolt of lightning from the clear sky. "Wait," I gasped, turning to stare at him in shock. "Wait. You don't mean…?"

"Pretty much," he affirmed, his twisted grin not having much humor in it. "When they began my adjusting," he continued, his voice dripping with disgust, "they might have done some excessive tinkering with me. I was never certain if it was their fault, or if it was just the way I was, being cursed by the gods and all, but it was soon found that I was a bit more…" he paused to search for the right word before settling on, "malleable than the rest."

"Malleable?" I repeated, feeling light headed at the implications. He snorted, and then glanced at his cigarette. The glowing ember had almost made it to the butt by this point and rather than pinch it and pocket it like he normally did at this point he instead pulled another one out and used the old cigarette to light the new one.

"It happened a few times, back when I was first getting adjusted," he continued. "It would last for a few days, but then it would generally revert back before it completed. The scientists and doctors would try everything they could to figure out why it was happening, but in the end they couldn't make heads or tails of it. That was when it was determined that I would most likely never have an Ashikabi."

My mind was whirling with implications. "You were number zero six," I said, my voice distant as I tried to put the puzzle pieces together. "It was back in the original days of the Plan. They didn't have much experience at that point, and you were one of the original embryos so you were more developed than the rest." For the first time since he sat down Homura looked directly at me, surprise etched on his face. "The two numbers after you, they both ended up being Scrapped Numbers as well." I shook my head, more proof of just how screwed up the early days of the Plan truly had been.

"Scrapped?" Homura repeated, studying me carefully. "Numbers zero seven and zero eight?" I gave him an uncertain look.

"You didn't know?" I asked, surprised that he hadn't. He shook his head.

"No," he admitted. "Back then we were mostly being pulled out one at a time. It wasn't until the late teens that they started adjusting groups, and even then everyone was kept isolated from each other. I think the only times two Sekirei met when they were being adjusted were the twins, Hikari and Hibiki, and both Kuu and Shiina." His eyes trailed over my shoulder to Akitsu. "So you once were…?" he began, his voice hesitant as he did so. I nodded, though Akitsu stayed silent.

"Number zero seven," I affirmed. "Number zero eight is dead to the best of my knowledge, and the last Scrapped Number never made it out of the labs." Homura shook his head, disbelief etched on his face.

"And how the hell do you know all this, Shirou?" he asked me, sounding as though the fact that I was better informed about his species than he was had come as a blow to his pride. I snorted.

"Matsu hasn't been getting Noritos for nothing," I told him, "and I'm not just surfing for internet when I'm on the doohickey." My little joke pulled a snort from him as well. For a moment the good mood lingered, but then I had to return to the original topic. I wanted to say it out loud so that there would be no doubts in my head later. "So you're turning into a woman."

Homura sighed, much of the tension leaving him. "It looks that way," he admitted, his voice hopeless. "Feminization never lasted this long before, and it was always extremely painful back then. It would take several rounds of treatment before I would revert. This time though, I barely feel a thing. Maybe it's a side effect of being winged, but I probably wouldn't have noticed for another week or so if you hadn't pointed out how I was always scratching my chest."

Though I suppose it was good that it wasn't painful, the admission didn't do much to make me feel better. "So you're turning into a woman, and it's all my fault for winging you?" I repeated, adding the addendum to the end of my early statement. I couldn't suppress a sympathetic shudder, and felt my legs shift to affirm that I was still one hundred percent male.

I was surprised when Homura shook his head in the negative. "It's not your fault. Well, maybe it is," he admitted, somewhat sheepishly, "but I don't blame you. Not entirely anyway." He swung the leg he had against his chest down off the varanda and with the hand not holding his cigarette hefted his developing chest. "You've never been anything but a gentleman to your other Sekirei. Except for Matsu, but then again," he shrugged at the exception before continuing. "I mean that you've never come across as a lustful man. Despite all the girls around you you're respectful, and even though I can tell you're interested you've been taking your time to get to know them first. If my body was changing like this just because you were a lecher that wanted to be surrounded by more women than I don't think I would be so calm about this. More than that, you've never expressed any disappointment that I was male. You actually told me you were happy to have another man around." He gave a rueful laugh at that. "Though it looks like it's just going to be you and Shiina soon."

"Then why is this happening?" I demanded, feeling like I wanted to pull my hair from my head in frustration. Whatever he might say, this was my fault. I could kill a man without feeling remorse, yeah. So long as they deserved it or it would save someone, or even if it was just coincidence that we were enemies I wouldn't let the act haunt me. But what I was doing to Homura, one of my friends and allies, a guy I genuinely liked, well, I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy.

Well, maybe Shinji or Gilgamesh. I think it would be hilarious in the case of the Heroic Spirit, and in Shinji's case I think it would be poetic justice considering some of the stories I heard about him in relation to his sister Sakura.

"I think it's just my body," the flame user admitted, his tone resigned. "Even if you never explicitly ordered me to start the process off, I know that you prefer females. And even though it's unusual, well, we were technically, as you put it, mated." He slumped forward, fishing a third cigarette out. Normally I would mention something about his chain smoking, but given the circumstances I felt it his right to seek what relief he could. "I told you that I would imprint a lot harder than most other Sekirei. Even if its subconsciously, even if you never said so explicitly, I know deep down that I would be more compatible with you physically if I were a female. And so…" he trailed off, releasing a large breath of smoke as he did so. I perked up at his explanation.

"So if I order you to stop changing into a female and to return to being a male your body will do it?" I asked, hoping desperately that the solution would be that simple. He blinked, giving me a doubtful look.

"Maybe," he admitted, hope starting to creep into his voice. I didn't need a second to make my decision.

"Homura, I, Shirou Emiya, as your Ashikabi, order you to be male." If I had a command sigils at the moment that would have been one down for sure. I had half hoped that there would be some kind of instantaneous response to my order, but Homura was a Sekirei not a Servant, so nothing gratuitous happened to reveal whether or not my command had been successful or not. Homura seemed to wait a moment too, hoping for the same obvious sign, but slumped when nothing happened.

"Well," he admitted, hefting his chest again with a grimace. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see. I swallowed and nodded. Maybe I should make an offering at some local shrines or something as well?

Silence settled on us for a few moments, and then I took a deep breath and decided to focus on the practical implications. "So what happens now?"

Homura shook his head. "I've already quit my job as a host," he admitted. "It would be awkward trying to explain these to my customers," he indicated his burgeoning chest. "I have some money saved up, and even if I didn't Miya probably wouldn't kick me out on the street. I'd have to chip in more with the housework, but I've already started doing that. For now I'll just keep focusing on protecting the unwinged Sekirei." He paused, puffing at his smoke while he did so. "Since we're in the second stage now, there aren't that many left. After that, well," he shrugged helplessly, "who knows."

For a moment I couldn't think of anything to say. Finally, I settled on admitting, "This is the most screwed up situation I've ever been responsible for. And I've been responsible for some pretty epic screw ups." Homura snorted at my confession, and I let my eye trail over his frame. "Is that why you've been dressing differently?" I asked him, his recent alterations in fashion changing in meaning with the new information that had come to light. Homura gave me a curious look.

"Dressing differently?" he repeated. I nodded at his clothes as he looked down to inspect himself.

"You've been leaving more and more of your top buttons undone," I pointed out. "And you haven't been tucking in your shirt as much. Sometimes you leave your pants button undone as well, and recently you've started to wear tighter and more fitted clothes." Homura had always been a fashionably dressed individual, the results of working in a place where looks really mattered and a habit that Yasaka, his onetime coworker, had also adopted when he had worked in the same place. Homura had always had nearly androgynous features, but with his new dressing habits I hadn't even realized that he had been slipping into a more feminine looking wardrobe until tonight.

From the way Homura's face went white and he instinctively clutched the open top of his shirt closed, I got the impression that he hadn't been aware of his recent change in habits. "M-maybe there might be more changes going on than just my body," he finally admitted, and I was unhappy to note that his voice sounded more panicked than it had earlier. If he had unconsciously been adapting more feminine mannerisms as well, than that meant more than just biological, but also psychological changes might be occurring.

"Well," I began, trying to think up an accurate way to sum up the situation my Sekirei had found himself in. "Well shit." I concluded, not knowing what else to say. Homura nodded in agreement.

"I need more cigarettes," he told me, shakily drawing another stick from his pocket. The pack was still about half full, but I got the impression he'd need a new one by the time he had finished processing the latest bit of bad news to come down on him


	20. Twentieth Wing

In Flight: Twentieth Wing

_Author's notes: Well, here we are, once more greeting the newest chapter. First off, responses to reviews. I'm happy to see just how many people liked Miya's reaction in the last chapter. I'd like to claim her pronounced 'moe' response as my own genius, but it was actually from the scene where she was remembering her husband and the first time she came across the horror of the Hanya. Lots of people interested in a potential Miya/Shirou relationship. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that during the course of the story it will probably never reach that level. The two will bond, and the relationship with them will eventually deepen, but if I was going to make the two a pair, I would probably have kept it as just Shirou and Miya with none of the others. I think the harem aspect would only be a detriment to the two's dynamics. If someone else wants to write a Shirou/Miya pairing, please let me know, I would certainly look forward to reading it._

_Also, a lot of people seemed happy with the way I handled Homura as well. I'm glad to see that people are enjoying it. The original Sekirei is something of a light hearted series, mostly getting by on fan service and humor. I was a bit worried i might be injecting a little too much 'serious' into the situation, but I just found the idea of handling his gender troubles seriously to be too fascinating to resist. Too often when someone changes gender in anime or fanfic it's simply a matter of 'pop! There you go!' I just like the idea of trying to represent the process as something a little more than just one day your a guy interested in chicks and the next your a chick going for the guy._

_Now, onto some specifics of the chapter._

_*Spoiler Warning*_

_First off, Sekirei/Ashikabi watch! First off, Junichi Tanigawa and his Number 84, Yashima. You know how I keep trying to give my characters actual depth, make them dynamic and interesting, and using alternative interpretations to try and make otherwise stale and old figures new and interesting? Yeah, that didn't work here. In the series Junichi and Yashima existed solely for the purpose of being defeated by Yukari and Shiina. Yashima was so everyone could see how badass Shiina really was, and Junichi existed solely as a character meant to display the most dysfunctional Ashikabi possible. Quite frankly, the audience was meant to hate him and cheer on as Yukari buried a boot in his groin. Seeing as I can't make everyone interesting, he pretty much kept to this role here, and now existed solely for the purpose of letting Shirou get some violence in. _

_The Second Sekirei/Ashikabi starred within was Himura Youichi and Number 78 Nanami. He originally appeared after the third stage started and Ashikabi were starting to get nervous and trying to escape. I think his original purpose was meant to show that Minato, despite not doing anything particularly proactive, had become an important figure in the Plan. He and Nanami later got eaten by Karasuba. For In Flight, his main purpose was to provide a way for me to show the Higa's attempt to counter Shirou, and Shirou's plan to turn that about. Just a way to interject a little tension between the North and the East. _

_Now, as for the rest of the chapter. Norito's. A lot of this chapter was meant as a way for me to explain that specific aspect of Sekirei, mainly in comparison between them and conventional Magi. I tried to keep it lighthearted and interesting with the interplay between Tsukiumi and Musubi, mostly because I wanted Tsukiumi to get some more screen time. A lot of her fans have been asking me for when she gets some personal screen time between her and Shirou, and the sad truth is the nearest opportunity for them to get a connecting moment is a few chapters down the line. Hence she gets a predominant role in this chapter to tide over all you Tsundere fans until she gets some proper screen time._

_The final noteworthy scene is Shirou and Akitsu. I'm sure many of you can make a good guess where this is going to end up going, though I won't say it explicitly, but it also provides me some build up for what will end up being another important plot point later on. For now though, poor Akitsu gets to get a little too much of a good thing. For any references on what she looked like after Shirou was done accidentally making out with her, please refer to Mahou Sensei Negima, the scene where Chachamaru finally gets her pactio. Or whenever the cute little android girl is getting 'screwed', pun intended._

_That's about it for this chapter. Next chapter will see the first serious deviation from the Sekirei timeline, introduce Kazehana, whom many have been eagerly waiting for, and be the start of what will probably be two or three chapters which have Shirou giving out massive reveals to his flock. Yes, for those who have been eagerly awaiting, one of those revelations will be just what really happened between him and Rin and Saber._

_For now though, if you enjoyed it, give me a shout. Questions/comments/concerns? Reviews or forums are both good places for them. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

In the dark of the night, two wings of purest white erupted. The luminescent appendages shot forth from the back of the creature in my arms as her lips met mine, before arching around, softly encircling me without touching me. The light the ephemeral appendages were producing cast soft shadows across the landscape, giving the otherwise unlit surroundings a hazy and surreal appearance. As her lips brushed against mine, a feeling like silk against my skin, a soft moan emerged from the alien creature, and I could feel it as she drank from the well of my magecraft.

For a moment I could think of nothing else but the soft shape of the body I was holding. And then a loud cracking noise emerged from directly above me, and I broke away with a sigh.

"Enough, Musubi," Tsukiumi fumed, pointing her hand towards where yet another blast of water had been interrupted and transformed into a floating block of ice that hung in the air momentarily before disintegrating. "How long are you going to hang on to him?" The water user stomped her foot, apparently unable to fully vocalize her anger at the current situation and thus resorting to body language in order to convey her full fury.

The shrine girl that had moments ago been locking lips with me giggled, backing away as she did so. Blushing slightly, Musubi put both hands to her cheeks, closing her eyes and giving an aura of complete satisfaction as she sighed. "Shirou-san," she murmured, her tone warm.

"I still don't understand why it is that you got to go first, Musubi," Tsukiumi continued to grouse. She cast a fitful glare around her to our surroundings. "Nor why something so personal has to be done in a place like this," she added, not at all impressed with the location where she would finally get to experiment with her Norito.

"It's because Musubi won the race!" the shrine girl told the water user shamelessly, sticking her tongue out at her sister Sekirei. Besides the two more vocal of my suitors, Kuu seemed content to crouch down, giving one of the nearby trees experimental pokes as she looked at it curiously. Akitsu seemed satisfied simply retaining her usual position, silently watching the on goings while cradling the bundle containing Kanshou and Bakuya to her chest like a diligent squire.

It was the day after I had suggested giving my more combat oriented Sekirei a chance to get acquainted with their Noritos, and the debate over who was going to go first had stretched through most of last night and into the early afternoon of today. It had been a long and arduous negotiation which had included such gems of logic as 'Because I was winged first!' and 'But I'm the legal wife!' and 'But I really, really want to!' In the end, it had fallen to Miya, the official peacemaker of Izumo House, to step in and provide the opportunity to channel the growing frustration into a healthy outlet while simultaneously making use of my flock's energy. It was decided that the one to be the first to experiment with their Norito would be the one to come in first in some kind of scavenger-hunt-esque competition where the two participants were given baskets and lists and sent out to see who could be the first to complete the day's shopping. I wasn't there to witness the event personally, but I was told that the competition was quite fierce.

"It's not fun," the water user grumbled, though her voice lacked the heat of real anger as she stomped her foot again for emphasis. "And if it had been a proper battle, than there was no way I would have lost," she asserted, pointing at her still glowing rival.

"But a loss is a loss," Musubi pointed out. Slowly the shrine girl had stepped away from me, and was beginning to study her fists curiously as she held her hands out in front of her, opening and closing them rhythmically. "This is amazing," she proclaimed, and then threw a quick punch, aiming at nothing in particular. I was used to Musubi being fast, having seen her a few times during her practices with Miya, but I couldn't stop myself from raising an eyebrow as the experimental jab blurred through the air. Even if it had been only a half hearted effort, it had been noticeably faster than her usual attacks.

"It's still not fun," Tsukiumi repeated. Scowling, she swung around to point at me instead of a now slowly bouncing Musubi. "And why does it have to be here? I was expecting something more romantic for the first time we," she paused, and even in the dark I could make out her cheeks reddening, "for the first time we kiss," she completed glancing away with the typical reserve of her type. And by type I was referring more to her character than her species.

"But this won't be the first time we kissed," I pointed out, glancing around. "And as for why here," I trailed off, knowing full well why it was she was disgusted by our surroundings. Once more I had resorted to my prepared battleground as the best place to unleash potentially catastrophic damage upon. For all that I had originally prepared New Osaka Park as a field of death for enemy magi it still fit the proper criteria for being a good place for Sekirei to unleash on. It was out of the way, mostly unoccupied, and since it was an ugly shit hole no one would mind if vast swathes of it were mysteriously destroyed. "Well, this place was about due for some remodeling," I pointed out, resting a hand on Kuu's head.

The green girl beamed up at me, clutching her new cat plushy to her chest as she did so. She hadn't been very happy when I had suggested she go last, and thus I had to promise go forth and get her a new Meow-meow in order to keep myself from having to get more rabies shots. I was pretty sure that Kuu-chan was safe, but they say that if you get bit by a wild animal its always better to make sure, and after once more having been exposed to Kuu's molars I had no other way to classify her when she was in that state then as a 'wild animal'. Still, the logic behind Kuu going last was sound. I had little doubt that the destructive power I was going to allow my two combat Sekirei access to with this experiment would cause some extensive damage to the shrubbery of the park. With Kuu-chan going last, her own power over plants would be a fine way to fix all that afterwards. It might even be a chance for me to have the young Sekirei make some denser foliage for the next time I have a death match here. Thicker trunks would be better hiding places, and a better overhead coverage would help ensure that no eyes in the sky would bear witness to any magical misadventures I might have.

"The first time didn't count," Tsukiumi insisted, her voice catching as she did so. "That was just for the sake of being winged. This time will be my first time with you as my Ashikabi, Shirou," she continued, one hand drifting down to wrap around her waist. "I-it should be more special than this."

I repressed a sigh, understanding a bit where she was coming from. For me this might be primarily a military exercise, a chance for me to know the full strength of my potential warriors, but for all their combat prowess Sekirei weren't really warriors. They were nothing more than females attempting to find mates, and for them this wasn't an exercise in military power but rather a chance for them to be intimate with their chosen one. In that light I couldn't help but feel that my choice of Osaka Park might be a bit callous. "Oh, sorry," I apologized, somewhat dumbly. "Well, don't think of this as your first kiss either," I tried. "Think of it as just practice for an actual first kiss."

I couldn't help but think the logic was a little faulty, but by my reasoning the winging really should have counted as our first. Since she didn't want to think of it that way, I suppose it wasn't that big of a stretch to consider a Norito practice session as something that didn't count either. The reasoning seemed to appeal to the temperamental blonde, and after a moment she nodded decisively. "Very well," she conceded, throwing a hand to the side in one of her usual gestures. "A little practice would only serve to ensure our true first kiss to be absolutely perfect."

With that potential crisis solved, I turned my attention to Musubi. She had begun to kick and punch, shadowboxing as she acclimated herself to her newly unleashed power. I watched on with interest as she continued to attack imaginary opponents. "How do you feel, Musubi?" I asked, curious as to just what it was her Norito granted her.

"It's amazing, Shirou-san," Musubi gushed, a wide smile splitting her lips. "I feel so much faster and stronger!"

"Really?" I asked, surprised at the revelation. "All that from a kiss?"

"Yes!" Musubi nodded, and threw a quick combination. The speed and force of her attacks cut through the air, a distinct whistling noise I could make out easily even from a dozen or so feet away. She ended it by bringing one of her legs up directly above her in a near perfect split, incidentally flashing her modest white panties, and then bringing it down hard. I felt the ground underneath me shake slightly as the force of her final blow cratered the earth where it connected.

I whistled, surprised at the dramatic increase in her casual power. Tsukiumi seemed less impressed, merely regarding the damage with a critical eye. "Why are you so impressed by this, Shirou?" the water user asked me, her voice sounding disdainful as she looked at the new crater. "Surely after all your," she grimaced, "practice with Matsu you should be used to what a Norito can do."

"This and that are completely different," I told her, glancing at her. My voice took on a dispassionate tone of my own as I explained. "Matsu is a brain-type, and all her powers are based around manipulating electronics. She doesn't have much physical power in the first place."

Tsukiumi gave me a quick glance, her face scrunched up in thought. "So not even her Norito is enough to make her a threat?" she asked, the water users face twisting into a scowl. "Then just why is it that you keep indulging her like you do?" It looked like I was right to schedule this outing. Even if they didn't make too big a deal of it, it seemed I had accidently been inspiring the jealousy I had been attempting to avoid by not playing favorites.

"Oh, it's useful alright," I corrected the water user, shaking my head. "It's just not very impressive to look at is all. No matter how better it makes her at using her abilities, even if I watch it's still just her sitting in front of a computer." I knew that I wouldn't have a third of the information I had now, and that every Norito I had given the hacker had been an investment that paid for itself in spades, but a person sitting in front of a computer is still just a person sitting in front of a computer; a rather boring experience unless you were the one doing it.

"Hmph," Tsukiumi grunted, but looked oddly pleased with my confession. "Very well! Watch closely, Shirou," she ordered me, sweeping her arm to the side again as she straightened in pride. "I will show you the true power of a Norito!"

I glanced to the side and smiled at her renewed spirit. "Alright," I told her, my voice encouraging. "Just wait until Musubi is finished. I want to know just what it is she can do." I tried to turn my full attention to the shrine girl only to be interrupted by Tsukiumi grabbing me by the lapels of my jacket and dragging me to face her.

"And just why is it that you would rather look at Musubi and not me, your proper wife?" she growled at me, frustration etched in her voice. "We've been married for two weeks, and still we haven't done anything properly as husband and wife. You won't bathe with me, or embrace me, and even though we sleep together we still haven't, that is," she trailed off, her blush deepening. "We haven't been together," she finally finished, glancing to the side as she chose an appropriate euphemism for what she really wished to say. For a second I was reminded that for all her spunk she was really a very sensitive and self conscious girl. In the dark of the night, her blonde hair caught what little light shown through the interlocking limbs of the trees, the gold washing out until it was nearly silver. Even though I was a good bit taller than her even with her heels on, with her surprisingly strong grasp on my coat I was forced to bend down until our faces were close, her large blue eyes near mine, her breath warm on my face.

God damnit. It was getting harder and harder for me to ignore just how beautiful she really was. Just like that time on the roof during our first meeting, and the time less than a week ago when I saw Musubi under the night sky as well, it struck me just how breathtaking some of the members of my flock truly were.

It seemed like at the same time that I was reminded of my earlier epiphanies, Tsukiumi seemed to come to a realization of her own. She took a sharp intake of breath, the heat on her cheeks spreading, and her hold on my lapels loosened slightly. Her eyes fluttered away from mine, and then back, this time glancing bashfully downwards before peeking up at mine from beneath her eye lashes. Her breath on my face quickened, and I felt my own respond in kind as the tension in her body drained away, the warmth of her frame palpable on my own as she drifted closer to me, her lips parting as she closed in…

"But how could you have slept together but not been together?" Musubi asked, her face inches from Tsukiumi's and mine, her tone curious as she looked on innocently. The two of us froze, and then there was that harsh moment where reality returns like a slap to the back of the head, and what we were about to do finally processed through my brain. Tsukiumi seemed to experience the same thing, and froze for half a moment before almost violently pushing herself away from me and spinning around to face a different direction.

"T-that isn't something for a concubine to know," Tsukiumi stammered, before coughing abruptly into one hand. "More importantly, what do you think you're doing, Musubi, getting so close like that?"

"I wanted to see Tsukiumi-san get her Norito!" the shrine girl admitted. "Why did the two of you stop?" she asked innocently, cocking her head to the side and putting on hand on her cheek in curiosity, apparently not even realizing just how awkward her interruption actually was. For all her purported support of love, it seemed that she didn't quite realize the implications that a second ago what Tsukiumi and I were about to do had less to do with using her powers and more to do with physical intimacy. Then again, considering some of my past experiences with her ignorance maybe Musubi did understand but simply didn't realize that the two of us might have been about to engage in an intimate act. Or maybe, considering her distortion, she did understand and simply didn't realize that her presence could be construed as an interruption.

I remember a time when I used to think that Musubi was the simplest one of my flock to figure out too. Man, was I ever wrong.

"Just because you wanted to witness our pact doesn't mean you should get so close," Tsukiumi scolded the confused brunette. "Hasn't anyone ever told you about decorum and proper behavior?"

"No," Musubi admitted shamelessly, her head still cocked to the side. "Wait, is that like 'common sense'? Because if it is, then Shirou-san has been teaching me all about it!" I think the fact that she actually managed to make the connection spoke volumes of my efforts on that part.

The honest confession seemed to throw Tsukiumi off her loop as she turned to give Musubi a suspicious peer, studying the brunette carefully before deciding that her rival wasn't making fun of her. "Never mind," the water user finally decided on. "Then for now, you should know that when a husband and wife are about to kiss, the concubine shouldn't be so close." The water user pointed to a spot several yards away with an imperious finger. "Just go wait right over there."

Musubi gave the indicated location a contemplative look, before obediently moving to the spot, turning around to face us again and clasping both hands at her waist patiently. "Like this?" she asked, and Tsukiumi nodded.

"Yes," the water user affirmed, before glancing at me shyly. "W-well then," she continued, her face reddening again. "Shall we continue, Shirou?" she asked me, sounding as though she knew the mood had been broken, but wanting to try and recapture it anyway.

"Alright," I nodded. Tsukiumi hesitated, apparently not sure how to go about what would come next, and I decided to take the lead for now. I was the most experienced one here, and I was no stranger to reading her cues. I stepped up to her slowly so as not to startle her, and rested one hand on her cheek. Carefully, as though she were a frightened animal about to bolt, I turned her until she was once more facing me. She warmed at my touch, and I slowly leaned forward, a reassuring smile on my face as I let my lips close on hers as her eyes fluttered closed. Finally, we connected.

I could feel it, just like with Musubi or the times I winged the rest of my flock. The siphoning of my od as she drank my power not an unpleasant or unusual experience for me. Just as earlier, the creature in my arms erupted, her wings forming at her back. Unlike with Musubi they didn't emit the same startling brightness, but despite being formed out of water they still emitted the faintest of glows as they formed. At first Tsukiumi was tense, but then she relaxed against me, stepping closer until her body brushed against mine slightly. For a moment we stood still, and then her wings began fluttered and disappeared as the ceremony was complete. Slowly, Tsukiumi's eyes flickered open, her gaze unfocused as directed her attention at the feeling of my power flowing through her, and then they met mine as she…

Jumped backwards, her face twisted in shock. "Musubi," she yelped, and I realized that at some point during the kiss the shrine girl had once more placed her face inches away from the two of ours. "What did I just say about getting so close!" the water user demanded, looking incredibly flustered at the proximity of her rival.

"You said that concubines shouldn't be that close when a husband and wife are kissing," Musubi repeated dutifully. Then she threw her hands up in the air and explained cheerfully. "But since Musubi is also a wife that meant it didn't count for me!"

"Mu-su-bi," the enraged blonde began, emphasizing each syllable as she glared at the innocent brunette. I suppressed a sigh. At least my plan to let them get to know each other before taking things to the next level appeared to have worked. Tsukiumi was simply cracking her knuckles rather than forming her customary streamers of water that marked a serious attack. I was thankful for that at least. After all, considering the fact that I had just magically charged both of them the upcoming argument could have gotten very ugly if the two of them didn't have another outlet besides debating proper titles.

*Scene Break*

"So," I began slowly, eying the two Sekirei as they continued to exercise their newly granted power. "That's it?" I couldn't quite keep the disappointment from my tone, something which drew the attention of the prouder of the duo.

"What do you mean, Shirou?" Tsukiumi asked, sounding like she didn't at all like my casual dismissal of her new found prowess. I hastily raised a hand up, trying to forestall the upcoming explosion I knew was imminent.

"I mean, it's interesting how much faster and stronger Musubi is now," I continued, trying to explain my lack of excitement. In much the way that there was a difference between my own capabilities when I was using just my abilities as a human and when I was reinforcing myself with my magic I could definitely make out a noticeable increase in Musubi's abilities. While already far faster and stronger than me, before she had received her Norito I had been confident that I would have been able to fight at her level using just my normal capabilities. Now though, from the way her every strike cut through the air with an audible hiss, the force of the blows actually causing nearby shrubbery to move from the wind pressure released, I judged I would have to resort to augmenting my abilities as well in order to keep up with her.

"And I can definitely see a difference in your water collection abilities," I added, praising the increase in Tsukiumi's skills as well before she began getting jealous of the attention I was giving her rival. It had been fascinating to watch her call water from the air before, the sheer speed and volume she was able to produce having been impressive even to someone used to seeing the elements manipulated. Now though it was as though her already unnatural skills had been increased at an exponential rate. More than that, even once she was finished collecting her ammunition, the skill with which she could wield it was raised as well. Before I was used to her limiting herself to simple crushing waves, compacted bullets, and whip like streamers. Now she was doing much the same, but doing numerous manipulations simultaneously as well.

"But…?" Tsukiumi prompted, folding her arms as she glared at me, apparently appeased by my compliment enough to hear me out before attempting to soak me, but not fully mollified yet.

"But from the way everyone kept talking about how powerful a Norito is, I kind of expected something a bit more impressive," I admitted, scratching my head awkwardly. There was a noticeable increase in ability, yes, but when Musubi had first explained the Norito process to me she had made it seem like it would be something a bit more dramatic than just an increase in their general ability. She had made mention of the ritual being required for 'strongest attacks' and been awestruck when Akitsu had proven capable of overcoming the thunder and lightning twins own use of the empowering exchange.

I suppose this was about what I was expecting honestly. While the glowing wings were impressive to look at, the fact of the matter was that the amount of od they had drank from me really wasn't that much on its own. The strain on my magic circuits was noticeable, but in no way strenuous, feeling like the both of them put together were less than the amount I would need if I were to simply trace a set of Bakuya and Kanshou. The two of them were my most commonly used weapons and the familiarity and ease that I could trace them with helped reduce the cost, but the two were still Noble Phantasms, and thus took a moderate amount of power to create.

In a way, this wasn't a bad thing in my eyes. If there was ever a time when I would be called upon to fight beside my Sekirei, then it meant I would be able to give each member of my flock their power up without having to worry about infringing on my own ability to fight. If it had been a heavier cost to activate than I would be faced with the tactical decision of whether or not to increase the abilities of my Sekirei or focus on making use of my own and leaving them weakened. This way I could ensure that every member of my party was properly prepared.

"Oh," Musubi chimed in, looking up from where she was punching a tree. "That's because we haven't used our Noritos yet, Shirou-san!" she proclaimed, smiling happily at me. I blinked, processing her words.

"You mean there's more?" I asked, my interest perking. Tsukiumi brushed her hair over one of her shoulders, a superior look on her face as she did so.

"Of course," she proclaimed proudly. "This is just the most basic use of our abilities. Watch, and I will show you what a real Norito looks like," she ordered me, pacing away until she was a few dozen feet apart from where the rest of us stood. For a moment she seemed to collect herself, and then she raised one hand.

It was the scent of her power, the briny smell of a wind off the wide ocean, which alerted me of what was coming. Still standing still, Tsukiumi began to chant. "The water which represents my pledge," she intoned, her voice somber, "purify the evil which resides within my Ashikabi."

The words plucked a cord in my memory. In order to keep the event from destroying her delicate set up of monitors and hard drives whenever Matsu needed a Norito we would always perform the actual kiss either outside or in my workshop. However, once we returned to her room, she would chant words similar to these, before continuing with whatever task I had set her too. They were a bit different, but the difference vanished from my mind as I saw what was happening around my Sekirei.

If I had thought her accumulation rate had increased before, it was nothing to the surge of water around her. From every angle, every direction, vast surges of the blue liquid accumulated, white tipped with the turbulent force behind their sudden manifestation. In front of my startled eyes the flood gathered, pooling into points all around my Sekirei's body as they compacted until she stood surrounded by twelve perfectly still orbs. The dozen spheres were like mirrors, reflecting everything around them in their shining surfaces.

"Water Attack," Tsukiumi announced, her voice solemn. "The Tide Flowing Jewels." For a moment the spheres, her proclaimed 'jewels' hung in the air, and then their perfect spherical shapes began to deviate, slowly breaking form as though being pushed through a funnel. "As a storm approaches, whitecaps grow, and tides rise suddenly," the immobile water user continued her incantation. The jewels quivered as though in anticipation as she raised her voice and announced, "Final Wave."

Each of the twelve jewels shook once more, ripples flowing through them, and then they unleashed. It was as though each of the dozen spheres contained within them a tidal wave all of their own. No, tidal waves were limited to the force of the countless gallons pressing them forward. This was as though a tidal wave had been contained and pressurized. It was a reminder that the seemingly benign element, when focused with enough pressure, could be used to cut even diamonds. The twelve monstrous streams launched, expanding, white crested and as they roared towards the poor trees and bushes in their paths. Everything that fell beneath the tide was crushed, broken, pulverized, and then swept away.

It only lasted a few moments, but once it was done there was a cone shaped stretch of devastation stretching out with Tsukiumi standing calmly at the point of emergence. After the first two or three dozen yards apparently the force diminished enough that a few of the sturdier trees managed to remain standing, albeit broken or cracked in places for another dozen yards or so before the wreckage stopped and the remaining timber remained untouched.

I swallowed, my eyes taking in the ruined features of the park. "Okay," I began, my mouth dry. I swallowed once more and tried again. "Okay, that was a bit more impressive," I admitted. Standing nearby me, Musubi and Kuu began to clap enthusiastically.

"That was amazing, Tsukiumi-san!" the shrine girl cheered, and the smaller blonde let out an agreeing cooing noise as the proclamation. Tsukiumi preened under the praise, shamelessly tossing her hair back as she posed proudly.

"And that," the water user began in a superior tone, "is what a Norito looks like."

I could only gape for another few seconds, and then I finally managed to pull myself together. "So," I began, trying to set what I had just seen in perspective as I reviewed the event in my head. "Could you launch each of those jewels in separate directions, or perhaps fire them one by one?" I found focusing on the mechanics of the feat I had just seen helped me in my attempt to understand it. My question caused Tsukiumi to blink, and then she glanced to the side quickly.

"O-of course," she announced, folding her arms as she did so. "Something like that would be child's play for me!" She threw back her head and began to laugh haughtily, reminding me of the same unnerving joviality Matsu displayed whenever the hacker was contemplating something I probably wouldn't like.

"How about using them for something other than offense?" I continued, the mirror like sheen the orbs she had formed reminding me of the quicksilver of the Mystic code that Archibald had shown me here not too long ago. "Like creating a barrier or some kind or maybe picking up and retrieving something?"

"That too!" Tsukiumi instantly nodded, not pausing to give my question any thought at all. I took another deep breath, finally managing to get myself completely calm again.

"You have no idea, do you?" I asked her, and she refused to answer me, simply scratching the back of her head in a move that looked vaguely familiar for some reason while she looked to the side resolutely. "Well," I continued. "That was the reason I brought you all out here. This was the first time you ever used your Norito, after all."

"Right," Musubi chimed in, her expression eager. "And now it's my turn!" the shrine girl announced, hopping a bit to the side. I blinked, surprised at the sudden interruption, but focusing my attention on the excitable brunette anyway. After the display that Tsukiumi had just put on, I leaned forward eagerly, hoping to catch sight of whatever trick Musubi was about to display. Considering that Musubi didn't have impressive elemental manipulation ability like the water user did, I wondered just what the physical fighter's Norito would be like. "The fists of my pledge," the shrine girl began, crouching slightly, her legs spread apart as though to balance her, "crush the catastrophe before my Ashikabi!" Then she struck downwards, burying her fist into the earth at her feet. "Bear Fist!"

Considering the scope of the devastation I had just witnessed I probably should have been better prepared for what happened next. I had sort of assumed that just like Tsukiumi, Musubi's most powerful attack would be some kind of projectile, maybe a manifestation of her power of some kind. Instead it was simply an infinitely more powerful single strike. It made sense in a way. Musubi was after all a close range fist fighter with none of the fancy elemental powers that my other Sekirei manifested. Besides Kuu she was the only one who wasn't a single digit, or a former single digit in Akitsu's case. Logically speaking, I should have simply expected what happened: Musubi unleashed an attack of epic proportions, a blow so powerful I was unsurprised when it shook the earth itself.

And she did it no more than a half dozen yards from where the rest of us were standing.

Just like earlier with her ax kick she had demonstrated while enjoying the secondary boosting effect of her Norito, the earth around where she had struck cratered. This time the crater was a great deal more noticeable. Cracks where the force being unleashed caused the earth to shift in unexpected ways formed, radiating outwards for a split second before explosively compressing downwards in a collapsing circular radius. Right before the process began I stumbled, as the earth rippled like something that would happen after a pebble was tossed into pond, and I couldn't quite keep my balance, falling to one knee. When the horizon of the collapsing circle caught up with me a split second later I yelped, flailing with one hand to find purchase in the moist crumbling earth as I struggled to keep myself at least upright and not tumbling head over heel. I heard an excited 'whee!' noise and realized that Kuu was also being caught up in the side effect of Musubi's Norito, though she seemed to be regarding the experience much like an exciting ride at an amusement park as she was tossed about. I managed to snag her with my free hand as she bounced past and pulled her to my side in order to keep her from getting hurt.

The attack only lasted for a few moments, and then the earth stopped shaking about me. A cloud of dust and dirt was billowing outwards from the epicenter, and in the distance I could hear what sounded like car alarms going off as the longitudinal shockwave continued to travel outwards, no doubt jostling parked vehicles and surprised pedestrians as it went. I had little doubt that if I were to read tomorrow's newspaper there would be reports of a small earthquake originating from somewhere within Shin Tokyo. At the very center of the new crater, one which sank nearly a dozen yards down and three times that across, Musubi knelt with her fist still buried in the earth.

For a moment the shrine girl remained posed, and then she hoped up, putting both her hands behind her back as she twirled to beam at me in my position a few yards higher than her in the crater. "There! What did you think, Shirou-san?" she asked me excitedly. I gaped at the innocent expression on her face before collecting my thoughts enough to respond.

"I think that maybe next time you should make sure the rest of us are far enough away not to get caught in the backlash," I finally told her. Musubi blinked twice, glancing around as though she had only just realized the situation that she had put the rest of us in.

"Oh," she said, putting a finger to her mouth. "Yes," she nodded firmly. "That would make sense." She said it as though it was just an idle side note for her, a little bit of advice to improve her performance. She had absolutely no regret for the potential damage she might have caused either her Ashikabi or her sister Sekirei. I wasn't sure if that was just her being careless, or if she had actually honestly assumed that we would all be alright and thus didn't let it bother her.

"Mu-su-bi," the angry growl from the far end of the crater drew the rest of our attention to the water user. Like me, she had been caught in the crater's radius, but unlike me it seemed she hadn't been able to keep her general footing. She was currently sprawled out on her butt, glaring at the cause of her misfortune. Moreover, it looked like the ground around, still wet from her own attack, had been a great deal more muddy than the simply moist earth I was sprawled in, and during her tumble she had ended up with a great deal of it smeared all over her.

"Hehe," Musubi giggled, grinding one of her knuckles into her forehead. "Oops."

"'Oops' my ass!" Tsukiumi bellowed, water streamers forming around her as she managed to reclaim her footing. One of them launched at the shrine girl, who dodged effortlessly. I was briefly worried that the attack was actually meant to do damage, and that in her rage the water user had finally decided to end her rival once and for all, but when the streamer hit the loose earth with no more effect than a small splash I decided that this was more about returning the dirtying that the water user had received. "Get back here you ditz!" Tsukiumi bellowed, launching herself at Musubi who promptly giggled again and dodged, turning to run away from the punitive strikes the blonde was trying to land on her.

I shook my head, feeling a brief flash of amusement as the two began a spirited chase leading them into the dark of New Osaka Park. It only lasted for a moment before my attention returned to the two scars that my Sekirei had left on our surroundings with their ultimate attacks. I had known that Sekirei, despite mostly being concerned with only propagating their species, had immense combat potential. I didn't have to look any further than my own flock to see just how varied their abilities were, and even if most of them lacked the proper mindset for real combat glaring examples like Karasuba, Toyotama, and Ichiya proved that the potential was there.

But this… This was surreal.

All magecraft was at its essence the act of achieving a phenomenon through mystical means that could be achieved through non-mystic methods as well. In order to create a fireball the only thing a non magi would need would be something as simple as a lighter and hairspray, making a wall of earth could be recreated with a shovel and some patience, even a blast of water was only a firehouse away. To achieve something beyond the ability of the non-magical is to have transcended magecraft and ventured into the realm of true sorcery, a feat only achieved by two living magi at the moment. Despite that, it was possible for a magus to achieve a mastery of their spells that approaches the limit of sorcery without truly crossing over. My experimentation and effort with Reinforcing myself was approaching that limit. It wasn't simply a matter of pouring od into my body, it was knowing how my body would react to that od, whether whatever stressors or influences I was currently under would affect my capacity to bear the mystic energy, being able to adjust the amount to specific portions of my body on while in the middle of combat, all of those factors made my skill at Reinforcing myself a noteworthy accomplishment. Similarly, my Structural Analysis was also approaching that limit. Being able to judge not only the composition of an object and its components but even the composition of the components themselves simultaneously, while also sympathizing with the forging and aging process of all the pieces was something which would set most magi to shaking their heads in awe. Then again my skill with the two was more a byproduct of those being two of the very few spells that I could actually perform whereas other magi had numerous abilities to try and sharpen was probably the source of my unusual ability with them.

The power of the Noritos I had seen here just now weren't too impressive on their own. Any skilled magus with the proper elemental affinity and practice could most likely duplicate the feat with practice. Hell, I could do the same myself with some of the Noble Phantoms and Conceptual Weapons I had at my disposal. What was leaving me unnerved was the sheer ease with which the aliens had managed to do so. With what amounted to a one line Aria in Musubi's case had been enough to cause an impact with the force of a genuine earthquake. If her fist had been directed at something besides the ground, like a building or an opponent, unless that other target had some serious reinforcing or protection on it she would have probably destroyed it instantly. In Tsukiumi's case she had required more preparation, but it had been less than a typical five line Aria, needing only three lines to complete. Even then, it had left her with twelve prepared attacks, her jewels, which with some experimentation would probably be capable of being manipulated independently.

And what's more, they had done so with less energy than it took for me to produce one set of my favorite weapons, combined, and in a matter of seconds. If I had witnessed a feat like this by a magus, I would have no choice but to consider their ability as being something close to sorcery as well.

"Not Human," I reminded myself, picking myself up from off the ground. Kuu made a whining noise and squirmed in my grip and I set her down absently. Was the reason they were able to achieve such a powerful affect with so little power a side effect of their own alien physiology? Perhaps they were simply so in tuned with their natural ability that they could manipulate it in a way which was superior to a human's attempt to do the same? Or perhaps they didn't even use the same process as a magus might be required to in order to do so. Maybe they were manipulating the od I supplied them in a fashion which was so different from what a customary magus might that there was no use trying to compare the results?

As Kuu began to play in the freshly excavated dirt, collecting a ball of mud and packing it down while humming something about 'meatballs' I felt a brushing against my leg. With a glance to the side I noted that Akitsu had shifted the bundle in her arm to one side, and had begun brushing away some of the dirt which had stuck to my jeans after I had taken my brief tumble.

"Thank you, Akitsu," I muttered, still trying to wrap my head around just how the Sekirei had managed to achieve such an impossible effect with so little power to back it. Akitsu kept her head lowered demurely.

"Of course, Master," she said softly, and I paused in my thoughts to give her a look. The snow woman generally had acceded to my request for her to call me 'Shirou', though she tended to augment my name with the customary suffix '-sama', perhaps as a way to indicate her subservience to me. The only time she tended to slip back into referring to me as her master was during times when she was upset, like when she had interrupted my death match with Archibald, or when she was defending her right to regard herself as my Sekirei to others of her species. It was just one of those things I had picked up about the snow woman's behavior after long exposure to her. So why was she doing so now?

It took me a second to figure it out, and when I did I groaned, once more realizing that Rin was right whenr I forgot our second year dating anniversary and I really was the most thoughtless, callous, and insensitive asshole ever to walk the face of the earth.

Here I was, kissing the rest of my flock and letting them show off their Noritos, the ultimate proof of their having been winged by me, in front of the member of my flock who would never be able to experience the same sensation.

Well, this outing was supposed to be an opportunity to treat the rest of my flock to the experience that Matsu had so far been the only recipient of, and even if Homura, for obvious reasons, had declined to participate that was no reason that Akitsu couldn't as well.

"Akitsu," I began, trying to get her attention. The snow woman stilled, glancing up at me from where she was bent over to brush off my pant leg. "It's your turn now."

"Ah," Akitsu began, looking back down with her usual placid calm. "I can't."

"Akitsu," I said again, and this time the note of command in my voice caused her to freeze. "It's your turn now," I repeated. "Stand up."

With the order given she instantly straightened with her typical obedience. For the most part she looked completely calm, but I could see the way she grasped my swords tighter than usual. "Shirou-sama," she began, but she cut herself off when I put one hand on her cheek. For a moment her eyes darted down to where I was touching her, and then she fixed her gaze resolutely on the packed earth around us. In the dark night I could make out the pale skin of her cheeks darkening as she began to blush high on her cheekbones.

It felt a little weird giving what amounted to being orders to a person who was in affect something along the lines of a girlfriend or wife. I wasn't quite used to the dynamics of such a relationship. If I had even tried to do something like this to Rin or Saber, then there would have been hell to pay. Still, this wasn't either of them. This was Akitsu, who had chosen to dedicate herself to me completely and to even go so far as to wrap herself in chains so she can properly display her subservience. In the Scrapped Number's case, orders were precisely the things she desired.

The snow woman stayed absolutely still as I stepped in close to her, lowering my head towards hers. The only things which demonstrated her lack of calm was the way her eyes wouldn't meet mine and the whiteness on her knuckles as she grasped my swords harder than was necessary. I fought down hesitation of my own as well. While the hug I had given Musubi nearly a week ago had been the first display of intimacy I had shown any of my flock, this would be the first time I had actually kissed any of them for anything other than strictly business purposes. It felt as though the act would be the final crossing of a line, the first step towards actually accepting that these aliens were mated to me. With a deep breath, I finished closing the distance and placed my lips against my first Sekirei's.

And then I froze, my eyes shooting open, shock racing through my body, as the Scrapped Number, the Sekirei that was supposed to have bonded to herself, who was no longer capable of being winged, drank from my od.

I pulled back in an instant, my eyes locked on Akitsu's face. "The hell?" I muttered. I barely noticed the way Akitsu slumped at how I had suddenly ended the contact, the way her eyes darted to the side in shame. I was too busy processing the fact that the supposedly inert specimen in front of me had actually reacted in an appreciable way to contact with my magic. I closed back in and locked my lips on the snow woman's again, barely noticing as she stiffened in surprise at my sudden resumption of our earlier act.

There. Again. I could feel it as my power was cycled from my circuits. It was an amount comparable to how much either Tsukiumi or Musubi had taken into themselves earlier. Was this the same amount that I had given in order to wing them originally? I couldn't remember. I held the kiss until the flow stopped, trying to recall how much had been required in order to originally imprint my flock on me, and when the transfer ended I broke the kiss and then quickly repeated it. Again. Roughly the same amount as the first three times. It seemed she could only absorb a certain amount before the flow stopped. Homura had mentioned that it was the genetic exchange that allowed for the flow of od to progress. Did that mean if I exposed her to more genetic information the flow would increase? I broke and kissed her again, this time adding my tongue to the mix, pushing it between her lips. A little crude, yes, but it would increase exposure of my genetics as well. When Akitsu physically reacted to the intrusion I felt my hopes rise, but the flow of prana didn't make an appreciable change.

I repeated the process a few more times, trying to figure out what it meant. Wasn't Akitsu already winged? Should she be drinking from me like she was? Was it simply a matter of any Sekirei being able to drink from anyone, just only being able to use the prana the first one, their Ashikabi? After their imprinting they no longer would recognize or be able to use the od of another? Or was it something else? What did it mean to have been winged by oneself?

I would have continued to experiment for a while longer as I considered the possible reasons for why Akitsu was taking in my od, but a new voice brought me back to reality. As the sound drifted to me, I realized that I was beginning to sense the presence of a new Sekirei, not one of my flock or any that I had already come across, as they drew closer. A second voice, and a second power reached my ears and my nose a moment later.

"Man, what are you bitching about for?" the first voice began, faint but growing closer. "It was just an earthquake, right? Hell, it probably wasn't even a one point oh. This is freaking Japan. We have earthquakes all the time."

The second voice responded. "Look, yeah, it was probably an earthquake. But we both know that it could be something else. What if this sword Ashikabi was behind it?"

Now that got my attention.

"Kuu, Akitsu," I said, my voice firm. Kuu glanced up with a curious noise, looking from where she had been continuing to play in the dirt. She had packed together three of her 'meatballs' by now, and was giving the fourth one a final polish as she diligently made them as perfectly spherical as she could. When Akitsu failed to respond, I gave her a quick look, and then paused. The snow woman was standing perfectly still, her eyes unfocused and her face so red it was shocking. "Akitsu?" I repeated, surprised by her state. She looked like she was a bit unsteady, swaying slightly in place. Had she caught some kind of cold? I hadn't seen any of my Sekirei get sick yet, but they were aliens, and as 'War of the Worlds' had made famous there was the possibility that they would react poorly to a terrestrial virus. If that were the case then the onset was like lightning. Why, just a few minutes ago she had been perfectly fine while we were kissing…

Oh yeah. "Akitsu," I began cautiously, waving a hand in front of her face. "Are you okay?"

"Ah. Shirou-sama," she murmured, her voice dazed as she did so. "Thank you." Okay. I know I was just trying to isolate the factors in the prana exchange ritual, but it seemed that the stimulation might have been a bit much for the normally reclusive Sekirei.

"Oi, whiner," the first voice spoke up, excitement in its tone. "You hear that? Sounds like we might have found him."

"Look," the second voice argued, sounding annoyed. "It's a big freaking city, and the northern sector probably has hundreds of thousands of people in it on its own. There's no way of knowing if some voice we hear in an abandoned park really is the target, or even if it's an Ashikabi at all."

"Fuck you, asshole," the first voice sounded like it was getting closer. "God damn, why the hell did I agree to work with a pussy like you in the first place?"

From the sound of it, the two approaching Ashikabi were going to stumble on me soon enough. I gave the two Sekirei currently present a measuring look each. Kuu seemed more interested in playing in the mud then paying attention to what was going around her, and Akitsu looked to be a lost cause for at least another five minutes or so. Still, my swords were in arms reach, and Musubi and Tsukiumi were still somewhere nearby. If anything happened I would most likely be able to defend myself until the two showed up, and if it did get dangerous I'm certain Akitsu would come back from her happy place. I decided to just bite the bullet and speak up.

"You know," I said loud enough for my voice to carry. "If I wasn't an Ashikabi, then talking as loudly about the subject as you two are doing would probably be enough to bring MBI down on your heads."

For a moment the two didn't say anything, but when the second voice spoke up again it definitely sounded closer. "So you are an Ashikabi," it announced, sounding pleased with itself. "Good. I didn't think there was likely to be anyone else around here at this time of night."

"God damn pussy, hiding away in the middle of the fucking woods," the first voice added, followed by a noise like they were spitting. Finally, the newcomers managed to clear the ring of trees and find their way into the clearing where I was waiting for them.

There were four of them in total, two Ashikabis and two Sekirei. The first voice, the crude one who had just insulted me, was a man looking to be about the same age as me and dressed in a dark colored hoody and kakis, the actual color of the two lost in the darkness. Beside him stood his Sekirei, a small blond in a short white dress and lugging behind her a hammer of ridiculous size. The weapon was twice as long as she was tall, and the head of it must have weighed several hundred pounds. Though she didn't actually lift the monstrous thing, she didn't show any trouble in pulling it along as it dragged behind her. The second voice, the one who seemed more reasonable revealed itself to be a younger looking male as well, dressed in a dark jacket and pants with glasses on his face. His attending Sekirei was a blonde as well, with longer hair and dressed in what looked like a white halter top and dark miniskirt. Slung across her back was short staff tipped with two curves of sharpened metal. It looked like it was some variant of a sword breaker, or perhaps some kind of abbreviated lance.

"Well," I responded, giving the foul mouthed one a dry look. "Aren't you the articulate one."

"What the fuck did you just say to me, asshole?" the hoody wearer snapped, glaring at me and taking an angry step forward. It was probably an attempt at being intimidating, and I'm sure it might have worked against someone who was a bit less inured to violence than me, someone who lived a perfectly ordinary life and never had to deal with fighting to the death against inhuman monstrosities, but it fell a little flat of its intended affect when directed at me.

"I said," I began, my voice going hard. "'Aren't you the articulate one.'"

"Listen you little son of a …" the hoody began, anger seeping into his confrontational tone before his companion stepped up.

"For god's sake, just give it a rest for a minute," the glasses wearing one snapped at his companion. "Look," he began, turning to me. The expression on his face was cautious as he took in the surroundings. His eyes hesitated on the opposite side of the clearing, the place where Tsukiumi had earlier destroyed an area roughly half the size of a football stadium, and then down to where I was currently standing, in a crater that was obviously quite fresh. His eyes drifted first to Kuu, still innocently playing in the mud, and then to Akitsu, still blushing and standing stock still while cradling the bundle with my swords to her chest. It appeared that he didn't quite know what to make of the scene, and shook his head once before continuing. "Look, I don't know who you are, but we're trying to find someone. An Ashikabi like ourselves."

"Oh?" I asked, climbing the rest of the way out of the crater. Akitsu followed, though it looked more like it was out of habit than a conscious decision, while Kuu finally seemed to realize that there was someone else present. After staring hard at the four newcomers, the little girl crawled out of the crater as well, darting until she could hide behind my legs. After grasping hold of my pant legs she peeked out from behind my knees, staring at the four again with childlike intensity, emitting a 'jiiiii' noise while she did so. "Any Ashikabi in particular?" I asked, fishing for information.

"I don't know if you've been following the forums," the bespectacled Ashikabi began, still studying my Sekirei more than me. It looked like he had already made the assumption that both the females present were aliens, and from the way his eyes darted from them to the damage in the clearing it looked like he was trying to figure out just which of the two present were responsible. "But there's been some rumors going on about a dangerous Ashikabi residing in the North; one that has at least five Sekirei. I heard that he likes to ambush other participants with his numbers, and then after they ganged up on the Sekirei he cuts up the Ashikabi just for fun."

"Oh?" I asked, playing ignorant while trying to suppress my initial reaction. I had only had one encounter so far with another Ashikabi that had ended in battle, and that had been Kakizaki. Logically speaking, if any rumors about me were to start it would have to be him that would be the source. That meant that this little blood thirsty fairy tale that I was being told most likely originating from the secretary. And if it had his hand in it, it was mostly likely under the direction of his employer, Higa Izumi, the Ashikabi of the East. "Sounds dangerous," I finally added, my voice noncommittal.

The one in glasses didn't seem to know what to make of my nonchalant response, though his companion spat again, aiming the spittle to the side. I noticed that it struck the leg of the Sekirei carrying the massive hammer, though the girl didn't respond besides to lower her head submissively. I couldn't be sure, but it looked as though the Ashikabi had deliberately aimed at his Sekirei when he had made the gesture of contempt. "Very," the glasses wearing Ashikabi continued. "Anyway, one of the psychopath's victims managed to escape after the other Ashikabi killed his Sekirei, and now he's putting out a bounty: five million yen if someone can stop the madman."

Okay, I wasn't sure if I was impressed or annoyed. Five million yen was nearly fifty thousand in U.S. dollars. On one hand, the fact that I actually had a bounty on my head for the purpose of the game was somewhat flattering. Then again, the fact that it was only five million was little insulting. Surely it was worth a bit more to risk coming after an Ashikabi with six Sekirei to his name and the ability to match some of the aliens on even terms himself?

Then again, that in itself made a bit of sense as well. This was the first move that had been made against me, and it had to be the East behind it. They were the only ones who were actually aware of my existence at this point. Five million was enough to tempt most of the regular participants in the plan. They were, after all, mostly just normal people who happened to get swept up in something extraordinary. Suddenly being exposed to their alien partners, witnessing their power, knowing that they could control it, it wouldn't surprise me if more than a few of them got caught up in the whole glamorous 'shonen manga' feel that the game must present them. I know Yukari had certainly jumped onto that bandwagon. So rather than risk his forces against me, the East puts out a bounty. Sure, it was large enough to get attention, but for a rich business man like him it wasn't that much in the long run. And he had to know just how ruthless I could be. I did try to kill his secretary after all. He probably wasn't even expecting any of the would-be bounty hunters to succeed. All they had to do is knock out one or two of my flock before falling themselves, and then I would be weakened and the East wouldn't even have to pay the poor sucker because they would have failed the overall mission.

"So that's what the two of you are doing out here?" I asked. "Trying to find the dangerous Ashikabi so you can make a little cash?" At the calmer Ashikabi's nod I continued. "So what do you want from me?"

"Well," the one in the dark jacket began, "are you interested in joining up with us?" He pointed out the crater and the trees as he continued. "It looks like both of your Sekirei are pretty powerful. If you were to join us than we could all three manage to take out the target's Sekirei. Plus, with three of us, we could probably even get the Ashikabi himself while the Sekirei are fighting it out."

My nostril twitched as I picked up the growing power of Tsukiumi and Musubi. It seemed like the two had finally finished playing around and were starting to come back. At the moment the glasses Ashikabi, the one who seemed to be in charge of the whole head hunting expedition, assumed I was just another Ashikabi and not the target, mostly because I only had two of my flock present. The moment the next two showed up he would probably put one and one together. It looks like this was probably going to end up in conflict. "So can you tell me anything else about the target?" I asked, hoping to get as much of the information he had before things degenerated.

The dark jacket Ashikabi seemed to take that as me being interested. "Well," he began, leaning forward as though about to share a juicy bit of gossip. "They say he likes to carry around two big swords."

"Ah!" Kuu piped in, sounding excited. "Onii-chan has swords, too!"

For a moment, the negotiator didn't seem to put the pieces together. Even as his eyes widened in realization, a new voice split the clearing. "Shirou-san! I'm back!" Musubi proclaimed, landing neatly as she leapt into the clearing, before jogging over to join me. Tsukiumi landed immediately afterwards, still fuming apparently.

"Musubi," the blonde growled, but unlike her rival caught sight of the newcomers and froze. "Shirou," she began, drawing herself up imperiously and glaring across the clearing. "Just who are these people?"

"Bounty hunters from the East," I informed her. "They've come to collect my head." The blonde's eyes narrowed.

"What?" she demanded. "Uncouth thugs working for that impertinent monkey who sought to claim me?" It seemed she remembered the circumstances that had occurred during our first meeting, and from the way water was collecting behind her, circling her frame ominously, it was a memory that she was not at all happy with.

"Wow," Musubi stared at the now nervous looking bespectacled Ashikabi as the would-be bounty hunter received the final confirmation he needed to realize that I was in fact his target. "They must be really brave to come after you, Shirou-san! I would have thought that they would prefer to stay safe." The casual way that Musubi implied that coming after me was something inherently dangerous almost brought a smile to my face. Fortunately, I was in full on battle mode at this point, and my expression didn't waver. I already had a picture of how this was going to play out, and if I took care, then I could turn this whole incident to my advantage.

"Wait," the hoody Ashikabi interjected, sneering at me. "So you're the big bad Ashikabi of the North?" A leer split the thuggish man's face. "Great! Saves me the effort of having to hunt you down."

"Junichi," the second Ashikabi began, giving his partner a glare. "What the hell are you doing? We have to get out of here, now." At least he seemed to realize just how desperate his situation was. Their Sekirei were outnumbered two to one and they were on my home ground. Retreat was the wise option.

"Shut the hell up, Himura," the now named Junichi snapped at his partner. It looked like their working together was more a matter of convenience when coming after me than any kind of real friendship. "Quite being such a bitch. We found the one we came here for, now all we have to do is finish of his bitches and then beat the shit out of him."

It had been dark before, and I hadn't been able to make out their features completely, but with their names I was finally able to identify the two. Countless hours of repetitive study finally paid off as their names clicked and I was able to recall their profiles. "Junichi Tanigawa," I began, and the hoody wearer snapped to face me, surprised that I had known his full name. "Sekirei number eighty four: Yashima. Occupation: delivery driver. Length of time working: two months. Fired from last five employers for violence among fellow employees and petty theft of company property." I turned to look at the other Ashikabi. "Himura Youichi," I continued, "Sekirei number seventy eight: Nanami. Current occupation: second year student at Shin Tokyo University. Major: accounting. GPA: two point nine."

It was plain to see that my knowledge of his name and history unnerved Himura. His eyes widened, gleaming white in the dark, and he took a step back as he unconsciously distanced himself from me. Good. I wanted him unnerved. The other Ashikabi, Junichi, he didn't seem nearly as impressed.

"How the fuck do you know that, asshole?" he snapped. I favored him with a cold smile. It didn't affect the more thuggish of the two, but it caused Himura to take another step. Good.

"Ignorant and idiotic," I said, eying Junichi with visible distain. "What a combination. Tell me," I continued, my voice curious. "Are you going to do something, or is it true when they say 'the dog that barks the loudest has the smallest bite'?" I was goading him now. I wanted him to come at me. Himura obviously didn't have much sway with him, but if I didn't get the belligerent Ashikabi mad enough than the more cautious of the two might be able to convince the other to retreat and come back with reinforcements. That wouldn't do at all. It was time for me to put on a show, and to do that I needed there to be at least one casualty.

"Yashima," Junichi snarled, "get your ass out there and fight!" Good. Come on.

"Master," the Sekirei spoke up, shifting her enormous hammer as she did so. "I don't think…"

That was as far as the alien got before her Ashikabi wheeled on her and struck her across the face, sending her to the ground. "That's right," he snarled, and kicked the fallen girl. "You don't think. You just do what I tell you to do, bitch."

That got a reaction from my flock. Kuu shrank until she was almost completely hidden by my legs, burying her face into the back of my knees. Akitsu seemed to come out of her happy place, and I heard her shift once, her chains rattling. The water surrounding Tsukiumi paused mid swirl, and then resumed again, the pace of the circling increased as the water's master scowled. Even Musubi, the normally eternal cheerful battle maniac who had smiled while promising to fight Uzume someday, frowned as disapproval leaking onto her expression. The other Ashikabi, Himura, grimaced, and this time the step he took was away from his one time partner and put him directly between his own Sekirei and Junichi.

"Shirou," Tsukiumi growled. "Give this one to me."

"Very well," I nodded. "Just don't do anything to the Ashikabi afterwards. That one is mine."

Junichi didn't seem to realize that he had just sealed his own fate, instead reaching down to latch onto his Sekirei's hair, dragging her back to her feet by her locks. "Start chanting and finish this asshole off!" he ordered, and without waiting for a response he fastened his lips onto his Sekirei's. Grey wings laced with swirls of black sprouted from the beleaguered girl's back.

"Shirou," Tuskiumi said again, giving me an imperious look. "I as well!" I smiled, knowing what she was referring to despite her reluctance to say it explicitly, and took a step until she was directly in front of me, one hand coming to cradle her cheek. Despite the contact, this time she did not blush. It looked like she too had entered combat mode and the implied intimacy was unimportant to her at the moment.

"This time," I told her as I leaned in, "try to use the jewels one at a time."

It was over so fast that it was almost anticlimactic. I focused on the enemy Sekirei as Tsukiumi repeated her earlier Aria. The newcomer hefted her titanic hammer as she chanted her own prayer. "Hammer of my pledge," she said as power settled into her weapon, "shatter the enemy of my Ashikabi." Wielding the enormous bludgeon the newcomer leapt, preparing to bring her weapon down on my Tsukiumi. "Gravity Hammer!"

"Final Wave," Tsukiumi informed her enemy. It turned out that she could control each jewel. The first one struck the enemy mid air, arresting her movement. The second drove her to the earth as it smashed into her from above. The third, fourth and fifth came at her from the sides, then the next, and the next, and the next. The tenth jewel deprived her of her weapon, the hammer being launched across the clearing to sink into the soft earth when it landed with an earth shaking 'thump'. The last two waves finished, and in their wake there was left nothing but mud and the still form of the now terminated Sekirei. I couldn't tell if it was merely a level three, or if Tsukiumi had joined the club of level four givers, but in the end it didn't matter.

"Consider this my gift to you," Tsukiumi told her fallen foe. "Better to be removed than be forced to endure the shame of an Ashikabi such as that." Proudly, the victorious blonde strode until she stood above the still Sekirei. Back straight, she set herself, and began the duty of guarding her defeated sister.

"Y-yashima!" Junichi stammered. He looked like he was honestly surprised that attacking a group of enemy Sekirei by himself had ended with his loss. "Yashima!" he shouted again, this time his voice enraged. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, bitch?" he snapped, focusing on Tsukiumi. He fumbled into his pocket, and withdrew from it a switchblade. With the small piece of metal in hand, he deliberately charged the alien that had just displayed a command over the elements so intense it had reshaped the landscape of the park. Either the thug was very brave, or very stupid, and I knew what my money was on. "I'm going to make you pay you god damn, cu…"

Whichever vulgarity he was about to unleash on my Sekirei was cut off. Tsukiumi didn't even bother to react to the charging former Ashikabi. Before he had a chance to complete his declaration he discovered that I had already moved. He didn't seem observant enough to catch the now empty bundle that Akitsu was folding carefully, but he did manage to catch the streak of darkness in my hand right before Kanshou struck him.

I used the back of the dark blade. I will admit to having been briefly tempted to simply cut the intolerable man in half, but if I cut everyone who irritated me in half then it would probably end up with me getting attention I didn't want. For all the fact that he had managed to annoy me with his casual violence towards his mated alien, he really wasn't quite dangerous enough to justify his death in my head. That didn't mean I had to let him go unharmed though. I wasn't afraid to give him significant punitive damage for attempting to harm my Tsukiumi. Maybe the next time he tried to hit a woman he would remember what it felt like.

I could feel the force of my strike shatter at least two of his ribs. I modulated the strength of my attack, so that after the initial shattering blow I could use the strength behind my swing to throw him across the clearing. He landed hard, his back slamming into the tree I had been aiming at, a sharp cry escaping his lips as the force of his landing aggravated his injuries. He slumped to the ground, back against the tree as he wrapped his arms around his wounded chest.

"Don't move!" I snapped, partly at fallen Ashikabi, and partly at the still standing one; time to make this a little more impressive. Standing next to the unmoving Tsukiumi, I snapped both my hands to the side, carefully aiming as I released the black and white blades. They flew sideways through the clearing, twin discs of silver and shadow, before the attraction the two Noble Phantoms exerted on each other caused them to arc and their flight paths to curve. Homing in on each other, they finally reached my intended target. Sinking into the tree on either side of the gasping Junichi the twin blades bit into the tough bark with a solid 'thump'. It had taken a bit of calculating, and in the end I had held back a bit to be on the safe side, but I managed to hit my intended target. The two blades had cut into the tree on either side of the fallen Ashikabi's neck, the blades crossed underneath his chin and forming an 'X' that threatened to cut his throat if he tried to move from the spot. It was a little excessive, but what I was looking for here was showmanship, and I felt a surge of satisfaction at how the scene had ended. That would be something that everyone present would remember.

With the first target taken care of, it was time to focus on the second one. Deliberately, I slowly turned to face Himura and his Sekirei. The college student was frozen in what looked like an attempt to turn and run. His alien had deliberately placed herself between him and my flock and I, her strange lance drawn and held in a defensive position.

He looked scared. Good. Now to up him to 'terrified'.

"The North is mine," I said, trying to make my voice as hard and threatening as I could. "Running around without my permission within my territory is," I drew a deep breath, and I could feel the air around me condense, "prohibited." The frozen student's eyes widened and though I still hadn't managed to figure out precisely what it was that I was manifesting, I had no doubt that it was enough to push him over the edge. I just wished I could have said something more threatening. I might have figured out the basics of the technique, but for some reason I could only get it to show so long as I was in some way prohibiting something. I had come to think of it as a kind of required Aria, but I knew it could be done without the particular turn of phrase. I had seen Miya do it in the past.

Whatever it was he saw behind me, it was enough to freeze Himura and his Sekirei in their tracks. Slowly, feeling the manifestation follow behind me, I began to close the distance between us. Like deer caught in the headlights of the oncoming truck the two could do nothing but quiver in terror. I stopped when I was no more than two or three paces away. "Run," I told them in a casual tone. When the two could do nothing besides shake, I dropped the technique. "Run!" I half snarled, half shouted at the two.

They broke and fled. I gave them a few moments to make some distance between me and them, and then turned back to the clearing at large. Across the way Junichi remained locked in the steel embrace of my blades. For a second I worried that I might have over done it. I had been directing the force of my manifestation at the two who had remained free, but it looked like the trapped former Ashikabi had managed to pick up some of it as well. It looked like he was trying to make the decision between remaining trapped where he was and at my potential mercy and simply making a break for it, an escape attempt which would no doubt end with him opening his own throat on my blades.

Well, it had worked on the other two. "Moving is prohibited," I said, once more manifesting just whatever it was that seemed to be enough to paralyze my foes with terror. Instantly, Junichi froze, and I walked almost casually up to him. The smell of urine greeted me when I finally got close enough, proof that I had managed to make the impression I was aiming for. I considered saying something more to the broken man, but decided to simply end it. Wrenching Bakuya and Kanshou free, I put the frozen thug asleep with a quick kick to his head, rendering him unconscious.

For a moment I stood still, looking down on the broken figure. Finally, I sighed. Reaching up to scratch the back of my head with Bakuya's pommel, I commented, "That went even better than I had hoped."

"And just what was it that you were hoping would happen, Shirou?" I turned at the sound of Tsukiumi's question, taking in the status of the rest of my flock. The water user was still standing guard over her fallen sister, though she looked as though she were cringing, no doubt a legacy of having been nearby while I was projecting phantasms of incomprehensible hate and malice. Kuu had sought shelter from the sight behind Akitsu's legs, though she was occasionally peeking out as though to check to see if the dark times were over. Akitsu herself seemed to be content to focus her gaze directly at the ground without raising it to see if it was over yet. Musubi stood frozen for another moment, but then without visible cue she shook once like a dog shedding water from its coat and beamed a smile at me.

"That was amazing, Shirou-san!" the shrine girl proclaimed, bouncing up and down. "How did you get your swords to curve like that?" It seemed that the demonstration of skill was more interesting to her than the fact that I had just bullied our enemies to the point where one of them had wet themselves.

"Practice," I told her, evading giving any further details. Kuu-chan peeked out from behind Akitsu's legs, and with the manifestation of terror gone decided it was safe to emerge fully. With a disproportionately childish air to her, considering the circumstances, the green girl skipped over to me and promptly latched onto one of my legs, beaming up at me. For a second I thought that she was simply trying to congratulate me, but then her eyes shifted to the still lowered Kanshou, and one hand began to reach out tentatively to try and touch it. With a sigh I lifted it out of reach. Kuu glowered at me, and I had the impression that I was most likely about to be reintroduced to the vicious sprite's molars.

"Don't ignore my question," Tsukiumi snapped, folding her arms with a huff. "Just what were you hoping would happen?"

With Kuu still latched on to me and refusing to release her grip, I made my way over to Akitsu. The snow women remained looking down, apparently not noticing my presence until I touched her arm gently. She started briefly, looking up, and then a small blush once more formed high on her cheeks. It looked like without the incipient threat of enemy Sekirei, she was once more remembering my attempts to figure out her drain on my circuits with a pleasant feeling.

"You weren't here when he said it, but it looks like Kakizaki and Higa of the East have been busy," I told the water user. I reached for the cloth still draped over Akitsu's arm, and the snow woman seemed to recover herself enough to realize what I was doing. With uncharacteristic haste she began to help me with rewrapping my blades. "They've offered a bounty on me, and started spreading rumors."

"Rumors?" the water user repeated. I nodded.

"They've started telling all the other Ashikabi that I was some kind of psychotic who forces my Sekirei to attack other Sekirei as a group, and then cut up and tortured the Ashikabi afterwards." My description of the slander was mostly academic. I might have well been talking about the weather for all the passion I put into it. Tsukiumi and Musubi didn't seem to take it nearly as sanguinely.

"What!" the proud water user shrieked. She sputtered, and then stomped her foot angrily. "How dare they? Those wretched apes!"

"Musubi wouldn't gang up on anyone!" the shrine girl added her two cents, throwing her fists up in the air in outrage.

"It's fine. No," I continued, my voice certain. "It's better than fine. In fact, after today they'll discover that there plan has backfired."

"Backfired?" Tsukiumi repeated, giving me a confused look. "Why? Did something you do here manage to overcome their slander?" I think it helped our relationship a lot that when we first met the water user had seen my own combat prowess. I wasn't sure if it had been the way I had quickly analyzed the original ambush pattern and then turned it on Kakizaki back then or if it was the fact that I had held my own against two of her species, but whatever it was it appeared that it had engendered Tsukiumi with a healthy respect for my own abilities. Nonetheless, I shook my head at her guess of what had happened here.

"No. In fact, I made them worse." I continued, my voice calm as I analyzed what had occurred here. "The rumors the East has started already exist. Nothing can get rid of them now. Even if we tried to fight them with our own information campaign, there would still be those who wouldn't care about whether or not they were true. They'd just come for the bounty. Before you two showed up Himura had even tried to recruit my help in taking down his target. If it had gone on long enough, they very well might have gathered together enough Sekirei to pose a genuine threat to us. If they had gathered maybe five or six, and focused all their attention on just one of you, they could have taken one of us down. Even if they didn't manage to get all of you, they would still have been enough to weaken our forces."

"So then what happened here?" Tsukiumi asked, giving me an askance look. I sighed, scrubbing my hand through my hair. I watched idly as Kuu untangled herself from my leg and reattached herself to Akitsu, looking up innocently at the ice user after she resumed her chosen task of holding my blades for me. That girl really liked swords apparently. I could relate. So did I.

"What happened here is that Himura saw you take down a Sekirei with one move, and then me crush an Ashikabi just as easily. What he saw here was, well, whatever it is I make when I do that thing like Miya does," I explained. Tsukiumi winced and glanced away, shuddering at the memory. Now I was really curious. Just what the hell was it I was making? "Then I let him run away afterwards. The first thing he's going to do when he gets somewhere he thinks is safe is swear to never come after me again. The second thing he's going to do, is tell everyone and their brother just what happened here, and how bad an idea it is to come across the 'Ashikabi with swords'." I cocked my head, the faint thrum of helicopter blades sounding softly in my ears. "The North already has a lot of rumors about Demon Ashikabi and Hanya's and such. Now it's going to explode with a new rumor. It will probably be something about a murderous monster, or something equally outlandish, but whatever it is, it's going to frighten off all but the most idiotic of Ashikabi," I glanced at the fallen Junichi. "The East tried to make me a target by painting me as a dangerous Ashikabi that needs to be taken down in order for the rest of the Ashikabi to be safe. What I did was make myself so dangerous that the only way the other Ashikabi will feel safe is to be as far away from me as possible."

Tsukiumi seemed to understand my explanation, though Musubi looked like she was completely lost and simply didn't care. "I don't like it," the water user proclaimed. She glanced down and to the side, shifting as she did so. "Shirou, if all you were worried about was whether or not we would be able to withstand an enemy attack, then this ruse was unnecessary. I am the strongest Sekirei," she declared, meeting my gaze with a strong look of her own. "There is no way that I would lose."

I gave her a smile. Standing proud in the moonlight, her blonde hair a curtain of silver around her, I once more felt my heart catch. It was a feeling that reminded me of just how Dangerous my Sekirei were. "True," I admitted, "but what about the other Sekirei? What about their Ashikabi?"

My question seemed to give the water user pause. "What do you mean?" she finally asked.

This time, it was Musubi I looked at. The brunette cocked her head to the side, curious as to why I would focus my attention on her at this point in the conversation. "Every Sekirei we defeat is one that we take from their Ashikabi," I said, my mind going back to Junichi's reaction once his mate had fallen. Even if he had been an ass, even if the relationship was probably something which jumped right over the line and plunged head first into that which could be easily called 'abusive' from what we had seen, the moment his Yashima had fallen he had gone berserk and charged an alien capable of killing him with a flick of her hand in an instance without hesitation. However twisted it might have been, it looked like he really had cared about his Sekirei. "We will have to fight them eventually," I continued, my voice soft, but firm. "And when the time comes, we will win," and there was no doubt in my voice then either. "Until then, let's let them spend a bit more time together before we drag them apart."

My response seemed to give Tsukiumi pause, but Musubi didn't share that sentiment. "Right," she agreed instantly, bouncing in place as she made a fist in front of herself. "Let them enjoy the power of love for as long as possible before we beat them!" If she had said the phrase in anything other than the cheerful tone she had, it would have come out as something threatening. Somehow, her innocent voice changed the sentiment to something else. Not something rational, not with her admitting that someday she would shatter the bonds between other Ashikabi and Sekirei that she so cherished, but not something threatening either. It was the tone of someone who knew the inevitable conclusion to the path she walked, but still walked it anyway.

Tsukiumi didn't quite look like she understood the sentiment, but after a moment she nodded decisively. "Very well. While I might not agree, I can understand your reasoning, Shirou." From the way her eyes glanced down to the broken shell she was standing over and then to myself before quickly looking away it seemed that she might actually understand it all too well. "For now, we can wait."

Silence settled on the clearing, broken only by the ever growing noise of the incoming MBI helicopters. Just as it had been the when the water user and I had first made our acquaintance, there was the lingering feel of introspection settling on the small clearing. For all the briefness of the physical encounter, this had been a battlefield. The body count was smaller than that time on the roofs, but no less profound. The battle that had been fought here had been waged not just on the physical front, but on the informational front as well. It had taken an act of cruelty, one of malice and deliberate lingering callousness, but the stage had been set. Now, irrevocably, I had set myself in the role of the villain in the acts to come. It was a title I was willing to bear, just so long as it kept the otherwise unready from facing me too soon.

As I contemplated this morbid train of thought, I felt a tug at my pants leg. Glancing down, I realized that Kuu had finally managed to overcome her fascination at once more getting to see my twin blades, and was now looking up at me expectantly.

"Yes?" I began, not sure why the green girl was appearing so patient. "What is it Kuu-chan?"

"Ne, onii-chan," the little Sekirei began, her eyes wide with innocence. "Is it Kuu-chan's turn for Norito yet?"

I blinked, honestly surprised by the request. So far, Kuu had been the only one who hadn't had a chance to experiment with the simplified prana exchange ritual. With the sound of the aerial transports closing in, I winced, realizing that now might not be the best time for her to play around with the creation of potentially interfering fauna. The broken cone that Tsukiumi's first Norito had produced was an ideal landing place for a quick pickup, and having a sudden burst of new trees and bushes there might delay the recovery team from picking up the very damaged body of their target Sekirei.

"Well," I began, glancing at the terminated Sekirei and trying to estimate just how much longer the life functions in it could last. "Maybe later?" I supplied.

The green girl's eyes narrowed, and the sound of 'Fuuuuuggghhh!' escaped from her mouth, not unlike steam being released from a tea kettle. The sprite drew back her lips, and her pearly white teeth gleamed in the starlight. I started to back away, carefully watching for warning signs.

"Now Kuu," I began, trying to get some distance between me and the angry pixy before me. "It's not like I expected things to turn out like-OW! Damn it! Not my thigh again!"

*Scene Break*

When I woke the next morning, the soft cry of birds greeting my ears and the now somewhat familiar weight of my flock on me, I suppressed my first inclination to begin getting up and instead let myself lay where I was. The events of last night continued to race through my head, playing out behind my closed eyes as I reviewed them over and over.

After the choppers had gotten close enough, instead of sticking around to wait like I had the first time I had urged my flock to leave. Part of the reason had been me not wanting to explain just why I felt it was necessary to brutalize the other Ashikabi to Takami when she arrived with the recovery team. The other part was wanting to retreat back to our stronghold post haste. It would take a few days before the rumors I had encouraged grew enough to be truly effective, and for now there was no way of knowing just how many were actually attempting to lay claim to the price on me. It was a bit aggravating, in a way. For all that I had hoped to claim the reputation of 'The Berserker' of the Sekirei Plan, the more I looked at it the more my actions reminded me of how Caster had acted in the last Grail War: appearing only when there was some goal I wished to accomplish, devastating everything in my path, and then retreating to my territory, guarded by the strength of another. As galling as it was to admit, the rumors that Yukari, Miya, and Uzume had begun were every bit as effective as the one that I was trying to feed. Between the four of us, I think we had pretty much managed to turn the North into the kind of place no other Ashikabi would willingly venture.

It would take a few days, but I could monitor the growing rumors on the various forums as Himura began spreading the word. If worse comes to worst, I could even have Matsu select another Ashikabi, someone who I wouldn't mind taking out of the game for one reason or another, and make another public appearance. If I played my cards right I could get 'omniscient' added to the rumors as the other Ashikabi realized that I already knew their names, their histories, even their addresses. Then again, if that got out the resulting scare might cause them to begin changing their habits. If that would happen it might invalidate some of my data as well.

As various plans ran through my head, each one being carefully considered as I contemplated the pros and cons of them, I felt one of my girls shift restlessly. Whichever one it was, they murmured softly before burrowing down deeper into my chest, their chin an uncomfortable point on my ribs as they tried to make themselves more comfortable. The one next to them seemed to respond to the movement, thankfully sparing me a similar chin grinding experience as they simply rubbed their cheek against my night shirt. I considered reaching up and adjusting them slightly, but with both my arms locked down like usual that was a lost cause. With both my legs trapped and the familiar weight of Kuu draped across them I couldn't even try to shift them with my legs either.

Wait a second. Both my arms and both my legs. That was four. Kuu on her usual bumpy mattress made five. Plus two more on my chest made seven? I only had six Sekirei, one of which was Homura, and I really doubted that he had suddenly decided to start joining the rest. At least, I sincerely hoped he hadn't started. That would indicate the psychological changes we noticed increasing at a dramatic pace.

Opening my eyes, I lifted my head up and looked down to see just who it was that was in bed with me.

It was easy to identify the females attached to my limbs: Akitsu as was customary on my left arm, and this time it seemed Matsu had managed to claim my right. Tsukiumi and Musubi were similarly attached to my left and right leg respectively. Akitsu was currently clothed in something which looked like loosely wrapped bandages, dressing in a way which bordered on the indecent when she slept as was her habit, while the rest of my flock were in their usual sleepwear. It was the two who were currently attempting to make my chest more comfortable which were the departures from the norm.

It only took me a moment to identify the one who was using her chin to once more poke me in my ribs uncomfortably. At first I could only see a wave of dark hair, but when she started digging in the concealing mane shifted enough for me to recognize Uzume. As awkward as it was to find one of my housemates suddenly in my bed, what really threw me off was what she was wearing: her modest white panties, and just her panties. I tried to hold back a blush as I realized that the softness that was pressing against my weight was the brunette's not inconsiderable and completely naked bust. Desperately I tried to find something to take my mind off that revelation, and when I glanced towards the door I noticed that at some point it had been left half open. Starting right at the entrance to the room and leading up to my bed was a trail of what appeared to be the mostly nude Sekirei's clothes: the pants half in and half out of the room, the shirt midway between my bed and the door, and the bra tossed casually next to Musubi.

Well, the mystery of just who one of my unexpected bedmates was was solved, even if why she had suddenly decided to sleep on top of me still remained unknown. That left whoever the other one was. For a moment, I briefly entertained the thought that this was Uzume's long unseen Ashikabi, but I dismissed that after one glance. I had a profile for Uzume just like I had for all the other Sekirei and their partners, and I was well aware of just what the poor girl's circumstances were. There was no way that this could be her.

As I frantically tried to figure out just what the hell was going on, I couldn't help but notice what the newcomer was wearing: pretty much exactly what Uzume was, though it seemed the newcomer had more in common with Akitsu then the rest of the Sekirei I had come across. So far the ice wielder had been the only Sekirei I had come across that seemed to scorn the modest white panties that most of the aliens preferred, choosing instead to wear more provocative and risqué apparel. Whoever this newcomer was she was wearing something which was black, silky, and a great deal less covering then what normal Sekirei seemed to wear. I was also made uncomfortably aware of the feel of the stranger's chest in a similar position as that of Uzume's. Whoever this was they were at least as endowed as even Musubi, the bustiest of my flock.

For nearly a minute the only thing I could do was stare in shock. If I wasn't so thoroughly pinned, I would no doubt have already made a break for someplace safer, like the kitchen, or my workshop, or a field filled with unexploded, rusty, hair triggered ordinance. I could feel the panic in my chest growing with each second as the stranger continued to sleep on top of me, until she finally shifted, and I caught sight of her face. The moment I did, the panic in me froze. The flush I was sporting receded and my eyes narrowed. I knew those features.

I had made sure to memorize the profiles of all potentially dangerous Sekirei, and the number zero three, one of the first five awoken, responsible for destroying entire armies, who had a personal kill count nearly as high as Karasuba's, Kazehana the Wind Sekirei definitely counted as dangerous.

Now the question was, why was someone so high profile sleeping half mostly naked on my chest?

Whatever the reason was, my thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pounding on my door. The noise seemed to be enough to cause most of my flock to jostle, and the rest of the room started their own emergence into waking reality. A voice came from the other side, and I sighed, taking this for the final proof I needed in my theory that the speaker existed solely for the reason of making my life more complicated.

"Onii-chan!" Yukari called out, her voice excited as pounded once more on my half open door before slamming it the rest of the way open and marching in. "Wake up, onii-chan! There's someone I want you to meet…." My sister trailed off as she took in the scene she had barged in on without hesitation. I wished that one of my hands were free so I could start rubbing my forehead in preparation of the headache what was about to happen would bring.

I was actually surprised when the first thing out of my little sister's mouth wasn't in relation to the newcomer's impressive chest. Instead of something which would have gotten her a sexual harassment suit, she scowled, thrusting her finger out at the sleepily blinking number zero three. "You!" she snapped, glaring at immodestly dressed Sekirei. "What are you doing here?" Yukari demanded, stomping her foot. "And what the hell are you doing to my brother?"

As the rest of my flock began making noises of surprise at realizing that they had a new addition to our nightly ritual, Akitsu obediently released my arm, and I gave her a thankful look as I used my now liberated appendage to treat the growing headache. I knew there was going to be a story behind this, I just knew it. I only had to live long enough to hear it.


	21. Twenty First Wing

In Flight: Twenty First Wing

_Author's notes: Yo. A bit longer than my usual wait for new chapters, and normally I'd make a big long production of all the anime series that have been distracting me, or blame some event in real life or some such. This time, it is once more real life that delayed me. Not the hassle or drama to pull me away from my beloved writing. Oh no. This time I get to blame a freaking tornado. Anyway, came through fine and peachy, no real damage to self or property, but it did leave me without internet for a good bit of time. And then, I discovered an amazing thing. Without my usual trappings and distractions, I ended up having not much else to do then write. Consequentially, when I did finally regain the ability to get online, I discovered that chapter 21 had actually stretched on to about fifty pages. Since chapter length for In Flight has been hovering around the mid twenties when it came to page length, I decided to split 21 into two. Hence, 21 is coming out now, and in a few days chapter 22 will be posted as well. That should be something for you readers to look forward to._

_A few notes about reviews. A lot of people have been enjoying the slow pace I've been taking with the story. Then again, a lot of people have been tapping their feet, desperately wondering when the action and drama would replace all this slice of life bull crap. I am happy to admit, the next couple of chapters are pretty much going to be nothing but drama, so look forward to that. And the ones after that will have violence. Actually, from the way I have the story mapped out, once the third stage of the Sekirei Plan officially starts, I pretty much have nothing but violence left for the story. Should be interesting on its own right there._

_Now, chapter specifics._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_Lets see. I suppose I'll start off with Ashikabi/Sekirei alerts. This chapter sees the introduction of Haruka Shigi and No. 95, Kuno, the original participants of the escape plan. As you no doubt know, seeing as you've already read the chapter and are just coming back here to see my thoughts on it, that just ain't gonna happen. I honestly don't think an escape plan is as bleak as Shirou seems to, seeing as I could totally see Minaka letting them get away with it as a kind of award for thinking outside of the box and all, but in Shirou's eyes, it was a doomed escapade from the beginning._

_A second, and only briefly mentioned new Sekirei was number 22 Kochou. She only shows up a few times, mostly in relation to Higa of the East incidents, and during that time you never see her use any actual powers. In order to make it interesting, I decided to make her the same type as Matsu, an electronic warfare model. There's no evidence at the moment that I'm at all wrong, and I think it's not unlikely that someone as sneaky and ruthless as Higa would attract a brain type to him. _

_After that, the only really important aspect of this chapter I see myself needing to address is Kazehana. The bottle fairy wind Sekirei has proven an interesting character to try and write. On one hand, she's one of the oldest and most experienced Sekirei out there, right up there with the Karasuba in my book. Let's be honest, every time they do show Kazehana fighting in the manga she outclasses everyone around her. She totally owned Uzume the first time they fought, and proved perfectly capable of wiping out the younger Sekirei that attacked Izumo House later on. She also has one of the most versatile powers as well. Objectively speaking, Kazehana is a complete badass. What makes her interesting to write is her complete fascination with story book romances. Every time even the hint of something romantic happens, she quickly transforms into a gushing schoolgirl. I went back and reread and rewatched most of her prominent scenes before writing this chapter, and the more i watched the more the impression I got was of a competent and experienced business woman who secretly wanted nothing more than to throw away all her success and live the life of a blushing bride. Anyone else got that impression?_

_Next chapter should be up in a few days, and that's where something a whole lot of people have been waiting for is going to go down: finally, the exact truth of just what the hell happened between Shirou, Rin, and Saber._

_Look forward to it!_

_As always, reviews, questions, comments, concerns, and complaints: review page is good for just giving a shout out, and the forums are the place to go for those wanting answers to questions._

*Story Start*

"What are you doing on my brother, you cow-chested skank?" Yukari demanded, thrusting one of her hands out so she could point in accusation at the very dangerous and mostly naked alien which was starting to wake up on my chest. The former disciplinary squad member winced as she began what appeared to be the laborious process of pulling herself up into a kneeling position. I was very thankful that the newcomer had long hair as the silken mane fell down to provide a concealing curtain as the alien finally managed to fall back on her panty clad butt and off of my chest.

"Uzume!" Tsukiumi chimed in, glaring at the other mostly naked female in the room. "What do you think you're doing to my husband?" The brunette blinked at the blonde, and after one last jab of her chin into my ribs turned to look up to meet my eyes, still lounging across my body. Then she winced like Kazehana, one hand coming up to clutch her forehead.

"Eh," the brunette began, her voice a little hoarse. "Not so loud please?" Cracking one eye open, she looked up at me again as though seeking confirmation of my presence, and then gave me a half hearted grin. "Well, bro, you know I was mostly kidding when I mentioned you seducing me and my Ashikabi into your harem, right? I didn't think you'd actually bring your girls over to my room or anything."

"That's because I didn't," I told her bluntly. Uzume blinked again, and then seemed to realize that she might have mistaken precisely what the circumstances were.

"He-heh," she gave her signature laugh, sounding a little sheepish. "Ah. Sorry about that."

"No harm done," I told her dryly. "Now, if you don't mind, could you please get off me and get dressed?" A glance over at Tsukiumi revealed the blonde to be rapidly approaching the 'early morning unexpected bath' point, though from the way the rest of my flock was reacting I think she was the only one among them who was put out by the morning's circumstances. Musubi and Kuu were just giving the newcomer, Kazehana of the Wind, a curious glance while Akitsu patiently waited in her position besides me for me to get up. Matsu on the other hand appeared just as interested in the development as the water user, but for different reasons.

"A soap opera," the hacker muttered to herself, not even bothering to get up from her position in my arms as she rubbed her palms together. "An early morning melodrama!"

"Are you listening to me?" my sister demanded, though when I glanced over I could see that she was addressing the cringing Kazehana rather than me. "I said what the hell are you doing to my brother?"

"Oh?" the wind user began, sounding just as rusty as Uzume had a moment ago. "Is that you, washboard-chan?" For a second I didn't understand what her last statement meant, but judging from the way Yukari lit up in a rage induced flush, I could make a few guesses. My little sister crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

"They may be small but they're not a washboard," she instantly defended her figure, and I began to get an idea of just why it was that Yukari didn't seem to like the newcomer. For all my little sister enjoyed taking advantage of my flocks' own endowments the moment anyone brought up hers, well, Seo had learned to fear my sister's boots after the time he made that mistake.

"Sorry about that," Uzume continued, wincing again and flopping over to give my sister an aggrieved look at the volume of her voice. "I ran into an old friend last night, and we went out and got some drinks. I guess we might have had a bit too much." She flopped back down again, methodically rubbing her forehead as she did so. "Guess we must have ended up in the wrong room."

Well, a hangover would explain just why it was that the two who had invaded my room were so busy cringing from the strident voice of my sister. "Well," I began, "there was no harm done." I forgave the indiscretion with a small comforting smile. "Now, could you please get off me and put your clothes back on?" I repeated my earlier request. I was trying really hard here not to succumb to the growing desire to bolt from my own room, but so long as the brunette was still on me that option was unfortunately removed from my list of potential actions.

"Yes," Tsukiumi instantly chimed in, standing over the two of us and glowering furiously. "Please do so immediately." Uzume seemed to find the water user's territorial fury amusing, but obediently began to pull herself up into a sitting position. Apparently the hangover was too fierce for her to make it to a properly standing appearance and she wobbled down into a sprawling seated position much like Kazehana had. It put her close enough to her customary star shirt for the hung-over brunette to reclaim the garment and begin to shrug it on. Well, that was one step to my room once more becoming a place where everyone was at least properly decent. Now if only Uzume's friend would begin to make the same effort.

Sadly, it appeared that Kazehana was too involved with arguing with my increasingly furious little sister to do the same. A quick search of my room revealed the only other piece of clothing to be a thin purple garment which had somehow ended up hanging from the edge of room's over head light. I had no idea how it had ended up there, but I'm sure there was a story behind that.

A story I wouldn't mind hearing, just at a later time, when everyone was dressed, and not in the middle of my room at six in the morning.

"So after you ran like a coward, you came back here to seek vengeance by attempting to seduce my onii-chan, is that it?" Yukari demanded, still pointing at the prone Sekirei. "I should have known the forces of evil wouldn't stand up and fight fairly!" I suppressed a grimace at the same time Kazehana did. I'm sure the Sekirei was reacting to the havoc the increasing volume was playing on her hangover. I on the other hand couldn't keep myself from shaking my head as my sister once more mixed up reality with her manga.

"You sure have a mouth on you, don't you, washboard-chan?" The wind Sekirei was definitely starting to sound annoyed by the accusations Yukari was throwing at her. "Just like that woman. The only ones allowed to talk to me like that are the director and number one." Despite the pain her head seemed to be in, she gave a wicked smirk at my fuming sister. "Besides, I'm sure your little 'onii-chan' would be so lucky to have a chance with someone as gorgeous as me. Maybe I should show him how adults…"

As Kazehana had begun to taunt my little sister, she turned to face me with a sly look on her face, only to trail off slowly. A puzzled look crossed the woman's face as she leaned in, studying me closely. The intensity of her scrutiny reminded me of the way Akitsu had looked at me when I had first led her to my home. As the awkward silence grew, I finally spoke up. "Um," I began, having finally managed to reach a sitting position. "Can I help you?"

"You," she began, leaning forward so she could rest on all fours, still staring at me. It took a herculean effort, but I managed to keep my gaze on her face rather than let it drop down to the tempting display that her new position put her chest in. "You look like him," she murmured, her eyes tracing my features carefully. "Not the hair, but in the cheekbones and the shape of the hands…" she trailed off, one of her own hands coming up and closing in to caress my cheek. Thankfully free of encumbering bodies, I was at last able to back away from more unexpected contact of the nearly nude kind. It proved to be a smart move as a second later the familiar 'cracking' noise of ice spontaneously forming alerted me to Tsukiumi reaching the limits of her patience.

"Whoever you are," Tsukiumi began, her voice rising steadily as she continued, "get away from Shirou right…!" Before the water user could build up a proper head of steam she was interrupted as a ladle came down on the back of her head with an audible 'bonk' noise. Tsukiumi froze, and then whirled around to discover that Miya had at some point in the unfolding chaos appeared directly behind her.

"Now, now," the landlady began, smiling innocently as her eyelids crinkled. Judging from the way even Kazehana froze at the newest addition to the scene Miya's harmless demeanor fooled no one. "What have I said about violence?" Brushing past the now very nervous Tsukiumi, the lavenderette gave the room a curious once over. With a sigh, the landlady put one hand on her chin and shook her head in disappointment. "Emiya-kun, would you mind telling me just what's going on here?" Her eyes cracked open ever so slightly. "And Akitsu-san. Is now really appropriate?"

I repeated her gesture, taking in the unfolding madness. My sister was still standing confrontationally towards the kneeling Kazehana. Tsukiumi was standing nearby an Uzume who was only wearing a t-shirt and a pair of panties. Musubi and Matsu were both watching from a corner of the room, Kuu beside them, all three looking as though they were completely lost as to just which confrontation would be the most amusing to watch. And Akitsu was calmly dressing in the corner, paying no attention to any of the others except what it took to stop me from getting drenched. The snow woman was already devoid of her sleepwear as she began wrapping her chain around her otherwise naked body. I was happy to note that even though she was apparently saving them for later, she at least had a pair of panties nearby.

"No," I admitted, sighing at the Scrapped Number's peculiar dressing habit. "It really isn't appropriate. And as for what's going on…" I scratched my head slowly. "I'm really not too sure," I finally confessed.

*Scene Break*

"So that's what happened," Miya said, sounding like she was waffling between amusement and resignation. Putting one hand to her chin she turned to look away, muffling her voice slightly as she continued. "And here I thought Emiya-kun had just finally succumbed to his primal carnal urges."

I gave her a small glare as I finished ladling the miso soup into the bowl I had set before the landlady. "'My primal carnal urges?'" I repeated in an aggrieved voice. Miya nodded, her face the picture of innocence as she continued to tease me.

"After so long restraining yourself, I had wondered when you'd finally give into your baser instincts and ravage all the beautiful women around you," she informed me. She put both hands to her cheeks and looked to the ceiling. "Ah, and me, an innocent widower. What would my dear husband think if he knew that I was near such a beast?"

"'That poor, unsuspecting beast'?" I tried, and my dry response caused Kazehana to snort into her hand in surprise. The look Miya gave the wind user for finding my retort amusing made the finally completely dressed Sekirei look away innocently. I couldn't help but notice the familiarity the two seemed to have and decided to comment on it as I put a tall glass of orange juice down in front of the wind user. "So you two have known each other for a while then?" I tried. I was aware that they had both served together on the Disciplinary Squad during their early days, but judging from the relaxed way the two seemed to get along I wondered if they might have known each other in a less formal capacity at some point.

"Kazehana was once one of my tenants as well," Miya supplied as I continued to set up the breakfast table. After the landlady had shown up to settle the brewing storms in my room, it had been decided that the dining room was a much better place for explanations. The wind user gave the glass of juice I had placed in front of her a surprised look, blinking as she watched me set another one in front of Uzume while continuing to serve the rest of the room. The two hung-over Sekirei were sitting penitently besides the landlady, both of them sneaking glances at the traditionally clad woman as though trying to judge the likelihood of a lecture

Nearly the entirety of my flock had found various places around the room to wait patiently as I whipped up a quick and simple breakfast. Musubi and Tsukiumi were flanking the door that led from the dining room to the kitchen, tense and alert as they prepared themselves. Neither one of them would take a seat at the table until I did, and once I was sitting I had little doubt there would be a brief but furious scuffle between the two to try and claim one of my sides. Kuu had already plopped down at the table, claiming the opposite side of her other onii-chan as Yukari. The two females were glaring at each other behind the nervous Shiina's back. The master of decay looked like he was still upset that the two girls in his life weren't getting along well, but it also looked like he had become more or less resigned to the experience. Akitsu had already seated herself, her eyes focused on the table in front of her while she obediently waited patiently for me to serve her. Matsu was a short distance away, also sitting patiently, though judging from the way her eyes were unfocused I could make a guess that for all her apparent inactivity she was most likely in the middle of doing something to one of her computers while she was out of the room. The only one of my flock who wasn't currently present was Homura, who by stint of having his own room had managed to successfully sleep through all the morning's excitement.

The fact that he wasn't here at the moment was probably the only reason the rest of the house could squeeze around the table. There still probably wouldn't be enough room for everybody seeing as besides Kazehana, there were two more unfamiliar faces at Izumo House.

"Sahashi-san," one of the newcomers began, his voice suspicious. "I thought you said this place would be safe?" He looked young, perhaps in his mid teens. With messy mid-length brown hair, a set of wristbands, an unbuttoned short sleeve over a white undershirt, and a pair of jeans, he looked pretty much like any other high school student on his day off would. If there was anything that set him apart from any other face on the street it was the girl he had at his side. At first glance there was nothing special about her either. With her short blond hair, thigh high socks, and what appeared to be a schoolgirl uniform of some kind, she looked like a student herself. It was only the scent of her power that set me off to the fact that she was a Sekirei. Compared to the rest of the Sekirei I had come across there was none of the other telling traits: like having extraordinary physical beauty, a mature and well blessed figure, and wearing some kind of bizarre pseudo-fetish gear were all missing from this specimen. She was quite frankly the most normal looking alien I had ever come across.

"Don't worry about it, Haruka-kun," Yukari responded, tearing her attention away from Kuu. With a confident grin my little sister clenched one hand into a fist in front of her. "In here you're perfectly safe."

"That's what you said before," the newly identified Haruka began, his tone doubtful as he looked around the room. "But you didn't mention anything about there being like a million Sekirei here, or that the one that helped the Veiled Sekirei would be here too." The newcomer was studying Kazehana nervously, but glanced up with a start when I placed a bowl of miso in front of him. "Um," he began, eying me doubtfully. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," I told him, trying to give him a reassuring smile. It seemed to work as he relaxed a bit. Beside him, his Sekirei didn't seem to find it quite as comforting, sinking even closer to her Ashikabi as she glanced around at all the different members of her species, her eyes moving so fast they reminded me of the way a panicked horse's might roll. I decided the best way to relax her would be to back away very slowly, an action that seemed to work. "And don't worry," I continued to address the young man. "The iron law of Izumo House is that violence is prohibited."

"Yeah, well, sorry if I have doubts," the new Ashikabi retorted. "I've heard things about the North. They say that this is a bad place to come to." He patted one of his pockets absentmindedly, and I caught a glimpse of a small embroidered packet peaking out of it briefly. "Last night was a new moon too," he added in a mutter as he looked around carefully once more.

It took me a second to realize what he was referring to, but once I realized the thing in his pocket was a protective charm and remembered some of the rumors about 'The Hannya of the North' I gave a startled snort. I couldn't stop myself from giving Miya a quick glance, and then I had to turn away quickly to suppress my laughter. The landlady narrowed her eyes as she took in my reaction. It looked like she was aware that my amusement was at her expense, but it seemed she couldn't quite figure out just how.

"If there was violence here than I would have already taken out that pretentious bimbo over there," Yukari added, glowering across the table at Kazehana. I don't know what it was that had happened between the two, but I had to suppress a grimace at the way my little sister was blatantly antagonizing one of the original five guardians of the Sekirei Plan.

The Wind Sekirei seemed to take my sister's belligerence with annoyance. "Tch," the purple clad Sekirei made a dismissive sound. "You really do have a mouth on you, don't you washboard-chan? You're really just like that woman," Kazehana trailed off, a look of distaste crossing her face. Her eyes wandered over to me, and her expression lightened. "You should take a lesson from your kind and helpful brother, washboard-chan," she retorted in a sing song voice. "Maybe I should steal him away to teach you a lesson?" The purple clad bombshell leaned backwards, stretching her body enticingly as she gave me a flirty wink. "How about it, Ashikabi-kun?" she began, her voice teasing. "I'll let you call me onee-san."

I purposefully did not look at the display, though the one glance I got was enough to call to mind the feel of the chest she was flaunting when she had been pressing it against me earlier. I cleared my throat purposefully before responding. "I don't think that will be necessary," I told the posing Sekirei.

"Oh," Kazehana squealed. From the corner of my eye I could make out the way she clasped both her hands in front of her chest as she twisted lightly in place, coming out of her alluring pose. "And he's shy too!"

"Stay away from my onii-chan!" Yukari nearly shouted, slapping both her hands on the table as she half rose from her seated position to glare at her mortal enemy. Kazehana's eyes narrowed and a triumphant grin spread on her features as the wind user tensed. Despite being indoors I felt a gentle breeze begin to stir. For a moment it looked as though despite the assurance I had just given Haruka a fight was about to brew.

Then Miya gently cleared her throat, and both Yukari and Kazehana froze. "Now, now," the landlady began, her voice disappointed. "I know both of you know the rules, don't you?" The air behind the calmly sitting alien started to darken, and a horn began to emerge from behind her shoulder. Judging from the size of the slowly rising horn the hannya mask that was being concealed by her thin frame must have been enormous, far too large to be truly hidden by the landlady's body. It was only the beginning of the technique, but it served as a reminder to the two about the dangers of breaking the rules of Izumo House. Needless to say the two quickly settled.

"Wait," Haruka spoke up, his voice nervous as he did so. "What the hell was that?" At his side, his Sekirei whimpered, and when tears started to gather in the girls eyes I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She really didn't look like the type that was very used to confrontations. Considering just how much confrontations seemed to have become the norm here, this might not be the best place for her.

"The reason there is no violence in Izumo House," I told him, desperately scribbling down every detail I could remember of the incident. I scowled at the page in front of me, before giving Miya a small glare which she matched with a smug smile. Ever since it had been revealed that I had managed to grasp the most basic elements of her technique, she no longer had any reservations about using it in my presence. If anything, she seemed to have taken a perverse liking to using it whenever possible, though each time she did it was in some new way or shape; using just a fragment of the mask, or displaying numerous ones simultaneously, making them move or bleed at will, all kinds of little tricks. I'd taken to once more carrying a notebook around with me to record my observations for future analysis. "I know you're doing that on purpose," I grumbled at the smug alien. "I get it already. I have a long way to go."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Emiya-kun," Miya told me innocently. I ignored the competitive taunting the landlady was trying to engage me in, and instead decided to take a seat at the table. A quick glance to find an open spot revealed that Matsu had somehow managed to place herself in a position where no matter which empty space I chose I would be on one side of her or the other, so succumbing to the inevitable I chose the one that would put me between the hacker and Akitsu. Judging from the brief mumble of disappointment behind me it appeared that neither Tsukiumi nor Musubi had realized that they had been outmaneuvered by the glasses wearing Sekirei until it was too late. Putting the antics of my flock from my head, I instead chose to focus on Yukari.

"So," I began, as the water user and the bear Sekirei drifted over to squeeze into the last remaining spaces. I focused on Yukari instead, and continued. "You want to tell me just what's going on here?" We may have managed to solve the mystery of the nearly nude additions to my futon, but there were still other unexplained events. "Just who are these two?" I continued, gesturing towards the still nervous looking Haruka and his borderline panicking Sekirei. "And just what is up with you and number zero three over there?" Kazehana blinked and gave me a surprised look when I revealed that I already knew just what her number was. I could see her trying to remember if she had mentioned it at some point in the past, but ignored her in favor of my little sister.

"Right!" Yukari nodded her head enthusiastically, settling down to tell her story. "So last night I was off trying to hunt down the dastardly Veiled Sekirei and bring her to justice," she began only to be cut off by Uzume.

"Dastardly Veiled Sekirei?" The ponytailed Sekirei's face was scrunched up in a way that looked like she had just bit a lemon. While I was fairly certain the rest of the room would attribute her expression to her hangover, I had another likely cause for why she didn't seem to appreciate Yukari's description. Yukari nodded and continued her explanation, elaborating on her choice of words.

"The Sekirei wrapped in cloth that refuses to reveal her name or number and leaves her opponents half dead," my imouto elaborated. "Me and Shiina have spent the last few nights trying to find her so we could stop her reign of terror, and last night we finally managed to catch her in the act!" Uzume mouthed 'reign of terror' silently, her face still pained at my sister's colorful description. For a moment she seemed to wilt, and then the brunette's eyes darted to me and she seemed to gain control of herself. I had no idea why I was apparently enough to bring her out of her brewing funk, but I didn't particularly care. I actually liked Uzume, so if being used as inspiration to continue her elicit activities was what it took to give her a hand, then I suppose I could be that support.

"So what happened then?" I prompted. I could tell that the fight hadn't ended in defeat for either side, seeing as both the Sekirei involved were present and mostly unharmed, so something must have occurred to interrupt them. Yukari scowled and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Everything was going great until that old hag showed up," she declared, glaring once more at Kazehana from across the table. The wind user's eyes narrowed at the blatant insult my sister threw at her, but then a smirk crossed the more mature female's face. Once more leaning back, the wind user casually hefted her impressive chest, flaunting her assets. Yukari's eyes seemed to follow the movement unconsciously before she realized what she was doing and the arms she had crossed over her chest shifted a bit to cover her own significantly smaller bust. Furious, my sister continued her explanation. "Out of nowhere she attacked me from behind, and then she ran off with the Veiled Sekirei, no doubt to plot something nefarious."

"Out of nowhere?" Kazehana chimed in, her voice amused. "I seem to remember someone saying something very rude first, washboard-chan," she taunted my little sister in her sing song voice once more, causing Yukari's fuming to up yet another notch. "Someone should have taught you better manners when you were small. Well, smaller anyway." The casual way the wind user added that on was enough to set my sister even redder. Without a second's pause the wind user shifted her eyes to me instead, her gaze once more studious as she looked me up and down. "You should try to be more polite, like Minato-kun there."

Now it was my turn to narrow my eyes. "And just how do you know that name?" I demanded, my voice harsher than I meant it to be. Rather than be surprised by my reaction, Kazehana just smiled wider.

"So it's true, Minato," the number three nodded, her tone victorious. "I wasn't sure it was really you. I heard you had died, after all."

"First of all," I began, ignoring the probing remark in favor of the more important topic. "My name is Shirou Emiya. I haven't used that other one for fifteen years. And second of all, answer my question: how is it that you know that name?"

My tone of voice seemed to dampen the wind user's mood a bit. "Hmph," she grunted, the guttural noise somehow feminine when she did it. "Well, maybe you aren't as polite as I thought you were."

I took a deep breath, and forced myself to calm down. I still wasn't quite certain what was going on here, but the casual way this newcomer was dropping my birth name had me curious enough to restrain myself as long as it took to get some answers. "My apologies for my tone," I told her, trying to keep my voice sincere. "But it is as I said earlier: I haven't used that name for fifteen years. Outside of this room there's only two other people who actually knows I ever had another name. How is it that you know it too?"

My apology brought a smile to the Sekirei's lips. "Ah, so you do have some manners. Looks like you turned out a lot better than your sister, despite having been raised by that woman." There it was again: the phrase 'that woman'. It seems like every time the wind user wanted to say something derogatory about my sister that particular choice of words came up. It took me a second to realize the implications of the second part of her statement, but when I did I could feel the whole situation snap into making sense in a heartbeat.

"You mean Takami?" I asked, already sure I was right. Takami was one of the first researchers in on the existence of Sekirei after all, and was the head scientist for the plan as a whole. Kazehana, the third Sekirei to be awakened, must have had met her at some point or another. It could stand to reason that the wind user was in some way familiar with the fact that the gruff scientist was a mother and would also know the names of her children. Kazehana nodded, her smile slipping a bit.

"That's what I said," she repeated, "'that woman'." Judging from the tone of the Sekirei's voice, and the way she didn't seem to want to let up on my sister for a moment, or even say my mother's name for that matter, it looked like not only was Kazehana familiar with Takami, but they didn't appear to be on good terms either.

"Wait," a new voice cut into the argument, and I remembered that there was an audience to the scene I had accidently caused. Haruka was looking between my sister, Kazehana, and myself with confusion on his face as he tried to follow the completely unrelated to the previous situation argument. "I thought you two were siblings. Why do you two have a different family name? And why do you have a different name at all?"

Deciding to keep things quick so that we could get back on track I briefly explained my situation to the newcomer. "When I was five I suffered a traumatic experience that left me an amnesiac with no identification. When I was adopted afterwards by another family I was given the name 'Shirou Emiya'."

Haruka nodded slowly, accepting my explanation though it appeared that he still had some questions. Surprisingly, Yukari was the one who spoke up first. "You know," she began, her usually confident voice hesitant. "Now that you're back and with your family, onii-chan," she began, "maybe it would be better to go back to using 'Minato Sahashi'?" It was a bit jarring to hear that tone from my usually confident little sister. I could imagine why she was so reluctant to bring the topic up, but willing to risk the potential consequences. Takami had been willing to do the same before, back when we had the argument that nearly shattered any chance of me getting along with my biological family. I firmly shook my head to my little sister's enquiries.

"No. My name is Shirou Emiya."

An awkward silence settled onto the room as a whole after my declaration. I was pretty sure even the poorest of conversationalists would recognize just how many landmines this topic had, and it looked like no one was quite sure how to get back on topic after the sudden detour. Finally, Yukari seemed to gather herself up from her disappointment at my continued refusal to return to my birth name. Clearing her throat, she continued.

"Well, anyway," she began, "when I interrupted the nefarious Veiled Sekirei, she had been in the middle of attacking these two," she indicated Haruka and his still unnamed Sekirei companion. I began searching my memory for any information about the two I might have, but it was hard shifting through so many names and faces. "So after they were safe I decided to go ahead and challenge them!" She beamed happily at her announcement while I resisted the urge to sink my face into my palms.

"So in other words you rescued them just so you could defeat them yourself?" If my little sister was trying to paint herself as the hero she was failing. If anything, she was every bit as guilty of violence against other Sekirei as Uzume was. "So why is it that Haruka isn't busy asking for an ice pack?" I prompted, referring to my sister's tendency to leave her defeated foes clutching their groins and moaning in pain. Haruka didn't seem to understand the reference, but Yukari started to laugh sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head as she looked away.

"Well, actually they didn't want to fight, and after Haruka-kun explained his circumstances I decided to bring him back here instead," she admitted. Her smile turned fierce as she clenched a fist in front of her. "After all, for this job, onii-chan is the best one to come to!"

I frowned, trying to figure out what she was referring to. "For this job?" I repeated, trying to understand what it was she was implying. What kind of job could she possible think was best to bring to me? Yukari beamed at me, thrusting one hand into the air to point at some invisible horizon only she could see.

"The great Shin Tokyo Escape Plan!" she proclaimed, confidence dripping from her voice. Despite her overbearing enthusiasm, the best response I could muster was a small frown.

"And that means?" I asked, trying to keep concern out of my voice. It must have come out suitably bland for the rest of the room in general to miss my growing concern, though both Miya and Matsu both seemed to pick up on something from my tone. It was mostly unnoticeable, but I was familiar enough with the landlady to catch the way her eyes cracked open to study me, just as I was familiar enough with Matsu to know that the way she shifted to glance at me from the corner of her eyes had less to do with her usual childish flirtation and mischievousness and more to do with her trying to understand her Ashikabi right before he did something that caught her interest.

"Why don't you go ahead and explain, Haruka-kun?" Yukari less requested and more demanded of the only human newcomer to Izumo House. The young looking Ashikabi shifted and looked uncomfortable from the way my sister had more or less made him the center of the room's attention. Finally he audibly swallowed, and began to speak.

"My name," he began, "is Haruka Shigi, and this is number ninety five, Kuno. And what I want is to leave Shin Tokyo and the Sekirei Plan for good." He sat up straight while delivering this bold declaration, firmness coming into his voice as he announced his convictions. His intentions drew forth a response from his audience.

"What?" Tsukiumi chimed in, drawing herself up as she did so. The proud blonde water user sounded honestly aghast at the idea of leaving the field of combat. "You would flee like a coward?"

"Like a coward?" Haruka repeated, his lips twisting into a sneer as he did so. "Why the hell is it cowardly to want to leave? I don't know what the hell is going on here, but I don't remember signing up for any kind of tournament or anything. I don't see why me and Kuno should have to fight anyone! And if we lose, we can't be together anymore? What kind of bullshit is that? The only thing the two of us want is to be together, not to risk our lives for some kind of baloney prize." At his side, the newly named Kuno leaned in closer to him, resting her slim frame against his only slightly less slim body. Just looking at the ordinary seeming Sekirei was enough for me to begin understanding there situation.

With the Ashikabi's full name and that of his Sekirei as well I was finally able to recall the information on the two that Matsu had managed to gather together. Haruka Shigi and number ninety five, Kuno; surprisingly enough, the first thing that really came to mind from their profiles was that the young looking man in front of me was actually around my age. Sifting through the newly recalled data, I spoke up. "So what do you mean when you say that you want to leave the Sekirei Plan behind?" I asked, focusing on the specifics of his request. Haruka's eyes darted back to me. He had barely even looked at Tsukiumi to respond to her before he dismissed her. So far the only two he had addressed directly in the room were Yukari and myself. It seemed he tended to focus on fellow Ashikabi rather than on Sekirei when he was making requests.

"I mean we want out," he explained, his voice firm. "Neither me or Kuno really care about being able to 'ascend' or whatever it is that fruitcake in MBI is trying to sell. The only thing the two of us want is to be together. But while we're in the plan the only way for us to do that is to be the winner. The problem is that my Sekirei is just a big klutz. There's no way the two of us can win this thing, not when there are big names like the Ashikabi of the East or the South around, or with all the rumors of monsters in the North. If staying in Shin Tokyo means that we have to risk everything against those kinds of people, then we would rather just leave." At his side, his Sekirei's eyes began to water. With the awkward grace I'd expect more from a pubescent human, Kuno began to tug at her Ashikabi's sleeve insistently.

"I'm not a 'Klutz'," she insisted, giving Haruka a sorrowful gaze, "I'm a 'Kuno'." Haruka didn't bother to look down at his Sekirei as she corrected him in a mournful tone, but one hand did slip on top of hers in a move which spoke of familiarity. It seemed that he was so used to his partner's habits that he didn't even have to think in order to respond to her appropriately. It was a move that spoke of long practice and familiarity, and I noted it with something like satisfaction.

"So the two of you want to forsake your cruel destiny, and defying all odds, flee from the oppressive obligations of being a Sekirei so both of you can spend the rest of your lives together?" Kazehana broke in. I couldn't help from giving her an odd look at the colorful way she had summed up the two's desire to escape from the Sekirei Plan. It sounded vaguely like something my sister would come up with, as though the wind user was announcing some up and coming movie rather than the plans of Haruka and Kuno. When Haruka gave a resolute nod, Kazehana did something I never would have expected from a Sekirei personally responsible for hundreds of deaths and possibly millions of damage to military aircrafts: she squealed like a little girl and clasped both her hands together beneath her chin as her eyes fluttered breathlessly. "How romantic!" she proclaimed, gushing like a love struck teen. "It's like an elopement! Two star crossed lovers, desperately fighting against fate to overcome the horrors of the world!"

Judging from the general responses of the room at large, it looked like no one else was expecting that out of the up till now rather confrontational Sekirei. Yukari had the look of someone who had just bit into a lemon when she saw the one she had apparently designated as her personal nemesis behaving like an exuberant child, and from the way Haruka's eyebrows raised he was also having trouble believing this new face that that the Sekirei who had aided his attacker was displaying. The gathered Sekirei as a whole seemed to display different degrees of agreement with the wind user's statement on the other hand: from Tsukiumi's grudging look of acknowledgment to Musubi who began to nod her head eagerly at the sentiment. It must be a trait of their species, seeing as for the most part they were driven by the biological urge to find an appropriate mate and then do everything they can to protect and be near them.

Despite the mood of the room at large, I was feeling a great deal less impressed. "And why was it that you decided that I would be the best person to come to for this escape plan?" I asked, feeling a headache coming on. "And why, for that matter, couldn't this have waited until the sun was fully up?"

It was Yukari's turn to chime in again while she picked up the thread of the story. "Well, onii-chan is always on the computer with Matsu, and I remember how you are always going on about getting more information about the Plan and Sekirei and stuff," my sister began, sitting back and looking pleased at once more taking charge. "I figured that since onii-chan knows so much about what's going on, like the dangerous Sekirei and other stuff like that, then he could help Haruka-kun and myself come up with a sure fire way to get him and Kuno out of Shin Tokyo!" I had been half afraid that that would be the request. Giving in to the urge, I began to massage my forehead slowly.

"Well, that's the reason for coming to me," I concluded, trying to work through the best way to respond to what was being asked of me. Trying to buy time to think, I repeated, "And the reason that this couldn't wait until a reasonable hour?"

Yukari began to laugh nervously. "Actually, I didn't run into Haruka and the Veiled Sekirei until pretty late last night, and after that it took a few hours for Haruka-kun to explain the situation to me. I actually wanted to come right over afterwards, but Shiina convinced me to wait a few hours until morning."

"I must be the only brother in the world that has a little sister that stays out all night and doesn't worry about what she might be getting into," I muttered, being struck by the irony of it. "Mostly because I already know exactly what she's doing." It really must run in the Emiya, well, I guess Sahashi would be the better name, family; late night patrols, ungodly hours of the day, potential conflict on all sides, and back in time to make unreasonable requests of our allies. Yeah, Yukari was a chip of the old block like that. It was enough to make me wonder if Takami had ever worried her parents with something like this, or if the two of us had somehow managed to get it from our biological father, whoever that was.

"So anyway," Yukari continued, ignoring my ironic statement in favor of focusing on her current adventure. "What do you think, onii-chan?"

I was silent for a moment, knowing that there was no way for me to put this off any longer, and then finally sighed, turning to address Haruka directly. "Haruka, wasn't it?" I began, and the Ashikabi across from me nodded nervously. He looked like he was eager to hear my response, no doubt having had his anticipation built by Yukari all night about how I would be the answer to his problems. Well, I had the answer all right. The problem was I don't think it was the one anyone wanted to hear. "You should give up on the idea of escaping. It's most likely impossible."

"What?" Yukari yelped, looking surprised by my fatalistic pronouncement. "What do you mean?" Haruka seemed just as surprised, though his shock quickly transformed into a glower.

"What do you mean, impossible? Sahashi-san," he began, turning to glare at Yukari. "I thought you said he'd know what to do?"

"Shirou-san!" Musubi chimed in, looking excited. "I don't think its right to ignore them! Even if they fail horribly and Klutzy is broken and destroyed, we should try and help them anyway!" Musubi didn't even seem to realize that her response to the situation was even more negative than my own.

"It's 'Kuno', not 'Klutzy'," the whimpering Sekirei beside Haruka chimed in again, and was promptly ignored by the group at large.

"Hmph." It was Tsukiumi's turn to add her two cents. "Shirou is right. Just because you're weak doesn't give you the right to try and escape from honorable combat like cowards!"

"Ignore panty-flasher-chan," Kazehana broke in, causing Tsukiumi to squawk and glance down to see if her short tunic was once more failing to protect her modesty. "This onee-san supports your elopement!" Somehow the purple clad wind user had managed to transport herself right next to the whimpering Sekirei and angry Ashikabi, snatching one of their hands each in both of hers as she beamed a happy smile at the two.

As the chaos descended once more into the dining room of Izumo House, the only ones who didn't get swept up into it were myself, Miya, Uzume, Akitsu, and Matsu. I think it was a sign of respect from the landlady, the hacker, and the Veiled Sekirei that caused them to wait patiently for me to finish my assessment of the situation, whereas for the snow woman it was just a sign of her apathy at the general nature of the conversation. It was Miya who finally spoke up, interrupting the brewing chaos with a gentle yet firm tone. "Perhaps it would be best to let Emiya-kun explain himself before jumping to conclusions?" she suggested, the hint of command in her voice causing the room to begin settling.

"Why? What could someone like that possibly have to add? He's just sitting here, completely safe with all of you Sekirei to guard him while his sister does his dirty work and everyone else in the city is fighting for their lives," Haruka spat, glaring across the table from me. "What could a careless guy like that possible have to say?"

"First of all, not everyone in the room is a member of my flock," I broke in, my voice firm. "Miya isn't even a Sekirei in the first place, and Uzume's Ashikabi doesn't live here." It wasn't like the distinction was that much, seeing as that still left me with five of the nine Sekirei present affiliated with me, but I felt the need to say it anyway. "And second of all, it's not just me saying unnecessary things. The fact of the matter is that escaping at the moment might just be impossible for you, at least as things stand right now."

"And how are you supposed to know something like that?" Haruka demanded, so upset by my insistence at the implausibility of being able to escape that he slapped one open hand down on the table as he leaned in to glare at me. I got the impression that the young looking man wasn't usually so confrontational, and it was mostly a sign of the stress he'd been under that caused him to act so rude. I didn't take any offense from it. It really was a bad situation for him, and I didn't blame him for letting it get to him.

Still, when it came down to it, I suppose I had made a rather bleak announcement. It would be better if I explained everything so that the impatient Ashikabi understood exactly what his desire to escape entailed. It probably wouldn't be enough for me to simply tell him. It would be better for me to provide some kind of evidence as well.

"Matsu," I turned to the redhead next to me. The white clad Sekirei next to me straightened in response, and I continued. "Time for you to show off a bit." It seemed to take the hacker a second to realize what I was implying, and then she grinned impishly.

"Matsu is ready, Shirou-tan," she proclaimed, removing her glasses obediently. Without another word I leaned in, and our lips met. In the still mostly murky light of the pre-morning sun drifting into the otherwise unlit dining room wings of pale orange sprouted, the glimmering fractural limbs spreading high into the open spaces of the room. For a moment the ephemeral appendages hung, drifting through the air, and then they dissipated. With a satisfied sigh, Matsu pulled away, settling down into a kneeling position beside me. The rest of the room didn't seem certain what to make of the sudden display, but I instead focused on Haruka.

"Matsu," I said, not looking at the Sekirei beside me. "I want you to connect to MBI's database. Find everything they have on Haruka Shigi and number ninety five."

It was through previous experience that I knew what the others would see if they were to look at the Sekirei beside me. Rather than her usual playful demeanor, when Matsu was in the throes of Norito, she was a different creature entirely. Calmly kneeling, unmoving, with her eyes closed and a small smile on her lips, my Sekirei recited her oath. "Oracle of my pledge, dispel the confusion around my Ashikabi: Fingers of the Electronic God." With the grace of a prophetess, Matsu announced her ability. "Searching," she added, trailing off. Though her eyes were closed, her eyelids twitched occasionally, not unlike the kind of movement that a sleeper would display during REM sleep.

"And what is this supposed to be?" Haruka asked, his voice skeptical. The whole thing came across a bit as showboating, so once more rather than take offense, I simply answered his question.

"Matsu isn't like most Sekirei," I explained, partly to him and partly to the room at large. "Rather than being focused on combat, she is instead an information type. Her specialty is gathering, correlating, and interpreting data. Normally she can only view data on computers and requires an interface to manipulate them, but during Norito she can access and control all electronics directly."

"Really?" Yukari chimed in, looking at the still redhead beside me curiously. I don't think anyone had ever explained to her exactly what kind of ability Matsu had, so I nodded.

"Information types are rare," I continued, waiting for Matsu to finish her search. "There were only four of them from the original one hundred and eight. Since they're generally very weak physically, two of those four have been defeated in the game already. The only other information type is number twenty two, Kochou. Kochou is currently winged by Higa of the East." It explained a great deal about how Higa had managed to amass such a following behind him. Matsu had already proven herself capable of accessing MBI's database almost at will, and if the unscrupulous Ashikabi of the East could do the same than there was little doubt he'd be able to track down unwinged Sekirei at will. Barring that, he could use the information type to gather the data he needed to locate useful Ashikabi and then blackmail or coerce them into doing his will. I might be content to simply amass information on all the participants of the Sekirei Plan at the moment, but if it was ever required than I would probably end up doing something similar to what the East was at some point, though it was more likely I would simply resort to direct take downs rather than the methods he was currently employing.

"So what?" Haruka asked, confusion starting to leak into his anger. "What does this have to do with me trying to escape?"

I opened my mouth to answer when Matsu broke in, interrupting me. "Search complete. Haruka Shigi. Age: twenty. Occupation: third time repeater. Chosen school: Shin Tokyo University. Average scores of attempts: sixty seven. Current residence:…" Matsu listed off a string of numbers and a street name which I was amused to realize was the exact same apartment I had once lodged in back before I was kicked out for womanizing. Matsu continued, listing off more and more increasingly personal information about the now surprised Ashikabi. "Known family. Father: Kensuke Shigi. Status: deceased. Mother: Natsuko Shigi. Status: store clerk. Currently residing with her sister's family. Residence:…"

"Wait," Haruka finally broke in, now sounding unnerved. "What the hell is this?"

"It's all the information MBI has been accumulating about you since the day that you winged Kuno," I told him. My voice was at best disinterested. I was already aware of most of this information. In fact, I actually had a much more detailed account in the profile that I had Matsu put together for me. "Matsu, access all financial information now."

Without pause the hacker began to recite the new data I had requested. "Total number of accounts: three. Two savings, one checking. Average account balance: twenty thousand four hundred and eight yen. Total number of transactions using MBI card: two hundred and sixty five. Total amount spent with MBI card: fifteen thousand six hundred and nine yen. Most recent transaction…"

"Wait," Haruka interrupted again. "Wait, wait, wait. What are you trying to do?" Judging from the way he was now staring at me with wide eyes I had succeeded in unnerving him suitably with the accuracy of my information.

"That's enough for now," I told Matsu instead. "Now, access and find all MBI operating procedures for tracking and observing Sekirei."

"Accessing," Matsu told me, going silent. As the hacker began shifting through what was no doubt massive amounts of information I turned to answer the panicking Haruka's question.

"You want to escape Shin Tokyo and the Sekirei Plan, don't you?" I asked the other Ashikabi rhetorically, my voice growing hard as I found myself shifting into battle mode. "If it was just a matter of getting outside of city borders, then I could have you out of here in twelve hours," I told him bluntly. "I already have all the border patrols mapped, and I have about six escape routes planned that completely evade all MBI forces, and five more that are a bit more risky but technically possible. The problem is: what happens after you get out of the city?"

I had the room's attention now, not just thanks to the display Matsu was putting on, but by the admission that I had already planned ways to do exactly what Haruka was requesting. "What do you mean, what happens after I get out?" Haruka demanded desperately. It must seem like I was dangling the hope in front of his eyes only to deny him it out of spite.

"I mean, once you get out, where will you go?" I posed the question to him. "To your family back in the country? The one that MBI already has exact details of, even down to the address where they live? The same family that MBI has already threatened to endanger if any Ashikabi reveals any part of the Sekirei Plan?"

Haruka froze. "What?" he asked, having heard my words but not being able to process them fully.

"You remember the phone call the director gave you when you first winged your Sekirei," I reminded him. "The one where he threatened retaliation from MBI with all their resources?" I reminded him. "What did you think that meant? That they would pursue legal actions of some kind? That they would sue you or have you arrested? MBI is running a completely illegal operation involving combat that can result in extensive property damage, personal injury, and even death for those involved. They're not going to use proper legal means to try and keep the participants in line. I've already had an encounter where I was shown just how far they're willing to go." No law abiding company would dispatch something like Karasuab for a potential infiltrator, not when they knew just what it meant to throw that poor individual into the blood soaked Sekirei's path.

"So what, they're going to kill my family if I try to escape? Is that what you're trying to say? There's no way even someone like MBI could get away with that!" Haruka frantically proclaimed, throwing a hand to the side as he did so as though to brush away my accusations.

"Killing? Maybe," I admitted. "Or they could just plant false evidence, accuse them of a crime, and have them sentenced to jail." That caused Haruka to freeze. "Maybe something involving drug trafficking, or they could just put some of their own data there and accuse them of being thieves. Even if they managed to prove themselves innocent in the trial, it would still destroy their image in the eyes of their neighbors." Japan was a very community oriented culture. A smear campaign would be almost as effective as physical force in destroying someone's life here.

"Access complete," Matsu chimed in, and I nodded while giving her a brief glance. After last night's displays of what a combat oriented Norito could do, I couldn't help but wonder just how powerful the hacker beside me really was. I didn't know much about computers even after the lessons I had been receiving, and had dismissed her unimpressive to behold ability as commonplace, but now I was wondering just how lucky I had been when I had stumbled upon Matsu nearly a month ago.

"Even without the potential threat to your family," I continued, plunging ahead with the conversation. "Just making it back to them, or to anywhere at all without MBI finding you, isn't that simple. Matsu, what are the tracking measures implemented for locating Sekirei?"

"All of Shin Tokyo is covered with a network of a total of one hundred and sixteen tracking satellites," the redheaded oracle announced casually. "Each individual Sekirei is currently located and their position monitored at all times. In addition," and here Matsu paused, surprise coming into her voice, "during adjustment all Sekirei have been implanted with a tracking chip, located between the fourth and fifth vertebrae." Judging from the way the up till now serene Sekirei's voice rose in indignation I assumed that this was information even she hadn't been aware of up till now.

"What?" Tsukiumi nearly shrieked, one hand drifting up to press against her neck in surprise as it was revealed that at some point the unscrupulous company had literally tagged every member of the species while they were unaware and in the middle of having their genetic information manipulated. It was a response echoed by many of the room. Musubi, Akitsu, Kuu, and Miya were the only ones who didn't start groping around their necks. The first three most likely because they either didn't understand the implications or simply didn't care, though Miya's eyes narrowed at the revelation.

"Even if you did manage to escape, they would be able to find you almost immediately," I simply summed up, not letting the revelation get to me. Instead, I turned back to Matsu. "Matsu, with your ability, can you turn off the tracking chips?" Matsu paused, and her eyes flickered behind her closed lids before she nodded once. It looked like when she claimed she could manipulate all electronics she wasn't referring to just computers and such. "Don't do it now," I told her immediately, and her eyelid cracked open to study me. "If MBI realized that you could affect them, then they probably won't like that fact very much. For now we can just ignore it."

"Wait," Haruka cut in, his hands to his head as he fisted his hair in frustration. "So they have a way to track the Sekirei, but you can get around it? Then why won't you help us escape? If your Sekirei is as amazing as she seems, can't you just, I don't know, cut off MBI and help me leave?"

"Matsu," I began, "find all the information MBI has on escape counter measures." Matsu nodded, her eye closing again as she began to find the details of what I wanted to know. Turning back to Haruka, I continued. "If I were to have Matsu do something like that, do you think for a second that MBI won't figure out who was responsible? There's only a limited number of Sekirei with that ability after all, and they already know just where both of them are. If word got out that I was helping Ashikabi and Sekirei get away from MBI, I have no doubt things would get bad for me and my flock."

"Then come with me," Haruka suggested desperately. He looked up at me, his face a picture of desperation. "You seem like you've thought about it already! You already have escape plans for god's sake!"

I shook my head. "I'm not willing to flee just yet. Besides the fact that most of my Sekirei are still interested in the plan," I glanced at Tsukiumi and Musubi, and then gave an idle look towards where Homura was still sleeping, the three with the most vested interest in continuing their participation, "I'm still not ready to just disappear from my family again." Yukari had spent most of the conversation looking more and more disheartened as I revealed just how useless her idea of having me help her new friend escape had been, but when I admitted that one of the reasons I still was hanging around was because of her relief flooded her face.

It wasn't just that simple either. There was something wrong with the Sekirei Plan, and not just the inhumanity of it. The Sekirei themselves, the more I learned about them the more confusing they became. They were without a doubt aliens, but apparently capable of interbreeding with humanity in general. More than that, for some reason despite the fact that they should be creatures that used their powers in entirely different fashions then the way magi did, they still somehow managed to use the od of their human partners effectively. Was it a trait of their species, a side effect of their bonding with their Ashikabi? Or was it something different? Even Akitsu, who wasn't strictly bonded to me was at least capable of drinking my magic, even if she couldn't use it effectively.

Then there was MBI itself. I couldn't forgive the company for what it had done to the desperate species, but there was more than that keeping me here. It just didn't make sense, the Sekirei Plan. There must be something more, something I was missing. There had to be a point to this grand farce of a game, some overlying goal that Minaka was trying to achieve. It might be something as mundane as him wanting to watch a genuine combat tournament, a brutal and cruel desire to live some kind of romantic ideal much in the same way Yukari was treating the whole ordeal. But then again, judging from my own past experiences, it might be something more sinister. Companies like MBI didn't just invest what had no doubt been billions of yen into something like this, not without some kind of payout to make up for the loss of profits. That fact that I couldn't figure out what that payout was yet just set my teeth on edge.

And there was the final reason I wasn't ready to leave yet: It had been nearly three weeks by this point, and still there was no sign of the Clock Tower's presence here. Despite having been found once, despite their being creatures of obvious interest to the scientifically minded residents of the Mage's Association, there had not been a single sign of any other magi about. It could be something as simple as Archibald having managed to track me down on his own without letting anyone else know about my whereabouts. If that was the case, than Shin Tokyo remained a safe place for me to lay low. Or it could be something else. Maybe it was the intense scrutiny the city was under that was keeping the cautious and secretive members of the society away from me. If that was the case, maybe even now they were staking out the exits, hoping for me to panic and flee into a trap.

It was times like this that I found myself actually missing the simplicity and brutality of the Grail War. Even if it had been filled with violence and danger, even if it had been tainted with intrigue and lies, it still had less unanswered questions than the Sekirei Plan did. I'd almost prefer facing down a scornful demigod like Gilgamesh then the way I found myself running in circles like I was now.

"Search complete," Matsu chimed in, drawing attention back to her. "Standard escape attempt policies: monitor all locations of currently active Sekirei. Flag warning notice in all cases where Sekirei come within five miles of designated boundaries. In case of continued approach, dispatch Disciplinary Squad. In case of failure to apprehend target, immediately lock onto rogue Sekirei and fire satellite mounted laser MK354 to MK389 as appropriate. Dispatch recovery team to acquire terminated Sekirei, and punitive team to acquire Ashikabi."

"What?" Haruka whispered, slumping down until his elbows rested on the table. The cold hard facts of what he had heard apparently drained the fight out of him. I nodded, not feeling the shock that had hit the rest of the room. I had been expecting something like this after all.

"It means that even if someone does manage to get out, then MBI will instantly shoot down the Sekirei, and imprison the Ashikabi," I summed up MBI's policy simply. I settled back, turning my gaze to the cold breakfast that sat before me. For all that I had put together the best meal I could, it looked like it would be food wasted: the only one who seemed to have taken more than a bite of the fair I had provided had been Musubi. I pressed onwards, driving my point home. "Even if we did manage to circumvent MBI's safety precautions, what then? They already have your accounts under observation, and they would be able to track any actions you take through either them or the MBI card if you continued to use it." There was a reason I had stopped using the card Takami had provided me the moment I got involved with this Plan. "MBI technology is also already present in every airport and potential exit from the country." The little breath analyzer thingy that had been responsible for my being reunited with Takami had already proven to be capable of holding more than one set of data in it. It wouldn't be hard for them to add one specifically consisting of Ashikabi and Sekirei as well. "Japan is the seat of MBI's power, and they would spare no expense to track down anyone who does manage to get away from the Plan. The only hope would be to escape the country. That would involve finding finances that couldn't be tracked by the company, and falsifying identification, not to mention circumventing customs or immigration. As someone who already had to escape one country to avoid unscrupulous legal action, take it from me: it's not as easy as it sounds."

"Already had to…?" Haruka repeated, sounding as though he was just repeating my last sentence out of shock. My confession drew a brief round of consternation from some of my flock, though the original residents of Izumo House mostly seemed to understand what I was referring to.

"England," Matsu announced, recalling my previous explanation of the events that had driven me back from Japan. I nodded my confirmation. Matsu opened her eyes, turning to give me a contemplative look as she did so. It seemed like she had probably exhausted most of her Norito by now. I had little doubt that the information I had her find so suddenly had most likely been exhaustively guarded and required a great deal of effort to get to. As though in confirmation of my guess Matsu shifted, coming out of her rigid position and making herself more comfortable as she returned her glasses to her face. "Shirou-tan seems to be familiar with dealing with this kind of thing," she commented, still studying me as she did so. It looked like even the brainy hacker had been unprepared for just how thoroughly I had analyzed the situation of the hopeful escapee. I shrugged, and let myself relax as well, slipping out of my 'battle mode'.

"Leg-" I began, only for Matsu, Uzume, and surprisingly Miya to chime in at the same time.

"Legacy of a misspent youth," they all finished for me, and I rubbed my neck and glanced to the side sheepishly. Uzume continued, shaking her head as she did so.

"Damn, bro. When you say you like to be prepared, you really like to be prepared, dontcha?" the brunette added, her voice reluctantly impressed. I simply nodded my confirmation.

"I will not be caught unaware in this game. No matter what, I will be ready for it," I reaffirmed my vow to figure out every aspect of the Sekirei Plan that I could. There might still be unanswered questions adrift, but I could at least do everything I could to prepare for when this whole game eventually exploded.

"That's rather impressive, Ashikabi-kun," Kazehana added, her voice strangely contemplative as she leaned back where she sat, perhaps unconsciously once more displaying her generous assets in a way which bordered on the provocative. Judging from the way she was studying me, it seemed that she hadn't been expecting such a display of preparedness from me. "It reminds me of someone I used to know," she added, her voice soft as she spoke mostly to herself.

"So then, what?" Haruka asked, his voice cracking as he did so. The young looking man was still slumped forward, head cradled by his hand as he stared at the table in front of him. At his side, his mousy Sekirei whimpered at the defeated manner of her Ashikabi, pinching the edge of his short sleeve with one hand and holding it tightly as though for comfort. "So what the hell am I supposed to do? We can't win," he said, his voice hopeless. "Sure, you might be willing to stay back and take the chance, but its different for us. Kuno isn't as strong as your Sekirei look. She can't fight, and she's a total klutz. The only reason we've lasted this long is because we've always run away from other Sekirei whenever we've been found. Now you're saying even that won't be enough?"

"Haruka-san," Kuno whispered, her own eyes watery as she watched her Ashikabi sink into despair. So far the only thing I've heard her say has been her line about not being a 'klutz' but being a 'Kuno'. It looked like even she didn't seem to find her usual assertion to be appropriate.

Frankly, I didn't know what to say to him. A part of me wanted to throw caution to the wind and dedicate myself to helping the poor guy to get free. But what then? For all that I hated how MBI was keeping all the Sekirei locked up and in a state of conflict, I couldn't help but approve of them keeping all the Sekirei in one spot. A part of me believed that the species as a whole should be quarantined. For all the fact that they were the quite possibly the most human tolerant non-human pseudo magical creatures I have ever come across, it didn't change the fact that they weren't human. Who knew what might happen if they were allowed to scatter without proper supervision. And I wasn't just referring to the effect they might have on humanity, but also what humanity might do to them. Without MBI's protection, however coerced, there was no way of knowing what might happen to the Sekirei if they weren't in MBI's shelter. Any government in the world would bend over backwards in an attempt to secure one, the Sekirei's rights as sentient creatures be damned. Not just governments, but other organizations like other corporations then MBI or the Mage's Association would love to get their hands on the foreign species. And that wasn't even including what would happen if the Church ever got wind of the Types' existence. They wouldn't bother trying to capture one alive for experimentation; they'd just send the Executers, the military organization of the faith dedicated to the destruction of all that was inhuman, and exterminate them as a whole for being Not Human.

Not to mention what would happen to Haruka's family, or even to the young man himself. I had no doubt the vengeance MBI would take on the Shigi household would be brutal if he ever did manage to escape, and I had no idea if the innocent and naïve looking Haruka would have what it would take to live in the underbelly of civilization, never using his real name, working without proper identification, staying out of the searching gaze of his pursuers. There were other monsters out there, human monsters, that would no doubt take advantage of his desperation, and I just didn't see this young collegiate hopeful as having the necessary skills to survive in the underworld where he would inevitably end up if he did manage to escape.

As harsh as it was, as completely devoid of compassion as it may be, the simple fact that more people would be safe, more people would be able to keep on living happily, if the two remained locked in the throes of the Sekirei Plan. Even if it meant that someday Kuno would be torn away from her Ashikabi and Haruka would be left to mourn his lost mate, it was better for that to happen than the alternatives.

The Path of the Shura. Measure the lives of all around you, and chose the course that would cost the least, no matter how brutal that course might be.

"Well then," Miya was the one to break the growing silence, her voice sounding unnaturally cheerful considering the revelations that had just occurred. "For now, it seems to me that you simply need to find a safe place until you two can figure out just what you need to do." I don't know if Yukari managed to figure out what Miya was prompting, or if she honestly thought that the idea that popped into her head after hearing the landlady's leading comment was really her own, but my little sister brightened at the words.

"That's it!" she declared, pounding one fist into an open hand. "You can stay here for now, Haruka-kun!"

"Here?" the despairing Ashikabi began, glancing up for the first time since I had crushed his ambitions. "In the North?"

"That's right," Yukari nodded decisively. She threw an expectant look at Miya as she continued. "Don't you still have a few rooms open, Miya-san?" she asked, sounding as though it was a foregone conclusion. The landlady beamed innocently at my little sister, and I couldn't help but wonder what was going through the alien's mind.

"Well, my husband would never turn away a person in need," she admitted, putting one hand to her chin as she gave a very convincing performance that she was hesitant about the idea. "There are still two rooms left," she continued, before sighing and shaking her head. "Though I was going to use one of those so that I could separate Emiya-kun from those innocent maidens before he finally gave into his perverse lusts and took advantage of those poor girls." She shook her head sadly as though my inevitable snapping and molestation of my flock was a foregone conclusion. I suppressed a snort at her shameless teasing, though it seemed the idea of being moved into a separate room then me was less well received by my aforementioned 'innocent maidens'.

"But in the North?" Haruka repeated, shaking his head slowly. It looked like he had been banking everything on Yukari being able to provide him the means he needed to escape from Shin Tokyo. Now that he had learned just how hopeless the task was, he looked like he was too lost to think of the next step. "But aren't there supposed to be a lot of dangerous people up here? How is it that you all have been safe for so long?"

I glanced at Miya, the root of the Hannya of the North rumor, to Yukari and Shiina, the Devil Ashikabi and the Grim Reaper Sekirei, to Uzume, the Veiled Sekirei, and then down at myself, the still mostly unknown 'Ashikabi with swords'. I considered letting the poor Ashikabi in on just who he was in the presence of, but decided he had enough shocks for one day. "Well," I hedged, "you shouldn't believe everything rumors say." Judging from the way he hesitated he was most likely fighting between the bad reputation that the North had and the chance to lodge someplace where there were plenty of other Sekirei and Ashikabi to help him out if trouble did come, and by the way he was looking more and more speculatively at the serenely smiling Miya, it appeared my dear old ex-landlord was about to lose another of his tenants to Izumo House.


	22. Twenty Second Wing

In Flight: Twenty Second Wing

_Author's notes: Alright, here it is. The second part of the previous chapter, now remade into a whole new chapter on its own._

_Before the actual good stuff, a note to reviews. Getting a lot of interest in Kazehana here. Shouldn't surprise me that she's a controversial character at this point. Still, I have plans for her, plans which may or may not end up with her with Shirou, or may or may not have her end up with Haruka, or may or may not end up with her possessed by an extra-dimensional horror from beyond human ken named 'Saya'. Who knows? Telling now would be giving it all away._

_Also, a lot of reviewers commented on how the last chapter seemed unfinished. This was how it was supposed to end originally, so i hope that helps things out a bit._

_Now, onto the good stuff._

_*Spoiler Alert!*_

_First off, and on a lighter note than the rest, the white board scene. I've been planning this one for a while now. It was partly an attempt to have some fun with the Japanese language. The characters for the days of the week starting from Sunday to Saturday are: Day, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Gold, and Ground. Since a good number of Shirou's flock have coinciding elements to them, I added this little bit for an original kind of feel to the story. It's meant almost as much as being a sign of Shirou's beginning to take an active leadership role over his flock. Did it come out as entertaining? Did it do its intended role? Give me a shout with your opinions._

_The next part, and the most important part. The truth behind Shirou's Sealing, what happened in the Clock Tower, and the status of his relationship with Rin and Saber. I'm going to be honest folks. There is no happy ending here. Just having learned of his imminent outlaw status, only the briefest of time to try and escape. Shirou, wanting desperately to protect his two lovers. His two lovers, desperately trying to protect him. What happened wasn't rational, it wasn't neat, it wasn't talked over. This is harsh feelings all around. A lot of people have expressed doubt as to why Shirou would ever leave Rin and Saber behind, not when things at the end of UBW Good had made it known how deeply all three cared about each other. This is why._

_This almost feels like extra spoilers, all things considered, but I think I hinted at it enough in the story to justify saying it explicitly here, and I really do want feed back on the next bit, so I'll go ahead and do it. The reason I held back the explanation so long was because I was waiting for Kazehana. Originally, the reason the wind sekirei grew interested in Minato was strictly because of his physical similarities to Minaka. Here, Shirou doesn't look quite the same as his father. I wanted to hold back the reveal of Shirou's past with Saber and Rin, because the reveal was supposed to be the connecting point between the two. Kazehana, rejected and cast aside, heartbroken and wandering afterwords. Shirou, forced apart, a small hole in his heart over what he had lost due to nothing else but the machinations of politically minded self centered assholes, pardon the french. Now the interest is there. The question is, is Shirou man enough to attract the wind user the rest of the way? Well, that might be inaccurate. The question is, is the real truth behind Shirou too much for even Kazehana, who dreams of finding an Ashikabi man enough for her, too much for even the wind user to bear?_

_Because next chapter, things happen. Some of them are things that are very good. And the rest, are things which are very, very bad._

_I said things would change from this point on. And just ex-ing the escape plan wasn't the limits of what I had planned._

_For now though, if you enjoyed the chapter, let me know. I'm very interested in hearing if I could have gotten away without the early reveal of Shirou's circumstances, way back in chapter nine. Please be honest with the impressions you have with the final reveal. As for other questions/comments/concerns, reviews are as always a way. Forums are still having trouble, though if you want to find them google searching for 'mechanics of In Flight' still brings them up. Still fiddling around with getting the link on my profile reestablished. _

_And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"Shirou," Homura spoke up, his expression half way between amusement and consternation. "Just what is that supposed to be?"

"This," I said, feeling somewhat ridiculous but answering anyway, "is a whiteboard."

"Yes," the flame wielding former host agreed, his voice starting to drift more towards the 'amused' side of the scale. "What I meant, is what is it doing here?"

"Well," I began, absentmindedly flicking one of the dry erase markers that had come with the whiteboard, "earlier today Miya mentioned about how she was considering opening a second room for all of you girls to sleep in," I continued, addressing the rest of my flock.

It was pushing towards early evening by now, and the rest of the day had been a busy one. After the impromptu early morning meeting had finished, I had left for work while Haruka had begun filling out the paperwork Miya had prepared for him so that he could rent one of the remaining rooms. Yukari and Shiina, as well as Uzume had gone to their own rooms to apparently catch up on the sleep they had missed the night before or collapse into their bed to wait until the rest of the hangover was gone. Kazehana had disappeared at some point, and I had thought that would be the last I would see of the wind user. However, once I had finished my morning's tasks, I had discovered that the wind user had merely gone to wherever it was she had come from to recover what appeared to be a generous collection of sake and alcohol and then returned to Izumo House to begin its consumption. It was at that point that I had begun to volunteer to give Haruka a hand moving his belongings out of his now former studio when Miya had intercepted me to begin the talk of me renting a second room. It appeared she had been serious earlier when she had mentioned forcing my flock into another room while we slept.

At first I had been against the idea of being forcibly separated from my girls. It might sound a little perverse, but I had gotten used to having them around when I slept. I had almost forgotten how relaxing it had been to have my arms around two companions while I slept and how comfortable it was to burrow down between two warm bodies after I had been forced to leave Saber and Rin behind, but ever since my 'harem' had begun to grow, I had been reminded of that little joy. However, when Miya continue to insist on me renting out a second room, I had finally understood just why she was doing so.

It had less to do with scruples, as she so vehemently proclaimed, and more to do with finance. Like it or not, Izumo House was filling up. That meant more than there just being extra bodies around, it meant that there were extra bodies using electricity and consuming food. Since Miya, like myself and Seo, refused to have anything to do with MBI's unlimited spending credit cards, that put the landlady in a bit of a pinch. As it stood right now, Homura and I were the only ones still paying cash. With Homura no longer able to work due to his worsening condition, that meant that soon there would only be one source of money coming in: me. Despite the fact that Miya wouldn't turn away any of her tenants, not when many of them had nowhere else to go, it didn't change the fact that bills needed to be paid. It wouldn't leave me much leftover to save, but all things considered it really was the best option for picking up the slack that would otherwise leave Izumo House without lighting, water, or food. Since most of the residents at Izumo House were my responsibility, either by being a direct member of my flock or because I was the one that brought them here, I didn't have any problem being the one who contributed what it took to keep everyone here safe and comfortable.

"That is completely unacceptable," Tsukiumi immediately interjected, scowling at the idea of being forced into another room. "The place for a wife is beside her husband!" She paused, giving an imperious glance around the room. "Then again, it might make a good place for the concubines," she admitted, scratching her chin as she gave Musubi a contemplative look. The excitable shrine girl blinked, and then seemed to realize she was being addressed however indirectly.

"Musubi is a wife too!" she finally proclaimed, realizing than the water user was trying to discreetly push her out of the picture. I sighed and broke in, interrupting the impending argument. Beside the two of them, the rest of my flock was all present as well. Matsu had reclaimed her doohickey and was in the middle of typing away at it furiously, pausing only to give occasional glances towards me as she did so. I wasn't quite sure what it was she was working on, but after the early morning meeting she had apparently found something to fixate her attention at, and had spent most of the day locked in her room with her innumerable computers. It had taken a direct request, nearly an order to get her to come down and join the rest of my flock. Akitsu was sitting quietly, though her attention was being split between studying me and looking at the table in front of her where the wolf plushy I had bought her before had been placed. Beside her, Kuu-chan was playing with her Mr. and Mrs. Meow-Meow couple, occasionally making little animal noises as she make believed her cat dolls were interacting both with each other and with Mr. Wolf-Wolf.

"Settle down now," I told the two, pointing the marker in my hand at them as though I were a teacher. "I'll admit, I was against the idea as well," I continued, returning to flipping the marker in my hand as I spoke. "However, this is Miya's house after all," I nodded at the aforementioned landlady, and she nodded back from where she was kneeling casually at the new table.

With the now confirmed increase of renters, I had made sure to bring back a second table after I had finished work for the day, and the newest furniture to the room was placed so it was flush against the older table. It hadn't been tested yet, but I was certain it would be enough to fit the increasingly crowded house's occupants. It was already being used by both Yukari as well as Kazehana. My little sister had piled a stack of manga beside her and was now casually flipping through them, no doubt trying to find answers for how to proceed now that this morning had shown her how brutal the Sekirei Plan could potentially become. She would occasionally tear her attention away to glare spitefully at the wind user nearby, who had a similar stack near her; only instead of manga, Kazehana had instead collected bottles of alcohol. The wind user appeared to have discovered what many of Izumo House had already learned: whenever you need entertainment, just sit back and eventually my flock would deliver. I continued to address my flock, explaining the situation. "Even though this is Miya's Inn and she gets to make the rules, I was able to negotiate a compromise."

"A compromise?" Homura prompted, giving Miya a surprised look. "Miya? Compromising?" he repeated again, as though trying to fully comprehend the meaning of my words. I didn't blame him; Miya was notoriously inflexible when it came to following her rules. The fact that I had apparently managed to get her to bend a little must have come as a shock to the former host.

Tsukiumi on the other hand was more concerned with the details of the bargain. "And just what kind of compromise might that be?" she demanded, eying me suspiciously.

"There will be a second room," I began to outline the basics of the deal. "And it will be used by some of you." I held up a hand to stop any protests at my girls not being able to sleep with me at all times. "However," I continued, "only by some of you." I gestured at the whiteboard. Before the meeting I had traced a rough grid onto it, making seven columns and writing the names of the week above each column. "What we're going to do is have each of you pick out a day of the week. On that day, whoever's name is there gets to both sleep with me, and sit next to me during dinner."

"Oh!" Musubi's eyes widened, excitement obvious on her face as she put both hands under her chin. "You mean they'll get to do both?" Tsukiumi also seemed to be interested in the proposal, mostly because despite how long she had been a member of my flock, she had never managed to claim a seat next to me when dinner time came. The chance to have a guaranteed opportunity to do just that seemed to appeal to her.

"That's right," I nodded. Musubi instantly launched her hand into the air.

"Ah! Today's Wednesday right?" she asked, before continuing without waiting for an actual response. "I want Wednesdays!"

Tsukiumi bit her thumb briefly, no doubt weighing the potential benefits of agreeing to the plan, before finally nodding her head once. "Don't be greedy, Musubi," she ordered her rival. "Besides, if anyone should have Wednesday, it should be me." Musubi gave a childish glare at the blonde, fidgeting as she did so.

"What? Why should you get Wednesday, Tsukiumi-san?" the shrine girl demanded. Tsukiumi responded by giving her a superior smirk.

"Because Wednesday is written with the character 'water'," she explained, as though that answered everything, referring to the way that most of the days of the week were spelled with a kanji representing one of the elements. Musubi blinked, and then cocked her head to the side, putting one hand to her cheek as she did so.

"Oh yeah," she muttered, instantly surrendering in the face of superior logic. "But then what would Musubi be?" she continued, scratching her head as she did so.

"Ah," Akitsu chimed in, drawing the attention of the room at her unexpected addition to the conversation. "I wanted Wednesday," she admitted, slumping slightly. I bit my lip to keep myself from instantly acceding to her request. I was trying to be fair about this, and being fair meant not always giving Akitsu her way, especially when it usurped a prior claim by another of my flock.

"What?" Tsukiumi demanded of the quiet snow woman. "But 'water' should be on the day of 'water'," she insisted. Akitsu shifted, her chain clinking as she did so. Finally, she spoke.

"Ice is water," my first Sekirei pointed out. Musubi nodded in response.

"That's true, Tsukiumi-san," she added, and the blonde water user gave a betrayed look as her rival supported Akitsu's rival claim.

"Well," I broke in, looking at the board to try and find some way of circumventing the brewing argument. "Why don't you try Monday, Tsukiumi?" I offered. "It's spelled with the kanji for 'moon' as well," I pointed out, referring to the character that both Tsukiumi's name and the day shared. Tsukiumi put her thumb to her mouth again, worrying her poor fingernail for another few moments before finally nodding.

"Very well," she acquiesced with the grace of a descending queen. I quickly penned the names down in the appropriate spot, happy that what could have been the most troubling member of my flock had decided to go along with this plan. "What about you, Musubi?" the water user turned to her rival, apparently curious as to when her chosen nemesis would settle on.

"How about Thursday?" Musubi finally decided. From the eager tone of her voice her final choice had less to do with any significance of the characters and more to do with the fact that that would mean her turn would be tomorrow. An objection rose from the table as Kuu clutched her two kitty plushies and piped in.

"Kuu-chan gets Thursdays!" the Green Girl announced. I wasn't certain just how skilled the youngest of my flock was at interpreting kanji, but since Thursday was spelled with the character for 'wood' it did make a good deal of sense. Unfortunately for the young blonde's ambition, Miya and I had already had a discussion on this.

"Now, now," Miya chimed in, and I sent her a silent prayer of thanks for accepting the blame for the final decision. "It's inappropriate for a girl as young as Kuu to sleep with their onii-chan's." Kuu leveled a childish glare at being blocked by the one person in the room she had no chance of intimidating with her pearly white, and I immediately spoke up to offer the incentive necessary to keep a temper tantrum from occurring.

"Instead, Kuu-chan gets to sit beside me at every meal, instead of just once a week." It was my hope that by giving her preferential treatment in one area she would be able to overlook being neglected in the other. The little girl pouted, clutching her kitty couple tighter, before giving me a suspicious look.

"Onii-chan promise?" she asked, her voice full of childish worry. When I nodded, she finally relaxed. "Okay!" she accepted the bribe finally. "But Shii-chan gets to sit next to Kuu-chan too!"

"Deal," I told her, turning to pen in Musubi's name in the appropriate space. "How about you, Matsu?" I waited for a moment, expecting a quick response, but when only silence greeted me I turned to look at the hacker curiously. It appeared that whatever it was she was focusing on was enough to distract her away from determining the day she would be allowed to sleep with me. I half wondered if this was a sign that what she was looking at was something important, or if the hacker just didn't care because she was planning on sneaking in anyway. "Matsu," I repeated, a little louder this time and the bespectacled Sekirei glanced up, a brief moment of confusion on her face. Blinking, she focused on the white board.

"Ah," she stammered, brining one hand to rub her eye for a second, before refocusing on the whiteboard. "Matsu will take Friday," she finally decided. I wasn't sure if the decision was mostly arbitrary or if she had some special connection to the character for 'gold' but obediently I penned in the final name. "And Saturday, and Sunday," the hacker quickly continued, and I was half way to putting her name down a second time before I realized she was trying to pull a fast one on me and gave her a half hearted glare.

"Oh! I want Saturday too!" Musubi quickly added, apparently not realizing that Matsu had been joking. Tsukiumi sent a brief stream of water at the excitable Sekirei, barely more than might be shot out of a cheap water gun. Matsu giggled at the response she had managed to draw before turning back to the doohickey and resuming her typing.

"She was joking, you dolt," Tsukiumi informed the now slightly wet Musubi, and the bear Sekirei's eyes opened wide in comprehension before smiling as she tapped one knuckle to her head and stuck out her tongue. "But that aside," the water user continued, giving the white board an speculative look. "What will be done on the last two days? Surely you don't plan on sleeping alone, Shirou?"

"For that," I began, and then pointed at Miya. When my flock followed my finger, they discovered that the landlady had somehow managed to materialize a set of shopping lists and bags, a beatific smile on her face as she did so. "We've decided to open those days out to the victor of the shopping race." It seemed like a good way to channel my flock's excessive energy into something productive while leaving still giving them an opportunity to claim the uneven number of days without playing favorites. I frowned, realizing something. "But why didn't you include Tuesday?"

"Because that's obviously Homura's!" Musubi declared instantly, no doubt referring to the fact that Tuesday was written with the character for 'fire'. The flame user who had been sitting back and watching the unfolding chaos with a vaguely amused look snorted, surprise on his face.

"Wait," the former host began, giving me an unnerved look. "But I don't want to sleep with Shirou!" I was thankful that most of my flock seemed pretty unobservant; otherwise the vehement way he had instantly denied the position might have drawn suspicion. I, on the other hand, grimaced, and tried not to meet his eyes. It had only been two days since I had found out, so I was still very much aware of his worsening condition. Something like scheduling the chance for him to assume what had been a solely female role in my flock seemed ominously prophetic at the moment.

"Nonsense," Tsukiumi overrode his objection immediately and as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "As Shirou's Sekirei it's only fair that you have a day as well. All the rest of us do after all." Musubi nodded energetically, the two of them staring at Homura expectantly. Still with her face buried in the doohickey, Matsu began to emit her perverted old man giggle.

Homura pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes closing in frustration as he ground out, "Why is it that the two of you are only in agreement during times like these?"

"Enough whining," Tsukiumi told him, glaring down her nose at him. "Shirou," she turned to me, pointing one finger imperiously in my direction. "Hurry up and put down Homura's name on Tuesday!"

I hesitated, giving the whiteboard a nervous look. On one hand, the idea was very much less then appealing. Even when Homura had just been a regular guy, neither one of us had any particular urge to have that kind of physical closeness. Now though, somewhat conversely considering the fact that the gender issue was apparently being resolved unwillingly, it was even less appealing. Even if, technically speaking, biologically the situation should be more appropriate, psychologically speaking it felt even stranger. We' already managed to determine that the flame user's psyche was slowly altering as well, from the way he had unconsciously started shifting his dress style towards something more feminine. Before, there was no way that Homura would have been comfortable. Now, he was faced with the fact that he might unconsciously find himself acclimatizing to a situation like that, and if he did find himself unconsciously comfortable, it would quickly come to odds with the fact that consciously he would still not be ready.

This really was one of the most screwed up situations I had ever been a part of.

On the other hand though, it really didn't feel right to totally cut Homura out of the flock on goings either. He had always been a somewhat distant member, but somehow the two of us had still managed to connect and get along. With what he was going through now, there was a good chance that he would end up even more isolated by the end of his ordeal. I wanted to somehow take steps to keep that from happening.

After a moment's thought, I came up with something that might work. "How about this," I began, voicing my proposal. "Homura can be in charge of Tuesday, but instead of him actually sleeping or eating with me, he gets to decide which of you gets the chance to instead?" It would give him the opportunity to interact more with the rest the group, yet still allow the two of us to preserve our dignity.

"Of course!" Tsukiumi instantly seemed to accept the idea. "Naturally, I, as his rival, will most certainly be the one that he elects for the position," she continued, just as instantly trying to grasp her perceived advantage.

"No fair!" Musubi instantly shot back, shooting up from her seat. "Then I'll become his rival too!" Turning to the now nervous fire user, Musubi clenched her hands into fists and beamed a smile at him. "Come on then, Homura-san! Let's fight!"

As Tsukiumi squawked in outrage and began an argument with her chief-rival-in-love over who gets to be Homura's chief-rival-in-arms Matsu managed to pull herself away from the doohickey long enough to give the board a measuring look. "So that means that whoever's name is on the day is the one that is responsible for choosing who gets to do what with Shirou-tan, doesn't it?" she asked me, rubbing her chin speculatively.

"Well," I began, scratching the back of my head with the now capped marker. "I guess that's one way to look at it."

"In that case," Matsu began, and turned to Akitsu sitting nearby. "Akitsu-tan! I'm willing to let you share sleeping with Shirou-tan on Fridays if you're willing to share him on Wednesdays."

"Ah," Akitsu began, still staring at Mr. Woof-woof, and then nodded. "That's acceptable."

"Good idea, Matsu-san!" Musubi instantly abandoned her attempt to badger Homura into becoming her rival and instead hoped ship onto this new opportunity to sneak another night in with me. "I'll share as well!"

"Wait, wait," I chimed in before the brewing chaos got out of hand. "Doesn't that kind of defeat the whole purpose of having separate rooms?" I began, ready to lay down the law and preserve the spirit of the original proposal, but found myself pausing. It really had been pretty comfortable, having so many warm bodies beside me while I slept….

"No more than two at a time," I found myself telling them, succumbing to the temptation presented to me. I very carefully did not look at Miya while doing so. Alright, this might not have been exactly what she was hoping for, but it did justify having a second room and that was what was important.

"Yay!" Musubi cheered, throwing her hands up in the air in celebration. "Tsukiumi-san, do you want to share?"

As the females in my flock began to enter the painstaking negotiations necessary to arrange a proper sleeping schedule, a new voice chimed in, speaking past the now familiar chaos. "I'm impressed, Ashikabi-kun," Kazehana told me, humor in her slightly slurred voice as she poured herself another glass of sake. "You managed to handle that pretty well."

I sighed as I realized that the wind user had apparently become yet another member of the 'watch Shirou's life unfold and take pleasure in the melodrama' club.

"Well," I began, trying to think of a way to explain the ease with which I handled dealing with multiple females debating whose turn it was to sleep with me. I considered chalking this too up to 'legacy of a misspent youth' but honestly, it seemed like everyone was getting a little tired of me using the same old phrase as an excuse for everything. "I guess I just have a lot of experience with this kind of thing," I finally told the wind user.

"Experience?" Kazehana repeated, taking another sip of her sake. "Experience with what, Ashikabi-kun?" she asked, a leer splitting her face as she leaned forward, no doubt intentionally shifting in a way that was meant to be as provocative as possible. "Were you quite the ladies man? Did you have to make schedules before to keep all your girlfriends from finding out about each other?"

"I've only ever had the two before," I defended myself, not liking the implication that I had learned my skills at handling sleeping arrangements by cheating around and being some kind of promiscuous man whore. Not that there was anything wrong with being a man whore, I suppose. It had worked out well enough for Homura after all, until the whole changing gender thing threw a wrench in his life. "And they both knew about each other."

"Oh my," a voice came from my shoulder, and I very purposefully did not look at it. I could feel Miya's breath on my ear, as she continued, but more than that I could feel her ominous aura springing to life. I had no doubt I was about to be exposed to yet another variation of her technique, but valiantly held out hope that I would escape the upcoming scolding for my earlier moment of weakness. "What have I told you about playing with young maidens' hearts, Emiya-kun?"

Despite the growing horror behind me, something which was causing Kazehana to slowly back away nervously, I felt a twinge of anger form. "Why is it that whenever someone hears of the fact that there were three of us, they instantly assume that I was cheating on them or leading them on?" It never failed. The moment people learned of Rin, Saber, and mine's unusual circumstances I was always immediately demonized in the eyes of the onlooker.

Yukari snorted, not looking up from her manga as she added her contribution to the conversation. "If anything it was those two witches fault. Taking advantage of my onii-chan like that before breaking his heart and running off together so they could live in sin while he was forced to clean up the mess they left behind." I scowled at my sister after she finished grumbling about my two exes.

"I told you before," I began, my voice rising slightly. "It wasn't like that at all." Yukari pried her eyes away from her comic book in order to give me a sympathetic look.

"It's all right, onii-chan," she told me reassuringly. "I know it must have been traumatic for you, being used like that, but now you have your Sekirei, and you'll never be treated that badly again."

"What kind of things have you been imagining?" I demanded of her, my anger giving way to incredulity as she continued to try and comfort my supposed wounded heart.

"Ah," Miya chimed in, and I noticed that at some point in the conversation that her menacing aura had disappeared. "Is that why Emiya-kun is so desperate to surround himself with girls?" The landlady moved to where I could see her, her eyes crinkled as she gave me a comforting smile, the earlier scolding apparently abandoned in favor of this new avenue of attack, one hand resting on her cheek. "There, there," she told me patting me on the head like I was a child. I would have found her condescending teasing to be more irritating if it wasn't offset by the fact that the fairly average sized female had to stand on her toes in order to reach the much higher top of my head. "Just because you've had some troubling experiences in the past, there's no need to take out your buried perverse frustrations on your Sekirei."

"'Buried perverse frustrations'?" I repeated, giving the landlady a skeptical look. "Now, I know things were kind of awkward this morning," I began, scratching the back of my head with the marker again, "but why is it that you're so obsessed with my supposed monstrous libido today?" This was like the fifth time she'd teased me with my imaginary uncontrollable sex drive in the last twelve hours. I wasn't certain if she was simply doing it because I could never keep myself from trying to defend against the unfounded accusations, or if she was simply finding the scene this morning to be too good a source of material to pass up.

"What are you trying to imply, Emiya-kun?" Miya retorted, turning to look away as she waved her free hand at me idly. "Asking an innocent young lady like me such a thing. That's not the kind of thing you should say to a married woman!"

I sighed and gave up on trying to win this particular verbal exchange. At least the new material seemed to be enough to have distracted the lavenderette away from her toying with her hannya mask again. It was so frustrating to see all the versatility of the technique displayed and still not be able to make any headway in to reproducing the effect. A new voice interrupted our verbal sparring, and I glanced over to see that Kazehana had leaned forward in her seat at the table, grasping the neck of one of her bottles as she did so.

"Wait," the wind user began, her voice eager. "Are you saying that Ashikabi-kun over there, alone and heartbroken after being cruelly used by his heartless former human lovers, was able to find comfort in the arms of his loyal Sekirei as they gradually once more awakened him to the power of love, healing his pain with their affection?"

"What?" I asked, surprised by the colorful attempt at summarizing my former relationship, and once more annoyed that the stories about what happened between the three of us were once more being exaggerated. "No, that's not what…"

"That's exactly what happened!" Yukari interrupted, pointing at Kazehana triumphantly as she once more hijacked my attempts to explain the errors in their assumptions. The purple clad wind user squealed, wiggling in her seat by the table as she hugged the bottle of sake to her chest like it was one of Kuu's plushies.

"That's just so romantic!" she gushed, once more sounding like nothing more than an innocent schoolgirl that had just finished watching the sappiest chick flick ever as she sighed happily.

"Isn't it?" Yukari nodded eagerly as she agreed enthusiastically with the wind user's proclamation. The camaraderie only lasted for a moment, and then Yukari's face fell as she realized she had been unconsciously getting along with her hated foe. "I mean," she quickly corrected herself, once more glaring across the table at the Sekirei who was still cradling the bottle to her chest, "stay away from my onii-chan, you old hag." My little sister nodded briskly, satisfied that she had managed to catch herself before she had properly gotten along with the other woman.

"What was that, washboard-chan?" Kazehana shot back, not even bothering to stop her enjoyment at the touching, albeit made up, story of my love life. Yukari growled at both the dismissal and the use of the hated nickname that the more developed Sekirei had settled on for her. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, all things considered, she was interrupted from pursuing the argument due to the fact that our conversation had apparently caught the attention of the rest of the room at large.

"Shirou," Tsukiumi gasped, looking horrified at the revelation of my supposed traumatic experience. "Is this true?"

"No," I told her, starting to get annoyed at the way the story was continuing to grow. "It's…"

"To think," Tsukiumi interrupted me, turning away to hunch over as she bit her thumb again. "All this time I was wondering why you were so reluctant to treat me as your wife," she mumbled, "and it was all due to the trauma you've been through. How could I be so insensitive to my husband's fragile heart?" The water user sounded genuinely upset over how her actions had supposedly caused me emotional discomfort. It would have been touching, if it wasn't for the fact that she was completely wrong.

"Look," I began again, trying once more to get a word in edgewise in order to dispel the growing misinterpretation, but was again cut off by Yukari.

"I know," Yukari eagerly turned her attention to the water user. It looked like she was happy to have found someone she could commiserate with that she couldn't interact with on principle like Kazehana. "I tell you, if I ever find those two, I'll show them just how bad an idea it is to mess with my onii-chan." The only other human in the room leapt to her feet, clenching one fist in front of her as she assumed a suitably dramatic position for swearing vengeance against someone who had wronged her family. The drama of the position was somewhat diminished as she sent a quick glance down at the manga in her hand, held open to a specific page, and then adjusted her fisted hand so it was a little higher.

Fire appeared in the water users eyes as Tsukiumi duplicated my little sister's position. "Indeed," she agreed loudly, her clothes swirling around her gently as she did so. It was an affect I had noticed before in the past whenever the proud blonde grew passionate about a subject. I still wasn't quite certain how she managed it, but I had my suspicions. It was most likely a result of her unconsciously manipulating the moisture in the air in the same way that Akitsu would sometimes cause frost to form around her. "It is the duty of the wife to avenge the husband!"

"Oh! Musubi is a wife too!" The excitable shrine girl broke in, also leaping to her feet, though she threw both her hands up in the air instead of making the customary fist.

"Now just wait a sec…Kuu-chan?" I began, only to interrupt myself in surprise as even little Kuu leapt to her feet, boldly lifting a fist in front of her as she, 'fuuughhhhh!'-ed in rage at my supposed poor handling. Desperately, I turned to the last three members of my flock. Homura was leaning backwards, looking immensely relieved that he no longer was being harassed by the rest of my flock over who would get the coveted Tuesday position, though judging from the quick look he sent me, it seemed he had at least had the presence of mind not to get swept up in the violent mood. Matsu was strangely enough also refraining from joining in. The redhead instead was merely watching the chaos unfold, her doohickey still in her hands though she was no longer paying attention to it. Homura and Matsu had been the only member of my flock that I had ever really talked about my previous relationship with, and were the only two aware of any of the specifics of it. I had told Homura before, with Matsu spying no doubt through one of the numerous cameras she had set up, that the situation had been complicated. The former host could no doubt sympathize with that, seeing as during his time as a player he had no doubt seen his own complicated situations.

The final member of my flock, Akitsu, didn't seem particularly interested in joining in on the growing lynch mob luckily. I knew how protective the ice user could be, but it seemed that she was content to simply remain seated and watching her plushy as it sat immobile before her. At least, that's what I thought was going on until the snow woman finally lifted one hand slowly in front of her, and just as deliberately clenched it into a fist as well.

"Well, well," Miya murmured from her place where she was standing beside me. "It looks like your Sekirei are all ready to go out and avenge your honor, Emiya-kun. Isn't that exciting?" She turned to smile at me as Yukari and Tsukiumi began vocally plotting how they would make Rin and Saber pay for their crimes. Her smile diminished slightly when she caught sight of the expression on my face.

I knew that they were just trying to help. Really, I should take it as a compliment that I had so many people willing to come to my aid and try to support me if I were ever in trouble.

In actuality, I could feel my annoyance slowly growing to genuine anger at witnessing so many people speak ill of my former lovers.

Even as Miya took a quick but measured step back to put some distance between herself and me, I could feel air around me grow dark and cold. As though sensing what was about to happen, the plotting room as a whole unconsciously turned to look at me, and Matsu's eyes widened as she began to shrink down to try and shield herself from what was to come.

"Making assumptions about things you have no right to speculate on and plotting any kind of violence against Saber and Rin are both," I ground out through clenched teeth, trying to keep my temper in check, "Prohibited." I hissed the last word out, and the effect was immediate: Tsukiumi and Musubi both, as was appearing to become their custom when confronted with such visages, clutched onto each other for support in the face of unutterable terror, Kuu immediately pulled up Mr. and Mrs. Meow-Meow and used them to shield herself much the same way Yukari immediately sat down and tried to do the same with her manga, while Akitsu lowered her hand and turned to deliberately look away from my projection and focused instead on studying Mr. Woof-Woof intently once more. The two biggest reactions were, unsurprisingly, Kazehana as she froze, her bottle dropping from her numb fingers as she stared all unprepared at the horror behind me, and, surprisingly considering his usual cool demeanor, Homura who appeared to begin choking as he too was confronted by the abyss given form through pure malice.

"I will make this perfectly clear," I continued, managing to maintain my projection while continuing my lecture in the way that Miya usually did. "Yes, I was originally dating two women at once. No, I was not cheating on them, and we were all perfectly aware and happy with the arrangement. No, they did not use me and then leave me heartbroken and alone so they could run off together. And most definitely are none of you allowed to go out and do something as stupid as trying to get revenge on them for a nonexistent misdeed. Am I understood?" When I was greeted by enthusiastic nodding from everyone in the room, I took a deep breath, and slowly unclenched my fists, letting the light once more flood into the dining room and whatever it was behind me disappear.

"Very good, Emiya-kun." I glanced over to see that Miya had been watching the whole display with an expression that looked vaguely proud. It reminded me of the way a teacher might look at a particularly promising student that had just given an especially excellent presentation to them.

"And this time you didn't even 'eep'," I reminded her, letting the last of my anger dissipate as I took the opportunity to return the earlier teasing. Miya coughed delicately into her hand, refusing to meet my eyes as she did so.

"W-w-well," the first person to get over my enthusiastic correction ended up being Kazehana, only managing to get one stuttered word out before apparently running out of steam. Looking unusually pale for her, she reached out with one hand to grasp one of the bottles lined up before her that still had alcohol in it and immediately put it to her lips. After several desperate swallows, the wind user put the bottle back down. With the liquid courage coursing through her, the purple clad Sekirei started again. "Well. Why didn't you tell me that you had an apprentice, Miya?"

"Oh," the landlady began, smiling innocently at her former resident. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Kazehana-san!" The customary denial Miya always followed the technique up with was apparently getting as old to the group at large as my usual habit of blaming everything on my youth. When the fact that I had actually managed to reproduce the skill was added in the only person she was probably fooling was herself.

"What the hell was that?" Homura finally got out, his voice raspy as he did so. The flame user was staring at me with abject horror on his face. "Shirou, you didn't really do that, did you? That was just Miya, wasn't it? She was only making it look like you, wasn't she?" Homura sounded so desperate for assurance that I almost felt bad that I had actually managed to figure Miya's trick out. Almost. It really was just too damn useful for me to ever truly regret learning it.

"Oh no," Matsu corrected the fire user, and I watched as the hacker started crawling out from under the table. It looked like she had managed to throw herself under the furniture in time to escape my lecture. "That was all Shirou-tan."

"You mean you already knew he could do that?" Homura demanded of her, before looking around the room wildly. "Wait, you all already knew?"

"Oh yeah," I said, remembering that the technique had originally had its debut while the fire user had been in the bathroom right after our unfortunate and embarrassing encounter. "I've only been able to get it down a few days ago," I told him, bringing him up to speed.

Still looking around the room, Homura's voice gained a hint of incredulous accusation. "And none of you thought it would be a good idea to warn me about something like that?" he accused his fellow flock members. Finding nothing but sheepish refusal to meet his accusing glare from the others, he turned his eyes on me. "And what was that? That was no hannya."

"Um," I began, scratching the back of my head with a marker, becoming as sheepish as the rest of the room. "I still don't know," I admitted to the fire user. His eyes widened and the look he sent me became even more incredulous. "I've only just managed to get it working, and I still haven't managed to iron all the kinks out of it."

"Oh god," the former host muttered, palming his forehead and giving me a betrayed look. "And now there's two of them." He shook his head slowly, a grimace appearing on his face. "Shirou, at least promise me you'll never teach anyone else how to do it. Please, just so that I can sleep at night. I don't even care if you're being sincere or not. Lie if you have to. Just promise."

"I promise that I will never teach anyone this technique," I told him, giving him a bemused look while I did so. His eyes narrowed at my immediate response.

"Wait, I was wrong. I do care if you're being sincere. You are being sincere, aren't you? Shirou?"

I gave him a dry look. "Oh yes, I'm being sincere. Considering how hard I had to work to figure it out, anyone who wants to learn it can do the same." Homura let loose a relieved breath.

"Besides all that," Matsu cut in, still keeping her attention on the group at large while she absentmindedly fiddled with the doohickey. "If you don't mind me asking, just what is the deal with your former girlfriends, Shirou-tan?" I grimaced, glancing away awkwardly as I did so.

"It's complicated," I told her, hoping she would be satisfied with my evasion. Yukari peeked out from behind her manga, checking to see if the coast was clear, before finally emerging from her protective screen.

"That's all he ever says," my little sister grumbled, giving me a perturbed look. "He won't even tell me or mom. That's why I keep saying they must have done something bad to him." I blinked, and gave her a startled glance.

"Is that why you keep telling everyone made up horror stories?" I asked, actually able to follow the reasoning behind her insistence on demonizing Saber and Rin. Yukari nodded reasonably.

"Well, what other reason would you try and protect them for?" she argued, idly flipping through the pages of her manga without looking at them. "They must have done something bad if you think you have to keep us from finding them. Why else wouldn't you let us go after them?"

"Who said I was protecting them?" I muttered, rubbing my forehead briefly. I could almost picture how badly things would turn if a war party of Sekirei and an overprotective sister tried to ambush the two. For all that Rin might have eighty percent of all her power tied up in maintaining Saber's existence on the world, it didn't change the fact that even with her twenty percent remaining she was still technically more magically powerful than I was at the moment. Rin had a prodigious forty magical circuits within her, and her family crest was comparable to having another sixty. Even with the strain of maintaining Saber she effectively had twenty circuits still open to use compared to the seventeen I had managed to master. For all that my tiny ex-lover was a traditionally minded magus with her focus on study rather than combat like me, she was still a force to be reckoned with. And then there was Saber, a Heroic Spirit, gifted with strength and speed the likes of which was enough for her to match armies on her own. Even if she couldn't use all of her power due to the strain it would further add to Rin, she was still a creature whose combat abilities were on another plain of existence compared to most humans.

Yeah. A confrontation between my flock and my old partners from the Grail War would not end well for anyone.

"But why is it complicated, Shirou-tan?" Matsu interrupted, once more pulling the conversation back to the topic of my former lovers.

"Look," I sighed, rubbing a hand through my hair, "I really don't want to talk about it, okay?" Matsu shook her head slightly, and pressed on, undeterred by my evasiveness

"Why don't you want to talk about it?" The redhead leaned forward, her voice probing as she continued to try and pry an answer out of me. "Did something bad happen after all?" My eyes narrowed as I grimaced. Matsu nodded slowly, leaning back and sitting up a bit straighter as she did so. When she continued, her voice was a little less childish, the usual inflections that she peppered her speech with greatly reduced.

"Shirou-tan," she began, not quite abandoning all her verbal tics, but from her posture and intonation it was enough to remind me that for all her usual childishness, this was also one of the most mature Sekirei out there, second in age only to Miya herself, and one of the five who had been responsible for the safety of her kind during the brutal early days of her species. "Do you remember, when we first met? There were many things about Shirou-tan that even I, with the Eye of the Electronic God, couldn't find out. Even though you answered many of my questions, and told us a lot about yourself, sometimes it feels like there are things that Shirou-tan doesn't want anybody to know about him." One of her hands came up to brush against the frame of her glasses, not quite taking them off as was her usual custom when she became serious, but toying with them nonetheless. "It's during times like these, when he won't say anything even to us, his Sekirei, that I still think that Shirou is a mysterious person."

My mouth snapped shut, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't meet Matsu's probing gaze. By now I knew better than just about anyone else just how resourceful the hacker could be when she was looking for information. I've had her dabbling about in one of the most closely guarded databases in the country, and had seen just how effective her information gathering could be when she started putting together profiles for the Ashikabi and their Sekirei. It shouldn't surprise me that Matsu felt the way she did: so far, I had been the only profile she had put together that had ever had any information missing from it. It didn't surprise me that she had begun to suspect I was keeping things from her. After all, there were things I was keeping from her; from her, from the rest of my flock, even from my family.

"Shirou," Tsukiumi spoke up, joining the conversation between Matsu and I. "Is it true that something happened between you and your former lovers?" Even as she finished asking, her eyes widened as something occurred to her. "Could it be?" she gasped, drawing back dramatically and putting one hand over her mouth as she did so. "A-are you still in love with them? Is that why even though we're married you still won't…?" she trailed off, and I flinched before giving a sigh and leaning back against the whiteboard behind me. The solid 'thunk' noise my head produced when it contacted the wall echoed through the room.

"No," I told her, reassuring the worried blonde. "That's not it. I mean, yes, I still love them," I admitted, dragging a hand through my hair as I tried to find a way to express myself. "But that's not why I haven't, you know," I trailed off, waving the hand holding the marker in the air ambiguously as I referred to the same topic Tsukiumi was. "Like I said, it's complicated."

"Well," Musubi chimed in, one finger on her chin as she gave me a curious look, completely missing the tension that was starting to leak into the room as the topic grew more and more serious. "If you love them, why don't you invite them here? There are still two more days left." The shrine girl pointed at the whiteboard to indicate the still available Saturday and Sunday slots. I gave the confused alien an incredulous look, and then couldn't stop myself from snorting a brief surprised laugh. Despite the obvious worry that Tsukiumi was having over the idea of me having lingering feelings for what she most likely thought were two ordinary humans, Musubi didn't even once consider the idea that my former relationship might cast a shadow on this one. Instead, she just tried to work the old one right into this new one.

"You really are one of a kind, aren't you Musubi?" I asked her, the last of my unexpected chuckles drying up. I smiled at the confused brunette. Musubi smiled back though her expression remained confused; obviously happy at my expression but not quite understanding the source of my amusement. My expression faded back to somber as I looked at the ground, trying to figure out what to do next. "I guess it really must be kind of hard for you all," I reluctantly admitted. "Knowing that I used to being in another relationship and that I still have feelings for them even though I'm with you all now."

"That's right, Shirou-tan," Matsu confirmed, her voice reluctant as she did so. "After all, we're Sekirei. When we get winged, we're with our Ashikabi forever and ever." The words of the oath her species gives once they find their mate. "But then again, Shirou-tan isn't a Sekirei, is he? I guess that maybe we Sekirei can't understand certain things." I glanced up in surprise, remembering the conversation the two of us had had once before, the one where Matsu had been forced to confront the fact that I had been dealing with since the beginning: in the end, despite our physical similarities we were both members of a different species. Not Human and Not Sekirei.

"Yeah," I admitted, acknowledging the point Matsu was trying to make. "In the end, I guess the way humans work is a little different." Finally, I raised my head to meet the worried gazes of my flock. "I guess this isn't too different though," I admitted, shrugging uncomfortably. "The whole, 'having to explain the situations behind an ex to a current girlfriend' kind of thing." With an explosive exhalation, I finally gave in to the inevitable. "Look, I don't like talking about it, alright? But I can kind of understand why you all want to know. If I explain it once, will you all promise not to bring it up again?"

"Deal!" Matsu announced instantly, for the first time since the meeting had started putting the doohickey aside completely. Tsukiumi seemed nervous, and for one of the first times since the blonde had came into my life looked uncertain about something. Musubi didn't even seem to realize that the atmosphere had become tense, but Kuu at least seemed to sense the growing discomfort of her onii and onee-sans. Akitsu had dragged her gaze away from her plushie and once more focused it on me with laser like intensity. Out of everyone here, she was the one who knew best just how many secrets I was keeping. She'd helped me burn one of them after she had cut them to pieces after all.

"Wait," Yukari began, looking panicked. "You're finally going to tell someone about it? And it's your Sekirei and not your imouto?" My little sister seemed outraged that one of the great secrets of Shirou Emiya's life was about to be revealed and it was due to my alien harem and not her that it was finally about to come to light.

"If you don't like it you can leave," I suggested to her, not particularly caring about her outrage. I really didn't want to talk about it, and if I didn't consider it my duty as a mate, or a boyfriend, or a husband, or whatever the hell role I was playing to the aliens who had bonded themselves to me, then I never would have brought it up period. Yukari instantly shook her head, waving both her hands in front of her.

"No, no, no, no!" she yelped, instantly back tracking. It looked like her desire to know far outweighed her outrage and not being the instigator. "Just let me find the right book," she told me, and began frantically searching through her pile of manga to find some kind of reference guide. Her brow furrowed as she realized that the collection beside her had more advice for fighting then it did for relations.

Still standing near me, Miya spoke up. "Would you like me to give you and your girls some privacy, Emiya-kun?" the landlady suggested, her tone gentle as she did so. I gave her a brief smile at her offer, but shook my head.

"It's fine," I told her. "I trust you." I knew just how well the blood soaked alien valued discretion. She already held nearly as many of my secrets as Akitsu did at this point. Judging from that lingering second scent of hers, the one that tang of bitter regret and unspoken sorrow, she had seen her own share of things in the past that had left their mark on her. The landlady's eyes widened slightly at my admission, before her smile widened the smallest bit.

"Oh! What about me, Ashikabi-kun?" Kazehana chimed in, waving one hand eagerly as she leaned forward. I gave her a speculative look, not quite sure why the relative stranger would be so interested in hearing such an intensely personal story. On one hand, the story I was about to tell really wasn't something I cared for having random strangers sit in on. It was something a little too personal for me to simply relegate it to the usual bystanders who drew amusement from watching my life happen.

On the other hand though…

"You pour me some of that sake, and you can stay, so long as you don't interrupt," I told her bluntly.

On the other hand, this really wasn't something I wanted to talk about while sober either.

*Scene Break*

It had taken a few minutes for everyone to arrange themselves. Kuu had insisted on putting herself in my lap, perhaps as a means to comfort me. The Green Girl didn't seem to be quite aware of just what was going on, but she knew that whatever was happening, it was upsetting her onii-chan. She had assumed a vigilant stance, arms folded across her chest as she raised her head up with the dignity of youth. The stern impression was somewhat marred with her occasional break in character to look up at me to see how I was doing. Akitsu had taken the spot on my left, though for once the spot on my right went uncontested and empty. Instead, the rest of the room had sat in areas where they would be most able to look at me directly. Miya, Yukari, and Kazehana all sat directly opposite me, the wind user close at hand so she could refill the small sake cup she had given me with ease. On my right, at the head of the table, Matsu and Homura were seated a comfortable distance apart, while on the left Tsukiumi and Musubi were in a similar position.

After we had all gotten ourselves situated and ready for the upcoming and no doubt emotionally turbulent conversation, silence descended on the room in general. I kept my gaze focused on the table, trying to collect my thoughts as I brought the wide brimmed cup containing the fragrant rice alcohol to my lips, sipping it slowly. I suppressed a grimace at the taste. Maybe it was a side effect of having come into my drinking age in England, but for some reason the taste of the traditional drink of my homeland didn't quite sit right with my taste buds. I found myself recalling with fondness the English beer I had broke my drinking teeth on.

As the silence continued to drag on, an unnatural stillness settling on the room besides my occasional sip, I could feel as many of the impatiently waiting females began to fidget with discomfort. Finally, Miya spoke up. "Emiya-kun," she began, her voice gentle. "Are you sure you're fine with telling this?" It was possibly her interpreting my seeming refusal to begin as me trying to find a way to escape.

"No," I shook my head at her question. "It's fine. It's just," I began, trailing off. My flock and the extra onlookers leaned forward, no doubt expecting me to say something profound, and I felt a little awkward when I admitted, "Well, I'm just not sure where to start." I scratched the back of my head apologetically as Tsukiumi and Matsu, the two tensest of the audience sagged in disbelief at my confession. "There's a lot of history there," I admitted, "and a lot of things that happened happened because of things that happened before. I'm trying to figure out where the best starting spot would be."

That was true, to an extent. I was also trying to figure out how to phrase some of the more, how to put it, eventful occurrences in ways which would still manage to conceal some of the things I wasn't ready to reveal yet.

"I have an idea." Surprisingly, it was Homura that contributed that statement. The fire user shifted slightly, making himself more comfortable. "Just how was it that you three ended up together in the first place?" he asked me, a note of curiosity in his voice. "No offense, Shirou, but outside of the present situation, you really don't seem like the kind of guy to end up in a relationship like that." Giving me a vaguely apologetic smile, the former host elaborated. "I mean, you don't seem the type to go out of his way to end up in a three way relationship."

I took another sip of my sake, suppressing a wince as I did so. Somehow the truth didn't seem like it would be quite appropriate here. 'Last survivors of a gruesome free for all battle to the death that we only survived due to engaging in physical intimacy and then had to continue the intimacy in order to maintain the magical power which kept one of the three in this plane of existence' didn't really roll off the tongue that easily. Carefully, I considered my words, and then haltingly began to speak.

"Well, it started about three, almost four years ago now. Saber, my first girlfriend, was an old acquaintance of my father. She was from England originally, but she had some business in Japan. When she tried to contact my dad for help, I had to be the one to break it to her that he had passed on a few years earlier."

"What was she like?" Tsukiumi cut in, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes suspiciously as she did so. I resigned myself to the fact that this conversation would be half explanation and half defending my prior relationships.

"Blonde," I told the water user. "Very petite. Extremely focused. Saber was all business back then." My lips quirked a bit in recollection of the early days of our tumultuous partnership. "Originally I had simply volunteered myself to give her a hand with her job since dad was gone. We worked closely together for a bit, and eventually we ended up getting along." A vague yet accurate way of describing our original relationship. I continued, carefully choosing my words. "Eventually we got close, and started dating. Everything seemed to be going really well at that point, and then without any warning at all, she left me for another woman."

"So they did break your heart!" Yukari crowed triumphantly, before realizing that being happy after hearing that kind of news was probably not the most sensitive thing to do.

"Well, back then yeah," I admitted. "It really came out of nowhere, and left me pretty broken up. That was when Rin came into the picture."

"A rebound?" Kazehana chimed in, leaning forward to study me intensely. I gave her a blank stare and she seemed to realize she was violating her promise to not interrupt. Hastily, the wind user sat back and held up a jar of sake suggestively. I nodded and let her pour me another drink.

"Not a rebound," I continued, correcting the misconception. "Back then she was just a school mate that I had never really talked to that much, and she was with another guy at the time already. She did catch me at a bad point in my life, and managed to give me a bit of help to start getting over it, but back then she was mostly just an acquaintance that was becoming a friend." I scratched the back of my head, and then downed the cup of sake in one gulp. "Until her boyfriend left her without warning for the same woman that Saber had left me for."

"What kind of people did you hang around with back then, onii-chan?" Yukari chimed in, looking at me in consternation as I described the past events. I think Matsu really did have it right when she called my life a soap opera at times.

I opened my mouth to offer an explanation, and then quickly shut it without saying a word. At the same time, Miya, Homura, and Matsu all chimed in, "Legacy of a misspent youth?" I gave them a small grin as they realized I had set them up for that.

"Pretty much," I confirmed. I opened my mouth to continue and Kazehana chimed in again.

"And that was when it became a rebound!" she chirped, and then instantly looked away, clearing her throat and holding up the sake jar again. I sighed and let her refill the cup once more.

"Yes, that was when Rin and I became a rebound. We were both in a bad situation and ended up helping each other out." I focused my gaze on the sake, and then took a sip of it and continued. "The difference was, Rin wasn't as content as me to remain heartbroken. She wanted answers, and then she dragged me into getting them."

"Answers?" Matsu repeated, honing in on the word. I nodded, picking my story back up.

"Answers," I repeated. "She thought it was suspicious how both of our significant others had suddenly out of nowhere left us for the same woman. She started nosing around, and eventually we figured out what had happened." It was hard to keep my voice even. Even years later, just the thought of Medea of Colchis was enough to put a tinge of anger into my voice. I don't think I was completely successful at suppressing it from the way some of my audience reacted, fidgeting uncomfortably. At my side, Akitsu shifted, the rattle of chains a comforting noise, and in my lap Kuu reached out to pat my chest consolingly. I glanced down at the girl, and then put my cup down so I could cup her ears. "It turns out that bitch had been running some kind of blackmail scheme."

"Blackmail scheme?" Homura repeated, his shone a little sharp as well. I guess it made sense that he, as a member of a rather dangerous at times profession, managed to pick up on the implications first. I nodded, not even bothering to stop myself from bearing my teeth in anger.

"Yeah. She would dig up dirt on people, and then use it to get them into her clutches. That utter bitch was good at that."

"Emiya-kun," Miya chimed in, "it really isn't appropriate to be so vulgar." Normally, I would have agreed with her, but I already had Kuu's ears covered, and everyone else here was a semi-mature adult figure.

"No," I disagreed, shaking my head. "Bitch is appropriate. After she managed to get a hold on someone, she'd never let go. While I was busy feeling sorry for myself, that utter, completely, totally contemptible waste of human flesh was amusing herself with torturing my Saber. Bitch is too soft a word. There aren't words in the Japanese language to properly express the utter hatred I feel for that detestable worm."

The strength of my contempt for the one responsible for putting Saber through so much pain seemed to unnerve the room at large. Only Tsukiumi seemed capable of moving past that. "So what happened next, Shirou?" she asked me, leaning forward intently.

"Well, it turned out that Rin's ex had figured out what was going on, and let himself get caught in the same way," I explained, releasing Kuu's ears so I could pick up my sake again. "He thought that if he let himself get caught in the same way, than Rin would be able to figure out what happened and take steps. Even though she was pretty messed up at the time, Rin managed to do just that. I went with her to break up the scheme," I paused, and recovered Kuu's ears as the Green Girl looked up at me in curiosity at my continued censorship, "and while I managed to hold off the muscle that that bitch had gathered Rin beat the ever living shit out of her and then destroyed all her blackmail."

"Good," Tsukiumi nodded in approval, a proud smile appearing on her face. It seemed that the water user was quite happy to hear a tale where everyone got their comeuppance. I shrugged halfheartedly, once more releasing Kuu's ears as I did so.

"Yeah, well, it'd be nice if that settled everything," I admitted, trying to take another sip from my cup and finding the container empty. Kazehana eagerly leaned forward to refill it, not wanting any delay in the story I was spinning. It was surprisingly easy to adjust the events of the Grail War to something which more closely resembled a day time drama. 'Called forth from the grave to fight for an all powerful artifact' became 'me giving her a hand', and 'being forced into a compulsory contract of obedience through the use of a mystic weapon of unfathomable power' became 'blackmail scheme'. "Sadly, things weren't that easy, even afterwards. Rin's ex wanted her back, but she couldn't get over his initial betrayal, even if he had only done it to reveal the whole scheme. I was still dealing with abandonment issues, and Saber was trying to cope with what she had been through as well. It may have sounded like the whole thing ended neatly, but the truth was we were all a giant collection of messes at that point."

"So what happened?" Matsu prodded. Despite her usual love of watching the chaos that my life brought with it as an objective observer, the hacker sounded unusually solemn. It looked as though my earlier point about the differences between Humanity and Sekirei had really taken root in her. She was listening, her head cocked to the side and her eyes half closed, taking in every word I said. I had no doubt that somewhere in that fiercely efficient brain of hers she was trying to analyze every word I spoke both from her standpoint and from the viewpoint of my species as well.

"Rin's ex and I got into several pretty fierce fights at that point, before he finally gave up," I elaborated. "Saber on the other hand started spending time with Rin. The two managed to make a great friendship out of the whole mess. Saber really needed someone she could rely on while she was getting over what had happened to her, and Rin was able to help her out."

"So what happened then?" It was Homura who spoke up at that point. I had no doubt that the flame wielder had seen more than his fair share of situations like this. He had worked in an industry ripe with this kind of drama. More than that, he was one who stood as the guardian of the unwinged. He had had to protect a good number of the unprepared of his species from predators like Caster had been. I had no doubt that there might be a few he still remembered at this point, a few that he had been too slow to help, just a little too late, and then been forced to stand aside and watch as those unlucky Sekirei had been forced to endure something very like what Saber had. The difference was that Rin and I had managed to defeat Caster before the twisted bitch could totally warp the Servant of the Sword to her will. For the Sekirei, the moment they were winged, there was no way to undo what had been done.

"Rin was her usual pigheaded self," I admitted, unable to keep a rueful chuckle from escaping. "Even after everything that had happened, Saber still had feelings for me. And despite how screwed up everything was, I still had some for her. In the end, Rin just got sick of putting up with us feeling sorry for ourselves and forced us to get over it. It was always the three of us after that."

It was almost disturbing how easy it was to twist the true events of the Grail War into something more suitable to a trashy dime romance novel, but it seemed to be enough for the group at large to work with. If anything, the assembled females seemed to eat it up. Kazehana sighed happily at the end of my fabricated tale, wiggling girlishly with one hand on her cheek as she used the other to pour another glass for me, and then one for herself. "That's just so romantic," she sighed once more as she put the bottle down. "I love hearing stories of how love overcomes all!"

"Yes!" Musubi chimed in, lifting both arms up in celebration at the triumphant conclusion of how I had ended up in a bizarre three way romance. "The power of love!" Kazehana's eyes lit up at finding a sympathizer with her joy and began to nod enthusiastically, waving one hand at the shrine girl.

"Isn't it great? So won-der-ful!" the wind user encouraged the shrine girl, and I was briefly worried about the consequences of having the outsider encourage my more twisted member of my flock in her distorted areas, but decided to ignore it for now. Even though most of the rest of the group seemed to find the apparent end of my story heartening, there were some who had a bit more foresight then to start celebrating. Homura had a distant look on his face, one hand coming up to scratch at his chest as he did so, and from the way Matsu remained still, the light reflecting of her glasses, she too had already determined that there was more to the story. After all, if things had ended as happily as they had so far, then I probably wouldn't be so unwilling to speak about the two as I was. I probably would never had met any of the people assembled in the room, be they flock, family, or friend for that matter.

"What happened next, Emiya-kun?" Miya chimed in, her face patient as she did so. From her sympathetic tone she too seemed to realize that the second half of my story probably wouldn't end so well.

"London happened," I summed it up in two words. The residents of Izumo House who had been there when I had first given my abbreviated summary of what had happened in England could recall the basics of my history with that country, but Tsukiumi, Kazehana, and Yukari looked curious as they tried to interpret my cryptic statement.

"London?" Yukari repeated, leaning forward eagerly. It looked like she was getting an unexpected bounty of information on her older brother today. I had steadfastly refused to bring up London in front of either her or Takami. My mother was still trying to find out what kind of legal problems I had accumulated over there, and if there was one thing I could absolutely not let happen it was even appear to be hinting at the existence of the Mage's Association to the uninitiated. If Takami started poking around there, and the Clock Tower realized who it was responsible for her having a lead, my status as a Hermit would be in permanent danger. If the Association decided that I had become a Philosopher, an active threat to the secrecy of thaumaturgy, then any chance of remaining a low priority target would be gone.

Choosing my words carefully, I continued my explanation.

"I mentioned that I originally got into the school there on a technicality, and that I had to pull up my grades later, didn't I?" Seeing nods from the previously informed Sekirei, I continued. "Well Rin was that technicality. The girl was a genius, a one of a kind prodigy. The school wanted her to attend so bad that they didn't care about the fact that she was oriental, and were even willing to go so far as to allow me in too just to make sure she would attend. After we arrived, it was thanks to Rin's help that I was able to catch up with the curriculum." I paused, and slugged back my sake, feeling it burn as it went down. "And then once the false accusations came, that's when things went wrong."

I held up my cup, waiting for Kazehana to obediently fill it. Saying things like 'that's where things went wrong' and 'false accusations' was playing it fairly close to the truth. The original attack had probably been meant to compromise Rin, but there had been other factors as well. Factors like the fact that the 'Emiya' name had history behind it, and even if I wasn't a genuine heir, a lot of that history came down on me. More than that, Rin and I had been mostly responsible for the complete destruction of the Holy Grail, not just the magical object, but the abolishment of the Heaven's Feel Ritual in its entirety. With definite proof of the corruption of the ritual that had caused the Grail to transform from a wish granting device to something only capable of unleashing malice and hate on the world, it had been the final straw needed to cause the Mage's Association to order the ritual to be dismantled completely.

That had not been something a great number of families had been happy with. There had been many magi lineages that had gambled on acquiring the artifact and been humiliated with their losses during the former Wars. More than that, of the three original families that had set the ritual up, the Tohsaka, the Einzbern, and the Matou, only Rin had been a representative of the three that had actually agreed with the destruction of the ritual. For the Einzbern and the Matou, even with the Grail's corruption, they hadn't been willing to see the ritual ended. Why would they? After all, the families had both spent centuries attempting to complete it, and had invested countless lives and endless shares of their fortunes into it. For it to be ended due to the testimonies of the third family and her apprentice was an unbearable insult. Especially to the Einzbern, seeing as the apprentice bore the same name as the contestant they had handpicked to participate in the fourth war, had welcomed into the family and given a bride from their number, had actually made it to the point of completing the ritual, and then turned his back on the family and destroyed the Grail at the moment of the family's triumph.

It had probably been meant as nothing more than an insult, a petty way of casting mud on the Emiya name. Break into the apprentice's workshop, screw around with a few of his experiments, trash some of his research, and show his inferiority by violating the most sacred lair of a magus. They obviously hadn't expected someone as lacking in talent as myself as actually being able to defend his workshop. The perpetrator had also been totally unprepared for the fact that the fragile ward he destroyed would force him into an instantaneous death match, with no preparation to ready themselves, or rules to limit me.

If the Einzbern family had known what the attempt would bring down on the would-be thief, than they might not have sent their heir to do so. I hadn't known until after I had killed him that he had been the heir to a family that already bore a grudge against me. I hadn't known then either that the Einzbern was one of the few lineages that had never established branch families. With one stroke of my sword, I had nearly destroyed their entire heritage. I never even learned his proper name, but he had been the only son and heir of the family, and with the current head's age, the family had been forced to desperately preserve the dead heir's body in order to keep his Thaumaturgical Crest from being lost, and then set about birthing a new heir and bringing them to age in the time they had bought. Nearly as surely as Kiritsugu had demolished the Archibalds, I had quite possibly ended the Einzbern as well.

If that hadn't been enough to piss the old family off, when they sought legal reparations through the Association it had been ruled that I had merely been acting as was appropriate for any magus: I had been defending my research and my workshop from an unwanted interloper. If anything, the Einzbern had lost even more face with the Clock Tower with that revelation. To counter the smear on their name, they then claimed that they had evidence that I had been involved in illegal research. The Emiya name had that particular reputation already. Kiritsugu's own father had once received a Sealing Designation for research into Apostles and vamipiric methods of extending life.

It had probably been a last ditch effort to insult me: just a method of saying that 'even if you stopped the first attempt, we still had the power to make your life hard'. The Einzbern had probably been just as surprised as the rest of the Clock Tower when they did find traces of forbidden research. Reality Marbles were also considered taboo subjects to attempt, and were moderated just as intensely as research into vampirism. Much to their surprise, they discovered that not only had I been researching Reality Marbles, but had actually already manifested one as well.

"Shirou?" Tsukiumi broke me from my thoughts, and I realized that I had been staring at my refilled cup as I was lost in my thoughts. The rest of the room was watching me, wondering what was going through my head as I sat in silence. With a quick shake like a dog shedding water, I pulled myself back to the present, slugged back the sake, and held the cup out again. I could feel the faint lightheadedness of the alcohol suffusing me, and had to make sure to regulate how much od I sent to Avalon. Having a conceptual weapon that constantly attempted to clear poisons from my system sometimes made it hard for me to maintain a buzz.

"With the false charges on me, the problem came from what Rin and Saber would do," I finally continued. Yukari perked up at that, eagerly leaning forward.

"Did the two break up with you in order to keep from getting in trouble?" she demanded, frantically trying to find the proof she wanted in order to confirm once and for all that the two were horrible, evil, manipulative witches. I shook my head with a sigh.

"No," I told her. "I broke up with them instead." That got a stir from my flock. I continued, explaining why it was that I had done what I had. "Rin might have been a genius, but it wasn't like she was from a particularly wealthy family. In fact, it was kind of the opposite. She was actually in considerable financial distress. The school and the prestige she'd get from attending it would be enough for her to get good work afterwards, and with her scholarship she would be able to complete her education without racking up further debt. For Saber, England was her homeland. I might have been able to escape the legal problems by getting out of the country, but for her they would only be exacerbated if she were to do the same. In the end, we had a big fight about it, but the truth of the matter was that even if they wanted to come with me, the only thing that would accomplish would be ruining their lives. In the end, I managed to convince them, and I'm sure that they're doing fine, but it came at the cost of me not being able to be with them anymore."

Calling what happened before I had been forced to flee the Clock Tower 'a fight' was quite possibly the biggest understatement I had made in the entire story. Saying that if they had come with me I would be ruining their lives was also an understatement. Rin had always wanted to become a member of the Mage's Association. The simple fact of the matter was that for all the politicking and intrigue being a member forced someone to do they simply had the most resources available in order for the members to further their research. For Rin, who favored using expensive jewels as her Mystic Codes and components of her spell work, having access to those resources were essential for her to continue on her path as a traditional magus.

Despite all that, she had been willing to abandon the Association in order to come with me. However, if she had done so, than she would have painted herself a target for the Enforcers and whatever freelancers and bounty hunters that felt the urge to come after my head. As it was, she was already on thin ice with the Association. She had been my master after all, so suspicion was on her for whether or not she had already known about my forbidden research. Besides that, she was also the owner of her own rare and nearly Seal worthy feat as well: Saber. Heroic Spirits were massively powerful entities, creatures of legend and immense worth all on their own. Normally existing more as pure energy, as literal forces of nature, to have one confined to a human comprehensible form like a Servant would require massive amounts of preparation and magical energy. Trying to make another existence like Saber's would require more effort and resources than most magi would ever consider spending for what amounted to a curiosity. It was only thanks to the Heaven's Feel, a ritual designed to produce a Sorcery and thus had the necessary resources to accomplish it, that Saber could exist as she was now. It was thanks to Rin's own stupidly powerful magical ability that she could continue to do so.

Saber too had been unwilling to simply let me leave. Rin might have been the petite swordswoman's technical Master, but in the eyes of the duty bound former King I had been the one that she had sworn her oath too. Even during the Grail War Saber had proven willing to ignore Rin's safety in favor of confirming my own, like she did during the battle between Archer and me in the Einzbern Castle. Saber liked Rin, and cared for her almost as much as she did for me, but despite that I was still the one whom she served primarily.

There hadn't been much time during our final hours together. It wasn't like the Clock Tower was going to politely wait for us to hash out a decision on what we were going to decide. Rin had only managed to find out about the accusations and upcoming search of my workshop an hour or so before it happened, and there hadn't been enough time for me to get there first and destroy my notes on how to utilize my Reality Marble. Our last meeting had been full of frantic packing, desperate planning, and shouting, lots of shouting. Me, trying to convince the two that they would be safer without me nearby, that if I left then I could protect them; Saber and Rin, both calling me a fool, arguing that they didn't care about their own safety, that they would rather come with me than be safe. Fierce words were given all around.

In the end, they had agreed. Rin had sworn that she would find some way to get the Designation revoked, that she would do all in her power to see to my safety from within the Tower. Saber had similarly sworn that if it was ever needed that she would find me and protect me herself, regardless of whatever it was I desired. And then there was no more time for words. I had to flee, barely getting far enough away from my two lovers in time to keep them free from the struggle, battling the Enforcers and overly eager magi who wanted the first chance to be the one to slice open my body and study my magecraft. My escape from England left behind nothing but bitter words and broken bodies.

"That's not right, Shirou-san!" Musubi was the first to respond to the end of my story of heartbreak and intrigue. "You should have brought them along! You were in love!" I couldn't quite stop a bitter smile from crossing my lips. It seemed that even when it didn't involve Sekirei finding their Ashikabi, the love freak really did stick to her principles.

"It really was for the best though," I told her, sipping my Sake. Beside me, the comforting noise of Akitsu's chains echoed, and in my lap Kuu was leaning back against me, doing her best to offer what comfort she could to her onii-chan. "Sometimes, love just isn't enough." I softened my bitter words to the distorted Sekirei. "Human's just aren't as lucky as you Sekirei. Sometimes we don't get 'forever and ever', and sometimes we just can't be with the ones we want to."

"But," Musubi protested, bringing her hands up beneath her chin and fisting them in protest. "But it's love!"

"Its love," a new voice cut in, and when I glanced over at the interrupter, I was greeted by a strange expression on the speaker's face. Kazehana seemed to be missing her usual cheer and playfulness, a strangely wistful expression on her face. "But sometimes, there is no logic in love." The wind user poured herself a drink, and then refilled my only half empty cup, her eyes unfocused and a small sad smile gracing her lips.

"Well," Tsukiumi said abruptly, sitting up straight and folding her arms as she closed her eyes and posted a stern expression on her face. "If that's what it means to be a human, than I'm glad I'm not one of them! Listen up, Shirou," she snapped, thrusting a finger into my face. "I don't care what might have happened before, but now you're my husband! I won't ever let things end like that. As your Sekirei, I will always look out for you, no matter what!" A hand plucked at my sleeve, and I looked to the side to see Akitsu gently clutching onto my clothes.

"Ah." With a small blush on her face, Akitsu nodded to the blonde water user's declaration. "Forever and ever," the snow woman repeated, her voice soft.

"Musubi too!" Musubi added in, raising both her hands up in the air exuberantly.

Feeling a bit shell shocked from the sudden change in mood from somber to whatever this sudden influx of affirmation was called, I glanced around the room, trying to get my bearings. The alcohol was starting to make my thoughts a bit fuzzy, and I wasn't quite sure what the most appropriate method of dealing with suddenly having my flock reaffirming their oaths to me. While I was searching the room for clues on how to react, my eyes focused on Matsu and Homura.

"Fuhuhu," the hacker gave me a perverted giggle, the light bouncing off her glasses as she began to lean forward. "It seems that Shirou-tan needs some healing," she proclaimed, her hands grasping in front of her at something only she could see, an action that left me feeling very nervous for some reason. "Matsu thinks she knows just what Shirou-tan needs to get over his unfortunate past!" Beside her, Homura sighed, shaking his head as he did so. Despite his action, he was sporting a small smile. Meeting my eyes he added his own opinion.

"Well, if all he needs is a distraction, I think that everyone is proving to be good at that," he shrugged, leaning backwards. As he made no further move to intercede on my behalf, my eyes widened as I realized his intentions.

"This is revenge for when I put you on the spot with the whiteboard, isn't it?" I accused him. His smile widened as he shrugged innocently. The movement of his head drew my eyes behind him, and I realized that at some point Yukari had disappeared from the table and was now crouched down in the corner, with her phone to her ear and one hand up to conceal her mouth.

"…So that's what he said, Mom," I managed to make out what she was saying from the across the room, though only barely. "It turns out that they didn't break his heart! You see, this is what happened…"

"Wait," I squawked out. "Is that Takami on the phone? You mean she was serious when she said that you two had a reporting system?" Yukari gave me a look that managed to convey, 'well, duh,' rather well nonverbally all the while continuing to repeat the explanation I had just given to our mother.

I tried to get up, not quite certain if it was to interrupt the ongoing explanation in the corner, or even if I should, when a flash of purple appeared next to me.

"Well, Ashikabi-kun," Kazehana crowed, throwing one arm casually around my shoulder, much to the consternation of the rest of my flock. "Even if you managed to find all these Sekirei to help, it doesn't change the fact that you have a broken heart. There are two ways to treat one of those! The first is to find someone new," she sent me a flirty grin, and I began to get very nervous at her proximity. She didn't look like she was flushed or in any way having her breathing impaired, but I already had way too much experience with sudden and unexpected reactions, and this was still an unwinged Sekirei beside me. "And the second is alcohol!" the slightly tipsy Sekirei finished off her explanation with a triumphant cheer, before unceremoniously shoving the lip of her sake bottle into my mouth, barely avoiding chipping my teeth as she did so. I was unprepared for the flow of sake, and found myself desperately gulping in order to avoid drowning.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tsukiumi demanded of the wind user, leaping to her feet as she did so, her clothes whirling about her as she fisted her hands in rage. Kazehana waved a free hand at the water user carelessly.

"Just sharing a drink, panty-flasher-chan!" the inebriated Sekirei told Tsukiumi in a sing-song voice. Yukari noticed the proximity of her arch-nemesis to her onii-chan and leapt to her feet, still holding her phone to her head as she joined Tsukiumi in her outrage.

"Get away from my onii-chan!" my sister shrieked, no doubt causing irreversible damage to poor Takami's ear on the other end of the line.

As madness once more descended on Izumo House, I couldn't help myself. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe just the familiarity of the scene, but I couldn't quite keep the laughter from bubbling out of me. It was almost enough to make me forget about the dark thoughts of earlier, and even though the memories still lingered closer to the surface than I liked, I let myself get swept up into the shenanigans with a strange feeling of warmth in my chest.

For some reason, despite the sheer variety of the people present, I couldn't help but feel that at some point, Izumo House had really become a home to me now. And so, at least for a little bit, I let myself fall into the routine.

Worrying could wait, even if it was only for a night.


	23. Twenty Third Wing

In Flight: Twenty Third Wing

_Author's notes: And here it is, number 23. First off, reviewer address. Lots of people out there giving comments and feedback, and as always thanks. I'm glad that so many people are enjoying the work so far. A lot of curiosity over what will happen with Haruka and Kazehana seems to be the predominant questions I see. I will say that I have plans for both of them. Originally, this chapter was supposed to cover Haruka, but sadly I once more severely underestimated how far I'd get in the story, and thus next chapter will reveal Haruka's fate. Actually, next chapter will have a lot of interesting things going on. Unless I once again screw up and have to put certain parts off for yet another chapter. Something which annoys me a bit due to it interfering with my planning of the story, but hey, I like to think that I'm doing well enough so far._

_Also, shout out to all the forum goers. Still not sure why the link is down from my profile, and I'll fiddle around with it after I update, but if any of you want to find it its still up and running it. Might have to google it to find it, but its definitely still up. The title is 'Mechanics of In Flight', so I hope to see you all there._

_Now, onto the chapter_

_*Spoilers*_

_*Seriously, if you don't want to know what's gonna happen before hand, skip down now*_

_First off, the opening scene with the men all dressing in aprons and doing housework while the women all run about willy-nilly. I actually had fun doing this scene. I was re-watching key episodes for inspiration and it occurred to me just how much traditional gender roles are reversed in Sekirei, with Minato always doing housework and such while his flock of kick ass aliens get to engage in awesomeness. I decided to roll with it, and put this scene in in order to keep with the source material. It also serves as chance to put my own scene in, much like the whiteboard from last chapter, so that In Flight can really branch away from just being retelling of Sekirei with Nasuverse elements. The chapter ran a little long, and I considered cutting the scene out and posting it in the forums as a deleted scene, but decided to leave it in because it had one more important element to it: Haruka's adjustment to life in Izumo House. I've read other Sekirei fanfics before, and even when they add Yukari and Shiina or other canon characters who just happened to get sucked into living at Izumo, too often they just kind of relegate the new characters to the background as they're mostly unimportant to following canon. I wanted to flesh Haruka out a bit, and thus his resentment over being asked to do 'woman's work' and chores he wasn't used to comes to the fore. Wouldn't mind hearing thoughts about it, so give a shout if you think it worked, or if I was just wasting your time and keeping you all from getting to the good parts._

_Secondly, and I think a great number of people have been waiting for this, Akitsu getting her wings. There had been a lot of speculation over whether or not Shirou would use Rule Breaker on her, but I decided to go another route. I'm sure that how Shirou winged her, and the mechanics and background that I added in to flesh out the Scrapped Numbers as a whole will bring a lot of comments and questions, but since a lot of that will be plot relevant, I might not be able to answer those until later. For now, feel free to ask, but don't be surprised if I can't answer._

_Third, and I'm sure this will bring out the controversy, Shirou finally having sex with his flock. First off, I didn't want to write a lemon, partially because I've never done one and if I was going to venture into that territory I'd probably write it under a different name so as not to embarrass myself, and partially cause I didn't want to risk having In Flight taken down due to violation of FFN's adult policy. I settled for the vague and mildly descriptive format because I didn't want it all to happen between elipses, and because the impact of the acts does have relevance and couldn't be skipped over entirely. That being said, I think most of the controversy will be over whether or not this counts as cheating on Saber and Rin. I tried to explain Shirou's reasoning behind moving on, and I think it kept in character, but I don't mind hearing other opinions as well._

_Fourth, the scene between Shirou and Miya. I wanted to flesh out my idea behind the nature of Scrapped Numbers a bit, and this was the best way to do it. I know canon says 'winged themselves' but there's no reason I have to stick to canon precisely. Plus, despite the fact that the two will remain platonic for the story in general, its fun to write their scenes. Shirou getting some prime teasing in on Miya being one of the guilty pleasures I get from writing In Flight in general._

_Finally, the hook at the end. Originally, I wanted the entire scene to be part of this chapter, and was going to be the 'very bad thing' that I hinted at last chapter. Unfortunately, the chapter was already well over my favored length, so I decided to save for the next one. I've also decided that I suck at giving hints, like all the times in the past when I promised violence only for it to be put off and annoying my readers to no ends. Sorry folks._

_That being said, next chapter, bad things happen! Probably a good bit of fall out from those bad things. Tsukiumi finally getting actual character development might occur as well. Kuu saying more than her usual one liner? God forbid, it just might occur. And if things go right, the asskickery so many have been waiting for!_

_Maybe! - _-_

_Like it? Give a review. Questions comments and concerns? Forums are a good place for those. And as always, enjoy._

_*Story Start*_

It was always somewhat relaxing to come home after a long days work. Well, normally it would be. Honestly, sometimes it felt as though work was the most relaxing part of the day. It was peaceful, getting my hands dirty with my tools, opening the backs of washing machines and heaters, ferreting out that tiny glitch in an otherwise functioning machine, and knowing that once I finished the appliance would once more function as it had, cleaning dishes and clothes or warming people's residences.

It wasn't quite as relaxing to have try and dodge the daily chase between a deranged water wielding alien and my irrepressible sister, both clad in naught but the towels around their torsos. Nor to see Kuu pursuing a giggling Musubi as the two worked together to make watering the lawn take as long as physically possible, albeifar more enjoyable then if they took their work seriously. Hearing the wailing of Kuno as she was chased by an inebriated Kazehana who was determined to celebrate the smaller and less gregarious Sekirei's tragic love story through copious amounts of sake only added a back drop to the whole scene.

Still, with enough exposure even an exciting scene like the one that greeted me when I returned from the days toils could become routine. With practiced ease I side stepped a giggling Kuu, who paused long enough in her attempts to steal the watering hose from Musubi to latch onto my leg and beam up at me for a moment in welcome before returning to her larcenous exploits. A distracted nod at the excitable shrine maiden was added as well. Once in the foyer, I had to stop to remove my shoes, which conveniently gave me time to let my sister race by me and up the stairs, though why she thought cornering herself in a one exit hallway would protect her from the furious wrath of a molested Tsukiumi who charged past a second later escaped me.

It wasn't until I was well into the house that I finally paused to study a scene more carefully.

"Emiya-kun," Miya greeted me, giving me a polite smile as she did so. "When did you get back?"

"Just now," I responded, absentmindedly as I took in the sight. "You know," I continued, scratching my chin. "I know it's a bit old fashioned, but there just seems something that seems odd about this scene."

"Oh?" Miya asked, putting a hand to her cheek as she did so. "What's that?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I think it might have something to do with traditional gender role dissonance or something."

It probably was the fault of me just being old fashioned, but the sight of Shiina, Haruka, and even Homura all bundled up in the typical old fashioned sleeved aprons that Miya tended to favor for housework and handkerchiefs around their hair as they helped the landlady with the laundry really did just look off.

"Typical gender roles have obviously never had experience trying to say 'no' to Miya," Homura supplied for me, a resigned smile on his face as he worked. The older male Sekirei was comfortably seated at the edge of the hallway, his legs dangling onto the hard packed ground of the courtyard as he folded the pile of laundries.

"True," I acknowledged, nodding my agreement. In the courtyard proper, I watched as Shiina did his best to explain to a clumsy Haruka how to properly settle futons on the hanging bar that Miya had for drying. The Ashikabi didn't seem used to hanging clothes, most likely more comfortable using a drier for his washing needs.

"You have to make sure it hangs straight," the younger male Sekirei explained, smiling happily as he smoothed out a rough spot in the bedding. "If it's not completely stretched, then the creases take longer to dry, and can wrinkle."

"You mean like this?" the young man asked, frustration leaking into his voice as he did so. It wasn't like hanging laundry was hard, but it was obviously a new experience to the young man. He scrubbed one of his forearms across his forehead, scowling at the futon as he tried to emulate Shiina. For a moment he looked like he had succeeded, but then he swore and had to grab the laundry as it began to slide, the weight on one side enough to almost send the newly cleaned bedding onto the dirt beneath it.

"Now, now, Haruka-kun," Miya moved over to help the fumbling Ashikabi as he tried to keep the clean clothes clean. "Make sure you balance it properly, alright?"

"I know," he said a bit fast, backing away slightly from the landlady as he did so. When Miya paused, her smile decreasing slightly, the Ashikabi seemed to realize what he had done, and looked like he tried to suppress a grimace. "I know," he said again, his voice a little more even. "It's just that I've never done something like this before. Sorry."

It had been three days since Haruka and Kuno had moved into Izumo House, and so far he had taken to the experience less well than the rest of us had. I could think of a number of reasons why. From what I had been able to learn, the household Haruka had grown up in had been a very modern one, favoring technological convenience over tradition most of the time. For all that I loved the shoji doors and hardwood floor of the inn, the only other male human in the house didn't quite appreciate the same décor. Add on that many of the conveniences he was used to weren't present, like a central air conditioning unit or washing machines, and the other man was finding the transition hard. I was willing to admit that while I might be able to shrug off the way Izumo was colder than normal more modern houses in the morning and hotter during the day with the ease of having grown up in similar conditions it just wasn't the same for him. Even with that aside, when it came time for chores Miya always preferred to use traditional cleaning methods. Izumo House did have a drier after all, for during the winter or when it rained and air drying laundry just wasn't feasible, but with spring finally warming up the landlady had gleefully resorted to hanging newly washed clothes to dry. The same was with the floors: rather than use a mop which would let the cleaner stay upright as they took care of the hardwood floors, the landlady insisted on using the older method of hand pushing damn clothes to do so.

When Haruka had signed on to board, Miya had refused to accept his MBI card, and after having heard my explanation of how the company was using the purchase information to track us Ashikabi, Haruka had agreed. However, that left him with only his limited bank accounts to use, bank accounts that weren't going to stay full forever. With the Sekirei Plan in full swing it generally wasn't very safe for an Ashikabi to work, not unless they happened to have their Sekirei nearby for protection. Since Kuno was not much of a fighter that meant that Haruka's bank accounts weren't going to get much in new inflow. As a compromise, Miya had let him stay on for virtually free, so long as he contributed to the chores. When the other Ashikabi had agreed I doubt he realized just what that meant.

If that wasn't enough to cause discomfort in the other man, than the revelation of just who he was lodging with had shook him up even more. It had only taken one of my sister's usual romps in the bath and the subsequent explosion from Tsukiumi that Miya had to quiet down with her usual hannya mask for the young man to realize the truth behind the ghost stories of the North. The revelation had very nearly been enough for him to cut ties and run on its own, and even though he had held his ground in the end he still could be found to clutch his protective charm whenever the landlady was nearby. To compound that, a careless slip from Yukari had revealed just who the 'Devil Ashikabi' and the 'Grim Reaper Sekirei' really were. Since my sister and her Sekirei had gone out of the way to help the other Ashikabi and his Sekirei, Haruka had managed not to panic too much at the revelation, but it hadn't made him any more comfortable.

God knows what might happen if the Ashikabi realized that the other residents he was lodging with were none other than the 'Veiled Sekirei' and the 'Ashikabi with swords'.

"That's fine, Haruka-kun," Miya told the skittish Ashikabi, still giving him a small smile though she didn't get any closer. "Keep up the good work."

"Thanks," he told her back, slowly turning back to the pile of wet laundry that still needed to be hung. As he did, Shiina glanced over at me from where he had been diligently continuing his task.

"Welcome back, Aniki," he told me, smiling politely. "How was work?" For all the trouble that Haruka was having, Shiina seemed to be thriving in the same environment. Internally, I could only shake my head in wonder at how much the master of decay, one of the most dangerous contestants in the contest by my opinion, seemed to fit the stereotypical title of 'house husband'. The polite young man actually seemed to enjoy doing his chores, often humming to himself as he assisted with the laundry or the cleaning. Compared to his Ashikabi, whom seemed to enjoy nothing more than rushing off to have adventures and excitement, the younger Sekirei was like an ocean of calm. Despite the fact that I still worried about him having entirely too much female influence in his life, I found the role seemed to suit him. Shiina and Yukari, they just seemed complement each other so well that even if he hadn't been a bonded alien I would have found myself reluctantly approving of the match in my big brother capacity.

"Simple enough," I told him, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Was there any trouble?" he continued, giving me a worried look. "I know you were the one who found the threads, but lately stories have been going around on the internet about that new dangerous Ashikabi, and Yukari-sama has been worrying."

"It's fine," I told him, my smile getting a bit brittle. "I had Akitsu with me."

The new Ashikabi he was referring to was of course the now, according to rumors, psychopathic serial killer, the 'Ashikabi with swords'. I had wanted to make an impression four days ago when I had taken out that Junichi and scared Himura away, and it appears that I had succeeded. Maybe a little too well actually. Before, the rumors that the East had been spreading had simply involved me getting a little slice happy, just cutting up my supposed victims before leaving them behind to hunt my newest prey. I don't know the specifics of it, but apparently when Himura had tried to contact the Junichi afterwards he hadn't been able to locate him. I was fairly certain the reason behind that was that Junichi had most likely been in an MBI facility getting his ribs treated. Himura had instead leapt to the conclusion that I had killed him and buried him in the woods. With an ever increasingly detailed 'eye witness' account from the frightened Ashikabi my supposed brutality grew with every telling. It had started fairly accurate, with me just having hit the foul mouthed former Ashikabi with a sword. Then it had grown until I had taken a limb with my strike. By now, it had escalated to the point where I had tied my victim to a tree and then started skinning him alive.

Needless to say, I had been more or less successful with my original intent. Unfortunately, much in the same way that Yukari had first heard of the Veiled Sekirei, my little sister had taken one look at the rumors and then decided to once more engage in a quest in the name of justice.

I was just thankful that thanks to the unspoken rivalry between Yukari and Kuu that my sister hadn't mentioned her quest for the sword Ashikabi around the younger Sekirei. I had little doubt that Kuu would summarily give me away by once more explaining that I did in fact have swords.

"Still," Shiina fretted, giving me a worried look as he unconsciously continued hanging the laundry. "Yukari-sama and I worry." Near where I was standing, Homura snorted.

"Don't worry about Shirou," he told his kohai absentmindedly. "He can take care of himself." He paused, and then in a voice that seemed more to himself than to the rest of us gathered muttered, "Who's are these, anyway?" I glanced over to find the flame user holding a pair of panties that had apparently been mixed into the rest of his load of clothes to be folded. The set was made out of black silk, and consisted mostly of interwoven lace and completely sheer patches connecting them asymmetrically.

"Ah," Akitsu spoke up for the first time since we returned home. "Those are mine," she admitted, not sounding at all embarrassed. Homura glanced down to his side where he had been placing the folded garments in separate piles. There were several other sets of undergarments mixed in, though most of those were generally white and a great deal more modest.

"Is something like this even comfortable?" the fire user asked, his voice sounding perplexed as he did so. After a moment, the snow woman nodded slowly.

"I like them," she admitted, not sounding at all put out to be discussing her tendency towards risqué underwear. Homura shook his head, still regarding the pair in front of him.

"I'd think the wider ones would feel better," he muttered. A moment after he did, he paused, and then his eyes widened in surprise at something. He swallowed hard, and then quickly folded the pair in his hands and nearly threw them to the side. "Miya," he began, now addressing the landlady. When the lavenderette turned to give the fire user a curious look, she found that his face had gone a bit pale, and it looked like a thin sheen of sweat had formed on his face. "I'm not feeling very well," he continued, his voice shaky. "I think I need to go lie down." Without waiting for a response the flame user stood, looking rather unsteady as he did so, and immediately bolted towards his room.

"Oh my," Miya murmured, looking after the departing flame user thoughtfully. "I hope that Homura-kun is alright. I looked at the fallen panties, my mind retracing the unexpected reaction of the fire user, and it only took me a moment to make the connection: Homura, already showing signs of a progressively feminine wardrobe, commenting on the comfort level of panties?

I blanched, and tried very hard not to follow that train of thought to its end. "You know, I don't think he is," I muttered. The look the alien landlady gave me was probing, as she no doubt realized that I probably knew more about the situation then I was saying. I shook my head, casting about to try and find a way to change the topic. If Homura's sudden interest in the comfort of panties was another growing sign of his worsening condition, then it wasn't a good indication. I still held lingering hope that my direct order to return to being male might in some way prove effective. It had taken several weeks for the changes in Homura's psyche to manifest after all. If the return process was similar, then it might take a few more days until he stopped having sudden impulses to contemplate feminine undergarments. "Well, then," I finally settled on, scratching the back of my head awkwardly. "I'll just leave you all to this and be on my way."

A strategic retreat counted as a change of subjects. At least it did in my books.

"All right then, Emiya-kun," Miya nodded graciously, still studying me as I began to back away as the intuitive alien no doubt tried to divine the origin of my sudden unease. Standing near her, Haruka's head swiveled back and forth between me and the landlady.

"Wait," the newcomer interjected, sounding vaguely annoyed. "Why does Emiya-san get to get away without helping? Just because he pays?" He glanced down as though to affirm the fact that yes, he really was outside and wearing and apron while doing the laundry. "Shouldn't he have to give a hand as well?" he grumbled, giving me an annoyed look. Apparently the idea of me managing to escape the apron-ed fate that awaited him and Shiina annoyed him slightly.

When no one answered him immediately, he glanced around to see what the response to his accusation was, only to blanch when he realized that everyone gathered was giving him an odd look. "What?" he asked, his voice unsure. "Wouldn't it be fair for him to take Homura-san's spot now that the Sekirei is gone?"

"Um, Haruka-san," Shiina began, his voice apologetic as he did so. "Aniki already has a chore waiting for him." Haruka blinked, still glancing around as he realized that there was apparently some aspect of the customs of Izumo House that he was apparently still unaware of.

"Oh," he began, sounding confused. "Sorry. What is it that Emiya-san does again?"

Taking pity on the poor guy, I leaned forward and snagged a particular garment from the pile of clean laundry that Homura had abandoned. "This," I told him, tying the now clean apron with the words 'Kiss the Cook' printed on it. It had been a gag gift from Uzume a few weeks ago, something she had apparently picked up while she had been acquiring new cosplay outfits of her own. I had originally intended to just set it aside and keep on using the more traditional aprons that Miya supplied, but I had, perhaps unsurprisingly, been over ruled by my flock and it now had become my customary uniform while preparing meals.

"Oh." Haruka's eyes lit up in recognition, and he nodded. "Oh yeah. Sorry about that," he apologized, eyes unfocused as a satisfied look crossed his face. "Don't let me hold you up any longer, Emiya-san," he continued, unconsciously licking his lips as he did so.

"Perhaps I should ask Uzume-san to see if she can find a hat to go with the apron, Emiya-kun," Miya suggested, putting one hand to her mouth as she did so to conceal the smile on her face as she teased me.

"That sounds fine to me," I responded, not bothering to hide my grin of satisfaction.

Conquest of the kitchen complete.

*Scene Break*

"I just don't get what's going on," I muttered to myself, leaning back on my stool as I did so. In front of me, strewn about on the counter was what could most accurately be described as a mess of loose leaf papers that looked like they had just been hit with a leaf blower. Intermixed with the white sheets were various gears and springs, as well as a few wrenches, screwdrivers, and the most important component of any handyman's supplies, vice grips. Shuffling through the pages of my notes sent a previously concealed screw tumbling to the floor, the small tool letting out a clacking noise as it bounced off the plywood floor or my workshop before rolling under a still mostly disassembled washing machine.

The scene was one that I had grown comfortable with, as despite my best efforts I could never properly keep my workshop clean. I'm not sure where the habit had come from. Maybe it was just a side effect of my recent circumstances, but more and more it seemed to be becoming my habit to start a project, only to set it aside half finished to focus on another more pressing problem, only to do the same again, and then just go back to another half finished project afterwards. With so many different pulls on my attention recently, I had been finding it harder and harder to properly put away all my tools, or even remember which project I had left which particular implement at.

Keeping an eye on my current project, which I was waiting to cool down a bit before I subjected it to further handling, I began a halfhearted attempt to once more impose order on the entropy of my workshop, idly picking up various sheets of notes and glancing at them briefly before sticking them in various piles. The pile with various hypothetical combinations of runes was by far the largest, though that might need to be further organized later. My mystic washing machine had managed to progress to the point where I had begun to come up with combinations that might actually be useful in combat. The runes centered around the rotors of the machine might someday be reworked into a decent speed spell, and the ones that were supposed to heat and cool the water had ended up yielding numerous combinations that resulted in explosions of various sizes.

A second pile of papers had my notes on my Reality Marble. Even if I had other projects, I still had to work on sharpening my one true magical skill. Most of my various current working theories were on the sixth step of tracing, the 'reproduction of accumulated years'. It was a theory of mine that I might someday be able to isolate or adjust the process much in the same way that I had managed to fiddle with the 'sympathizing with the experience of its growth' step. I had this half cocked idea of maybe someday being able to specially project only certain parts of a Noble Phantom or Conceptual Weapon, or perhaps alter the appearance or shape of a blade. Archer had been pretty free about doing that kind of thing, reshaping blades that had existed for centuries in order to make them more aerodynamic in order to fire them from his bow, and I was almost positive that it was the 'reproduction of accumulate years' that was the key. Maybe someday I might even be able to project just the capabilities of a magical weapon, perhaps even adding the unique trait as a function of the more conventional magecraft 'Alteration' to normal items.

Being able to alter something like an amulet so that it could reproduce Avalon's healing affect would be an achievement worth bragging about in my book. Maybe an arrow that could replicate Gae Bolg's heart seeking tendencies, or a variation of Rule Breaker that could be safely used at distances greater than six inches. The possibilities were endless, but the process of realizing those possibilities was slow going.

I placed another set of notes into a third pile, one that was rapidly getting to be nearly the same size as my rune combinations. That was the fruits of my research into Miya's projection technique. I'd been getting a lot of research material lately with Miya's constant usage of its variations, though I still hadn't managed to figure out just what my own projection was. I was at least certain that I had figured out just what it was Miya was doing at least. If my theory was correct, it was a surprisingly simple trick, and one that I had perhaps unwittingly already been exposed to. I was fairly certain that I had seen Taiga do it on occasion in the past after all.

There was a fourth pile and a fifth pile as well, just some notes into bounded fields and another one for notes that turned out to be lists of materials I'd need for my actual job as a repair man. It was the sixth pile, the one that I had begun forming on Sekirei in general that brought my attention back to my current project. With a glance, I realized that the project still looked dangerously overheated. Leaning forward with concern, I asked, "Akitsu, are you feeling better now?"

The snow woman stared blankly ahead, her cheeks sporting two red spots that had grown so large they encompassed nearly the entirety of her face, not responding for a few moments. Finally, the ice wielder blinked and looked slowly at me. "Ah," she began, sounding like she was only now regaining her cognitive abilities. "What?"

I gave her a concerned look. "Maybe we should call it quits for the day," I began slowly, and was surprised when Akitsu shook her head immediately, somehow managing to suppress her normal reaction lag as she disagreed with my proposal. The snow woman seemed to realize her own haste and paused, looking away as her blush grew again.

"Ah," she corrected herself. "We can keep going." Her usually dispassionate tone of voice held a faintly audible note of hopefulness to it, which was one of the most recognizable emotional displays I had heard from the Sekirei since the day she had demanded I show her my wounds.

"If you're certain," I began, unsure whether I found Akitsu's hesitant encouragement to be amusing or endearing, or even if it was both.

I had made no secret of the fact that I was desperate for all the information that I could get my hand on, both in regards to the Sekirei Plan and in the Sekirei themselves. Generally, Matsu was proving more than effective at keeping me informed about the game. The only time the electronic genius had ever failed to get me the data I requested of her was when the data simply wasn't there. Despite that though, there were things I wanted to know about Sekirei that I couldn't just ask the hacker about.

When I first discovered that Matsu had installed hidden cameras all over Izumo House I had been worried that she had somehow managed to inadvertently stumble upon evidence of my more esoteric abilities. It turned out that while Izumo House proper had been thoroughly covered Matsu had never had the need to do the same to the unimportant storage shed in the lot next door. By the time the hacker had tried to do the same to my workshop I had already established enough protection to ensure that the redhead couldn't get in on her own, despite her attempt to steel Miya's extra set of keys. I still wasn't sure how the alien landlady managed to come and go as she pleased through my wards, but they had been enough to keep Matsu from entering. Consequentially, Matsu herself still seemed to be unaware of my more unusual talents, a fact I attributed to me having the good sense not to practice my magecraft carelessly in Izumo proper.

Originally, that had left me unable to explore the alien species more mystic attributes, not without revealing the existence of thaumaturgy and endangering them as a whole. However, that had changed when one of my flock had just so happened to stumble across a scene of me fighting to the death through mystic means against an opponent similarly endowed. The fact that the interloper also had displayed her devotion by chopping that opponent into tiny pieces for threatening me and was also naturally reticent enough for me not to worry about her accidentally revealing any of my mysteries had led to me being able to trust one of my flock enough for me to ask her to become a test subject of sorts.

I wasn't able to sneak Akitsu in to my workshop often. This was honestly only the second time in two weeks that I had brought the snow woman into my sanctuary. I had to ensure that there was no one around or I would rapidly be facing an inquisition by the rest of my flock into just why it was that Akitsu was allowed into my sanctum while the rest of them were not. The only other people to ever have been here were Miya, who could come and go as she pleased despite my best efforts, and Matsu, who was only allowed in here when it was time for me to give her Norito and was quickly ushered out before she could properly study the tools of magecraft I had begun to accumulate.

I knew that I was playing with fire by doing this. I really was trying to be fair to the rest of my flock, and even I could recognize that this was just unfair to the rest of them. But the fact of the matter was that there were things in here that I could not let them study too closely. It wasn't like I was sneaking Akitsu in just so I could spend time with her away from the rest either. I was performing genuine experiments here.

The fact that most of my experiments seemed to focus around mana exchange rituals was something I blamed on me being a crappy magus. Not only was I lacking in the general skill to analyze much of the species objectively without first utilizing my own od to flood her systems and trace the flow of the power to help me track her magic circuits, but I had far too many morals to simply strap her to a table and slice her open to get a good look at her insides.

I think my inability to kill and dissect my first Sekirei would be seen as the more disappointing of my two limitations in the eyes of most magi. There were times when I was thankful that I was a failure in certain regards.

Akitsu was at least being a good sport about the process. I had explained to her on her first visit to my workshop what I was going to be doing. The snow woman didn't seem to care about the specifics of my experiments and only focused in on what her duties would be during their course. I had managed to iron out a crude magical circle, one that I traced with a mixture of dissolved chalk, lead paint, and silver shavings. Circle construction was a branch of Formalcraft, and though I had never cared for it I had still studied it for a bit. The point of this particular circle was to completely cut off outside interference and allow me to better sense any od that might reside within it, particularly in regards to my own. Akitsu's part in my experiment was to stay within the circle and, basically, let me sniff her constantly while I tried to figure out just how it was that her species utilized their own abilities.

Akitsu had taken her task to heart, and immediately kneeled within the confines of the circle the moment I had asked her to. She didn't actually need to kneel, but she seemed to enjoy it, and I didn't have the heart to correct her. The first day would have been an odd sight to take in, with the snow woman kneeling straight back, her arms clasped behind her back for some reason, and her chest stuck out due to her rigid posture. The oddness of the sight would have been compounded if there had been anyone around to see me as I set about studying her. The first day had been mostly me having the Sekirei create and then destroy various small ice shapes. I originally had just wanted to try and get a feel for the movement of her power through her body. I knew that within human magi prana was conducted through the channels provided by magical circuits, and that the result tended to affect the body temperature of the wielder. Within the confines of the circle, I had hoped that I might be able to check to see if there was similar system in the Sekirei. This had resulted with me crouching and sniffing various parts of Akitsu's body as she used her power.

Sometimes, I envied magi who could sense power through other senses. Being able to interpret magic as a sound would have been so much less embarrassing then smell in this case. Even touch might have been preferable, though from what I understood interpreting power through that sense was one of the less articulate methods. It probably would have been just as embarrassing to run my hands all over Akitsu as it had been to smell her.

The whole thing had turned out to be a debacle. I could sense next to nothing about the specifics of her power's movements through her body, though whether that meant they simply used their power in a completely different way or if my investigative method had been flawed I wasn't certain at the moment. I had eventually had to settle with writing the whole thing off as a failure. Today's test I had decided to focus on Akitsu's mana consumption. I knew that she was drinking my od, but in general I had no idea what she, or any other Sekirei for that matter, was doing with it.

So far the best answer I could come up with despite nearly two hours of feeding her power was that she was feeding it to her forehead.

"Are you ready?" I asked the still kneeling Akitsu. The snow woman nodded again, the movement causing the chains around her neck to clank slightly as she otherwise remained perfectly still. Despite the fact that I had intended for the earlier break to be a chance for her to stretch out and relax, the snow woman had seemed content to remain frozen on the ground, not moving an inch while she waited for me to resume our previous interaction. With her arms clasped behind her back, and her posture straight as she gazed ahead blankly, it presented an interesting picture.

And as much as I kept assuring myself that what I was doing was in fact a perfectly justifiable experiment, and that it was all for the sake of furthering my understanding of her species and any potential enemies, I couldn't keep myself from admitting that it made an erotic picture as well.

I blamed Matsu for this revelation. The sneaky lascivious witch held nothing back when it came to her internet traps during our lessons. If anything, the perverted redhead seemed to delight in finding raunchier and raunchier displays to expose me to. I knew why she was doing it, damn her. She had already admitted to me proudly that she was doing her best to 'flood my libido until I could no longer contain my raging desires and ravaged her endlessly until she submitted to me completely as a mewling obedient love slave'. Those had been her exact words, actually, and that meeting had ended in me once more fleeing, all the while blushing like a school girl, as the perverted old man giggles of my shameless Sekirei echoed behind me. Unfortunately, it appeared that having Akitsu along with me for protection whenever I had to brave the lair of the beast had the unintended consequence of the snow woman also being exposed to greater and greater levels of depravity. Unlike myself, it seemed the ice user was less appalled by the scenarios presented to her and more intrigued.

Add to that the recent sleeping arrangements, and the situation had only grown harder and harder. Er, I mean, more difficult to deal with. I had hoped that the decreased amount of Sekirei I slept with at a time would make things a bit easier on me, and it seemed to have that affect in the cases where Tsukiumi or Musubi were present. However, I was rapidly growing aware that having Matsu alone with Akitsu for any length of time increased the 'Danger' level of either one of them exponentially. Matsu had slept with me twice since the new rule came into effect, and both times she had been with Akitsu, whom had apparently agreed to lend the hacker some of her more questionable sleeping garments for their nights together with me.

Whether it was Akitsu drawing ideas from her source material, or just the accumulation of Matsu's attempts to corrupt me, whatever the case was the sight of Akitsu obediently submitting herself to me was definitely becoming a distraction, especially considering the nature of our experiments today.

Crossing into the circle, I shifted until I too was kneeling, the mystically cleared center of the circle making me light headed for a second as all the accustomed scents of Izumo House faded away and left only the chill wintergreen of Akitsu surrounding me. The waiting snow woman closed her eyes and held herself perfectly still, waiting for me to take the initiative. Swallowing harshly, I closed my eyes and leaned in and had only a moment to feel her breath on my lips before they met hers.

Od once more flowed between the point of contact. No matter how many times I felt the sensation, it was always the exact same amount. Nothing I had tried so far had been enough for me to in any way affect the transfer of prana. That didn't surprise me too much actually. Od was an incredibly personal power after all. It wasn't like transferring it was easy. The extreme personal differences of one person's magic and another's had always made the sharing of od to be a difficult task. There were reasons why magi didn't just show up in groups and pool their power together in order to achieve greater mysteries after all. If it was that easy to absorb another's magical power than there would be precious little point of using magic to attack another magi as they could invariably just absorb the mana behind the spell. It took, well, special conditions for where od could be shared normally.

I did my best to follow the trail of my power through Akitsu's still body as I broke the kiss. It was harder than I thought it would be. I remember hearing once that most creatures can't distinguish their own scents. That made sense in a way. If a beast could smell themselves, then they would probably find their own odor so overpowering that they wouldn't be able to track another's. Much in the same way that Rin used to call me a bloodhound, I found myself aware of the fact that I couldn't sense my own magic through the same means as I could determine others. It was only thanks to the circle protecting me from interference that I was able to concentrate on Akitsu enough to discern the movement of my od. It was weird, knowing that the smells I was following weren't actually physical odors, but instead representations of power. Sometimes it was easy to forget the fact that I wasn't actually scenting anything, just interpreting something in a way which was similar to smell. Whatever the case was, I couldn't actually trace my od as it traveled through Akitsu, but I could sense an absence of her own power as it was displaced by mine.

And just like it had before, the mana in her body moved upwards, encountered her forehead, and disappeared, dissipating like mist in a breeze as it was vented out of her. Just as I had a dozen times already, the moment I opened my eyes, they came to rest upon Akitsu's forehead.

More specifically, the crest that resided upon Akitsu's forehead.

"Again," I muttered, eying the crest suspiciously. The innocuous thing seemed to taunt me, the light red of the symbol: bird over yin-yang with tomoes to either side. It was the same symbol that appeared on the backs of my winged flock, albeit in a different color. The Sekirei Crest. What on earth was it? It wasn't like it was the first time I'd come across a symbol inked on flesh that held a strange effect. The Thaumaturgical Crest that magi passed down through their blood lines was one. Hell, even the Command Sigils gifted to the Master's of the Grail Wars was a mystic symbol. The Sekirei species was at least semi-mystic on its own, that much I was certain of. If they achieved their powers through some kind of biological method, then there would be no need for them to drink the od of their Ashikabi partners. The species as a whole was capable of converting human energy in some way, probably a way more effective than most human methods if the strength of Musubi and Tsukiumi's Noritos were any measure of the species.

Unless…

I sank backwards, falling back from my kneeling position so that I could sit sprawl legged in front of my Sekirei. Akitsu remained where she was, her eyes closed as she sat unmoving. It looked like she was waiting for my next attempt. She shifted slightly, her tongue reaching out to trace the very innermost portion of her lips after our exchange, and I had the impression that she was in some way satisfied with the day's activities regardless of my own dissatisfaction with the progress of my experiments.

Rather than resume my attempts at provoking an unusual reaction, I instead sat still myself, letting my new idea trickle down through my brain. Was I looking at this wrong? Was I making a fundamental mistake in my underlining assumptions? They say the scientific process involved making assumptions first and then backing them up with experimentation and evidence. If the evidence provided by an experiment was different, wasn't it important to change the conclusion appropriately, regardless of the original assumption?

"Shirou-sama?" Akitsu's voice broke my concentration, and I realized that I had been lost in thought for a few minutes. The snow woman had opened her eyes and was regarding me with a trace of a disappointment in her eyes. I assumed the emotion came from the fact that I wasn't kissing her at the moment. I ignored it. I might not be much of a scientist, but after three years under Rin even an action oriented guy like me could on occasion get immersed in a mental problem.

Still tumbling the possibility in my mind, the thought only half realized, I spoke up suddenly. "Akitsu," I began. "What is a Scrapped Number?"

The question seemed to be as unexpected to the snow woman as my cessation of our impromptu make out session had been. The shock of it appeared to be enough to even cause the ice user to shift, her first large scale movement since she had assumed her subservient position in the center of my circle. The clank of chain and the rustle of kimono like feathers drifted through the otherwise silent shed. Unsure, Akitsu repeated my question.

"What is a Scrapped Number?" Her voice was hesitant at first, but by the end of it had drifted back to her usual dull tone. Judging from the sound it seemed her previous good mood was dissipating in the face of the reminder of her outcast status.

"Homura said that it was a Sekirei that had grown so powerful that they winged themselves." It was the explanation he had given me back when he had first come across his Sekirei sempai of my flock. "What does that mean? What is winging exactly? It's just a mating ritual, isn't it?" I let out a harsh puff of air as one hand came up to scratch my head. "If it's nothing but a biological method for your species to find proper mates, than what does winging yourself mean?" It just didn't make sense. The more I tried to figure it out in my head, the less sense it made. When Homura had first given me that line, I hadn't known enough to question it. I had still thought that winging was just a means to find a partner to unleash a Sekirei's power. But if it was a mating ritual, than what did self-winging imply? That the Sekirei was unable to find someone compatible? That they were destined to a life of narcissism?

"Ah," Akitsu began, finally shifting out of her upright position. The snow woman slumped, her arms falling to her side as she did so, her head drifting downwards as her gaze fixed itself on the floor in front of her. "It means that I am broken."

I grimaced at the same line that she had given me when we first met, running one hand through my hair as I did so. Even on the usually inexpressive Akitsu I could see how the topic was affecting her. It made me feel like a heel to bring it up so callously, but the half formed idea was still in my head, and the more I thought about it the more I was forced to confront the possibility of it being correct.

"Broken how?" I asked her, trying to keep my voice gentle as I did so. "Did the scientists ever tell you anything specific? How about this?" I asked, reaching one hand to rest it gentle against her cheek, partly to try and give her some comfort about my line of questions and partly so I could rest my forefinger against the crest on her brow. "When did it show up? What were the circumstances at the time? Did it just appear one day, or did you have some kind of accident while using your power?"

"Ah," Akitsu murmured, leaning into my touch gently, some color returning to her cheeks as she did so. One of her hands came up hesitantly, stopping just before it covered my own. At least it looked like the contact was helping her deal with my intrusive questions. "I forgot," she finally admitted, and I couldn't stop myself from slumping forward. It had been a while since I had heard her use that line.

"Did you forget things a lot back then?" I tried. Maybe there was some kind of connection between the snow woman's forgetfulness and the appearance of the mark? There were so many things that I didn't know about her species in general and her condition specifically. I had already had Matsu look for all the information she could find about Scrapped Numbers when I was investigating Yume though it had turned out that there was precious little there that wasn't protected at a level that even Matsu couldn't reach. Even if there was a way to get the data, there was no way of knowing how useful it would be. I was sure that all the scientists MBI had on staff were probably some of the best in the world, but even if they were just how much did that mean when dealing with a mystic species like the Sekirei? If a scientist were to study a magus the scientist might be able to discover certain biological changes that using magecraft caused like the overheating of the body when od was being run through Magical Circuits or maybe changes in brain wave patterns or something like that, but that didn't mean the scientist would be able to explain just what the magus might be doing or how the changes came about.

Akitsu seemed content to answer my questions just so long as I left my hand against her. "I forget," she admitted, a response that didn't really answer my question at all.

"Akitsu," I began, my voice slow as I reviewed all the information I could think of that might be relevant to my idea. "You remember what today's experiment was about, right? About how I was trying to see how you reacted to my magical energy?"

"Oh." Akitsu shook her head slowly before continuing. "I didn't know."

I let loose an exasperated sigh. "You forgot already?" Seriously, there were limits to even being absentminded. Maybe there was some sort of connection between the snow woman's memory problems and her status as being Scrapped.

"No," Akitsu admitted, shaking her head again. "I wasn't paying attention earlier." I gaped at her, not having expected her answer to be so blunt.

"You weren't paying attention? That was the whole reason you came in here. Why on earth weren't you paying attention? What was it you were thinking about that was so important that you couldn't even keep track of the experiment?" Even I wasn't this bad when it came to research back when Rin had first begun pounding the importance of study back into my head.

"Ah." Akitsu flushed again, brighter than she did earlier. "I was thinking about kissing Shirou-sama," she admitted.

If this was some kind of anime or story of some sort, I was absolutely positive that I would have done something as clichéd as face faulting at the snow woman's response. Since this was reality, I settled for palming my face and sighing. Maybe I was expecting too much in hoping to at least get Akitsu interested in the scientific portion of the experiment. Her species as a whole was one more concerned with fulfilling their biological imperatives after all. It's not like every human is that interested in research either. I decided to just chalk it up to the Sekirei race being as diverse as humanity was when it came to personality. Matsu would have no doubt been just as keen on my experiments findings, though I had no doubt she would have insisted on adding some of her own experiments to the day's schedule as well.

I grimaced at the thought, and despite the fact that I was taking the topic seriously, felt a small blush of my own begin to rise. Considering the idea that I was currently contemplating…

Alright. No reason to act like an immature kid. I was nearly twenty one for god's sake, and it wasn't like what I was contemplating was completely without precedence. Swallowing, I began to work out the idea that had been forming, hoping that by giving voice to it I would be able to come across anything I missed.

"Alright," I began, my voice a bit uneven as I did so. "So far I've been able to determine the Sekirei as a whole uses some of the magical power of their Ashikabi when they either get winged or are preparing to use their Norito. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that it's probably likely that latent Magical Circuits might be one of the factors that increase a person's ability as an Ashikabi. Though even people who have diminished or damaged circuits might be able to produce the same effect if they winged through force, as even people without developed circuits still have some natural od in them. It might explain why I evoke such a strong reaction in so many different Sekirei, seeing as my own circuits are probably the most developed of the Ashikabi selected so far due to my training." I trailed off realizing that I was getting side tracked, and forced myself back on topic. "Anyway, from what I can tell so far, it looks like Sekirei can only siphon so much energy at a time. From what I can tell, it's about the same amount to make the initial imprinting, the winging ceremony, as it takes for the Sekirei afterwards to utilize their Norito."

I leaned back, and then seesawed myself until I could regain my footing, standing as I did so. The action pulled my hand away from Akitsu, and the snow woman let her own hand drop down until it rested on her lap. She studied me carefully, putting her second hand beside her first, though she remained kneeling patiently on the ground as she did so. It was no different from her usual steady stare, but for some reason it made me a little more uncomfortable than it usually did, so I half turned away so I could start pacing my workshop slowly, making sure to keep Akitsu in my peripheral vision as I did so. I wanted to be able to see her reaction to my reasoning. I took a deep breath and continued working the problem out loud.

"From what the earlier," I paused, trying to decide how to phrase the last two hours we spent kissing in a clinical fashion, "experimentation," I settled on, "despite you being 'self winged', you're still absorbing my magic. Judging from the amount that Matsu, Musubi, and Tsukiumi used for their Noritos, you seem to be taking the same amount." Akitsu's head cocked slightly, the first visual cue of her attention she had given me since I had begun my explanation. "Now, I have no idea if that's normal or not. It could be that any given Sekirei that has already been winged by another Ashikabi might instinctively absorb from anyone and it's only their Ashikabi whose mana they can use. Unfortunately, I can't think of any way to test that at the moment."

It wasn't like I could just walk up to another Ashikabi's Sekirei and ask if I can take their partner into my workshop and perform secret magical experiments on them. The only other Sekirei present were Shiina, Kuno, Uzume, Kazehana, and maybe Miya. I still wasn't quite sure if the landlady actually qualified as a member of the species despite her close ties. That wasn't even including the fact that the landlady was still in mourning for her lost husband, and probably wouldn't react to well to the suggestion at all. Even thinking of asking Haruka and Kuno for help was ridiculous. I barely knew the other Ashikabi and the idea of trying to ask for permission to kiss his Sekirei felt a little too dehumanizing of his partner, and the complete lack of consideration for the shy girl's feeling left a bad taste in my mouth. Yukari might be willing to loan Shiina to me, but, well, even if the young male Sekirei looked an awful lot like a girl himself at times it didn't change the fact that he wasn't. I really didn't care much for the idea of kissing another male, regardless of how much my sister, or Matsu if the hacker found out about the idea for that matter, might support the idea. Uzume was a possibility I suppose, but she was also a good friend and I didn't want to interfere with that by asking for something so personal. Besides, Uzume's Ashikabi was female as well, and if I understood what that meant the ponytailed Sekirei would probably find the idea of kissing me as unappealing as I found the idea of doing the same to Shiina. Kazehana was just as useless to the experiment as well. She was still unwinged, and the only thing kissing her would do is add yet another member to my already too large harem. So far she hadn't shown any sign of reacting to me, at least, none that I had noticed, which I considered something of a relief, even if it appeared that the wind user had made it some sort of personal quest to see me as inebriated as often as possible ever since she learned about my past with Saber and Rin.

And that wasn't even factoring the fact that none of them were aware of the existence of magecraft in general, which would make trying to explain just why I needed to kiss another Ashikabi's Sekirei just that much harder to explain.

"Anyway," I began, shaking my head to dismiss that train of thought. "It's possible that if that's what normally happens then your taking my energy isn't anything unusual. But that's only if you being a Scrapped Number means that you're just bonded to yourself." I shook my head slowly, running over the possibility in my head. "But if that's not what normally happens, then it means that despite you not supposed to be able to be winged, your body is still trying to."

Akitsu fidgeted again, her chain clinking before she settled herself. After her moment of surprise, she stilled completely, her body an alabaster statue in the center of my workshop. Only her eyes moved, her pupils following my pacing intently, her gaze somehow even more intense then it was before. I didn't blame her. I was working on assumptions here, but if my train of logic was right, then it might mean something that even the snow woman herself had given up on.

"The winging ritual isn't the first time that I've come across prana exchanges," I admitted, stopping my pacing so I could lean back against my workbench. I met Akitsu's eyes directly, trying to convey my seriousness. "I've been involved personally in two different types before. The first was when I myself didn't have enough energy for my own magecraft. I had to form a contract with another magus, but afterwards I was able to use her power to supplement my own and was able to successfully cast the spell. The second type was when another person, someone who wasn't a human and needed mana in order to use their abilities, wasn't capable of getting enough on her own, and I had to donate my own power to help her." I took a deep breath, and then finally spit out what I was thinking. "What I'm wondering is if maybe your inability to get winged through normal methods might be something like either of those two situations."

I was used to silences when it came to Akitsu. For a moment, the Sekirei remained a statue, and then without her customary precursor noise the snow woman asked me, "What do you mean, Master?"

"I mean that the scientists that originally told you that you couldn't be winged might be wrong," I said it as directly as I could. "They weren't used to working with either your species or people like me who are more capable of using their own powers directly. I think it might be possible that you still could be winged, but that it just requires more prana than you can take into yourself normally. If that's the case, and it's just a matter of you having an unusually high activation cost in order to be imprinted, and possibly to use your Norito afterwards, then," I hesitated, and tried not to let a flush come to my face, "then there might be a way around both of those limitations."

The silence that settled on the shed was deafening. I wasn't certain if it was some hitherto unheard of aspect of Akitsu's power, but I was almost certain that even the soft noises that usually emitted from the neighborhood or the barely audible sounds coming from Izumo House proper stopped after my announcement. It could very well be my own nervousness though. I could almost hear my heartbeat as I did my best not to fidget under the blank stare of my first Sekirei. I was well aware of just how much impact my confession might have on the Sekirei in front of me. Akitsu had been laboring under the impression that she would never get to experience the same thing as the rest of her species. She had already resigned herself to the fact that she would never be able to feel the same devotion that the winging inspired in the rest of my flock, and that in the eyes of all who saw the two of us I would never actually be her real Ashikabi. She had done all she could to fill that void in her life, committing herself to me completely, ready to obey any order I might give, even to kill for me, despite the actions only being a pale imitation of what the rest of her species got to participate in. And now I was saying that I might just be able to make the shadow of our relation something more, that I might be able to truly complete the bond between us. I think that even if Akitsu had been more talkative normally the chance I was presenting her might have struck her as dumb as she had become right now.

I just hoped that what I was doing now was right. When I said that there was only a chance that this strange plan I had come up with would work, I had meant just that: a chance. It could be that nothing would come of it. Maybe she really was bonded only to herself. Maybe her taking my od was nothing more than what any other winged member of her species did, a meaningless response that was quickly shunted aside without any reaction at all. A part of me was already regretting having spoken up in the first place. That part of me was overruled by another much larger part of me.

Even if it was only a chance, even if it was one in a million, even if my assumptions and guesswork were based off hazy incomplete evidence and possibly completely unrelated coincidences, it was still a chance. And Akitsu deserved that chance. She had tried, so damn hard it was enough to make me misty eyed, to live past her condition. She had done everything she could, more than probably any other Sekirei in the plan, to be the best Sekirei she could, to be the most loyal and worthy person she could. Despite her fear, despite the hardship that she had been through, despite the shame she no doubt felt, Akitsu had given her all to me. I hadn't known what my impulsive decision to accept her oath would mean to her, not when I had accepted it. Now that I did, it was my obligation, no my duty, to do everything I could to repay her loyalty.

Finally, Akitsu spoke again. I didn't know if she had been collecting her wits after having been shocked by my announcement, or if she had simply been considering my explanation, or even if she had just got distracted by something and forgot to speak for a bit, but when she finally did she simply asked me, "How, Master?"

Now it was my turn to let the silence grow. Awkwardly I shifted, glancing to the side and scratching the back of my head and blushing as I did so as I tried to figure out the most diplomatic way to say what I was going to next. Finally, I just opened my mouth out and blurted it. "Sex."

It took a full minute of silence before I could finally bring myself to look at the snow woman, and when I did I discovered that she was flushing just as much as I was. "Ah." She finally got out, for once sounding like the delay had more to do with her being at a loss for words then her simply taking her time to answer. "Sex?" she repeated, a hint of question in her voice. She seemed to realize that I was finally looking at her, and with a jerky move lowered her eyes until they were staring bashfully at the floor.

"Sex," I repeated. Taking a deep breath, I continued, doing my best to keep my explanation academic. "To be more specific, a tantric ritual. It's a little, well, crude," I fumbled my words as I tried to explain just why sex would be enough to fix all of Akitsu's problems without sounding like I was degenerating into the plot of a badly written porn. "But it can be very effective if done properly. Most of the time, humans are incapable of freely sharing mana. It has something to do with the body's automatic rejection of foreign energies."

It was a bit more complex than that specifically. Rin had tried to explain it to me once, but that had been back when she was first trying to convince me to sleep with Saber. I had managed to make out bits of her explanation, something about people's innate magic resistance interfering with being able to accept another person's power as their own. It was possible to simply force od into another's circuits for things like third party Reinforcement or casting magecraft on another, but generally the result was treated as a foreign entity, and the subject's own od would usually disrupt the third party's energy. It was the most fundamental way for a person to break any magecraft being cast on them to simply let their own power flow to disrupt the spell's matrices. Honestly, at the time of the lecture both Rin and I had been too embarrassed by the suggestion to put much effort into either listening or giving the lecture. Saber had interrupted her fair share of times too, though her interjections had more to do with embarrassment of being asked to have sex with me solely for the purpose of empowering her and shock that Rin would willingly let her boyfriend do such a thing with another woman. That shock quickly changed into more embarrassment when Rin revealed that in order to make sure the exchange ritual worked that she would be participating too.

Yeah, those had been awkward times all around.

"However," I continued my lecture, taking a deep breath while I did so. "During intercourse, there are times when both parties' natural defenses are lessened due to the emotional and physical intimacy of the act. During those times, it's possible for larger quantities of prana to be exchanged, and with the lessened natural rejection rate, the party having od passed to them can accept and use that energy as their own. Hopefully, by providing you with enough of my own power, we'll be able to flood you with enough so that your body will overcome its automatic rejection limit." And I found myself wondering just why I thought using a phrase like 'flood you' was a good idea considering the topic. Taking a deep breath, I ignored my double entendre and continued. "If it does work, we can start experimenting with other means to see to it that I'll be able to supply you with sufficient power to use your Norito at a later time." If a prana exchange ritual was what was required to reach her hypothetical activation level, it wouldn't exactly be feasible to duplicate it during combat situations. However, if I could establish a contract like the one Rin had with me during my battle with Gilgamesh, then maybe Akitsu could even achieve her full combat potential as well as simply achieving the same mated status as the rest of her species.

Akitsu was silent for a moment longer. "Sex," she finally repeated, sounding as though she were tasting the word and finding it to her liking.

I nodded, swallowing a lump in my throat as I did so. For a moment I could only wonder just what the hell I was doing evening considering this. There was a part of me that was screaming at even thinking about taking this course of action. 'What the hell was I thinking?' that part of me shouted. 'What about Rin? What about Saber?' Another part of me, a more realistic part, one that was softer but more insistent countered. Like it or not, no matter how it ended or how much I wished it could have continued, it wasn't possible for me to be with Saber and Rin anymore. If we were to ever meet again, there were only two things that could happen.

The first was that they would be cast out and hunted, receiving Designations of their own for harboring me and assisting me in my forbidden research, and they would be forced to live their lives on the run never being able to settle down and live peacefully. Or the other option, that I would be captured, killed maybe or just as likely kept alive and preserved as a specimen for the rest of my life, and then the two would have to live with the knowledge that it had been our meeting that had led to my imprisonment, and that I would spend the rest of my time out of their reach, being turned inside out by the very organization that Rin was a member of. The Clock Tower would keep Rin under watch in case she ever slipped up and revealed that she had known about my research into Reality Marbles and then they would be on her for the chance to do the same to Saber in a heartbeat. Even if the Tower wasn't watching them, there were still those who hated the Emiya name who do the same on the chance that the two might reveal my presence and give them the chance for their revenge, or even just freelancers who might see me as nothing more than a quick way to make some cash off my bounty.

And in the meantime, what about my flock? Was it fair to them, to deny them the chance to be closer to their bonded mate just because I still had feelings for my human, and former human in Saber's case, girlfriends? Just because I still felt something for the two in England didn't mean I didn't feel something for the aliens who had gathered together around me. Maybe it didn't have the same intensity or history as my feelings for Saber and Rin, but that didn't change the fact that I cared about my flock; Akitsu with her silent devotion, Tsukiumi with her bullheaded determination to be the best wife and warrior she could, Musubi with her innocent distortion, Matsu with her childish pranks and cunning insight. Was it right for me to deny them their feelings, what they wanted, the very reason they had come to this planet? I did feel for them, and want them to be happy as well, just like I wanted, albeit in a different sort of way, for both Kusano and Homura, for the rest of Izumo House as a whole for that matter, to be happy and safe.

Maybe if the situation had been different, I could have stayed with Rin and Saber. If the damned Clock Tower had never stuck its nose in where it had no place looking, then maybe we could have continued to be happy together. But then again, if it the Grail War had never happened, if I had never learned of the existence of magi and mysteries, maybe I would be here right now just the same. Maybe I would still have come to Shin Tokyo, perhaps to spend time with Takami and Yukari, and met these strange aliens. Maybe I would have been able to build a relationship with them, without the cloud of London hanging over my head.

Whatever the case might be, it was time for me to make a decision. Things couldn't stay the same in Izumo House. Not forever. Not the strange relationship limbo I had managed to find myself in between my flock and my former girlfriends. Nor the peaceful days that I had found myself settling into, not with the Sekirei Plan and all its mysteries hanging over my head. So, with a deep breath and in a voice that sounded far calmer than I actually felt, I took my first step towards whatever would happen next.

"It's a long shot," I told Akitsu, referring to my plan to try and overcome her inability to be winged. "I might be completely wrong about my assumptions. It might not even work. Despite that, would you like to try it, Akitsu?"

For a moment, the snow woman remained focused on the floor in front of her. Finally, she slowly raised her eyes to look up at me from beneath her bangs. Her face still red, she whispered her response. "Please, Master. Mark me as yours."

*Scene Break*

A tantric ritual. The words have no doubt evoked countless daydreams, or wet dreams I supposed, by adolescent young magi throughout the millennia. Entire generations of young magi, probably as many female as there were male, enraptured by the idea of using one of the most intimate and pleasurable acts to achieve their magic.

If only those idiots had any idea what it really took to pull off a true tantric ritual.

Tantric rituals weren't just sex. If all it took to pull one off was the physical act of consummation, than I had little doubt that the tool would be far more commonly used. A tantric ritual required more than just donor and the recipient of the exchange to, for lack of a better term, bump uglies. In order for the prana to flow properly, both participants had to reach a state where their physical and emotional boundaries were at their lowest. In other words, both parties had to orgasm simultaneously. Anyone who has ever had sex before can affirm just how hard it is to achieve that kind of synchronicity. It required both participants being able to read the cues, both verbal and non verbal, that their partners were giving. It required being able to control oneself from achieving one's own peak before the other made there's, being able to sufficiently pleasure the other to help them reach their own climax as well. And even if that condition was met, it still required at least one of the party to actively manage the flow of prana, despite the distraction of their physical state.

The truth was tantric rituals were hard. It was either a miracle or a testament to Rin's own ability that the two of us had managed to pull one off like we had so long ago. It's embarrassing to admit, but that first time I had had sex I was by no means a model of self control or staying power. It took even longer for me to manage to successfully complete a ritual with Saber alone. I had to learn how she responded to my movements, which places on her body brought her the most pleasure, how and when to stimulate them, how to keep myself from ending too quickly as well, and all the while remember to concentrate on the flow of my od.

It had taken practice; lots and lots of practice. However, by the time I had mastered it, I could somewhat proudly admit to being a very attentive and skilled lover. Both Rin and Saber would often vocally second that claim, quite loudly at times.

My first time with Akitsu put all those skills to the test. My first Sekirei was a virgin, and for all the quirks of her personality, she was shy as well. Just brushing against me was enough to evoke a blush from her on a normal day. She had never had much in the way of nudity taboos, but apparently my eyes on her naked body and my hands on the same were two different things. It had taken a great deal of time for me to relax her enough for her to be accustomed to my touch, and even longer for her to accustom herself to my presence within her enough for her to move past the pain of her first time and begin to feel pleasure at the experience. The mechanics of the act were hard to work out as well. I wanted it to be done within my Formalcraft circle, so that even if it was unsuccessful I would be able to study the outcome and perhaps devise a new way to circumvent her condition. Position was an issue too. If it did work, then the physical signs of her being winged precluded our consummation from being in the more common missionary position. With Akitsu's own inexperience, I wasn't certain if she could successfully achieve the required pleasure threshold if she were to be on top with me lying down, cowgirl style I think the position was called, either. In the end we settled with me in a kneeling position and Akitsu in my lap.

It took time, and for all the pleasure the act gave me, I had to keep a clear head in order to both manage the prana exchange and encourage Akitsu's pleasure. It was our first time together, and I didn't know her cues well enough to be able to judge her climax accurately. In the end, I brought Akitsu to orgasm three times, missing the first one due to its suddenness and using the second as a way to judge her responses, but on the third time I allowed myself to climax as well. With her legs around my waist so tight that it hurt, and her arms clutched under mine and around my back squeezing so tightly that I couldn't breathe, the normally quiet snow woman threw back her head and let loose a moan so guttural and so loud that it echoed through my otherwise quiet workshop as she received both my seed and my prana.

When she did so, the crimson crest on her forehead lit up, emitting a searing heat as though it were an ember being fanned, and then faded away to reveal soft white skin as though it was never there. Behind her, two wings erupted, constructs that looked like interlocked icicles bound together with frosted glass. Around us, transcribing a circle around where our two bodies were interlocked a circle of ice started to form like it did whenever Akitsu tapped into the full force of her power, though despite the growing tendrils of hoarfrost the cold didn't touch either of us.

For several long moments there was only the sound of Akitsu's climax as her wings stretched high into my shed, scrabbling against the walls and brushing aside tools and notes without concern of what they came into contact with and smashing the small hanging light which provided me illumination for my workshop. Finally, as though at some signal only known to the snow woman, she sagged forward, her head collapsing onto my shoulder as her wings dispersed into wherever it was her species dismissed them to.

For several minutes afterwards, there was only silence punctuated by our horse pants as both of us dealt with the aftermath of our lovemaking. Akitsu's body twitched against mine as she dealt with feelings she had never experienced before and didn't know how to handle. I cradled her warm frame to me, one hand gently caressing her hair as I gave her the time she needed to come to terms with what had happened. Finally, after several minutes, I felt her stir against me more purposefully. Looking up at me from her place on my shoulder, I could make out tears in her eyes in the dim room: tears of pain of having her virginity taken, tears of happiness for what had occurred.

"And now I am truly yours, Ashikabi-sama," she whispered, smiling even as the tears fell down her cheeks. "Forever and ever."

*Scene Break*

There hadn't been much time for dilly dallying afterwards. Even though we were able to spend at least a few minutes coming down from the afterglow, eventually we were forced to face the facts that it was getting late. If I didn't start dinner soon, then no doubt there would be a search party sent. My wards might be enough to stop most of my housemates from entering, but Miya could still come and go as she pleased, and I wasn't sure just how the strict and proper landlady would react if she were to walk in on the two of us naked and still in the position our tryst had finished in.

Not that she would be too happy once we made it back to Izumo proper anyway. There was no way that we would be able to conceal what had happened. It was already later than when I usually emerged from my workshop, and by now Akitsu's absence must have been noticed. I had no doubt that at least Tsukiumi was growing suspicious, though Matsu might also have made note of the snow woman's absence. And when we did show up, it wouldn't take a genius to realize what we had done. We were both covered in sweat from our efforts, and the scent of female arousal and my own male musk were smeared all over both of us. Our clothes too would be a dead give away: both of our outfits were wrinkled and dirty from where they had been left on the ground, and though I had helped Akitsu clean up the worst of it she would definitely need a new pair of panties as well.

In the end, I decided to just bite the bullet and go back in together. It didn't help that Akitsu was barely able to stand up, the soreness from her first time leaving her needing my support to travel even the short distance from the shed to the house. I don't think the snow woman minded in the least, taking advantage of my arm around her to continue burrowing her face into my shoulder. It looked like besides being a moaner the usually quiet and standoffish ice user was also a cuddler.

"We're ba-" was as far as I got into the customary announcement when I was instantly cut off by an aggrieved Tsukiumi. I had chosen to try and enter through the door to the hallway closest to my workshop, but it appeared that the water user was aware enough of my customary habits to be waiting. Whirling around from where she was pacing the blonde thrust one finger out at me, her face set in a scowl.

"Shirou! Akitsu! Just what was it that you two have been…doing…" she trailed off, taking in our appearances. "Akitsu," she began again, giving the snow woman leaning against me a hard look. "What on earth happened to you? You look like you were in a fight. Did something happen to you two?" she demanded, taking in our flushed and disheveled appearance and Akitsu's apparent trouble with standing up straight as her eyebrows narrowed. She paused, her nostrils flaring as she leaned forward to even further. Above us I heard a loud 'thump' noise that I assumed to be a door being thrown open. Almost immediately it was followed by a pounding sound as though someone started running across the second floor hallway. "And what's the smell?" Tsukiumi finally finished, seeming confused by the scent the two of us were bathed in.

"Well," I began, not quite sure what the best way to broach the topic that I had just had sex with one of my Sekirei and it wasn't my self proclaimed 'wife'. "You see, the two of us were doing some experimenting…" I began, when the thumping noise sped up even faster. With a flourish of white, Matsu appeared from where she had apparently jumped over the railing of the second floor in order to completely bypass the stairs. Stumbling once, the redheaded hacker didn't even seem to realize that she might have hurt herself. Instead, she struck a pose, light glinting off her glasses as she pointed a finger at where the three of us were standing.

"You two had sex!" the hacker shrieked excitedly at the top of her lungs. I winced. That was not how I envisioned explaining just what had happened.

"What?" I winced further as simultaneous shouts emerged from various points of Izumo House as Matsu's loud proclamation echoed through the inn. Several more slamming noises quickly followed the surprised shouts, and I quickly contemplated saying to hell with the secrecy of thaumaturgy and tracing the strongest shield I could think of in order to protect myself from the upcoming hoard. Rho Aias had always given me good results.

The first to join the fray was Yukari of course. She had apparently been reading manga in the dining room, and when news of her onii-chan's actions reached her ears she had slammed open the door leading to the hallway and raced out so fast that she ended up clipping the opposite wall and bouncing off of it to the ground. Undeterred by mere physical obstacles, my little sister simply scrabbled on all fours to continue her forward momentum to where Akitsu and I were before managing to regain her footing properly. "When? Where? Who? What happened?" she shrieked as she raced forward, craning her neck to try and determine just which Sekirei had managed to bag her big brother. "Akitsu!" Yukari shrieked happily when she managed to make out the snow woman still holding onto me as the one who had managed to conquer me. "I knew it!" Skidding to a halt entirely too close for comfort my little sister reached out to snatch the snow woman's free hand, holding it in both of hers. "Quick! Give me details! What was onii-chan like?" she demanded.

"Wait," I broke in, comprehending just what it was that Yukari was asking. "That is not an appropriate thing at all to be asking about your brother!" I was preparing to continue my lecture when I found my free hand just as suddenly snatched up as Akitsu's was. Looking over in surprise, I discovered that Matsu was the one who had claimed my free limb and was even no pressing it to her own chest as she leaned in close to study me.

"I knew it would happen if I just kept trying," the hacker crowed, her declaration intermixed with half formed giggles. "Which one was it that finally broke down your self-restraint? The video with the lesbian bikers, or the one with the twin dominatrixs? Oh!" the light glinted off Matsu's glasses ominously as she gave Akitsu a quick look. "Maybe it was the geisha! Is that what turns you on, Shirou-tan? Kimonos? I can find one and get dressed in ten minutes, tops!"

"Huh?" I managed to get out, not quite understanding the nature of the interrogation and not quite sure I wanted to. "No, that's not what…" I began, off balance as I tried to keep track of both very different and very disturbing conversations. I tried to think of a way to respond when the whooshing noise behind me alerted me to the arrival of the next addition to this growing debacle.

"Is it true?" Kazehana asked, her voice slurred as she came in through the door I had just entered in. I felt a pressure on my back as another one of the wind user's signature breezes kicked in and the drunken Sekirei appeared before me in a blur of purple. It seemed that in her haste to get in on the growing scene she had simply somersaulted over me so that she could face me directly quicker. The action bumped her into Tsukiumi, but the water user didn't seem to notice. In fact, it looked like the blonde had become catatonic, her mouth agape as she could do nothing more but point at me, frozen in place after Matsu's blunt announcement of my recent activities. Kazehana ignored Tsukiumi entirely instead leaning in to see if the very new rumor was true. She took one look at our states, and immediately squealed, clasping a sake bottle to her chest as she did so. "Oh! At long last, the devotion of your most humble Sekirei has touched your broken heart and freed you from the chains of your lost loves! Her quiet presence, always near and always loyal! Like the unspoken love between a master and his maid! It's so romantic!" The exuberant wind user began to twirl in place, pirouetting as a means to display her joy at our progress.

"Well," I began, once more having my attention jerked towards the newcomer. "It wasn't quite like that…"

"Hey bro," I was interrupted yet again by a voice from the stairwell. Uzume had leaned forward, still halfway up the staircase but hanging low enough over the railing for her head to peak down from below the second floor. "I was just about to take a nap when I heard the news. Congrats!"

"Um, thanks," I began, when the sound of another door being opened pulled my attention to where Homura was emerging from his room nearby.

"What on earth is going on around here?" the fire user asked the room at large, rubbing his head as he did so, his tone disgruntled. "I was trying to get some sleep."

"You too?" Uzume called out, rocking back and forth as she tried to get more clearance beneath the floor so she could take in any developments without actually putting forth the effort to come all the way down. "Check it out. Shirou over there finally did Akitsu."

"Really?" Homura asked, rubbing his eye with one hand as he sleepily focused on where Akitsu and I were standing in the middle of an ever increasing crowd. He gave the ice user a once over before pursing his lips. "Well, it looks like he did a good job of it," he commented groggily, pausing as his jaw cracked open in a yawn. "Looks like she can barely stand up straight."

"Oh come on," I finally snapped, pulling my hand free from where Matsu had imbedded it in her cleavage. "This is just getting ridiculous!"

"I agree," the newest voice chimed in, and everyone in the hallway froze as the sound of steel being cleared from a scabbard cut through the din like a knife and a naked blade appeared over my shoulder, perilously close to my neck. I swallowed hard, and very purposefully did not look behind me towards where the rest of the hallway was now staring in unabashed horror. "Emiya-kun," Miya continued, her voice sweet as honey and deadly as poison. "What's this I hear about lewd acts being performed within Izumo House?"

"T-technically, it wasn't in Izumo House?" I supplied, feeling a cold sweat break out on my face as I felt something behind me, something which I must not look at, something which would leave me shattered and broken if I did. Beside me, Akitsu just sighed happily, cuddling her face into my arm even further, not even noticing the technique which she usually so dreaded. It seemed that post orgasmic haze might be an appropriate counter to Miya's hannya mask. I resolved to research it more clearly later, if I survived. "Actually, we did it next…"

I froze, the smell of power washing over me. Hot, like the sun blazing down over the Sahara, like a searing blast, it scorched through my senses. Not even bothering to finish my statement, my head whipped around, trying to find the source of this newest scent.

At the other end of the hallway was Musubi. At least, it looked like Musubi. There was something off with her, something different. It was the way she was standing, her posture, her expression. With unnerving focus, the normally cheerful brunette's eyes were locked on Akitsu and me. No, not me. Akitsu. What was this? Was that really the usually cheerful shrine Sekirei? Was she some kind of imposter, or perhaps the actual girl being possessed or controlled by something?

And just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. The scent vanished as if it was never there, being replaced by the more normal taint of Musubi's ursine power. In front of my focused gaze, Musubi's stance shifted, returning to a more natural position for her. The shrine girl blinked once, one hand coming up to her chin as though in confusion, before she refocused them again on Akitsu.

"Musubi," I began, not paying attention to the rest of the hallway as they reacted with various degrees of confusion to my strange behavior. "Is that you?"

"Shirou-san?" Musubi asked, tilting her head in confusion at my question. "Of course it's me. What is everyone doing here?" Even as the bear Sekirei asked the room at large, she paused, leaning forward as she clasped both hands in front of her chest. She blinked again, and then her eyes widened in surprise. "Ah! Akitsu-san!" she shrieked, throwing both her arms up in the air in surprise. "Your crest!"

"Her crest?" Matsu repeated, her head lowering so that the evil glint finally left her glasses. "What about…" she began, and then her eyes snapped open and her finger shot up to point at Akitsu's forehead. "Your crest! What happened to it?" the hacker yelped, shock in her voice as she did so.

Akitsu finally lifted her face from my shoulder, displaying it to the room at large. I wasn't sure if her contented smile was there because of the fact that she was no longer a Scrapped Number or if she was simply still wallowing in the afterglow, but it seemed to shock the rest of the gathered Sekirei as much as the loss of the crimson sigil on her forehead. "Ah," she began, "Shirou-sama has become my Ashikabi."

"But that's impossible," Homura snapped, rubbing his eyes furiously as though trying to clear whatever sleep was left in them that was causing this hallucination. "You're a Scrapped Number! You're already winged to yourself! What the hell is going on?"

"Indeed," Miya chimed in, no longer behind me and threatening to unleash whatever variation of her mask technique she had prepared. I hadn't even seen her move, but somehow she had managed to place herself right between Kazehana and the still frozen Tsukiumi, her sword once more sheathed. The alien landlady's eyes were open, her head cocked to the side. "That should be impossible." From her tone it seemed that even the much more experienced and knowledgeable number zero one had never expected a development like this. "How on earth did you manage to accomplish this, Shirou?"

Oh boy. Miya was using my first name without honorifics. That could either be very good, or very bad. I shrugged uncomfortably, not sure how to explain how I had managed to circumvent a condition that appeared to be so engrained that even whatever Miya was thought it incurable.

"Well," I began, scratching my head awkwardly. "Turns out she just needed more material than a normal Sekirei?" I tried. I was almost positive that the gathered room would make their own hypotheses over just what kind of material I was referring to.

"That shouldn't solve anything!" Homura argued, his hands fisting in his hair. He seemed to be taking my trampling all over his perceived rules of reality personally, though considering just how I was affecting his own reality with my presence I suppose I couldn't blame him for that. "Are you sure she's not just concealing it with make up or something?"

I opened my mouth to deny the accusation, when Akitsu decided to answer for me. With one hand she reached up to caress my chin, showing none of her usual body shyness when it came to touching, and without giving me a moment to resist pressed her lips against mine. I wished she had given me time to explain that it was pretty unlikely that we would be able to produce a wing effect without duplicating the previous experiment. It had taken quite a bit of prana in order to be able to imprint the ice wielder in the first place, and unless we took the time to establish a contract that opened my reserves to the Sekirei like Rin had done for me…

My thoughts froze as she sipped from me, no more than she had been earlier before we had sex. And despite the fact that she was taking no more from me than she had before, in front of my startled eyes once more her back sprouted great limbs of ice.

I suddenly understood the rest of the rooms shock as I too was confronted by something that should be impossible.

Even as I stared, my mind frozen as I tried to understand how this had happened, the rest of the room took this as the final proof they needed.

"Congratulations, Akitsu!" Musubi shouted happily, racing down the hall and not bothering to slow down as she threw a hug at the both of us with enough force to send all three of us to the floor in a pile of limbs.

"Fuhuhuhu," was the only warning I was given as Matsu apparently decided to take advantage of the opportunity. "Congratulations!" she added almost as an afterthought as she tossed herself onto the pile, her hands not so innocently managing to end up in places they shouldn't be.

"Overcoming all odds, giving hope even to the poor broken souls that should be without it, the power of the love between and Ashikabi and their Sekirei," Kazehana began, her voice a throaty moan as she cradled her sake bottle to her chest. "Oh, I just love this kind of thing! This is even better than an elopement!" Much to my unease, I couldn't help but notice the way one of her hands seemed to spend less time on the bottle it was holding and more doing what I sincerely hoped was not her groping her own chest.

Tsukiumi, still frozen in finger pointing position managed to stutter out a weak, "Congratulations," as well, and then, apparently losing the battle with consciousness, passed out in a dead faint.

*Scene Break*

"Emiya-kun," Miya began, making her presence known as she appeared in the kitchen. I barely even noticed her sudden arrival, so lost in my thoughts I was. "Emiya-kun," the landlady began again, and this time I managed to bring myself to look away from the cutting board where I was preparing cucumbers. "You don't seem to be enjoying the celebration, Emiya-kun," the lavenderette noted, gently taking the cutting knife from me and assuming the task I had been doing.

"Someone has to prepare the food, or else the natives will get restless," I pointed out, coming out enough from my thoughts to make at least an attempt at levity. In the room next to us, I could make out what sounded like a drunk Tsukiumi declaring something about some kind of show about to commence, and the slurring shouts from Matsu to 'take it off!'

It was later that evening, and once more I was getting a taste of the rowdy life style. I had originally been worried that me finally crossing the line of physical intimacy with one of my flock would set the rest off either into jealousy fits or result in me being dragged physically into a private room and then compelled to repeat the performance with whichever one managed to get me alone. Fortunately, it seemed that the winging of Akitsu proved to be enough to draw attention away from what the act had required. The general consensus that seemed to be reached was that before open season on their Ashikabi was declared, they would first celebrate Akitsu's achievement. It really looked like this was Akitsu's hour, at least in the eyes of her species in general.

After her display of her new status, she had quickly been dragged into the bathroom so she could get cleaned up, and was immediately followed by most of the female residents of Izumo House for what no doubt was going to be a prime example of female gossip designed to make any male nearby uncomfortable. Matsu had been the last one in, pausing only to inform both Miya and myself that there would be a party later tonight and to get ready.

I had no problem with the event itself, and had set about preparing a feast, with Miya helping out. By the time I had a handle on dinner, bath time was apparently finished and decorations had begun to be set about. I had no idea where she had gotten it, but Miya quickly vetoed the large banner that Matsu had managed to get a hold of which proclaimed 'Congratulations on Losing Your Virginity!' and replaced the less delicate slogan with one which instead congratulated Akitsu on getting winged.

I had no idea how Haruka was handling the shenanigans which seemed common place amongst my flock, but just a bit before the party had begun properly Seo had also shown up, looking for a free meal. When he had discovered the party going on he had invited himself in, and even now sounded like he was taking advantage of the sake generously provided by Kazehana. Eventually Hikari and Hibiki had came to attempt to reclaim their Ashikabi, and somehow managed to get sucked into the fray as well, though the two seemed to be spending less time partying then they were periodically zapping Seo, picking on Kuno, and avoiding both Akitsu and myself. It looked like the thunder and lightning twins still hadn't gotten over the incident with Kuu.

"My, my," Miya giggled, glancing to the door leading to the dining room. "Ever since you arrived, it seems like Izumo House keeps getting more and more exciting!" I gave her a dry look.

"Please don't associate me with that rabble," I told her primly. "It's not my fault that they're all so excitable."

"Ah, but it's Emiya-kun's fault that so many of them are here," Miya reminded me, giving me a sly look. "If only Emiya-kun wasn't such a womanizer, or hadn't brought his sister, or his sister's friends…"

"Look," I began, with a sigh, knowing just why it was that Miya was giving me such a hard time and cutting to the chase. "I said I'm sorry, but it really isn't fair to them not to respond. I'll make sure we keep any funny stuff out of the inn, or at least make sure that no one else is around or that Kuu won't walk in…"

"Ara, ara," Miya flipped her hand at me dismissively. "It's my own fault, for not being more careful. I always knew that Emiya-kun would give in to his beastly baser lusts someday. Oh, if only I had worked harder to protect poor Akitsu-chan's virtue!"

"I don't think she'd have thanked you for doing something like that," I reminded the landlady, before my gaze drifted off again. Miya seemed to recognize my distraction. Letting the topic drop, she gently put down the paring knife to study me more closely.

"Is something wrong, Shirou?" she asked me, her tone gentle. I glanced up once more at her use of my first name. "Ever since this afternoon, it seems that something has been on your mind." The landlady gave me a reassuring smile, encouraging me to open up to her. Normally, I would have no problem with doing so. However, I wasn't certain how much the older woman would really be able to help.

Leaning backwards to rest against the edge of the table in the center of the kitchen, I finally decided to voice my doubts. "Miya, how much do you know about Scrapped Numbers?"

"Hmm," the alien landlady hummed, putting one finger to her mouth as she tilted her head in thought. "Not very much," she admitted finally. "Well, not as much as I thought I did. I had always thought that they truly were incapable of being winged, after all."

"I had a theory, originally," I began, voicing the doubts that had gathered ever since this afternoon. "I thought it was just a matter of them having a higher activation cost to their power."

"And thus you decided that you should simply try to give Akitsu-san 'more genetic material'?" the landlady asked me, a tone of disapproval in her voice.

"It wasn't genetic material that I was talking about," I told her seriously, my voice low to keep it from being overheard. Miya went still for a moment, and then slowly nodded her head.

"I see," she murmured, no doubt recalling some of the more unusual traits she had born witness to me using. "Perhaps Emiya-kun used one of his other skills then?" I mirrored her earlier nod.

"The idea was that if I could simply overpower whatever it was that was keeping her from being winged, then that would be enough. The thing is, Asama-san, is that afterwards, in the hallway, Akitsu was able to react without requiring the same amount of effort. If I was right, then it should have required another round of, well," I trailed off, waving one hand delicately to the side to indicate just what it should have taken for Akitsu to reproduce the effect. Miya's eyes furrowed as she contemplated my revelation.

"Then why was it that Akitsu-san was able to do so so easily?" the landlady prompted me, paying close attention to my explanation. I took a deep breath, prepared to run my new theory by one of my few reliable sounding boards.

"I think, that maybe, the Scrapped Numbers were deliberately engineered," I concluded. Miya's delicate eyebrows lowered as she took in my hypothesis. "What's more, I think I know why they did so."

"And why is that?" Miya prompted again, listening carefully.

"The excuse that both the Scrapped and the rest of the Sekirei were told was that the Scrapped Numbers were simply too powerful and winged themselves. I think that was only half right. I think that the ones that were later termed 'Scrapped' were the ones that didn't take the adjustment treatments properly, and turned out too strong."

"You mean too strong to be fair participants in the Sekirei Plan?" Miya asked, seeking clarification on the standard of strength I was using. One of her eyebrows raised in surprise when I shook my head negative at her assumption that their exclusion was based around their affect on MBI's planned game.

"No. I meant to strong for their future Ashikabi to be able to survive them." Miya blinked, obviously startled by my conclusion. I winced, and one hand came to brush lightly against the side of my chest. "I didn't want to mention this, not immediately anyway, but while we were, you know," I waved my hand again to indicate the time that Akitsu and I were together, "during the end, when Akitsu was, well, you know," I grimaced again, "well, when she was climaxing, she grabbed me so tightly that she broke four of my ribs."

"Oh my," Miya murmured, one hand coming up to her lips as she realized what I was implying. "Are you alright now, Emiya-kun?" The landlady gave me a curious look, no doubt recalling the time she bore witness to just how quickly I was able to recover. I grimaced, fingering my ribs once more.

"Three of them are back to normal," I admitted. "The fourth should need another half hour or so."

"That is quite impressive," the landlady admitted, coming closer so that she could trail her own hand over the area I was favoring. I suppressed a wince as her gentle fingers found the spot, and she frowned slightly. "Are you certain you'll be well soon?"

"I should be, unless something else happens," I assured her. "The thing is," I paused, and tried to figure out how to phrase my next question. "Miya," I began again, "what do you know about the Sekirei's crests?"

"The Sekirei crest?" Miya repeated, backing away and brining one hand to tap against her cheek thoughtfully. "What about them specifically?"

"Are they natural?" I asked her bluntly. Miya blinked again, surprised at my question. "Earlier, when I was trying to determine if I would be able to help Akitsu no matter how much power I fed her, it all went immediately to the crest on her forehead and then dissipated. The moment she got winged though, the crest disappeared from there and reappeared in the same place as other Sekirei's. After that, instead of needing the extra power, she was instead able to use just the normal amount to do the same."

"You mean as though the crest was somehow interfering with Akitsu-san's ability to be winged?" Miya concluded, her eyes narrowing and her expression turning serious.

"It's not just that," I shook my head. "I know the Sekirei are alien and have different physiology then humans, but it still seems suspect to me. The crest is the one way to immediately stop a Sekirei, regardless of the difference in power between the combatants. Is it possible…"

"That the crest was deliberately implanted in order to help control the Sekirei?" Miya concluded for me, her eyes distant as she considered my argument. I nodded my affirmation to her question, but in response the alien only shook her head slowly. "No. I'm afraid that the crest is something which is natural to the Sekirei." I narrowed my eyes, considering this new information.

"Then perhaps it could be tampered with instead?" Miya's eyes went into focus, studying me intently as she contemplated my alternative suggestion, and then she glanced away wordlessly. "Damn," I muttered to myself, understanding her unspoken acknowledgment. If the MBI had done something like alter that piece of their natural biology then there was no telling how the unscrupulous company could have affected the crests.

The silence grew between us as we both contemplated the revelations that had been presented to us, and then Miya sighed once more. "So it seems that you were once more considering things carefully rather than just rushing into them," she said mournfully, and I remembered the last time she said something similar to me, right after I had first discovered the truth of the winging ritual and retreated to my workshop to work out the specifics. She huffed, crossing her arms under her breath as she raised her head to the side. "Really now," she said, her tone aggrieved. "Why can't you do something foolish for once so that I can scold you properly afterwards, Emiya-kun?"

I tried to stifle a snort of laughter, and managed to keep it to a mild grunt. "Sorry," I told her, smiling slightly. "I'm sure if you wait long enough I'll slip up. Until then you'll just have to be patient."

"Hmmm," she pouted, humming as she did so, the atmosphere lightening as she did so. "You know, this does bring up an interesting point," she began, tapping one hand against her cheek slowly as she did so. "You say that Akitsu-san broke your ribs when you were together, didn't you?" I winced, nodding at the memory. It had taken a great deal of self control not to reveal what had happened immediately after in order to keep Akitsu from worrying. "Well then, what do you plan to do next time you two are together?" My eyes widened as I realized just what she was implying in that teasing tone of hers.

"Oh," I gulped, realizing for the first time that maybe MBI really did have a reason for keeping the Scrapped Numbers out of the plan. For an Ashikabi without my regenerative capabilities they really might end up crushed like a pancake in the arms of their Sekirei. Miya gave me a sly look, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as she giggled at my predicament.

"You know, Emiya-kun," she began in a singsong voice, now settled into full on teasing mode. "There might be a solution to your problem. Matsu-san has been showing you quite a few videos after all. Maybe you should take some advice from them. Hojoujutsu is a very traditional art form with many historic roots. Perhaps you should start studying some!"

I flushed so red that my face was no doubt indistinguishable from my hair. Hojoujutsu was the traditional method of restraining prisoners from the feudal era of Japan. In modern times it was more often used for more lecherous purposes. It had been prominent in a number of the clips that Matsu took delight in slipping me. Truthfully, it might very well be a solution to my problem. It would be a way to keep Akitsu from accidently hurting me during intercourse, and if I had read the situation right then the ice user might already be interested in that kind of thing. My eyes narrowed in suspicion a I realized something.

"Wait a second," I began, giving Miya a suspicious look. "It's mostly called 'shibari' these days. How did you know the old fashioned name?" Miya blinked as though realizing she had slipped up and looked away innocently. My eyes narrowed further. "Hold on," I continued, "I know that you tend to favor traditional methods of doing things." My eyes widened in surprise as I made the connection. "Don't tell me you and Takehito…"

"Shirou," Miya interrupted, sounding as honestly flustered as the few times I had actually seen her. "You shouldn't imply such things to a young widow!" The traditionally dressed landlady quickly held out a platter to me, using it as a method to change the subject. "Now go and take this out to the party immediately!"

"Oh," I muttered, taking the tray and making my way towards the rest of the party. "I see. It's alright to say whatever you like about my sex life, but the moment yours comes up…" A noise that sounded suspiciously like steel being drawn behind me made me abandon my attempt to get a parting shot in and flee for the safety of witnesses in order to prevent what could possibly evolve into a crime of passion if I had misjudged how much teasing I could safely get away with.

*Scene Break*

"I'm telling you man," Seo belted out, laughing uproariously as he pounded my shoulder. "Those breasts are something else! I mean, you are a lucky, lucky man!"

"Thank you," I responded as dryly as I could, trying not to spill my drink as the tipsy Ashikabi continued to congratulate me on the accomplishment of having managed to wing a spectacularly endowed Sekirei through the use of physical intimacy.

"You guys are all crazy," Haruka added his two cents in, looking a little flushed himself. The third time repeater didn't seem to be sure what to make of the celebration as a whole. On one hand, he seemed to find the idea of essentially celebrating me having sex with one of my Sekirei as being in bad taste. On the other hand, once Akitsu's unique situation had been explained he had been willing to admit that the snow woman being able to fully join the rest of her species as being something noteworthy. The more reserved man seemed to be treating this as a party for the friend of a friend who had just gotten over a lingering disease of some sort. While reluctant to take part, he had been honest in his congratulations to Akitsu and me at least.

"Oi? You still up kid?" Seo drawled, giving the other Ashikabi a condescending look. "Isn't it past your bed time yet?" Haruka flushed, looking angry at the teasing.

"I already told you, I'm twenty! I'm the same age as him," he snapped, pointing at me as he did so.

"Um, excuse me," Shiina piped in shyly, looking at the cup of alcohol that Seo had forced into his hand. "Why am I over here? I really think it would be better if were nearby Yukari -sama in case she needs me…" The young Sekirei glanced at me awkwardly, looking for guidance in one to do in this situation, but once more Seo brushed off the hesitant interjection.

"You're over here because you need to get in a little man time," the older man declared, throwing one arm around the ashen haired Sekirei's shoulder as the Ashikabi threw back his own cup of booze. "Besides, look at them over there," he gestured to the other side of the dining room where most of the females present had congregated. I made very certain not to follow his gesture, already knowing what he was going to point out. "They're all huddled together like that. Means they're having some serious girl talk at the moment. Definitely not the kind of thing a guys should be around."

"I wonder what they're discussing," the youngest male said thoughtfully, bowing to the wisdom of his older male counterpart. Homura snorted, sipping his own alcohol.

"Judging from the way they keep looking at Shirou, most likely him," the former host gave his expert opinion. I grimaced, and made sure not to see if he was being accurate when he mentioned the attention I was receiving. A gasp echoed from the corner, followed by Kazehana letting lose a girlish squeal and Yukari a scandalized shriek. No, on second thought, what I really hoped above all else was that Akitsu wasn't delivering a play by play account of our first time. Considering what I knew of the snow woman's lack of taboos, I doubted that my hope would be realized.

The party had been going on for at least two hours by this point, and it didn't look like it was going to end anytime soon. With a comfortable sigh I leaned backwards, letting the conversation flow around me. It was warm in the room with so many bodies packed in it. And the warmth wasn't just physical. There was a kind of intimacy which saturated the room, a relaxed feel of being among friends and loved ones. As I sat back and let the party flow, I could let my thoughts drift away from the worries of the Sekirei Plan, of MBI's possible manipulation of the Sekirei's crests, of the way so many aspects of my life were out of my control. For the moment, I could simply relax and enjoy the moment.

"Well well, bro," Uzume's voice was the one that brought me back to the present. Blinking, I realized that my cup was empty and the free spirited Sekirei had apparently decided to do me the favor of refilling. It looked like while I was distracted the males and females of the group had once more reintegrated. Judging from the flushed appearance of Tsukiumi, Yukari, Matsu, and Kuno, not to mention the confused one of Musubi it seemed that my hope that Akitsu would display a little discretion about this afternoon might have been a lost cause. Uzume's next words confirmed my fear. "So I hear you can do some impressive things with your hands?"

"Oh for the love of god," I muttered, feeling a flush unrelated to the alcohol I had consumed coming on. Uzume giggled at my embarrassment, apparently taking it at proof of the truth of the rumors.

"Now now, Shirou-kun!" Kazehana added her own opinion to the mix. The wind Sekirei was flushed with drink, and apparently pretty close to needing a quick trip to the restroom if the way she was fidgeting while rubbing her legs together was any indication. "There's nothing wrong with being an amazing lover! In fact it's quite the opposite!"

"I'm a fighter," I muttered, giving up the war but fighting a retreating battle as I did so. "Not a lover."

"Not from what I heard!" Kazehana crowed, chanting each syllable as she teased me. Musubi decided to step up to the plate to defend my honor.

"Shirou-san is an amazing fighter!" the bear Sekirei declared, listing slightly sideways as she did so. It looked like even the shrine girl had managed to find a bit of alcohol into her system, though from what I knew of the Sekirei metabolism most of the drinkers here would probably require a lot more before they managed to reach the level that Kazehana and Uzume had reached that time when they had snuck into my bed a few days ago.

"Indeed," Tsukiumi added, her voice a growl as she glared at me. "My husband is quite skilled." Tsukiumi seemed to have grudgingly accepted the fact that she wouldn't be the first of my flock to be able to be with me in the biblical sense, and even was willing to acknowledge the fact that Akitsu had deserved her chance to become a proper member of my flock, but it seemed that the incident had only further fired the water user's determination to make sure she was the next to do so.

"And experienced too," Matsu chimed in, her voice slurring as she did so. It looked like the redhead had tried to match drinks with Kazehana for a bit too long. Even though the hacker was a Sekirei, as a brain type her body wasn't quite up to the same level as the others of her species and as a result it looked like she was a big more intoxicated than the rest. "Why, you should hear some of the things I've found out about him!"

The redhead let the last bit by so innocently that I almost didn't catch it. It took me a moment to realize what her statement implied, and by then it was too late to stop what happened next.

"Oh? Found out something interesting, did you?" Seo had already asked, his own drinking not being enough to fully drown the man's naturally sharp personality. "What do you mean by experienced?"

"Oh," Matsu waved her three quarters empty cup of beer in front of her in emphasis of her next statement. "I mean the tournament that happens in Fuyuki City of course!"

The mostly full cup of sake in my hand slipped from my grasp, falling unnoticed by the rest of the room to stain the tatami mat around me. A wave of vertigo gripped me at hearing one of my flock speak so casually of something which should be buried so deeply that the light of day would never again have the chance to see it.

And things had been going so well lately too.


	24. Twenty Fourth Wing

In Flight: Twenty Fourth Wing

_Author's notes: First, as always, review responses. A lot of happy people with Akitsu's situation, and I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the presentation. That really was a long time coming, and I'm glad that I managed to pull it off in a way that so many people responded positively too._

_Next up, Matsu's wham line at the end. Glad to hear so much speculation and interest, because this chapter is pretty much all about the follow up to that. Once more, my ability to estimate just how long a scene was really going to last proves inacurate, and thus Tsukiumi getting actual character development and Kuu saying something beside her one liner will have to be in the next chapter. _

_That being said, this chapter was one of the ones I'd been planning since the beginning, seeing as its pivotal to the way the story progresses from here. Consequentially, ala the early days of Hill of Swords when I was pumping out twenty+ page chapters a day after the last one was finished, this one got finished particularly fast, so I decided to go ahead and put it up early. Enjoy!_

_*Spoilers Ahead!*_

_First off, one of the many grand reveals that were planned. Shirou tells his flock and extras a bit more about himself, though he still stubbornly tries to hold back more. I'm trying to portray Shirou's thoughts and reasoning behind his reticence as his trying to protect everyone about him by not pulling them in to deeply into the perils of his life. I found the reactions to his reveal to be interesting to write, especially Miya and Seo. Both of those have a kind of 'know more than they say' vibe to them in canon, and Miya definitely has a vague superiority complex accompanying it. Then again, she is a power house and one of the oldest participants of the whole MBI/Sekirei Plan thing, so in canon, with only the clueless everydude Minato to work with its not entirely unjustified. Here though, she's confronted with the possibility that Shirou isn't just an unusually talented fighter, but someone who might very well have just as much if not more experience with secrets and mysteries as she does._

_I also want to hear reactions to Shirou's three potential courses of actions. I tried to present a Shirou who still wants to save everyone, but knows that sometimes that can't be done. Hence him having multiple plans of varying severity. He wants to do things by the rules, but knows that he might have to do something ruthless to keep things out of hand, and is genuinely afraid of being forced to do something horrible to prevent something much worse from happening. _

_At least he finally knows what his mask is. Kudos to those who figured it out ahead of time._

_Another big part of the story is Matsu. Lots of people were wondering how Matsu had found out about the Grail War. The answer: she hadn't. There was no random website or blog that had all the details just waiting to be found. She pieced it together through sheer intellect and brain work. Then she used it to blackmail Shirou into telling the truth. It might seem a little high handed, and it is, but what I was aiming for here was to demonstrate that Matsu isn't just a the brain that sits in her room and supplies info on demand. She was the second in command of the original Disciplinary Squad, and has a personality and motives all of her own. It takes a certain degree of character to willingly alienate the one you love in order to find the information you need in order to help protect them afterwords. Matsu was worried about what Shirou was hiding, concerned over what that meant for his safety, and then did what she had to in order to get the information she needed. It didn't work out nearly as well as she had hoped, but she went ahead and did it anyway. At least, that was what I was trying to portray. I might be able to fill the characterization out more in the next chapter by describing the fall out of her plan, but for now, did I manage to pull it off?_

_Another character I had fun tweaking with but wasn't certain if I did it right was Kazehana of course. No doubt about her reacting now. It might seem a little crude, but I chose to put in the wind users 'interesting' signs of her reaction on purpose. Kazehana has always been the most sexual of Minato's original flock. In the manga she actually starts feeling her chest up while wondering what kind of displays of manliness Minato will put on, and flat out thinks at one point, 'I really want to fuck him.' Add on the scene where she nearly wings herself by accident while watching Minato sleep and the fact that the artist depicts wetness on her thighs while doing that, a scene repeated in 'Pure Engagement', and its no secret that Kazehana is, for lack of a better term, horny as hell when she reacts. Add in Shirou's history of unusually strong reactions, and well, you get her needing constant reminder by Miya to keep it PG-13 in Izumo House. She'll get a little screen time next chapter too, something reminiscent of the first time Kazehana confronted Minato about joining his flock in canon._

_The final major thing to note, is Seo, Haruka, and Yukari. First of all, I'd been planning this for the three for a long time. Originally, when I decided to scrap the escape scene, that left me with having to deal with underdeveloped characters like Haruka and Kuno being added to Izumo House. With the inn already being filled up, I realized I just wouldn't be able to keep all the characters straight in my mind. It was already next to impossible to write scenes with everyone in there and keep everyone present in my head as I did so. I tried to hint that Haruka just wasn't adjusting very well to Izumo house in 23, and that he didn't get along or trust Shirou very much after he shot down the escape plan. Its not that Haruka is a bad guy, though he comes off a bit jerkish. He's a normal person who has been chased by other Ashikabi, forced into something he didn't want to participate in, been told he has no chance of getting away, and surrounded by people who scare the shit out of him. In the end, he just broke down. Him getting violent happened in canon too, when the stress got to him and he shook Minato up after the clueless main character asked him why he didn't just leave in the first place. But then what to do with him? I didn't want him in the whole story, but couldn't just kill him off. _

_Cue Yukari. I could see her eventually leaving Izumo House and striking out on adventure, and I could definitely see her gathering together allies like main characters do in Shonen Manga. Throw in Shirou trying to keep her safe by paying Seo to join her little adventuring party, and I had the makings of a whole new power to unleash upon Shin Tokyo, a potential counter to the original three great Ashikabi. If I get the chance, I might throw in a few other Ashikabi who get bit parts in the original series, that one who wins a Jinki in the third round only to get smacked down by Uzume comes to mind. Can't remember his name at the moment, but he has a brief omake in one of the chapters focused around Yukari's original circumstances. Whatever the case, I plan to have them wreaking havoc upon Shin Tokyo in the background while being free to start upping the action around Shirou. And now I don't have nearly as many people to have to work into scenes as well. Pshew._

_Anyway, no guarantee how fast the next chapter comes out, but I do have a bit of free time, what with classes being over and not much else to do but prepare for my internship in Japan in a few months. If I finish the next one quicker than usual, I'll put it up when its done, but if it takes me my more usual 12-14 days, don't be surprised._

_Reviews are as always appreciated, and questions/comments/concerns are usually addressed on the forum. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

The moment Matsu said those words it was though the whole world froze around me. With the kind of clarity that I had only ever experienced before in the middle of combat, or whenever Rin had about to spring something particularly adventurous on Saber and me in bed, the room around me was stamped into my memory like a photograph. There was Miya at one corner of the table, doing her best to distract Kuu from any of the more adult conversations going on, a task made easier by the way the green girl's eyes were drooping as her inexperience with being up so late caught up with her.

Near them were Haruka and Kuno, the dirty blonde Sekirei latched onto her Ashikabi who was obediently sheltering her with his arms from the rowdiness of the rest of the party goers. I hadn't had many opportunities to speak with the shy Sekirei who seemed to spend most of her time intimidated by the rest of my flock's powers and endowments, but considering the way she was tugging on her Ashikabi's sleeve it looked like she was probably trying to convince him that the two of them should leave. That might have had something to do with the way both Hibiki and Hikari were seated on her other side with Seo in between the two twins with each arm thrown around their shoulders and a cup of sake in one hand and a bottle of beer in the others.

On the other side of the landlady Kazehana and Uzume had both ended up, the two who had the least connection with anyone else in the room besides simply living here. Next to them the rest of my flock was assembled, Homura on the end furthest from me followed by Tsukiumi and Musubi both bookending Akitsu. Next to the water user sat the source of my anxiety, with only Shiina and Yukari between me and the redheaded hacker.

For an endless moment between one breath and the next, I couldn't do anything but sit still as a statue, not noticing as the cool moisture of the sake in the cup I dropped soaked into my pant leg. What did Matsu mean a tournament in Fuyuki? She couldn't be referring to the Grail War. That was impossible. The Mage's Association had spared no expense covering that little dirty secret up, an endeavor that had been aided whole heartedly by the Church in their capacity as mediator of the ritual. Even if the Mage's Association had missed something, and considering the Associations fervor for the preservation of the secrecy of thaumaturgy the chances of that happening were very slim indeed, the Church had just as much experience with burying secrets of their own.

It must be something else. That was the only answer I could come across. I had been a participant in the Archery club after all, and before I had dropped out due to my injury I had been one of the club's rising stars. I had never missed a target in my entire time during the club after all. The only time I hadn't hit a bull's eye was when I wasn't aiming at the bull's eye in the first place.

The realization of my misinterpretation was enough for the world to start moving again. Realizing that I had dropped my cup, I gave a soft curse and recovered it, fishing into my pocket for my handkerchief as I started to try and blot up the spilled alcohol.

"You okay, onii-chan?" Yukari asked, her face a bit red as she slumped against me. I gave her a brief reassuring smile, shifting slightly at her sudden contact. Yukari was still a bit young to have much experience with drinking, at least she better not have much experience with drinking, and it had been the third time she had ended up leaning on me tonight. A gentle shrug was enough to reset her balance and set her to leaning against Shiina, who had displayed a remarkable amount of restraint when it came to partaking in the generous amount of booze present. The young Sekirei blushed slightly as his Mistress casually settled her head onto his shoulder, but made no move to shake her off.

"A tournament?" Seo asked, shifting against his two Sekirei as he did so. When one hand swayed dangerously close to the brasher twin Hikari's chest, the lightning user let loose a barely audible growl which caused Seo to jerk it away reflectively. Not even noticing the interplay between himself and his Sekirei, a sign of it being an event which was no doubt repeated quite often, he continued. "What kind?"

I had just about convinced myself that the next words that were going to leave Matsu's mouth would be 'Archery' or perhaps 'Sepak Takraw' and was preparing to refill my now recovered cup when the inebriated hacker gave her response.

"A secret one!" she announced gleefully, slumping forward as she did so. Again, the thankfully empty this time cup slipped from my grip. I nearly spoke up, my eyes darting to the hacker before I stopped myself. Calm down. There's no reason for the tension forming in your shoulders, I told myself. There is no way that Matsu can know anything. I don't know what she thinks she knows, but it can't be what really happened.

"Oh! A secret tournament," Musubi chimed in, giggling slightly before hiccupping once. "What kind?"

"Fighting of course," Tsukiumi nodded her head once decisively, and it took a great deal of effort not to wince as she unconsciously nailed it on the head. "How else could my husband be so skilled if not for practice?"

"Oh my," Miya giggled, catching onto the conversation. "I certainly hope Shirou didn't hurt anyone." She gave me a smile with her customary mostly closed eyes before pausing. Slowly, her eyelids rose and I realized that the expression on my face must have had something in it to set her suspicions off. I forced myself to smile, trying to keep it as amused as I could.

"Hah," I chuckled, hoping my features were natural enough to fool the rest of the room. Miya might have begun to suspect something, but she at least knew how to keep her secrets. "Don't be ridiculous," I began, scratching the back of my head unconsciously. "There's no such thing as secret tournaments and stuff like that."

The quick look Seo gave me made want to bang my head into the table. Of course there were such things as secret tournaments. Everyone in the room was participating in one right now. Only an idiot wouldn't see that connection.

"Emiya-san is right," Haruka agreed, shaking his head dismissively. "Things like that just don't happen." Alright, an idiot or someone who was hopelessly naïve. Maybe hopelessly naïve wasn't appropriate. It wasn't that Haruka was out of touch with reality or anything. If anything, he was actually the most normal person in the room. The rest of the crowd gathered together mostly aliens after all, with only Seo, Yukari, Haruka, and myself qualifying as humans. With me being a magus, Seo being unusually sharp and having been involved with the Sekirei Plan for far longer if his association with Miya's dead husband was anything to go by, and Yukari just being a little bit odd, Haruka was quite possibly the only person present with a normal perception of reality.

"Hmph," Homura added his own opinion at Matsu's proclamation in the form of a dismissive runt. "Really, Matsu. Our own situation aside," the flame user made an allowance to correct Haruka and mine assertion of the improbability of an event like the Sekirei Plan existing elsewhere, "it doesn't seem likely that anything as outlandish as there being another tournament existing."

I blessed the fact that Homura was probably the most socially knowledgeable of my Sekirei. Out of all the other aliens gathered he had been the one who had most seamlessly integrated himself into human culture. While the rest had been out and about jumping from roof to roof and living off of MBI's funds like Tsukiumi, and most likely Kazehana, had the flame wielder had managed to get himself a job which required that not only he be exposed to large amounts of people but be able to display a mastery of culture and customs in order to succeed. It looked like his confidence in his experience with what was normal among humans was enough to make him skeptical of Matsu's insistence.

Matsu pursed her lips and let loose a vaguely Kuu like 'fugh' noise. "Matsu sees! Nobody wants to believe Matsu! But Matsu's sure she figured it out anyway!" As the hacker grew more defensive of her claims her tone reverted to a much more childlike one then her usual choice of intonation. "Hasn't anyone noticed just how good at all this Shirou-tan really is? With the fighting, and the planning, and always being able to guess what everyone else in the Plan is doing? Like with Haruka-tan and Klutzy-tan and them trying to get out of Shin Tokyo; Shirou-tan knew just what to look for!"

"It's Kuno not Klutzy," Kuno wailed out a bit piteously. Unfortunately it seemed that her longstanding quest to abolish her nickname didn't seem to stick this time, just like it didn't stick the last three dozen times I'd heard her try it. I noticed this only obliquely, and it was more in the context of me cursing both her and her Ashikabi. That was what had set Matsu off? Ever since the time I had talked the two out of escaping Matsu had been nearly inseparable from the doohickey. Just what the hell had she been doing?

"Not to mention the way he caught on to the MBI card so quick, or how he managed to take out a Sekirei all on his own," Seo helpfully added, leaning forward as he did so. The action caused a bit of his sake to spill onto Hibiki, but the more docile twin didn't seem to pay it any mind. Even if it had been on Hikari I think the brash twin would have probably ignored it as well. Instead, the two shared a glance under their Ashikabi's noses.

"There was that time when we threatened him with lightning too," the more chesty of the two muttered. Hibiki nodded at her twin wordlessly, no doubt remembering the effect their threat had on me: none at all.

"Wait," Yukari chimed in, looking surprised. "What do you mean, 'take out a Sekirei on his own'?" Yukari gave a glare at the eldest Ashikabi, a man she got along with about as well as she did with Kazehana. "My gentle onii-chan would never get involved with something that dangerous!"

"That was just luck," I added in, dissembling and hoping they'd buy it. "I mentioned before, I was just lucky enough to catch her from behind while she was distracted.

Seo snorted. "Well, something tore up that clearing pretty good," he countered, no doubt recalling to mind the shattered trunks and sprayed sawdust and wood chunks that had littered the battlefield by the end of my duel with the long departed Yomi.

"Indeed," Tsukiumi chimed in, though from the tone of her voice she sounded more proud than speculative like the lightning twins and their Ashikabi had. "When we met Shirou proved capable of matching two Sekirei on his own as well!" She stated the feat as though it had been her herself who had accomplished it, despite the fact that at the same time she had managed to fend off three opponents herself.

"And that time the two attacked him from behind," Homura added, scowling at his beer at the memory as he emphasized the reversal of the situation from my own ambush. "And the only reason he didn't finish them off as well was because they broke and fled after he cut one of their weapons in half and nearly sliced off one of the other's legs."

"Two more?" Yukari gulped, sounding outraged. Shiina also seemed to find the story to be noteworthy, and leaned forward so he could give me a wide eyed look of admiration.

"That's amazing, Aniki," he praised me, sounding awestruck at the idea of her Mistress brother being so reliable. "I'm glad Yukari-sama and I have a Sempai like you to help us!" Damnit. Even when he was venturing into territory that I really didn't want anyone sniffing around he still managed to impress me. His number one concern when confronted with my combat prowess was how it might better help protect Yukari. Why couldn't he have one freaking flaw for me to latch onto?

"Nearly cut off…?" Haruka repeated, sounding appalled at the idea of such bodily harm. "What the hell, Sahashi-san?" he demanded of my sister, turning to give her a wide eyed look and instinctively cradling his Kuno closer as the girl burrowed into his side, whimpering at the gory picture that was being described. "I thought you said your brother was a nice guy?" The wide eyed look he gave me made it clear just how hard he was having correlating the image of me casually fighting off alien killing machines with the picture of me happily tending a stove.

"Mmmm," the inarticulate humming noise that Kazehana emitted was enough to catch my eye. "Two at once," she whispered, her tone throaty and low. I don't think anyone else at the table was paying her much attention, too focused as they were on talking about me directly in front of me, but with me desperately trying to find a way to change the topic to less dangerous ground my own attention was flitting around the table at large in an attempt to find some method to distract everyone. "How manly," the wind user murmured, her eyes fluttering as one hand slowly moved downwards over her hip towards her…

"Kazehana!" I snapped, as I realized that the inebriated wind user was actually beginning to touch herself right there at the table. My face flushed red even as I called her on the inappropriate action. "Not in front of Kuu!" The wind user's eyes snapped into focus as she seemed to realize just what it was she was about to do, only for Miya's sheathed sword to find the back of her head hard a second later as the landlady glared at the wind Sekirei furiously. A quick glance at Kuu at least assured me that the tired little girl had succumb to her sleepiness and was too busy curled up in Miya's lap to notice the inappropriate display that had been going on no more than a few feet away from her.

"Down girl," Uzume muttered, barely giving the Sekirei next to her a second glance despite what her neighbor had been about to engage in. The Veiled Sekirei was instead giving me a measuring look, her eyes bearing no accusation, but definitely focused on me. "Wait until you're in the bathroom at least." Kazehana flushed, laughing slightly as one hand came to the back of her head in embarrassment as the other shakily poured herself a new cup of sake. When the wind user gave a quick glance up to check to see if I was still looking at her and found that I was she flushed and looked down, her cheeks lighting up like Christmas lights as she quickly threw back the newly poured cup in an attempt to cover her embarrassment at having been caught.

Oh. Oh shit. Godamnit. I'd seen that kind of behavior before. Don't tell me that yet ANOTHER Sekirei was reacting to me. There was only one left! Statistically speaking, with the amount of time the number zero three had been active and the sheer amount of people present in the city there should be someone besides me capable of making the wind user react. What was so special about me? Was it some kind of gland or something? Did I unconsciously produce pheromones that caused all the Sekirei nearby to automatically want to jump me?

If I had hoped the disturbance would be enough to draw everyone's attention away from the unfolding speculation of my supposed participation in another tournament, that hope died a horrible death as Matsu picked right back up. "So when Shirou-tan mentioned before about how he had a lot of experience, it got Matsu to thinking, 'just what kind of experience did he really have?'" she continued, re-catching the room's attention at large.

"Oh?" Seo prompted, and I really wished I could get away with smashing a bottle upside his head to keep him from instigating the drunken hacker further. Unfortunately, doing so would only reinforce Matsu's point even further in the eyes of the crowd. If I made any move to sudden to try and dismiss this conversation out of hand than it would only cement the suspicion into the minds of all present. I had to wait and pray that whatever it was Matsu had managed to find that had convinced her of her theory's veracity that it would be appropriately vague enough for me to counter it, or something entirely different that I could explain away. "So what did you find?"

"Nothing!" Matsu chirped happily, causing Seo to sag and Homura to snort. "Which is precisely why Matsu got suspicious and kept looking! Shirou-tan is a mysterious person after all," she continued, pausing to throw back more of her beer. "He's the only person who I ever couldn't find out everything about! Since Shirou-tan isn't good with computers, it meant that someone else must have been covering something up!"

You have got to be kidding me. That was what had set Matsu off? The lack of evidence? What the hell had the administrators responsible for concealing the aftermath of the Grail War been doing?

"So what did you find, Matsu-san?" Musubi asked, tilting her head curiously as she innocently prompted the hacker to continue digging the hole I was finding myself in deeper and deeper. Alright. I didn't want to know specifically what it was that Matsu had dug up. I knew the hacker well enough that if she thought she had found something than she most likely had. She was a brain type after all, and I knew first hand just how good she was when it came to gathering and interpreting data. The best bet now would be to cut her off before she said something dangerous regardless of the suspicion it would garner in the rest of the guests and then find out later just how much she had discovered.

And find some way to impress the importance of this thing known as 'privacy' onto her. It looked like Matsu was just as lacking in certain customs and terms as Musubi was.

"Matsu," I begin trying to be nonchalant as I did so, only for the redhead to lean forward obliviously, apparently too caught up in sharing her detective work to notice my attempt to get her to let it go.

"You see," she began, her voice eager. "I started looking through all the public records for Fuyuki city, starting from the present and working my way backwards. There wasn't anything really unusual at first, but about four years ago, I started to come across all kinds of strange things!"

"Matsu," I began again, a touch of insistence entering my voice. Waving her beer again, the redhead didn't notice.

"It was really suspicious! Whole gaps of records from the hospitals were all deleted, with only the note that the patients had changed hospitals without any mention of which hospital they had been moved too. Not only that, but the municipal records of land sales had a bunch of families that had spontaneously moved as well!"

"That's it?" Seo asked, sounding disappointed. "That's not very suspicious." Matsu shook her head eagerly, spilling more beer as she did so.

"It is when the places where those families worked didn't know they were going to quit and move until after it was done! And I had to look into the police records, but it seemed that some of the relatives had filed missing persons' reports for them, only for the claims to be withdrawn shortly afterwards. In fact, the police mainframes had whole sections which were deleted as well, mostly from the exact same time period, all within half a month of each other," Matsu's cheeks were flushed as she continued, detailing the evidence she had found to the room at large.

Despite the general disbelief that had originally greeted the hacker's pronouncement of the existence of yet another secret tournament, more and more the room at large was being drawn in by Matsu's unfolding story. So far everything the redhead had presented sounded more along the lines of a conspiracy theory story than anything else, and I tried to cut her off again, this time being a little more insistent. It didn't matter if it drew more suspicion on me at this point, just so long as it kept anything important from being revealed.

"Matsu," I said, my voice more firm, "don't you think you've had enough for the night?"

"There were other things as well," the redhead plunged on, ignoring me completely. "There was a lot of strange damage reports too! I double checked some of the construction companies, and found that a lot of them had been hired at above normal rates for the time to fix the damage as quickly as possible. Most of the workers were also fired immediately afterwards, but when they were they were given severance packages three times the normal sizes, and all of the ones who were fired moved away immediately!"

"Huh," Uzume chimed in, actually sounding interested by all the evidence Matsu had gathered, leaning forward attentively. "Well, all that's a bit weird," she admitted, still sounding a bit skeptical but willing to hear the rest. "What's it all have to do with a secret tournament? I mean, maybe they just had a funky month or something." The rest of the room seemed just as attentive, even Miya focusing her attention on Matsu as she continued to list off evidence. Akitsu was the only one who didn't seem to care at all. The snow woman was just sitting placidly where she was, slowly sipping her sake as she paid no attention to the world around her. The only difference between now and how she usually acted was the fact that she wasn't sitting beside me on my left, and that she still had a small smile that didn't look like it was going to leave her face any time soon.

"Matsu," I cut in, and this time it took a force of effort to keep my tone from being snappish. "Really, don't you think it's better if we focus on Akitsu instead of these useless rumors? It's her party after all." In response Matsu's voice only raised even further as she sat forward from her kneeling position, putting both hands on the table as she continued.

"What it has to do with a tournament is that MBI is doing the exact same thing right here and now for the Sekirei Plan!" she declared, and that caught the attention of even the few doubtful party goers. "Whenever a Sekirei battle causes damage, a subcontractor of MBI, usually one that the company owns through a shell company gets an order exactly like the ones from Fuyuki city! And whenever an Ashikabi gets hurt the notes of their injuries are deleted and the MBI hospital they get transferred to is never on the record! The police records these days might as well be Swiss cheese too from all the deleted files I can find on their mainframes!"

"Oh?" Seo hummed, his voice full of satisfaction as he digested the information presented to him. "Then that would mean if there was some kind of tournament like the Sekirei Plan back then, then they would have had some kind of company backing up the whole thing, just like what MBI is doing now?" I grit my teeth, feeling the situation falling faster and faster out of hand, and trying to find some way, anyway, to keep this from getting worse. This was a nightmare. It had to be. At least, I wanted it to be. Unfortunately, I was a little too used to things going to hell for me to be able to really believe my useless hope that I'd wake up and discover this whole thing to be nothing more than the result of a bad night's drinking.

"Exactly!" Matsu crowed, pointing at the far too sharp Ashikabi. "And the only place I could think of that might be responsible is the one place Shirou doesn't like talking about, Lon-"

"Matsu," I didn't bother to hold my voice back as I half shouted half growled, the noise guttural as I interrupted the one thing that I could not allow to get out, the stronghold of the Clock Tower and its relation to the Grail War, "shut the hell up."

At first I thought it was the fury in my voice which caused the room to shrink back. At my side Seo dropped both of his cups of alcohol, spilling them all over his twin Sekirei. Rather than be outraged at the booze staining their work clothes, the two instead latched onto him even tighter, pulling his arms around them as they stared at me with wide eyed horror. Similar reactions echoed across the room, Yukari with Shiina, Haruka with Kuno, and Uzume with Kazehana. Tsukiumi and Musubi both latched onto Akitsu, who was the only one in the room who didn't respond overtly. Both Matsu and Homura had gone bone white, their drinks slipping from their nerveless hands as they froze like rabbits confronted by a hungry wolf. Even Miya tensed, though beside that she showed no other reaction to my violent order. It took me a moment to realize that the air around me felt cold, and I could see darkness from the edge of my vision.

What do you know. I activated my projection without using the word 'prohibited'. If I was a little calmer I might have chalked this up as a momentous achievement. Instead, I fueled the thing behind me, letting my fury increase the dark and the cold centered behind my back.

"Speaking of the events of Fuyuki city is prohibited. Further contemplation of the implications of the events is prohibited. And any mention of this conversation later is prohibited, on the pains of death." My voice was commanding, the hot fury behind it enough to apparently fuel the impact of my lecture as every person in the room, save the sleeping Kuu and the still drinking Akitsu, shivered at each use of the word 'prohibited'. For a moment, I felt the urge to just continue the projection. It only lasted a moment, and then I sagged, my angry posture falling away into resignation, and the air around me grew brighter once more.

I cursed myself briefly, for losing control like I did, but in the end I had. Damnit. How had this happened? How had everything spiraled out of control so fast? If I had known that Matsu would say what she had at the end, that she would make the connection between Fuyuki and England than suspicion be damned, I would have grabbed her by her ear the moment she had begun this conversation, dragged her to my workshop, bound and gagged her, and left her there overnight to let her cool off. I had underestimated her. I knew she was smart, and that her skills with logic were only second to her skills with computers. But to have figured out this much from so little? I had never even guessed that her investigations had taken her this far.

"Damn it," Uzume was the first to speak, her voice shaky. "It had bleeding eyes. I hate bleeding eyes."

"It was most impressive," Miya added, not even bothering to try and pretend that I hadn't done what I had done. Her usual casual dismissal seemed a bit shaken in regards to the intensity of both my reaction and my presentation. The landlady had her eyes fully opened, her posture nonthreatening but aware. It was the same look she had given me the day after we had first met, when I had confronted her with the truth of her nature. It seemed what had been revealed just a moment ago was just as interesting to her as my ability to sense her species had been.

"Impressive? Hitting a homerun with bases loaded is impressive," Seo muttered, his voice sounding rough. "Scoring with a total babe like that ice girl is impressive. That was the scariest thing I'd ever seen!" Haruka seemed to share the older Ashikabi's shock at the revelation that Miya's dread hannya technique was not as unique as he had hoped.

"W-what the hell was that?" the younger Ashikabi managed to get out, his body as unsteady as his voice as he shook in place. One hand came up to his pocket, and pulled out his protective charm, not even bothering to try and conceal it as he held it out shakily to keep it between him and I.

"So it's true," a much calmer and softer voice interjected, and I glanced up to see Matsu watching me carefully, none of her previous inebriation on her face. "There really was another game like the Sekirei Plan." My eyes narrowed at her change in demeanor.

"You set this whole thing up, didn't you Matsu," I said, not even bothering to phrase it like a question. The redhead nodded, her eyes probing but her expression somber.

"Shirou-tan is a very kind, after all," she explained, her tone regretful. "But he is mysterious too. He always does his best to help us, his Sekirei, and everyone else. But even when he does so, he keeps things from us. Like his former lovers, and his plan for the rest of the game, and even his past. Shirou-tan doesn't realize that he doesn't have to keep everything back. He doesn't realize that we, his Sekirei, want to help him. We want to be there for him, like he has been there for all of us in the past. So in order to get Shirou-tan to tell us, Matsu decided to do something like this." The redhead looked away, her voice sad but steady as she did so.

"So you decided the best way to get me to open up was to hunt down one of my most closely guarded secrets and reveal it in front of not just my flock, but my family, my employee, and my housemates?" I asked, my voice flat as I did so. Wordlessly, Matsu nodded. It looked like she was already aware of just how I was likely to respond to her maneuvering me into this situation, and wasn't looking forward to the results. Nonetheless, she had decided to follow through with it anyway. If I wasn't feeling the slow burn of anger at having been manipulated like this, by the Sekirei I had trusted the most so far, the one whom I had counted on to be the source of my intelligence, the one I had most heavily relied on, I might have been impressed by her conviction in following through with what she no doubt knew could potentially alienate me forever.

Instead I just sat still for a moment, and finally spoke up, my voice firm but calm. "Fine. Ask."

My capitulation seemed to throw the whole room off as I sat patiently, opening myself to questions. Matsu was the first to recover, most likely due to being the most prepared for the way this argument had been likely to go.

"So there was another game before?" she asked, seeking the final confirmation she needed for her suspicions.

"Yes," I said immediately before stopping, offering no further elaboration. My reticence caused her to quirk her mouth slightly in annoyance, but she held back from acting on her emotion. She must have been prepared for the fact that I wouldn't be too happy and had steeled herself to deal with it.

"And all the hospital records that were transferred were in order to make sure that the treatment was taken care of by the appropriate people, just like the families that were relocated were done so to keep them from revealing anything?" she continued, prompting me to confirm what she suspected. I snorted.

"No," I told her, causing her to glance at me in surprise. "I presume that's how MBI is handling things?" At Matsu's hesitant nod, confusion on her face as she realized she had misunderstood some of her findings drastically, I continued. "The hospital records were most likely deleted completely, the note probably put in there to keep anyone from questioning what had happened to them, in order to conceal the nature of their injuries. The missing families were most likely long dead by that point."

The almost casual surety with which I delivered that line seemed to cause the room at large to miss the impact of my statement for a few moments before the bitter truth finally penetrated.

"W-what?" Matsu was the first to get it, gasping slightly as she realized just what I had said and how serious I was about it. I nodded briefly. I had settled myself into my 'battle mode' by now, and within the shell I had wrapped my emotion I was able to dispassionately consider and deliver my responses.

"It was policy at the time for all accidental witnesses to be killed," I explained. "There most likely were so many at the time that in order to alleviate public notice they decided to simply make them disappearances instead of deaths."

"What?" Haruka was the first to get a response out at that. The rest of the room as a whole didn't seem to know how to react. Another tournament, happening years before hand and hundreds of miles away, I suppose that they could accept. After all, we were currently living in a situation not dissimilar. However, they had obviously expected that their little game was the standard that other events held themselves too. MBI didn't kill witnesses. I had no doubt there was a great deal of hush money being thrown around, and that for certain Ashikabi there might be special detention cells meant to keep loose lips from sinking ships, but killing? The Sekirei Plan expressly forbids that act. The very concept was so alien to most of the Sekirei and Ashikabi present that they took longer to process my blunt statement. Haruka on the other hand was once more showing his own disassociation with the events he had found himself in. "What do you mean killing?" he demanded, his voice high pitched as he held his protection charm higher in front of him. "What kind of sick game are you talking about?"

"Around two hundred and fifty five years ago," I began, my mind running through the best way to present the appropriate background information without making this shit storm I had found myself in any worse, "an expedition of around fourteen people discovered the location of the Holy Grail."

"The Holy Grail?" Musubi chimed in, her expression curious as she did so. Out of the rest of the assembled people she seemed the least affected by the concept of death. Considering that she herself was probably as distorted as me, it didn't seem that unusual. At her side Matsu glanced at the shrine girl, giving her a strange look at the way the shrine girl had ignored the implications of my earlier statement. It looked vaguely similar to the one Rin had given me so long ago when I had casually noticed that the collapsed students in a classroom weren't actually dead despite their gruesome appearance. "What's that?"

"An important religious artifact for the Christian church," Homura chimed in, his eyes narrowed as he absentmindedly filled in the blanks, calling on his rather impressive knowledge of Earth folklore. "The last cup that their messiah figure drank out of before he died. According to the legends around it the cup was supposed to be able to grant anyone who drank from it eternal life. But that's just superstition, Shirou," he pointed out, his voice uncertain as he studied my strange posture carefully.

"Whether the Grail could do that or not is anyone's guess at this point," I pointed out idly. Honestly, the Holy Grail I was speaking of could have done just what the legend said, but then again, I was trying to portray this in a way that would explain the events I had endured without revealing the existence of magecraft. It seemed almost hopeless at this point that I could keep everything important secret, but if I could still manage to give away just enough secrets to satisfy everyone without endangering them further then I would lie through my teeth to do so. "What does matter is that it was historically significant religious artifact. Finding it would be the kind of thing that could make a person famous and put them in the history books forever. Selling it could be enough for the seller to get a fortunate large enough for a dozen lifetimes. In the end, the expedition managed to locate it. And when they did, every participant died. In order to be the one to be able to claim it, every last member of the expedition betrayed and attempted to kill every other member, either through violence or treachery."

"T-that's awful," Yukari stuttered, and I noticed that one of her hands was groping the floor next to her as she unconsciously sought out her manga collection, perhaps for direction and perhaps for comfort. I shrugged.

"Afterwards, the Grail was lost until about sixty years later when the descendents of the original expedition managed to come together with all the various pieces of information they had accumulated through searching their ancestor's belongings. When the final resting place of the Grail was discovered again, along with the fate of the original expedition, the group was uncertain about what to do. Just like before, everyone wanted to be the one to claim the glory of the Grail's discovery. In the end, the exact same thing happened, and in the end there was nothing but corpses left."

"This story is sick," Haruka said, his voice flat with disgust as he did so. Most of the group didn't seem to find the glorious abbreviation of the sacred rite of the Heaven's Feel to be at all inspirational. I didn't blame them. I had found it to be the exact same, and I had been in it.

"Well," Seo began, his voice drawling and less affected than the rest. "If that's the way it kept happening, it doesn't seem like they'd ever get anything done." He leaned forward, unwrapping his arms from around his girls and placing his elbows on the table. With one hand he poured another drink, all the while keeping his attention focused on me as he did so. For all the alcohol he had consumed, his eyes were sharp as he tried to discern every bit of information that he could out of me. "What happened then?"

"The remaining family members got together and decided that if the same thing was going to happen every time, they might as well try to regulate it," I told him, my voice dry as I did so. "They managed to work out a system based on what had happened before. They decided that every sixty years they would gather together representatives of each family, fourteen in total, and if there were none suitable they'd find and invite someone from outside to participate instead so the number would always be the same. They even gave it a conspicuous name: The Heaven's Feel. The War for the Holy Grail."

"That's it?" Uzume broke in, sounding puzzled. "They just decided to keep doing the same thing over and over again until someone got it right? What kind of stupid idea is that?"

"Indeed," Tsukiumi said, her voice disapproving. "Surely there must have been a better way."

"Don't underestimate peoples' need for rituals," I told the two. "You could say it would be easier to attack another Sekirei or their Ashikabi the moment you see them. Instead just about everyone in the Sekirei Plan follows the rules. Remember? Always reveal your name and number, only fight one on one, and guard the fallen until they're found." I met Tsukiumi's eyes until she glanced down, wordlessly surrendering my point. When I glanced at Uzume she didn't even bother to meet mine. She had already crossed the line over what was acceptable in the plan. She left her fallen behind without a name or number to speak of afterwards.

"So what happened?" Matsu broke in, and when I glanced at her it was to discover that her glasses had been removed and her posture had become rigid. Her tone was mature, and her questions concise. "You said that these events happened two hundred and fifty five years ago. If they occurred every sixty years afterwards, then mathematically speaking the next of these 'Grail Wars' shouldn't have occurred for another forty five years." Now that she was receiving information, regardless of the fact that she had to force it out of me, Matsu was in full on analysis mode. This was the same mental skill that had allowed her to deduce the existence of a highly concealed event from public documents, public documents that had already been altered in the first place. I had no doubt she was getting far more from this then the rest of the room was.

"The Fourth Grail War happened," I said, my voice steady despite the bitterness I felt. "The First Grail War had been an accident. The Second War had been unexpected. The Third War had been more like a trial run, a way to test to see if the rules established would hold out. But the Fourth War, that had been one hundred and twenty years after those rules were written. It had been after the trial run of the Third. When the Fourth War happened, everyone involved came in knowing exactly what to expect, and prepared in every way they could to win by whatever means necessary." Despite the calmness of my tone, I felt a need to drink at the thought of what I knew of the Fourth War. Saber had been able to tell me more than enough for me to know just how wretched it had been. "By the end of the Fourth War there were well over five hundred, nearly six hundred by the final count, that died. There were countless more crippled or wounded. It was like everyone involved tried to find ways to deliberately out due everyone else when it came to pure vicious cruelty. All in the name of the prize."

"Six hundred?" Miya repeated softly. "So many…" The rest of the room seemed similarly disturbed by the sheer loss of life involved with the Grail War. Only Matsu seemed to take it in stride.

"The fire," she said, her voice certain. I glanced at her as she continued. "The fire that claimed Fuyuki City. The one that left you supposedly orphaned. By the end, the casualty count was over five hundred. The memorial built at the source of where the blaze happened has five hundred and fifteen names on it. That was caused by the Grail War." She spoke with the certainty of one who had found the final piece of a puzzle and was savoring the feeling of completion that fitting it in would give the assembler. I nodded.

"I was an orphan of the Grail War," I acknowledged, before pausing and correcting myself. "At least I thought so at the time. I suppose that even if I still have family alive, I am still a victim of it in some ways. I can remember it, you know," I added, my voice dispassionate, almost nostalgic as I did so. "It's the first thing I can really remember actually; walking through the flames, nothing but ashes and ember around me. I probably saw more dead bodies than then everyone in this room put together has now, and I was five years old at the time."

"So the whole sick thing kills hundreds, leaving you in dire need of professional help that you apparently never got, and then what, a decade later you go ahead and join in too?" Seo chimes in, his voice hard as he did so. The revelation of the circumstances behind my amnesiac status affected the room at large. My claim at having seen more bodies than all the rest might have been an exaggeration, considering that the room at large held Miya, Matsu, and Kazehana as well, but it made an impact. The three former Disciplinary Squad Members shifted, even Matsu seeming unwilling to meet my gaze. From Miya, the scent of regret hung in the air, poignant and bitter sweet. Kazehana poured herself another glass of sake, and then ignored it in favor of drinking straight from the bottle.

Even the ones who had no frame of reference for that kind of morbid were affected by my story. Tsukiumi was gnawing at her nail furiously, her eyes stuck to the table in front of her even as she worried the digit to the point where I could make out droplets of blood starting to form at her lips. Uzume had wrapped her arms around herself, perhaps wishing she had the comfort of her Ashikabi's presence to take her mind from the thoughts she found herself thinking. Yukari had shrunk in on herself, and though she had her face pressed into a slightly panicking Shiina's shoulder, I could hear her sniffle as she learned just what it was that had happened to her onii-san. I was thankful that Kuu-chan was still asleep at least. Haruka just looked like he was going to be sick as the story unfolded. For once, the looks Hikari and Hibiki were directing at me weren't full of suspicion over whether or not I was going to turn on them. They weren't looking at me at all, instead burrowing into Seo for comfort much the same way that Kuno was treating her own Ashikabi. Seo himself seemed to be taking the story in stride. Even as he gave support to his usually domineering and independent Sekirei, he was keeping a hawkish gaze on me as though to try and find some kind of mistake or flaw in my outlandish story that would reveal the whole thing as made up.

The only two who didn't seem affected by my revelations were once more Musubi and Akitsu. The snow woman was studying me again, the same intensity as she usually held while doing so present, but it didn't seem in any way judgmental or affected. It was just her paying attention to me, the history I was revealing in no way affecting her. Why should it? It wasn't like Akitsu's own life wasn't without hardship and pains either. It wasn't that she didn't acknowledge the brutal history I was revealing. It was just that she didn't care. Musubi too didn't seem affected. Why should she? Out of everyone here, she was the only one who could truly relate to me after all; my rebirth from the ashes of my hometown, and hers from the cold steel lair that she had been confined to and experimented on within.

"After the damage the Fourth War did, for various reasons it was decided to launch the Fifth War earlier than expected," I continued. No one was quite certain what had prompted the Fifth to come so soon after the Fourth. My talk of the participants at large scheduling the Heaven's Feel was woven purely out of cloth, but at least I had spun it in a way that was somewhat believable. The Fifth Grail War had caught everyone by surprise, allowing none of the preparation that had made the Fourth so vicious. Maybe it was a blessing that it had occurred that way. I didn't want to think of what might have happened if the selected Masters had had time to come up with even more outlandish methods for trying to claim victory then the Fourth War had had.

"With the lack of suitable participants from the original families, I was approached due to my connection to the Fourth War in order to fill the full fourteen slots available. Once the history and responsibilities had been explained, I decided to accept the chance to participate. I didn't have any real interest in the Grail itself," I admitted. "I didn't care one bit for the thing responsible for the deaths of so many. I decided that I would accept the invitation solely for the opportunity to do everything I could to limit the casualties that time around. I didn't participate to win. I just wanted to do whatever it took to end the War as soon as possible. I immediately allied myself with someone who actually wanted the prize and had a shred of decency to them, and after that I did what I could to make sure that as many people would survive as possible."

"Fat lot of good that did," Haruka snapped, his voice tingeing on the hysterical. "You just got finished saying how whole families were killed and then covered up. Where were you when that was going on? Huh?"

"Protecting the other families," I snapped, my voice losing my dispassionate tone and hardening as I did so. "You think a few families were the limits of what was at stake? Those hospital records that Matsu couldn't find? Most of those probably came from the nerve gas attacks that one of the other candidates launched throughout the town in order to hit any other potential competitors. My partners and I were at least able to disarm them before anyone died and stop the one responsible eventually, but not before hundreds were hospitalized. Even if we managed to keep everyone alive, the ones who were exposed to heavier concentrations of whatever chemical compound that was being used had to deal with severe disfigurement of their bodies when the higher concentrations acted like acid and dissolved their skin, and there were dozens more who are still dealing with nerve damage caused by their exposure to this day." My voice was a growl as I lashed out at the other Ashikabi. Explaining away both Caster's mana consumption and Rider's Blood Fort Andromeda as a gas attack was risky, but in the end the results were at least similar to what might be expected from an actual chemical attack. I continued berating the other Ashikabi, anger at the injustices that had occurred during the Fourth and Fifth War making my voice rise.

"You think you have any idea what the Grail War was like? Let me tell you this. The Sekire Plan is a joke. Even the most vehement of detractors call it a 'game'," my voice tinged with disgust as the appellation given to the contest I found myself in currently. "We never once called the Heaven's Feel a game. Hell, even calling it a 'War' was an understatement. It was a slaughter. It was always a slaughter. The more cruel and more vicious a method the more likely it was to be used. The Fourth Grail War had one participant who was fond of children. He loved kids. Why wouldn't he? Hold one in front of you and it's a human shield. Strap dynamite to it and it's a weapon. You want atrocity, go back fifteen years and look up missing children reports in Fuyuki City. Then you can know just how fucking serious the Grail War was."

"Shirou," Miya's voice snapped out like a whip, and I realized that my voice had risen to nearly a shout and that I was leaning forward on the table, glaring at the now cowering Haruka. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting myself sink backwards until I was sitting again. I closed my eyes, forcing my heartbeat back until it was something that wasn't about to jackhammer out of my chest, and when I opened my eyes again my 'battle mode' was once more back and in control.

"And do you want to know the best part?" I added to the stunned and nervous silence permeating the room, my voice soft. "The thing that really makes it funny? The Holy Grail, the artifact everyone was fighting for, all the fame and glory and wealth that was supposed to go to the winner of the whole thing? Sometime during the Third War, it was actually destroyed during the conflict. No one even knew. During the Fourth and Fifth War, the hundreds who died and were maimed in the name of the ritual? They were all for nothing." No one was quite certain what had happened in the Third War. Before that the Holy Grail might have once actually been able to deliver what it was supposed to. But starting in the Fourth War events surrounding the Grail had gotten stranger, more violent. Anti-heroes and just plain villains began finding their way amongst the competitors. In the end, the Grail had been nothing more than a bag of flesh, attached to a dying boy, and spewing hatred and curses in to the world. So many lives lost, just for that.

"That's not funny at all," Matsu whispered, her voice soft and her eyes locked on the table.

"That's why I'm not laughing," I told her bluntly. There was nothing I could do for the victims of the Grail Wars that I had not already done, be it saving the few I could during the Fifth or mourning the ones who I couldn't from the Fourth. It was just one more drop of violence and pain in a world that was already swimming in such things. Matsu took a deep breath, even as the rest of the room was silent with their thoughts, no doubt trying to comprehend the enormity of my hidden past, and then hacker pressed onwards. She had gone out of her way to arrange this confrontation and it looked like she was going to press her advantage as hard as she could to find the answers she had wanted.

"And what does this have to do with London?" she asked, focusing on the last bit of speculation she had gotten out before I had lost my cool and gave myself away.

"How special do you think the situation here in Shin Tokyo really is?" I answered her with a rhetorical question. The hacker narrowed her eyes at my sudden inquiry and I continued, determined to make certain that everyone present knew just what they had gotten themselves involved in now that they knew even a fraction of the truth. Their lives depended on me making sure that they knew just how much danger they were in. It looked like once more that when secrecy failed me intimidation was the best course. "Do you really think, that in all the years that humanity has existed in one form or another that there have only been two events like the ones going on now in Shin Tokyo and for centuries in Fuyuki City? Do you honestly think the Sekire Plan is the first time that a mysterious organization has manipulated public record to conceal the truth of something that had happened? You must realize that someone had to be there to erase the events of the Grail War afterwards, and since they were almost universally fatal for the participants it sure wasn't the contestants that were doing it."

"Then logically there must exist other entities like MBI capable of manipulating large scale information," Matsu nodded slowly, her eyes focusing on the table as she tried to digest the information I was giving her.

"No," I corrected her. "Just like the Sekirei Plan, MBI is a joke as well. They're an infant organization, barely more than two decades old. The only way they were capable of amassing enough influence to pull off what their attempts at covering up their own mess was by selling enough alien technology to amass enough wealth to buy the city they were planning on using outright. There are other organizations out there that have amassed just as much wealth, along with power and influence and position as well. When they need to cover something up they don't need to spend their own money to do so. They just tell one of the many, many people that either owe them debts or are trying to curry favors to do it for them."

"This is insane," Haruka snapped, his voice high pitched as he tried to argue against the scenario I was painting. "What's next? The Illuminati is real? Or maybe the men in black will be coming to get us? There's no way that can be. You're just some crazy, paranoid, delusional…"

"You do realize that you're sitting next to an alien which has bonded to you through a psychic ability unique to their species, and are currently being blackmailed by a multi-billion yen corporation into fighting to the death all while they hold your family ransom and keep the entire thing from ever appearing either on the news or from spreading further than a few websites on the internet?" I cut the other Ashikabi off, my voice unreasonably reasonable as I pointed out just what was really going on to the panicking third time repeater. "The simple truth of the matter is that once you accept the reality of what is really going on right this minute, you have to similarly accept the possibility that this situation is not unique. If something this outlandish had happened once, than why couldn't it have happened before? Do you really think MBI is that original in that they were the first ones to ever come up with the idea to try and manipulate the public in secret?"

"If what you say is true, Emiya-kun," Miya cut into the brewing argument between me and the newest resident of her inn, "then are there many more such organizations?" The alien landlady's voice was firm, and with just a hint of command to it as she pressured me for more information. It seemed that while she had no real knowledge of whether or not what I was saying was true she was at least opened to the idea that I was being honest.

"I can think of four of the top of my head," I admitted. "Most of them have existed for centuries, some of them for millennia."

The Mage's Association was made out of three such organizations, and though they were all officially affiliated together they were each different enough that they could be considered their own cabals: the Clock Tower, Atlas, and the Sea of Estray. Besides them the Church, for all its public face as a religious organization, had more than its fair share of secret chapters and behind the scene manipulation. The Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament for instance, the Executors of the Church, were similar in nature to the Enforcers of the Clock Tower, the hidden militant arm that hunted down and destroyed heretics and inhuman entities for the heresy of their existence. It was a branch whose existence had stretched nearly since the creation of the faith, the unspoken assassins and hunters that preyed on that which would prey on the faithful and protected those who would worship from that which hunted them.

In many ways the Sekirei had no idea how lucky they were to have been found by MBI and taken under its wing. For all the suffering the corporation had put them through, it paled in comparison to what awaited them if someone else had stumbled upon them first.

"T-this is big," Yukari muttered next to me, reaching down into her pocket with one shaking hand to pull out her cellphone. "I gotta tell mom about this. Onii-chan is part of the Illuminati!"

Without a word, I reached over and plucked the thin construct of plastic from my sister's fingers. Running a bit of od to strengthen and toughen myself, I then crushed the appliance with one hand, grimacing as a brief shock went through me as I destroyed it. Yukari gaped at me, the rest of the room showing their own surprise at my sudden and deliberate act of violence.

"I told you earlier, Yukari," I reminded her, not unkindly. "Speaking of any of this is prohibited on pains of death."

"You were being serious?" Seo chimed in, sounding less then intimidated by my threat on the lives of the people I lived with, my own flock and sister included. "So what, if any of us say anything, you're gonna come after us?"

"I never said it would be me that killed you," I corrected the assumption, my voice grim. "Organizations like that don't exist as long as they have, not in secret anyway, not without being ruthless. MBI might be ruthless themselves, but in the end they're a public company. They have stockholders and public scrutiny on them. They might be able to make some of their less scrupulous actions disappear, maybe buy their way out of a bit of trouble, but if they ever go too far then the public and the government will come down on them and destroy them. These other organizations? They have no regulators, no need to hold back. Most people never even realize they exist. The reason they stay shrouded in secrecy is because if anyone ever does find out about them, they not only kill the person, they kill the person's family on the off chance that the one who knew might have said something. Then they'll kill the person's friends for the same reason. Hell, then they kill the pets."

"I get it," Seo muttered, rubbing his forehead as he did so. "Even little Fluffy is in danger if someone finds out." I shook my head, once more correcting him.

"No, I'm serious," I insisted. "They really do kill pets. Certain species of birds can imitate human speech and might let something their former masters knew slip. Most mammals might recognize a scent and lead someone back to them as well. They even kill fish and destroy their bodies on the off chance that the owner might have been paranoid enough to use them as some sort of secret message."

"You mean they even kill puppies?" Musubi asked, raising one hand and cocking her head to the side curiously at my description of what lay in way for even the adorable. I nodded my head and resisted the urge to tell her, 'Especially puppies.' The truth was the pet killing policy came more on the off chance that the unremarkable animal might be some kind of familiar, but I knew for a fact that Enforcer's had extended the policy to all animals just to make sure.

"So what?" Haruka snapped, skepticism in his voice as he did so. "Some imaginary organization with ears everywhere is going to swoop out of the dark the moment we leave? There's no way that even if something like them exist that they could possibly be aware of every time someone talks about them."

"Normally there's some leeway," I admitted the point. "Like you said, they can't really be everywhere at once, even if they can be more places than you think. The thing is, well, I'm kind of already a target." That drew a rustle from much of the room. Most of my flock had seemed content to sit back and watch as I finally revealed a part of my life that I had kept carefully concealed from them. For the Sekirei that weren't directly affiliated with me, they seemed content to let their Ashikabi take charge of the situation. The fact that I was already apparently in danger was enough to breathe some life into the mostly quiet room.

"What do you mean, Emiya-kun?" Miya prompted, her head cocked to the side as she studied me. I had already warned the landlady that I had baggage. It looked like she was only now beginning to appreciate just how much of that luggage I was really carrying. For all the power that she had, and that most of the Sekirei could bring to bear as well, they were as a species surprisingly sheltered. Most of them had never seen any place beside the inside of a lab and Shin Tokyo itself, big fish in a small pond. They had no idea just big an ocean the world truly was, and just what kind of sharks lay beneath the otherwise still waters.

"London," Matsu interjected, answering for me. I nodded.

"After the Grail War, I was already exposed to certain elements due to my participation," I elaborated, choosing my words carefully. "Certain practices of those elements were disagreeable to me," I suppressed a grimace at my words. There were a lot of things I didn't agree with when it came to the practices of the Clock Tower. Their tendency to capture and experiment on the more unique members of their organization had just been the final straw. "I had to leave very quickly, and came back to Japan in order to hide. They don't have a very big presence in this country, and the truth was that while I might be a target for what happened, I'm not a very high priority one. If I keep my head down and stay out of the public eye, they might end up ignoring me completely. But if word gets out that I've started talking out of line, then I stop being something they could potentially ignore. If that happens, they're going to come down on me, and they're going to come down hard; anyone that I might have let slip about them to will be targeted, be they family, friend, or just casual acquaintance."

"I will not allow such a thing to happen," Tsukiumi snapped, pounding one hand on the table in outrage. "Don't worry, Shirou," she declared, straightening as she did so. "If those curs try anything, than you can count on me as your wife to show them the error of their ways!"

"Ah," Akitsu murmured. "Yes." I gave the snow woman a brief look, knowing that while Tsukiumi might not have any idea of what she was promising, Akitsu was far more prepared.

"So if all this is shit about secret organizations and being marked for death was going on, then just why the hell are you telling us all this?" Haruka demanded, his voice high with frustration and fear.

"I wasn't going to," I reminded him bluntly. "Until someone decided that forcing their Ashikabi to reveal his secrets was a good idea." I did not look at Matsu directly, but from the corner of my eye I could see her flinch at my not too subtle reminder of whose fault this was. "But once the connection between the Sekirei Plan and the Grail War was made with London, keeping it a secret was no longer an option. All it would have taken is just one of you getting curious about whether or not it was true and putting your nose someplace it shouldn't be and that would have been it. If they even suspected that the possibility of their existence being spread could occur, then they would have come down on everyone that could possibly be involved."

I glanced at Seo and Yukari, giving them warning looks as I did so. Seo was sharp, too sharp at times. I had little doubt that if the suspicion that Matsu had been planting hadn't been addressed then the scruffy looking Ashikabi might well have done some investigating of his own, and if he had actually managed to find anything than that would have been it. The same was so for Yukari, only she would have brought Takami into the investigation, and that would have sealed all our fates. With the full backing of MBI's resources, resources Takami had already displayed herself perfectly capable of using to fulfill her curiosity about me, they would almost certainly have found something. It was the reason that I had believed that I could absolutely not let the two of them ever know.

And now not only had my little sister found out, but she already had a preplanned reporting system on me with Takami. I could only hope that I had managed to import the full gravity of the situation onto the impetuous Yukari. If not, then my family could be in real danger.

"Experienced indeed," Kazehana chimed in, her cheeks still flushed as she finally broke the silence my fatalistic proclamation had brought to the table. I glanced over at the wind user, and then it was only my being in 'battle mode' that kept me from blushing.

"Miya," I said, "she's doing it again." At some point during my tale of bloodshed and carnage the wind user's hands had moved again; one resting against her bountiful chest, the other disappearing beneath the table which I was thankful to for covering her lower half from view. The landlady didn't even look at the other Sekirei, and simply struck out with her sheathed sword again, causing the wind user to yelp and quickly put her hands back on the table. Miya seemed to regard the whole incident as secondary in importance to studying me.

"You said something interesting earlier, Emiya-kun," she murmured, her voice a bit stiff as she did so. "About the Sekirei Plan being a joke. I'm very interested in hearing you explain your reasoning behind such a statement."

"Even you call it a game, Asama-san," I reminded her softly, and her eyes drifted momentarily to the side as my chastisement. "Compared to the Grail War, the Sekirei Plan is just that: a game. It has rules, rules which most of the participants follow, and administrators to see to it that those who don't follow the rules are punished. It is very different from what I am more accustomed to."

"So this is all a game to you then, bro?" Uzume asked, her voice dark as she took my description of the Sekirei Plan to heart. "All our suffering and hardships, are just a joke?"

"The Plan might be laughable," I admitted, "though what it does to those caught in it is perhaps just as cruel as the Grail War was."

"Bullshit," Haruka snapped, slamming the free hand he wasn't using to clutch a quivering Kuno to his side onto the table. "If you're so experienced and high and mighty, why are you just sitting around here doing nothing?" I cocked my head to the side, deliberating his accusation before finally shrugging slightly.

"As it stands, there's no need to do anything. Izumo House is a safe stronghold, and well defended. Thanks to all the rumors floating around the North is virtually deserted of enemy Sekirei. Most of my flock are single digits and experienced in combat on their own. Even Musubi, arguably the weakest is slowly gaining in skill. So long as the second stage continues there's simply no need for me to engage any of the other participants. And with Kazehana as the last unwinged Sekirei, her presence here lets me ensure her safety and protect her from getting forcibly winged, thus extending the second stage for as long as possible. So long as she doesn't react to an Ashikabi and get winged of her own choosing, the third stage, where actual combat is required, can be postponed." Though judging from the way the wind user seemed to be acting, well, that postponement might be nearing an end.

"And all the while, the rest of the Sekirei and Ashikabi are out there, fighting each other," Seo muttered, giving me an appraising eye. "The longer the second stage goes, the less enemies are left for you to fight later." I gave him a mirthless smile of confirmation. "Well, that's pretty good as a defensive strategy," he mused, finally pouring himself a new glass of sake. "Tell me, with all the tricks you picked up from the Grail War, what would you do if you had to pick an offensive one?"

"I would force the Sekirei Plan to an end within two to three weeks," I told him immediately. My casual assurance of my ability to wrap up the whole tournament didn't seem to sink in immediately, and Seo had managed to get his new cup of sake to his mouth before he froze, thankfully not doing anything as cliché as coughing on his drink.

"End it?" Haruka repeated, sounding as though he was having trouble believing that I had really said such a thing so confidently. "Just like that?"

"It would be simple. All I'd have to do is assassinate the three great Ashikabi," I explained. "I would have to kill Mikogami of the South first. With number zero five, Mutsu, he has one of the five original members of the Disciplinary Squad. Since all Sekirei are at least a little bit precognitive, at least as far as I can tell, and Mikogami always keeps Mutsu nearby, he would be the hardest. I would most likely have the most success with planting an explosive on one of the more common routes that the Ashikabi of the South likes to travel. If I make the explosive big enough, perhaps some form of incendiary, then I would probably be able to at least critically wound him before his Sekirei can rescue him. Even if he survives, I could finish the job in whatever hospital he ends up in. After that, Higa of the East. He would actually be easier to kill. He doesn't trust Sekirei and so won't have any nearby to help him. I can pit a bull's-eye at up to a mile, and hit dead mass on a torso sized target at half again that, so sniping him would be the most effective way to kill him. After that would be Sanada of the West. He likes to travel at unsafe speeds without a helmet on his motorcycle, so it should be relatively easy to arrange for him to have an accident to take him out of the game."

"You can't be serious," Yukari choked out, staring at me with wide eyes as her 'gentle' brother outlined an effective method of murdering three people without batting an eye.

"With those three down that would mean the elimination of all forty one of their Sekirei, nearly halving the remaining participants," I continued, further outlining my plan to force the Sekirei Plan to an abrupt conclusion. "With the loss of the three stabilizing powers, some of the remaining Ashikabi would no doubt fight over control of the now open regions, thus further decreasing the remaining participants. Other Ashikabi will probably react less aggressively, biding their time. Many of the others would no doubt panic and try to flee the city in order to avoid having the same thing happen to them. When that happens MBI would dispatch the Disciplinary Squad and see to their elimination, further reducing the numbers. It would probably only take a week or so, but my best guess would be at that point that the number of Sekirei remaining would probably only be in the mid twenties. I still don't know what the remaining portions of the Sekirei Plan are, but I do know that there were originally planned to be six stages. That was most likely assuming that there would be a lot more participants then what I would have reduced the pool to. MBI would most likely have to readjust the final segments of their plan. Depending on what happens next, I could either sit back and wait for the next phase or continue hunting down the remaining members of the game. Present company excluded, of course," I added, nodding at the members of the group who weren't members of my flock. My consideration towards them didn't seem to set them at ease, except for Seo. He just hummed appreciatively.

"So instead of following MBI's plan you'd just make yourself the last man standing and force them to give up the prize?" he concluded, rubbing his unshaven chin as he did so. It looked like he was contemplating the effectiveness of my plan objectively; something the rest of the room wasn't able to do quite as well.

"So what, you just kill every other member of the Plan without a care?" Uzume demanded, her eyes narrowed. General support from the rest of the Sekirei came in the form of indistinct muttering sweeping the room.

"Though such a thing might work," Tsukiumi scowled, giving me a disappointed look, "it would be dishonorable in the extreme. I cannot condone such a thing!"

"Yes, Shirou-san!" Musubi yelped, raising both arms up in outrage. "What about all the other Sekirei! If you kill their Ashikabi, then they won't be able to be with them anymore!"

"That's just the option that leads to the quickest resolution," I admitted. "It's the one that unfortunately affects the Sekirei the worst. I have other options prepared, one which allows for all the remaining Sekirei to be free from the Plan and not have to fight anymore."

"Then why don't you just do that one already instead of talking about assassination and killing people and stuff?" Haruka demanded, shrinking back from me as he did so. The casual revelation of my willingness to end another's life seemed to unnerve him, and I doubt he would ever be able to be comfortable in my presence again.

"It would mean destroying MBI," I admitted, my voice just as calm as when I had revealed my assassination plot. Homura leaned forward at my declaration, his eyes intense.

"You mean killing Hiroto Minaka," the flame user said, and despite the earlier reticence displayed when I spoke of killing Ashikabi the former host seemed almost eager at this new plan of action.

"No," I corrected, shaking my head. "Minaka might be the driving force behind the Sekirei Plan, but that doesn't mean he's the only force. He has to know that he's angered a great number of very powerful creatures with this whole idea of his. Someone like him wouldn't leave things to chance. He'd either be so well protected that killing him would be next to impossible, or have some kind of backup to keep the plan going after he's dead, maybe both. For all we know he might have implemented some sort of fail safe, a dead man's switch to go off if he was killed, something which might finish off the rest of the Sekirei. He's already had tracking chips implanted in all of you after all. There's no telling what else he might have done."

"Then what do you mean, destroying MBI?" Miya chimed in, her head tilted slightly as she took in my words intently. Miya had known before that I was no saint. The landlady had done her own share of killing too, probably just as much as the blood soaked Karasuba had. Earlier, at my first plan for ending the Sekirei Plan she had expressed disapproval, nothing more than the narrowing of her eyes, but I think she cared less about the killing involved and more that the end result would also cause the termination of the rest of the Sekirei as well. Now that I had a plan which I had claimed to be enough to free the Sekirei from this twisted game, she was all ears once more.

"The only way to keep any fail safe from going off, or whatever method he had planned to see to it that the Plan continued, is to completely destroy all the related information and resources associated with the plan at once." I took a deep breath and continued. "The only way to do that is to completely destroy MBI headquarters, and as many of the personnel associated with it as possible simultaneously. The best way to do that would be planting explosives at key structural points and bringing the entire building down during a period when the most employees would be present. The destruction of all the accumulated data and the loss of all human resources needed to reconstruct that data would most likely bring the Sekirei Plan to a halt."

"Thus protecting the Sekirei at the expense of thousands of human lives," Seo added, giving me a dark look. I nodded, knowing what the price of that course of actions would be. Despite having a way for them to escape the plan, the gathered Sekirei did not seem any more enthusiastic about this option as they were the last.

"But Shirou," Yukari gasped in a strangled tone of voice. "Mom works at MBI too!"

"Takami has already expressed distaste with the Sekirei Plan," I pointed out, already having an appropriate measure to see to it that our mother would be safe. "She's also in charge of collecting any terminated Sekirei. All it would take is terminating one more immediately before the bombs went off and she'd be away and safe. With her experience, she could also take over the medical duties of taking care of the remaining Sekirei as well."

"Does anyone else find it disturbing that Shirou's definition of 'being prepared' seems to involve making plans in case he needs to kill hundreds of people?" Uzume muttered, reaching out to grab one of the spare bottles of sake nearby. At her sudden movement Kazehana twitched, and then seemed to realize one of her hands was starting to inch down the table again. Realizing that she was tempting another chastisement from Miya the wind user seemed to decide that emulating her neighbor might be the best way to keep her hands from unconsciously wandering and grabbed another bottle of sake and an empty cup and set about using both of them.

"I think the second one has promise," Homura muttered, one hand coming up to scratch at his chest. "It just needs to be refined from 'killing everyone' to just 'killing Minaka'."

"I think these useless ideas should just be discarded," Tsukiumi added, one hand on her hip as she did so. Pointing the other at me confidently she continued. "There's no need to worry! I am the strongest Sekirei, and I'll make certain to win without having to resort to such underhanded methods."

"How the hell can you all just sit there and make jokes?" Haruka interrupted, slapping the table again, looking outraged that he was the only one who was being outraged by my murderous plots.

"The kid has a point," Seo chimed in, sounding much more reasonable. "Are you sure you're not just projecting your Grail War into the present?" he turned to me, his face serious as he studied my reaction.

"Exactly," Haruka snapped, overlooking Seo calling him a kid again in order to rely on the older Ashikabi's support. "It's not like people are dying or killing or anything!"

"Since the Sekirei Plan has begun there have been precisely twenty eight deaths that can be attributed to it." Surprisingly, it wasn't me doing the correcting. Matsu, her glasses still removed, added that statistic almost diffidently. I gave her a quick look.

"I thought the last count was twenty six?" I asked, my eyes narrowing as I did so. It had been a few days, but I had given Matsu explicit instructions to keep me updated on the death count. Then again, maybe the hacker had been intending to keep the new deaths as ammunition for her earlier plot to get me to slip up like I had.

"What?" Tsukiumi cut in, sounding flabbergasted that the Sekirei plan actually had a kill count. "Has some rogue been preying on her fellow Sekirei?" I almost expected Yukari to chime in in outrage as well, but my sister was strangely silent. She instead leaned in closer to Shiina, her expression lost as she sought comfort from her partner as she dealt with the revelations of the night.

"That's impossible," Homura snapped, his gaze raising from the table and locking onto the hacker. "How could so many Sekirei been killed? I thought there had been no level fives yet?"

"Not Sekirei," Matsu muttered, looking down at her lap as she fiddled with her glasses. "Humans."

"What, has that sword Ashikabi been catching other Ashikabi then?" Haruka broke back in, trying to learn where this unexpected loss of life had come from. In Miya's lap Kuu stirred, burrowing herself deeper into the landlady who glanced down as though she had forgotten that she had been holding the green girl.

"Onii-chan has swords," the little blonde muttered innocently. "Fuwaa." With a tiny yawn she settled back down, apparently not even having woken up in order to deliver her pronouncement.

"Not Ashikabi. Just people. You were there for eight of them, Homura," I reminded the fire user. When the former host gave me a quick look, wondering what I was referring to I nodded at the sleeping blonde. "When we first went to rescue Kuu; the vans that Yomi had destroyed."

"MBI's soldiers," Homura snapped his finger as he realized what I was talking about. I nodded, before continuing.

"There have been sixteen of MBI's personal troops that have been attacked by various Sekirei, or been killed while trying to evacuate bystanders," I explained. "Three more deaths occurred when Sekirei battles grew too indiscriminate and caught up passersby. Two of them from when fighting on a roof dislodged an air conditioning unit that fell from six stories up to land in traffic. The third when fighting in a park collapsed a bridge on a homeless man who was passed out beneath it."

"That's nineteen," Seo noted diffidently. "What about the last nine?"

"Seven of them were deliberately targeted by Ashikabi and their Sekirei," I informed him. "Three of them were apparently former love interests of a particular Ashikabi, relationships that didn't end well for the Ashikabi himself. He had his Sekirei kill them later for revenge. The last four were when one Ashikabi decided to try and make himself a name in certain Yakuza circles. MBI dispatched Karasuba to deal with both of them."

"To target the uninvolved and bring shame to the Sekirei Plan," Tsukiumi huffed, folding her arms as she did so. "I think I'm beginning to see why you have such leniency for MBI's dogs."

"It is nice to see an administrator take their duty seriously," I admitted. "In the Grail War the administrator just used the information he received about all the participants to try and hijack the tournament and claim the Grail for himself." I turned to Matsu, my voice laced with professional courtesy. "What were the last two?"

"One more MBI security agent and one more bystander: this one caught by a stray throwing knife," the hacker reported obediently.

"So what, the Sekirei Plan is already a battleground so it's okay to kill everyone off, is that what you're saying?" Haruka tried to pull the topic back to my strategies for dealing with the Plan. "You might as well just start adding your own bodies to the mix? Is that what you want?"

"What I want, is for this whole thing to never have happened," I snapped back, finally losing my temper at the other Ashikabi. He had been spending nearly the entire night taking just about everything I said personally. First his attack on the Grail War, then his attack on my already devised methods of handling the Sekirei Plan, and always his insistence on trying to paint me like some kind of blood thirsty psychopath. "What I want is for me not to be hunted, for my very presence to not cause everyone around me danger. What I want is for the Sekirei to be able to live free, without having to fight to the death at the whims of some corporation. What I want is for those seventeen soldiers to be alive and able to go back to their loved ones, and for those nine completely innocent people not to have been killed either by accident or at the whims of some arrogant punks who figured that the moment he got a hold of an alien weapon that they had a license to do whatever they want to whoever they want. And most of all what I want is for you to shut the hell up!

"The fact of the matter is, that right now, the best way for me to handle the plan is to play a defensive game and try to stretch it out for as long as possible before I have to risk my flock in a confrontation. And I can do that for now. MBI is keeping things mostly under control, and the death rate is still low. But that can't last forever. Eventually, someone is going to get impatient and do something stupid. I have my bet on Higa being the one who finally crosses the line. He's already using blackmail and kidnapping to spread his influence. It won't be long before he gets too full of himself and does something which will probably endanger a whole lot of people. And when someone finally gets so full of the idea that being bonded to a Sekirei puts them above the law and starts raising the kill count of the game, then if MBI doesn't step in and put a stop to it, then I will."

My voice was as hard as steel as I gave my ultimatum. It was the truth. Right now I had three plans. The first, to finish the Sekirei Plan according to the rules MBI had dictated. It would be a route with single, one on one confrontations, with my Sekirei nobly matching with their opponents, and respect being given to the fallen. That was the route that Saber would most appreciate, the chivalrous route. However, it didn't change the fact that lives were at stake. The Sekirei Plan had gone on for almost a year by now and there had only been twenty eight deaths in all that time. Compared to the Grail War where the kill count could be many times higher than that and only lasted for two weeks, the Sekirei Plan was probably less dangerous than driving down a highway. But if that changed, if Ashikabi started abusing the power their Sekirei's gave them, if the innocent started being endangered, than I would move to end the Plan in the quickest way possible, the way that would endanger the least amount of lives. It was a plan I think Kiritsugu would appreciate. The final plan though, the destruction of MBI…

"Don't act so damn noble," Haruka snapped back, refusing to be cowed by my own anger. It was a stance unlike the normally polite repeater. He had just been a normal guy who happened to find himself in an abnormal situation. He had tried to escape, only for that to be denied him. Living with the fear and the pressure, lacking any other target he could take himself out on, it seemed I had just been elected to be his scapegoat. "You were talking about how you'd kill hundreds if you have to! How the hell can you justify something like that, you damn hypocrite?"

"Because there was no Grail," I told him coldly. "Because I'd already seen two slaughters that ended up being for nothing. Tell me, Haruka, what is the prize of the Sekirei Plan? Ascension? What the hell is that?" I leaned forward, my voice rising. "You know what? Maybe the so called prize for the last Sekirei standing is something great. Maybe its riches, or power, or eternal fucking happiness. Who knows? But I've already been screwed over too many times to trust MBI's word that the prize is anything I want. What I'm worried about is that there is no prize at all, and that Minaka is just using the promise of one to get everyone to participate while he prepares something even worse!"

"Shirou," once more Miya's voice cut like a whip, and I tore my eyes away from the still furious Haruka to look at the landlady once more. This time, her expression was lacking her studious airs, and instead her brow was creased by the faintest hint of worry. "What do you mean, 'something worse'?" she asked softly. I collapsed backwards, my body still stiff with anger at the constant accusations, but quite frankly Miya was more important than dealing with the fall out and paranoia of the other Ashikabi's breakdown.

"I've told you before, Miya," I began, my voice tight as I gave my final round of reasoning. "The Sekirei Plan just doesn't make sense. Not like it is right now. MBI's sank billions in to it, and it has no pay off for them, no way to improve their situation. At first I thought that it might just be Minaka's sick way of killing off the rest of the Sekirei so he can have sole claim of the ship. But then I had to wonder if their might not be another reason. Who knows what's on that ship, what Minaka could have found, or hell, even built on his own with the technology he's managed to figure out. For all we know there's some kind of massive weapon in there, one he needs time to figure out how to use or that requires some obscure method of powering it? Maybe it's something that only Sekirei can be used to activate after they've had their crests removed, or after they used a certain degree of their powers. Maybe he's using the Plan as some kind of test ground in order to gather data on the Sekirei's capabilities before he sells the secrets to whichever military will pay the highest? Maybe a dozen other things I can think of off the top of my head."

The picture I was painting was a grim one, and I could see it was something that the rest of the room had never once considered. Why should they? None of them had ever participated in a ritual that required summoning and then killing seven Heroic Spirits in order to use the mana they accumulated to power a malice soaked wish giving device. Raised in labs, never having been anywhere outside of the city, the fact was that for all the power assembled in this room, just about every other person here was sadly lacking in practical experience when dealing with just how bad things can truly get. Even Miya, the strongest and probably most experienced of the Not Humans gathered here was relatively naïve when it came to that.

I half hoped that Miya would be able to dismiss my conjectures out of hand, that whatever she was she was at least familiar enough with Sekirei technology and its capabilities that she would be able to tell me I was imagining things. When the lavenderette's eyes narrowed and she turned them aside silently, that hope was crushed.

She knew something. She obviously hadn't considered it before, but when I had described my half formed ideas, something had clicked.

That did precious little to reassure me.

The final plan I had hatched and spent hours working on, the destruction of MBI and all that were in it: that was Archer's plan, the plan of a Counter Guardian, one who had to destroy a cancer and all that was infected by it in order to save the whole organism.

No matter how much I hoped that I would be able to make Saber proud by the end of the Sekirei Plan, the cold dread remained in me that maybe, just maybe, I might end up walking my hated future self's path was there.

"So what, you just get to decide when enough is enough and take matters into your own hand? You just get to decide who gets to live and who has to die?" Haruka looked like he was about to come over the table and take a swing at me. At his side, Kuno was latched onto his jacket, her slender weight doing all she could to try and hold back her Ashikabi.

"In a word, yes," I told him coldly. "If it comes to that, than I will walk the Path of the Shura."

"The what?" Seo interrupted, doing nothing to calm down the confrontation between me and the other male Ashikabi. Instead, his eyes were focused on the table in front of him as he replayed the conversation in his head. From the expression on his face, it seemed that like Miya he was finding my random scenarios to be far too possible for his liking.

"Asura," another male voice broke in, and I dragged my gaze from the seething Haruka to see Homura giving me a look of recognition. "The Buddhist deities, gods who fell to bloodlust and became like demons. Some depictions of them have three faces and six arms, carrying a sword in each hand. It's said that being reborn as one is one of the four unhappy reincarnations, destined for those who lived lives filled with the use violence to solve their problems." His eyes narrowed in triumph as he nodded. "That's what it is that you keep making. That's your mask."

"An Asura," I repeated, recalling what I knew of the legendary creatures. Narrowing my eyes as well, I called to mind the feeling from earlier, when I had interrupted Matsu without the perquisite incantation, and behind me I could feel the hazy presence of my malice coalesce slightly.

How fitting.

"So you're some kind of paranoid, delusional, blood thirsty, killer, is that what you're saying?" Haruka's face was twisted into something which was part fear and part distaste. "Well, I've had enough! There's no way in hell I'm going to stay here, not when this freaking place has some kind of demon murderer in it! Or that freaky hannya ghost lady," he turned to give a glare at Miya, so caught up in his head of steam that he forgot even his normal wariness of the landlady, "or 'Devil Ashikabi' or 'Grim Reaper' Sekirei, or crazy drunks! I wouldn't be surprised if even that Veiled Sekirei was here! She is, isn't she? She's one of yours, I bet," he snapped at me, his eyes darting to the side to take in my flock as though a glance would be able to reveal just which of my Sekirei was actually the one who had threatened him so long ago. In her place across the table, Uzume watched quietly, her eyes darting from me to Haruka.

"Haruka-san," Kuno moaned at his side, the state of her Ashikabi driving her even further into her usual panicky state. Haruka looked down, and seemed to realize that he was scaring his Sekirei. With one arm he firmly pulled her up, wrapping an arm around her as he glared at the room in general as though daring any of us to say anything.

"Come on, Kuno. We're leaving. Forget our stuff, we're probably better off without it." Backing away as though he suspected someone in the room to go after him the moment his back was turned, he disappeared into the hallway, the sound of his footsteps picking up as he started hurrying the moment we were out of sight.

"Bye bye, Klutzy-san!" Musubi called out after the departing duo. I could faintly make out the final words 'I'm a Kuno not a Klutz' being called out before I heard the front door bang open.

"Oh dear," Miya murmured, paying no more attention to their departure as she continued to stare to the side, lost in thought. "I wonder if they'll be back for their belongings any time soon."

"Somehow, I doubt it," I added my opinion. A tug at my sleeve called my attention to my side, where my sister peered up at me. I was always taller than Yukari, my unusual height causing me to tower over the more normal sized girl even when the two of us were sitting. Now though, now she looked even smaller than normal as she curled in on herself. Yukari was a girl who lived off of ambitions, and was in love with the romance of the world. She loved manga where families were together and happy despite the little dramas that kept the plot going, or where brave heroes stood up and did battle with villainously evil foes and good always triumphed. Tonight had had very little so clean cut, and even less so happy.

"Onii-san," she began, hesitantly. "Would you really do something like that? Would you actually kill someone?" She peered up at me, her expression pleading as she did so. When my eyes drifted to the side, refusing to meet hers, she tried again, tugging more insistently. "Even the MBI thing? You'd really kill the President?"

"If I must," I answered honestly. Homura perked up from his corner of the table.

"You know," he began, "I think you really might be overestimating his preparation. I doubt an egotist like that would really trust anyone else to carry out his plans. If we did manage to find a way to kill him, it could stop everything right here and now."

"Oh hush, bishounen-kun," Kazehana piped in, giving the fire user a disapproving look. "Killing the President won't solve anything."

"B-but," Yukari began, glancing to the side, uncomfortably. "Shirou, the President, you see," she began again, trailing off once more. Finally, she looked back up. "Is it true what you said earlier?" she asked, the change in subject somehow brining her more confidence. "About the evil organization trying to kill you?"

"Yes." I continued, reaching up to rest one hand on Yukari's shoulder, trying desperately to impart to her how dangerous the situation really was. "Yukari, promise me. Whatever you do, don't bring it up ever again. Things could get very dangerous if you did."

"But onii-chan," she began, and then winced as I strengthened my grip.

"Imouto," I began, a hint of pleading entering my voice. "Please." Her eyes dropped as she heard the desperation in my tone and finally she nodded.

"Okay, onii-chan," she whispered. "I think I understand."

"Thank you, Yukari," I told her, sincerity and relief plain in my voice.

"I understand that those evil bastards must have done something to you!" she continued, ignoring my response as her tone grew fiercer. "There's no way my onii-chan could ever be so cruel otherwise!"

I gawked at her, completely unprepared by the sudden change in mood. "W-what?" I managed to get out, stuttering briefly as I did so. Yukari nodded, bringing a fist up passionately in front of her face as she did so.

"That must be why onii-chan is ready to be so violent! An evil organization must have brainwashed him! They probably wanted to make him an assassin or something!" Scowling, Yukari leapt to her feet, nearly knocking Shiina over as she brushed against him violently. With me sitting and her standing she was finally able to tower over me. "Don't worry, onii-chan! I know you must have escaped them somehow and are still too scared to fight back! That's why I'm going to prove to you that I'm strong enough to take out that wretched hive of villainy!"

"Yukari, that's really not what…" I cried out, trying to head off this avalanche of enthusiasm only for Yukari to grab my head and smash it into her stomach as she hugged me tightly.

"Don't worry! I know just how to show you that I'm strong enough to help!" she declared. "I'm going to beat you in this tournament! That way you'll know that I'm ready to help you fight against the evil oppressors who terrorized you!" Pushing me away so hard that it knocked me sprawling she pointed a triumphant finger at me, proudly smirking down as she did so. "From now on, we're rivals, onii-chan!"

"That's not what I want at all!" I desperately pleaded, but Yukari had moved beyond my ability to reason with.

"Come on, Shiina!" she crowed, grabbing her Sekirei's arm and pulling him after her as he desperately tried to reclaim his footing even as she marched towards the exit. "We're going to go find Haruka first, and beat some sense into him! Then we're going to get a bunch of allies as well so that when onii-chan and me have our final fight we'll have enough Sekirei to match his harem!"

"Mistress, I don't think this is the best idea," Shiina cried desperately as he gave me a frantic glance, pleading with me to help. I had none to give, seeing as I had no idea what I could do to stop this headlong charge into destruction that my sister seemed intent on taking.

"Wait, Yukari," I called as she disappeared out the door of the dining room. "At least show up on weekends," I yelled, hoping for at least this mercy. "I'll make your favorite teriyaki!"

"Okay, rival-onii-chan," she called back happily. "I'm off to fight the forces of evil! See you on Saturday!"

"There has got to be something wrong with that girl," I muttered, unable to believe what I had just seen. "Takami must have dropped her on her head a few times when she was a baby."

"I know," Kazehana piped in, sounding delightfully scandalized. "It wouldn't surprise me if 'that woman' did it on purpose too!" Knowing that the reason the wind user was so happy to contribute was for the chance to bad mouth my mother, I ignored her. I still didn't know what the source of the grudge between the two was, and quite frankly it was the least of my concerns.

"Well," Seo interrupted, his voice drawling as he did so. "It looks like this party is about over."

"Did this even count as a party?" Hibiki muttered at his side, giving me a warning look as she deliberately put herself between me and her Ashikabi. It seemed that any chance I had at making a good impression on the lightning user was forever lost after tonight's revelations.

"You know," Seo continued, standing as he did so and stretching lightly in place. "There is one thing that I found particularly interesting in your plans."

"You mean besides the first degree murder?" Hikari chimed in a grousing tone.

"Yeah, besides that," Seo allowed. "You know, in all your plans, not once did you ever mention having your Sekirei help you out. It was always you using normal tools and doing everything yourself."

"Of course not," I told him, sounding disgusted at the idea. "If it comes to me needing to bloody my hands, than I don't see why anyone but me should have to take that burden."

"Heh," Seo grunted, before pausing as the jingle of chains echoed through the room. For the first time since this whole party had gone south, Akitsu moved. Standing, the snow woman immediately walked away from where she was sitting, and moved to the place at my left. Without a word, the ice wielder placed herself in her usual position, kneeling beside. If Akitsu was more verbal, I think this might have been the equivalent of her scolding me for leaving her out of my plans. Not knowing what to make of the unexpected movement, Seo blinked, and then shrugged. "Well, I think knowing that you'd take care of things yourself rather than force your Sekirei to do it says something about you. After tonight, I'm not sure what I think of you personally, but I gotta say that at least you have your convictions."

Turning, the gregarious Ashikabi made his way towards the door as well. Pausing at the edge, he gave me a quick grin. "Feel free to keep on using my card for now."

"In that case," I began, cutting him off before he could leave. "I have a job for you. Go after my sister. Whatever crazy thing she's planning, do your best to keep her from going overboard."

"Wait, and deal with that shrew?" Seo snorted in amusement. "Why the hell would I do that?"

"You get a free pass to join any meal she comes along to, and I'll triple the rates I usually give you when I need your car."

"Hmmm," Seo leered at me, rubbing his chin. "Tempting. But then again, surely you can do better than…" whatever attempt at extorting me he was about to make was ended when Hikari drove a fist into his gut, doubling him over.

"He'll take it," the bustier twin told me, grabbing her Ashikabi's arm and pulling him towards the exit.

"But Hikari," Hibiki muttered, her voice soft as they started their own trip towards the exit. "I thought we didn't want Seo within a hundred yards of that guy? I thought we agreed he was a bad influence!"

"Bad influence or not, if it wasn't for him we'd have starved weeks ago," Hikari snapped back. "He's Seo's most regular employer, and one of the few that our loser won't blow off. Think about it, with that much extra money we could afford fresh fruit again!"

With that last comment lingering in the air, Izumo House grew a little emptier.

In the lingering silence, I turned to Matsu. Like a condemned woman awaiting her execution, the hacker stayed where she was, straight backed and expectant.

"Well?" was the only thing I said. Matsu seemed prepared for what was about to happen, and didn't need any more words to know that I was upset, and that the only thing I wanted to hear from her at the moment was an explanation.

"I'm ready Shirou-tan," the redhead said, bracing herself. "I know Shirou-tan is upset about what Matsu did. Matsu already said why she did it, so Matsu is ready to take her punishment. Go ahead and scold Matsu."

I think it was a measure of just how seriously Matsu was taking her transgression that not once did she suggest I spank her or do something else depraved as so called 'punishment'. It looked like she had prepared herself for prolonged exposure to my whatever it was. Well, my Asura I now knew.

"Matsu," I began, not calling my projection technique as I did so. I knew I should still be angry at her, and I was. But more than that I just felt tired. The argument, watching my explanation to ensure that I only told precisely what was necessary, explaining just what I was prepared to do for the sake of ending the Sekirei Plan with minimum casualties, no matter what was required of me, worrying about what my sister and Haruka would do now that they held all our lives in their hands; all of it had gathered together and all I felt right now was exhausted. "Do you remember when I asked you about the third stage, and you wouldn't tell me anything? Do you remember what I did then?"

"Ah," Matsu began, drooping slightly as she did so. "Shirou-tan didn't push, even though he could of. He didn't make Matsu tell him anything."

"Just like I did when I asked you about the Sekirei core," I reminded her. "I did that," I continued, feeling weary, "because I, more than most, knew just how important secrets were. I knew that sometimes there were things you really can't talk about, that were dangerous to mention too carelessly."

"Yes, Shirou-tan," Matsu wilted further. It seemed she had expected me to shout at her, to question her decision, to be angry. I felt that anger, yes, but more than that, I felt disappointment. Matsu didn't look like she was at all enjoying being the one who had caused that emotion in me.

"I didn't press, because I trusted that whatever reason you had for not telling me, it was important," I continued. "Why couldn't you do the same for me?"

"But Shirou-tan," Matsu protested, looking up anxiously. "I didn't know," she continued, leaning forward anxiously. "I didn't think it would be like, like that."

"Because you didn't trust me," I told her, and she flinched back like the words I were wielding were knives in her flesh. "You didn't think anything I might be concealing might be important. You didn't trust that I had a reason to keep things secret."

"Shirou-tan," she began, and this time I cut her off, a bit of my lost edge returning to my voice.

"And now, because you didn't trust me, now Seo, Haruka, and Yukari's lives have all been endangered. Just like everyone's here has as well. Haruka is afraid and lashing out, and he might try to get my hunters' attention purely out of spite. Yukari might not believe the severity of my warning and get their attention by accident. Because of what happened here tonight, you might very well have not only killed me, but everyone else here, and my family beside."

"That's not true, Ashikabi-sama," Matsu argued, her childish tone dropping completely. "Surely," she began, her eyes frantic, "surely it is not so bad as you say? An organization like you have described, it was exaggerated to impart the importance of secrecy, wasn't it?"

"And you still don't trust my judgment," I shook my head. One hand came up to cradle my forehead. I'm not sure if it was the stress of the night, or the alcohol I had drank earlier, or if I was just tired, but I could feel a throbbing forming there. "I'm tired," I murmured. "I'm going to bed." As I stood, I turned away from the table, walking towards the one stop I was planning on taking before finishing my journey to the bedroom. "Before, Matsu, you told me that there would come a time when I would have to reign in my flock," I said over my shoulder as I stopped in front of my destination:

The whiteboard.

With the new tool for determining order, my flock had been pecking at it for days. A separate row had emerged beneath the original and now listings for eating and sleeping for every day had been filled in. There were frequent scribbling marks in various places as fierce negotiations and back door deals were struck over who would get what day and what task.

It was Saturday right now. Originally one of the open days to be determined by shopping race, Musubi had been the original owner of both today and Sunday. The shrine girl had generously offered to take Sunday with Tsukiumi again and leave Saturday to Akitsu and Matsu once more. Picking up the dry eraser I moved it across the board several times.

Wordlessly I left the room, Matsu's name no longer anywhere on the list, either for eating or for sleeping. I ignored the sound of the room behind me as my modification to the schedule was discovered.

Gods, I was tired.


	25. Twenty Fifth Wing

In Flight: The Twenty Fifth Wing

_Author's notes: First off, reviews! _

_A prime example of review trends for chapter 24 has been the strong response to Matsu's actions. A lot of people seem to be very upset over what she did. Cries of 'Outrage!' and 'That bitch!' ring stridently through the metaphorical air of the web. First off, I'd like to say that the fact that I had managed to raise such a strong emotional response actually makes me a bit proud. That people have become genuinely emotionally connected with the characters is something which makes my writer's soul sing. _

_That being said, for those of you who are concerned, be assured that this isn't some kind of 'Sakura Bash'-esque move on my part. I'm not taking out any kind of personal dislike on the character. I actually like Matsu. It's just that she chose the wrong moment to try and do something with the best intentions and the worst results._

_Actually, Haruka has been getting a lot of hate thrown his way too. I kind of feel bad that he's getting such a bad rep as well, but since he's far less important to the plot, I can shrug him off a lot easier. _

_Another review I wanted to address mentioned their dislike of my constant use of titles for characters. Things like 'The water user', 'former host', or 'pony tailed Sekirei'. They asked why I didn't just use more normal pronouns like 'her' or 'she'._

_Good question. Actually, the reason why is because Sekirei just has so many freaking characters in its cast that if I'm not careful 'she' or 'her' might refer to any of a dozen members present in the scene at the time. I use the little pseudo titles because its the best way to make sure the acting character is differentiated from the rest with out constant use of their actual name. Yes, names can become just as easily noticed and ignored as a pronoun, but it would take time and most of my paragraphs would be constantly interspaced with the same repeating symbols that it would become aggravating. I use titles because in the toss up from using the same word too often and having to use long drawn out titles, I think the titles are a little less repetitive._

_Now, Chapter Specifics. Be warned..._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_*No, Seriously. Spoiler Alert*_

_*This is your second to last chance...*_

_*SPOILER ALERT*_

_This chapter has a lot happening in it._

_First off, the reactions of Izumo in general. This is actually the second draft of the chapter I wrote up. Originally, there was a long segment which took up nearly eight pages and was a giant ungainly info dump. I rewrote the chapter, and tried to interspace the character reactions from 24 throughout it to make it a little less ungainly, but if that worked or not is up to you, the audience to decide. Please, let me know if this wasn't too hard to slug through._

_The first half of the chapter is mainly reactions and character development. I figured I'd make a brief rundown in list format._

_Kusano: Not much I wanted to point out here, just wanted to use her to open the chapter and give some fans some Moe. Anything stands out, give a shout._

_Tsukiumi: Her 'dere' scenes here were lifted from several incidents nearly word for word from the original Sekirei. Fans of the series will probably note which ones I was using for inspiration. I used them to transition into her seduction scene, something which i was hoping to use to show the changing dynamics of the flock in regards to their mating status. Akitsu broke the damn, and one by one, to varying degrees, the rest are gonna want some action. Tsukiumi was just the first to go for it. I was aiming for something which seemed natural, despite my own leeriness of writing scenes like that, so let me know if it turned out alright._

_Kazehana: I mentioned before, one of the major reasons I kept Kazehana involved was the fact that she's probably the most sexual creature of the original Sekirei series. Yet despite that, she's also the most romantic, having pined away for years, maybe decades depending on how you interpret the timelines, over her lost love. She's interesting to write, though for now she comes off as kind of a slut, something even she has noticed and dislikes. That'll change eventually, and she will have an important role later on, so fans of the iconic bottle fairy should sit tight and wait for further developments._

_Finally, the last portion of chapter 25, the battle scene. Just like with Archibald, I decided that I liked the framework of an established magus, but couldn't justify bringing them in specifically. Thus, the generic 'Fraga' clan member gets formed in the same way as the generic 'Archibald'. For those who are no doubt bursting with questions, yes, I drew heavily on Bazet for inspiration for the Fraga magus._

_The battle scene itself comes out of nowhere, with no leading up to it like every other fight so far in In Flight. That was on purpose. This was an ambush, something Shirou had no time to prepare or ready himself for, a display that yes, things are happening outside of his perspective, and no, he's not ready for everything. I was aiming for 'jarring change of perception and mood whiplash' here, so let me know if that worked out for me._

_Final note, 'Fragarach'. It was predominant in F/HA, however the real name is spelled, but I had trouble finding anything besides generic descriptions of it. I tracked down a scene from the game on youtube, which is where I got a lot of my information from, there and the wiki, but I took heavy liberties with it as well, so if something doesn't quite match up with the reader's knowledge, it could be either you or me. If you think its me, and have the proof, pop down to the forums and show me. And if you have a translated copy of the game, GIMME!_

_Wanna give a review, you know where to click. Questions, comments, concerns, and copies of Fate/ Hollow Ana-whatever-it-was, hit the forums._

_And as always, enjoy._

_*Story Start*_

"Shirou-nii-san," Kuu-chan began, looking up at me with her big sad eyes as her lower lip trembled slightly, "does onii-san not love Kuu-chan anymore?" With the innocence that only a child could have while delivering a line like that, the tiniest resident of Izumo House dropped her bomb of a question.

"What?" I began, equal parts confused and equal parts appalled that the little girl had asked me something so strange completely out of the blue. "No!" I hastily assured her, kneeling down to put myself at eye level with the youngest Sekirei. "What on earth made you think that, Kuu-chan?"

Stepping up into my arms, Kuu fisted her hands into my shirt, burying her face into my chest as I hugged her. Sniffling slightly, she peeked up at me from beneath her bangs. "Because onii-chan doesn't love Ma-chan anymore," the green girl whimpered, giving me a wet glance. "If onii-chan can stop loving Ma-chan, then it means you could stop loving Kuu-chan too!"

I tucked her head back down as I hugged her, partially to give her comfort and partially to keep her from seeing my face as I grimaced at her reasoning. "Now, Kuu-chan," I began, speaking slowly as I collected my thoughts. "What makes you think that I don't love 'Ma-chan', anymore?"

'Ma-chan' was Kuu's childish nick name for Matsu. The young girl had already assigned appropriate nicknames for most of the residents of Izumo House over the course of the weeks that we had lived together. Much like her other brother 'Shi-chan', most of her chosen nicknames tended to lean towards simply using the first syllable of a person's name and attaching the obligatory '-chan' at the end of it. The sole exceptions of this rule of thumb for Kuu's naming scheme were myself, Miya, and surprisingly Kazehana. Whereas I was firmly stuck with the title of 'Onii-chan', Miya had found herself with the handle 'Miya-onee-san', making her the most formally addressed of the house, while Kazehana was officially called 'Fuu-chan'. With 'fuu' being one of the alternative pronunciations of the first kanji of her name and easier to pronounce then 'kaze' it was a nickname that made a degree of sense on its own, though I did wonder how Kuu had come up with it. I wasn't aware just how much skill the youngest Sekirei had when it came to reading kanji, and I had no idea if she had decided on the nick name herself or had help when coming up with it.

"Because Ma-chan doesn't come out of her room anymore," Kuu explained, squirming a bit in my arms until I loosened up my grip. Still clutching my sleeve with one hand as though to ensure through physical contact that I wasn't about to change my mind about whether or not I still loved her, she put the other hand to her chin as a fierce expression of concentration appeared on her little face. "Kuu-chan doesn't know what happened, but when she went to sleep, everything was fine and everyone was really happy for Aki-chan," she continued, no doubt recalling the events of the party she had been awake for. It had been a bit of mercy in my opinion that she had managed to sleep through the confrontation which had shaken Izumo House to its core. "But when Kuu-chan woke up, Shii-chan was gone. Miya-onee-san didn't know where they were, and everyone seemed really sad. When Kuu-chan tried to ask Ma-chan what happened, Ma-chan wouldn't open her door!"

"First of all, don't worry about Shii-chan," I reassured the girl, and Kuu perked up immediately at the mention of her other big brother. "He's just going out with Yukari for a bit. They should be back on Saturday for dinner, and you'll be able to play with him again then."

"Really?" Kuu immediately brightened up at the news, finally releasing my shirt so she could frame her face with her hands in excitement. "Shii-chan will be back?"

"Just for a bit," I reminded her, not wanting her to get to excited about the idea of Shiina returning only for her to throw a temper tantrum afterwards when he had to head off again. "Yukari and Shiina are both very busy with their new jobs."

Kuu pouted, stomping her foot and dropping her hands to the side so she could fist them angrily as she fumed at the mention of my biological little sister. "It's all because of that girl that Kuu-chan can't play with Shiina all the time!" the green girl muttered childishly. "It would have been better if Onii-chan married Shii-chan instead! Then Kuu-chan could have played with both all the time!"

"Uhhh," I began, not quite certain about how to respond to the little girl's belief that I would have been a superior Ashikabi to number one hundred and seven. I was aware that the sole basis of her claim was the fact that if I had winged the young male Sekirei then Kuu would have both of her favorite people in the world around, but that didn't make the idea behind it any more appealing to me. I couldn't help but notice that Kuu also refused to refer to Yukari by name, instead using the same phrasing that Kazehana preferred whenever the wind user was referring to Takami. It made me wonder just how much time the younger Sekirei had been spending with the wind user.

"But if onii-chan doesn't not love Ma-chan anymore, than why is Ma-chan so sad?" Kuu pressed on, switching back to the original topic she had wanted to talk to me about without a second thought, not giving me time to come up with a convincing argument why it was for the best that Shiina was with Yukari and not me. "Why won't Ma-chan play with Kuu anymore?"

"Matsu is," I began, averting my eyes and scratching my head as I tried to find a way to explain what was going on to the young Sekirei. "Matsu did something very naughty," I finally settled on. "Because of that she's been sent to her room to think about what she did."

"Oh," Kuu gasped, her hands coming up to cover her mouth as her eyes widened. "But Kuu-chan thought that when people did something naughty it was a good thing! Before Ma-chan got sent to her room she said that Aki-chan and onii-chan did something naughty and were very happy!"

"Oh," I echoed the girls original statement, my voice considerably drier than the innocent young girl's was. "Is that what Matsu said?" And if she wasn't already in my bad graces that right there would have earned a lecture of epic proportions, with Miya's help as well and both of us with masks out and blazing. "Then what I meant to say was that Matsu did something 'bad', not 'naughty'."

"Oh," Kuu nodded, apparently now being able to distinguish between the two with one being good and the other not. "Is that why everyone else is so sad? Because Ma-chan was bad?" she asked softly, and I gave a reluctant nod. "Then eventually, onii-chan will love Ma-chan again? And Ma-chan will come out of her room?"

"Absolutely," I told the hopeful little girl, whose eyes widened in happiness as she took my answer to mean that eventually things would go back to the way they were. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the answer was meant more for the fact that Matsu would have to come out of her room somdeay. Whether or not things ever went back to the way they were before, well that was another matter.

"Then, then," Kuu began to bounce happily. "Kuu-chan is going to draw Ma-chan a bunch of pictures," the green girl proclaimed, throwing her hands up and waving them in a circle to indicate the mountain of sketch work she would prepare while waiting for Matsu's eventual reemergence. "Kuu-chan will slide them under Ma-chan's door, so Ma-chan won't be so sad while waiting until she can come out!"

"I think Matsu will like that," I told her, rubbing her wild blonde hair and tousling it further than it normally was. She beamed up at me from beneath my hand and her bangs, releasing a tiny giggle before she turned and scampered out of my room, already calling for Miya to prepare the crayons and paper as she began her artistic quest. The smile I had plastered on my face slowly disappeared when she had fully scampered out of my sight.

If only the situation with Matsu was really as simple as I had made it out to be.

Sighing, I moved to the window of my room, looking out on to the courtyard. As childish as the conversation had been, Kuu's juvenile summation of the current state of Izumo House was a fairly accurate one. It was just that since she was asleep, she had missed the real reason that everyone in Izumo House was acting different from what she remembered. It had been three days since the revelations that Matsu had forced out of me had shattered the harmony of the Inn, and it didn't look like things were going to go back to normal anytime soon.

It was late into the afternoon, usually around the time that I spent in my workshop though for the last few days I hadn't had the opportunity to find the time to immerse myself in my research as was my habit. It was because of that I was treated to the sight of Musubi and Miya engaging in one of their spars. I hadn't had much opportunity to see the two's ritual before, but I had to admit that it was impressive in its own way. Miya was fast, her sheathed blade plucking away at her opponent, her unusual and probably self created style of quick and loose moves that took advantage of her natural physical abilities a contrast to my own tightly controlled style. Musubi on the other hand was just as fast, more likely a sign of the landlady holding back then an indication of parity between their abilities, but far less refined in her movements. I had sat in on some of their earlier sessions, and I was able to make out definite improvement in the fist fighter since then.

Musubi had been one of the ones the least affected by the revelations of three days ago. In fact, it wouldn't be inaccurate to say that there had been no change in her at all. I wasn't certain if this was due to Musubi not understanding the implications of what my participation in the Grail War had truly meant, or if the shrine girl simply didn't care. Despite the changes in the other residents after they had learned the extent of battle experience, Musubi remained as she always had, cheerful and oblivious. In a way I supposed that kind of reaction made sense to me. It had been the same for me, during the Grail War after all. Much in the same way that the bodies at the school had simply been things I was accustomed to, for Musubi life and death battles were just things she was too familiar with to be affected by. If anything, the bigger reaction Musubi had given had been at the change in dynamics of Izumo House, but even the growing tension had been dismissed by the shrine girl. I had no doubt that she simply believed that the love between Sekirei and Ashikabi would see everyone through alright.

My gaze rested on Miya for a moment, and as though she could feel them the landlady glanced up briefly, her eyes meeting mine before she turned them back to her opponent. Miya had also been similarly unimpressed by the revelation of my credentials. That wasn't to say she had been unaffected by the conversation; far from it in fact. It was just that the part Miya found disturbing was very different from what the rest had. I don't know what it was that my wild guesses over what the true purpose of the Sekirei Plan might be had called to mind for the powerful creature, but whatever it was it was enough for me to occasionally find Miya kneeling in front of her husband's shrine with a serious face, lost in thought more often than in the past.

I suppose it made sense that she would choose to focus on that instead of my irregular past. After all, she had seen with her own eyes the wounds on my hands close, and my blood stained swords vanish, not to mention that she had heard me offer to assassinate Minaka before. The only one who knew even more about my true nature was Akitsu.

A clink of chain behind me drew my attention from the window and back to the other occupant of the room. Sure enough, in the corner to the side of the window, Akitsu knelt, her eyes on me as she kept her careful vigil on me. Perhaps the title of least affected by the revelation should rightfully go to the snow woman, though she had changed a bit since that day herself.

I had been a bit worried when I had first proposed the prana exchange ritual to Akitsu, and for more reasons than just whether or not the ritual would be successful. Sex changes relationships, and sometimes not always for the better. And that's for a normal relationship, the kind where it's typically just two members of the opposite gender. For a relationship like the one I had found myself in, one that not only involved opposite gender, but multiple partners and an interspecies aspect of it as well, I had been very nervous how things would be altered once I took that final step.

So far the biggest change in the interactions between Akitsu and I was the small smile which seemed to have become a permanent fixture of the snow woman's face. I don't think it had left her lips since she had remade her oath of 'Forever and Ever'. Beyond that, Akitsu behaved much in the same way as she always had: choosing to remain as close as possible, assuming a customary position of deference, obeying any order I gave her without hesitation. Well, there was one more minor change in her actionsr…

"Ah," the snow woman began, a small blush appearing on her cheeks causing me to realize that I had been staring at her while lost in my thoughts. "Is everything well, Ashikabi-sama?"

"Its fine," I assured her, shaking my head briefly to clear my thoughts. I sighed briefly before turning back to the table, my eyes resting on what lay on top of it. "And please, I've told you before, it's fine to call me Shirou."

"Ah," Akitsu began, sounding vaguely apologetic as she did so. "Understood, Ashikabi-sama."

I suppose it made sense that ever since she had truly been winged that she would refer to me as her Ashikabi at every available instance. It was probably some way of reassuring herself that yes, she really was properly my Sekirei now. That didn't change the fact that I had never really cared for being referred to by a title alone. I had a feeling it would take some time before I ever heard the snow woman say the word 'Shirou' again.

Sighing one more time at the newest addition to my first Sekirei's list of quirks, though I suppose she could alternatively be thought of as my latest by order of winging, I turned my attention back to the object resting on my desk: the doohickey.

Just like Kuu had said earlier, ever since the night where I had taken the hacker's name off the whiteboard, no one had seen or interacted with Matsu. The only ways I had of knowing that she was even still present in Izumo House was the scent of her power, and the fact that the doohickey had been resting outside the door of my room the morning after the incident. At first I had been hesitant to touch it, wondering just why it was that Matsu had placed it there, but in the end I had taken the tablet.

It had only taken me a few minutes of use to realize that it was still connected to Matsu's network and that there had been none of the usual false leads or hidden pornographic traps on it. It only took me a few more minutes when I absentmindedly pulled up Haruka and Kuno's profiles while thinking about what the angry young man might have been up to since he had stormed out the night before for me to realize that their profiles had changed dramatically: information that had once been sketchy at best had been fleshed out, new sections had been added, old sections made easier to access. Thumbing through a few more profiles, I realized that the change hadn't been limited to just the former resident either. Though all the profiles had changed in format, only a few of them also had the dramatic increase in information. The changes had been limited to the Sekirei that I had previously deemed the most dangerous, but as I flicked down the list and one of the profiles I had been looking at suddenly updated with a beep I realized that I could most likely expect that all of them would eventually be similarly completed.

I also discovered an entirely new section, a folder that I hadn't seen before listed with the title of 'MBI' on it. When I clicked on it I discovered that the file contained more information on the company than I had ever asked Matsu to collect before: blue prints for MBI's tower headquarters, personnel lists of employees and their work schedules, contractor records for modifications to the building installed after its original completion, and much more.

Even if I wasn't a genius, it was fairly obvious just what it was that Matsu was doing. Despite the fact that I had removed her from being able to participate in the same privileges that the rest of my flock had, and despite how obviously upset I was, she was doing her best to ensure that she provided me with the information that I had said I would need.

I honestly didn't know what to feel about the hacker at the moment. A part of me was angry, yes, and another part was disappointed, and yet another part of me was very uncomfortable as well. The anger wasn't over being manipulated into revealing a part of my life that I had wanted to keep concealed. What I was most angry about was how the hacker's actions had directly resulted in the danger that she had placed my sister and the rest in. With Haruka angry and lashing out, and Yukari already treating the entire thing like something out of her manga, there was no way of knowing how successful the two would be at keeping themselves from drawing the attention of any potential watchers from Clock Tower. Their lives were in very real danger, and both of them didn't seem to understand just how serious the situation was. That alone would be enough for me to have punished Matsu as I had.

But I was also disappointed that Matsu had felt the need to manipulate me the way she had. And even more so I was uncomfortable with the fact that she had been able to in the first place.

Earlier Kusano had asked me if I still loved her and Matsu. Before that Matsu had told me that the bond that Sekirei formed with their Ashikabi was one of love. Hell, Musubi practically lived and breathed love herself, the emotion seemingly her very reason of existence. I wasn't sure if it was due to my circumstances, or if it was just some ingrained masculine sensibility that society had impressed on me, but I wasn't ashamed to admit that hearing the word 'love' thrown about so casually made me distinctly uncomfortable.

It wasn't that I was unfamiliar with the emotion, as I was certain that I had loved Rin and Saber, but there was some part of me that wondered if what I felt for my Sekirei was the same thing. I cared for them yes, I was fond of them, I was even attracted to a good number of them physically. But there was a part of me that saw them with the cold eyes of a magus, and an even greater part of me that saw them with the jaded perspective of a warrior. They were my partners in battle, the man and women that I would rely on when violence erupted, the ones that would be watching my back, and whose backs I would be watching. They were aliens that had a unique mating cycle that I had happened to get caught up in the middle of, and whose biology I had accepted and accommodated for. I knew that it was their nature to give their hearts completely, but I had thought that it would take me more time before I might be able to do the same, and in fact wasn't certain I would ever be able to return their devotion, not to the same extent.

So why was it that I felt so betrayed by Matsu's actions? If I was still holding a piece of myself back, still keeping myself as cautious as I thought I had been, why had I felt so disappointed when the hacker betrayed my trust? More importantly, why was I so uncomfortable that she had been able to do what she had so easily? She had known just what to do in order to maneuver me into a situation where I would reveal myself. In retrospect, it hadn't even been the first time. She had done nearly the exact same thing when she had managed to convince me to talk about Saber and Rin in the first place. What did it mean that she had done so?

Matsu had told me that a Sekirei was motivated to obey their Ashikabi out of love. I had taken that to mean that they would be obedient to the orders of their partners, and from what I had seen from other Sekirei that seemed true to an extent. What I had failed to anticipate was the possibility that the same feelings might one day motivate the Sekirei to one day take the initiative without their Ashikabi's knowledge. Matsu had known that I would be angry with her plan to force a confrontation out of me. She had prepared herself for the consequences, and even now she was using the information she had pulled out of me as a guide to help her continue to aid me in accomplishing my stated goals. But if she was able to do something which was in deliberate opposition of my own personal wishes for my own good, what else might she be able to do? Would she conceal information that might cause me to endanger myself? Or maybe she might one day try to injure or cripple me in order to keep me from going out and participating in a battle?

Had I been dealing with another Caster like from the Grail War all this time and never realized it?

If Matsu was a human and we had been in a normal relationship, I would already have broken up with her already. Even without those two important points, I was still considering ending our current relationship anyway. The idea that the hacker might end up being an enemy nearly had me asking one of the other members of her species for help in removing the redhead's crest. The thought of testing out just what Rule Breaker would do to a winged Sekirei had also been entertained a few times in the last few days. I had no way of knowing if it would simply remove the species Crest and leave them back in their unwinged state, or if the loss of the Crest through the Noble Phantasm would result in a level one termination.

I hadn't seriously entertained the thought of following through with either course of actions. For all that Matsu had proven herself to be capable of circumventing my authority and moving against my personal wishes, there had been no indication that she had done so out of deliberate malice at this point. If anything, with the new information she had acquired about MBI and the detailed profiles that she was completing on the rest of the participants, she had shown that whatever the consequences of her actions, she was more than prepared to do everything she could to help me.

Which was good, because what it all came down to was that I NEEDED Matsu for the rest of the tournament to come as well. Without the brilliant hacker, my options would be limited, and I would effectively be reduced to operating on the same level as the other Ashikabi. It wouldn't be a bad fate if all I had to worry about was completing the Sekirei Plan according to the rules, but if there truly was something rotten at MBI, or if one of the other Ashikabi did begin to endanger the uninvolved citizens of Shin Tokyo, without Matsu my options for dealing with whatever situation had developed would be greatly reduced.

It wouldn't be the first time I had had to work with someone I didn't trust. I had managed to put up with Archer for a bit after all despite my instant dislike of him, even if he had eventually betrayed Rin and tried to kill me. And I had to deal with some other magi before as well during the time I had participated in the two Apostle hunts. There had been some unpleasant fellows involved then as well, magi who hadn't taken to well to an upstart 'Emiya' apprentice, and had liked it even less when I had proven to be a more valuable combat asset than they themselves had been.

I could work with Matsu for now. But trusting the redhead, that was another matter.

"Shirou," a new voice interrupted my tumultuous thoughts, and I glanced towards the door to discover that at some point Tsukiumi had entered the room. The proud blonde was hovering by the door, not quite fidgeting where she stood, but seemingly incapable of meeting my eyes as she stood awkwardly by.

It wasn't a new trend. Tsukiumi had been dealing with the fall out of last Saturday herself, in her own way. Whenever the water user was in my presence she would, for lack of a better term, flutter between being acting in her normal proud fashion and dissolving into a quiet stuttering girl. I suppose that made sense in its own way too. Tsukiumi had made no effort to hide her belief that she was the strongest in the Sekirei Plan. The proud water user had often espoused the belief in the past that it was a Sekirei's duty to fight honorably for the honor of the Sekirei Plan. For Tsukiumi, the concept that I was someone capable of standing beside her and fighting on my own wasn't a bad thing. In fact, the water user seemed to approve of my ability to physically contribute to battle. What had thrown her off was not so much my strength, but the revelation of the ruthlessness that I was willing to employ in order to assure my victory.

For a woman who was adamant about following the rules, about always announcing name and number, and afterwards guarding the fallen, the very concept of assassinating Ashikabi or destroying entire corporations was probably incomprehensible. The clash of my ability to match her own ideals followed by my willingness to toss all rules to the wayside was no doubt the source of her discomfort.

In many ways, it was an ideology that I could second. The idea of nobly following the rules and completing the competition according to the letter of the law was something that I wouldn't mind following myself. I think Saber would have agreed as well, though the two blondes didn't seem to have much in common beyond that. Tsukiumi was a good bit taller than Saber, and a great deal more assertive as well. Despite the physical appearance, I frequently couldn't stop myself from noticing just how alike the water user was with Rin when it came to attitude. What, with both of them being classic tsundere and all.

Sometimes, though I would never admit this to anyone out loud, I could honestly believe that when I was nearby Tsukiumi I was somehow in the presence of some sort of twisted hybrid, a clone or homunculus that had managed to twist Saber's appearance and ideals with Rin's attitude. Whoever would dream of such a horrific concept and then find a way to implement it into the world would no doubt be some kind of horrific sadist, no doubt either a Dead Apostle of the highest degree of cruelty, or perhaps some mad playwright out of the depths of hell given flesh.

And despite all that, I couldn't help but believe that Tsukiumi was the most normal of my flock. Compared to distorted Musubi, conflicted Homura, subservient Akitsu, untrustworthy Matsu, and just flat out young and innocent Kusano, Tsukiumi truly was the most normal of my Sekirei. She was the one who planned to follow the Sekirei Plan in a straightforward manner, was proud of her Ashikabi's ability without either worshiping or attempting to coddle me, and was the most earnest in her efforts to be a faithful and loyal wife.

God help me, the tsundere was the sanest and easiest to deal with of my harem.

"Tsukiumi," I answered the water user's soft inquiry. At my voice, Tsukiumi glanced up from the corner of the room she had been studying, peeking up at me from beneath her eyelashes. When her eyes met mine, she glanced down again, flushing as she did so.

"S-Shirou," she began again, her demeanor hesitant as she did so before trailing off. "T-that is," she began again, still stuttering. Finally she managed to look at me directly. "Are you worried about me?"

"Worried?" I repeated, frowning as I did so. I'd admit that I was concerned about the way she had been acting the last few days, yes, but then again I was concerned about everyone in Izumo House at this point. "What do you mean?"

Apparently, that was the wrong answer to give. A scowl formed on Tsukiumi's face, accented by a slight stirring of her hair, and without another word, she half marched and half dashed until she was standing directly in front of me. Without another word, she reached up to wrap my shirt in her hands, and then yanked hard, pulling me slightly off balance until I was bent over enough for our faces to be directly apart from each other.

"I asked if you were worried about me," she repeated, her voice rising as she did so. Off balance from her sudden readjustment to my posture, I nearly fell as she emphasized each word by giving me a little shake. Hurriedly, I raised my own hands, putting them over hers where she was clutching my clothes, trying to get her to calm down.

"I'm worried, I'm worried," I quickly assured her, and the blonde calmed a bit at my words. "I'm worried about everyone," I continued, straightening slightly as the water user's hands slackened. "After last Saturday, I think everyone might be a little off."

Rather than reassuring her, Tsukiumi's frown increased. Still clutching my shirt, she glanced away, glaring at a corner of the room angrily.

"That's not what I meant," she declared, and despite the fact that she still looked angry, her voice was less strident then before. "I meant that the reason you never told me, your wife, about your enemies. Was it because you were worried about me?"

"Of course," I assured her, confused by the inquisition. I had a secret organization of magi that wouldn't hesitate to imprison and experiment on me, and wouldn't care who they hurt along the way. While the worry over what would happen to my family was strong, just as strong was the concern over my Sekirei as well. Yukari and Takami might be killed, but if my flock were discovered, they could find themselves in the exact same predicament I would. "I worry about all of you, like I said."

Tsukiumi slowly let go over my shirt, allowing me to straighten, and one of the hands that had been pulling me down to eye level drifted to her lips, her teeth gently nibbling on her thumb once more.

"It feels good," she admitted, her voice soft. "Being worried about."

With her uncertain posture, looking unusually delicate on someone who spent so much of their time standing tall and proud, and the soft flush on her cheeks accenting her femininity, I was once more reminded just how beautiful the blonde truly was. Without her usual high heeled boots, Tsukiumi seemed smaller than she usually did, but despite her diminished stature there was no way of ignoring her generous curves and her fine features.

"I'm sorry," I told her, not knowing where the words came from, but feeling as though they needed to be said. My apology seemed as unexpected to the water user as it was to me, and Tsukiumi peered up at me, thumb still at her mouth as she blinked.

"For what, Shirou?" she asked, her tone uncertain before her eyes narrowed. Placing both hands on her hips, she began to scowl at me. "Have you done something unbecoming of my husband?" she demanded, her tone rising as she did so.

"I'm sorry for putting you through all this," I explained, sighing as I did so. Now that the words had crossed my lips, thinking about them was enough for their reason to come to my head. "You never wanted an Ashikabi in the first place," I continued, slumping back to lean against the desk as I did so. "And then I came out of nowhere and started reacting to you. Now not only do you have an Ashikabi, but the one you bonded to even has other Sekirei besides you. And if that wasn't enough, he has a death sentence over his head as well. All you ever wanted was to compete in the Sekirei Plan, and here I am thinking of ways to destroy the tournament altogether, and getting all of you mixed up in things you shouldn't have to worry about."

"S-Shirou," Tsukiumi murmured, looking surprised at my sudden confession. I continued, not quite able to keep the self condemnation out of my tone as I did so.

"None of you should have to deal with any of this," I said darkly. "You Sekirei, you shouldn't have to fight. The only thing your species wanted was to find their Ashikabi and live peacefully. And now you have to deal with crooked corporations, and shadowy threats, and violent Ashikabi…"

"Enough," Tsukiumi interrupted, her voice stern as she did so. I broke off, surprised as the water user approached me, drawing closer than even when she had been shaking me. Though her approach started strong, when the distance between the two of us had diminished to only a few inches the water user hesitated. Finally, apparently gathering the courage, Tsukiumi huffed and put her arms around me, embracing me and burying her face into my chest as she did so.

"T-Tsukiumi," it was my turn to stuttered, surprised at the sudden intimacy the usually proud Sekirei was displaying.

"At first, I was disappointed to have to have an Ashikabi," Tsukiumi began, her voice muffled by my body as she spoke. Her pace was slow, and she paused at times, and I had the impression that I wasn't the only one finding themselves giving an unexpected confession. "At first, I just wanted to prove that I could be the strongest without an Ashikabi," she admitted. After pausing, she glanced up at me, only her eyes visible beneath the curtain of her bangs.

So close to her, feeling her press against me, I began to suspect my own face was beginning to flush as much as hers.

"But now," Tsukiumi continued, still looking up to meet my eyes. "Now, I think that I want to fight so that I can be with you, Shirou. I think I would rather use my powers to fight and protect you, rather than just for myself." As though the confession was too much for her, she buried her face back into my chest, her arms tightening around me. "If you tell anyone I said that, then I'll have to kill you."

Still flushed, I forced myself to suppress a smile. Never smile at a dere-ing tsundere. It makes them violent. Instead, I wrapped my arms back around her, returning her embrace. "My lips are sealed," I assured her.

"Good," she nodded against my chest, relaxing further against me. "However," she continued, looking up once more, more of her face visible this time, and a stern look on her features. "Even if I do appreciate your concern, you must understand that it is unnecessary, Shirou." Pulling one arm free she snaked it up until she could use it to hit my chest gently. "I am the strongest Sekirei. I will triumph over all the others in the Plan, and even if your enemies come for you, I will simply defeat them as well."

"You don't know what my enemies are like, Tsukiumi," I told her softly, my eyes drifting to the side as I did so. When the fist she had resting against my chest opened and she pinched me hard, I yelped and glanced back at her, surprised. Despite our closeness, and the blush still on her face, Tsukiumi's expression was stern.

"It doesn't matter what they're like," she declared hotly. "All you need to know is that I will help you defeat them! That much is certain!"

It felt pointless to try and argue with her. She really didn't know, and even if I could convince her of the strength of the Mage's Association without revealing their actual powers, I had my doubts she would even care. Confidence was not something my gorgeous Tsukiumi was lacking in.

"We'll see," I finally told her, and she frowned at my vague answer but appeared to accept that that was all she was going to get from me. With her return to her more temperamental nature, I thought that she would straighten up soon, but instead she simply buried her face in my chest once more. "Tsukiumi," I began, my voice curious, but trailed off as the hand on my chest trailed up to my shoulder.

"Shirou," she started again. "Was your concern over your enemies the reason that you won't treat me as your wife?" Gently but firmly, her hand traced down my arm, pushing it away from where it was around her shoulders until she held my hand in hers. "You haven't even touched me yet." Slowly, she brought my hand down, to her front, and then gently pressed it against her breast.

"Please," she said, looking up at me with serious eyes as she pressed against me. "I want you to hold me."

The air of my room felt warm, too warm. I could feel Tsukiumi's body pressed against mine, her own heat just adding to the suddenly stifling room. She felt soft all over, but nowhere on the rest of her body was that softness more evident than in the part my hand now cupped. Through the thin fabric of her tunic, I could feel the beating of her heart, growing ever faster at the contact she had initiated. Through my own shirt, I could just feel the touch of her breath as its rate increased, a soft panting that I realized I too was imitating.

A clinical part of me noted that Tsukiumi was seducing me. That same part pointed out that I shouldn't be surprised, considering that I had already taken the first step with Akitsu. It noted the difference between then and now, things like how it had been me who had been the initiator with the quiet snow woman, and how this time the role of aggressor was reversed. It also noted that for all her silence, Akitsu was still in the room right now, a fact that Tsukiumi might not have realized herself given how sensitive the water user seemed about some of the things she had brought up in the course of the conversation.

That clinical side of me was far overshadowed by the fact that the girl in my arms was so beautiful, soft, and willing. I might have more self control then most, but with Tsukiumi's warm breast against my rough palm, her body pressed to mine, and the sound of her aroused breathing in my ear, it seemed that whatever self control I might have had just wasn't enough.

Tsukiumi gasped when my hand closed lightly against her chest, a noise I instinctively noted from long practice of reading my partners. Her breath hitched as the arm I had around her shoulder trailed low, my other palm settling in the small of her back and pressing her tighter against me. Somehow, I remembered not to claim her lips, as the wing reaction would no doubt draw unwanted attention and perhaps an ill timed interruption, but when I compromised by bending over and placing my lips on the bare flesh of her shoulder near the lacey collar she wore the water user made a noise not unlike a kitten.

I had little doubt that Tsukiumi was making her own observations, as she returned my attention. I nearly moaned myself when her hips pressed against mine, the squeak she emitted when she discovered the proof of my attraction to her blending in my ears with the clink of chain coming from the corner as Akitsu shifted, and the low moan that came from the window where Kazehana was watching…

Wait. Kazehana was watching….?

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" I snapped, pushing away from Tsukiumi suddenly, the flush on my face now some strange conglomerate of arousal, embarrassment, and anger. The water user mewed again, blinking up at me in surprise, her face heated with her own lust, before she seemed to realize that I wasn't talking about her. Still blinking in confusion, Tsukiumi turned to follow my glare, only to let loose a small shriek of surprise as she realized that not only was Akitsu still in the room, but that at some point the purple clad wind user had perched herself on the windowsill.

Akitsu was flushed herself, and though she had remained kneeling perfectly still as was her custom there was no doubt that she had been watching everything carefully. Kazehana on the other hand was watching just as eagerly, but was sitting much less still. My flush turned even more embarrassed as I realized just where her hands were and just what she had been doing only moments ago, and was still doing even as I gaped at her.

I knew that reactions caused a certain degree of arousal, and that I tended to cause extreme reactions in Sekirei at times, but I had certainly never thought for a moment that I might one day inspire an unwinged Sekirei to openly masturbate while watching me and a member of my flock engage in foreplay.

My life really did have more in common with an eroge then it did the reality others lived in.

I think it was only the sheer ridiculousness of the situation which prevented me from tracing a sword and killing someone in embarrassment. I wasn't certain if that someone would be Kazehana or myself, but at least the outrageousness of the scene kept SOMEONE from dying, that much I was certain of.

"Y-you," Tsukiumi stuttered, and it appeared she was experiencing a very similar reaction as I did at the discovery of our voyeur. Kazehana, whose hands were still engaged in their indecent activity, blinked, her lidded eyes opening fully and confusion appearing on her face as though she too was only now just realizing what she had been doing.

"Huh?" the wind user grunted, looking down at her body as though she needed visual confirmation as to just what her senses told her she was in the middle of. "How did…?" she gasped, her own voice a mixture of arousal and confusion. Her eyes snapped up to lock on mine, a panicked look on her face. "I mean, when did I…?"

Whatever it was the wind user was about to say, she was cut off as Tsukiumi pointed a finger at her. A streamlet of water formed around her, whipping about myself as well due to our proximity, and Tsukiumi displayed that while I might be unsure just who to attack, the water user had her target firmly in mind.

"Water Celebration!" she shrieked, the stream launching at Kazehana with the force of a water hose. I wasn't certain if it was due to her still being distracted by her own interrupted activities or if Tsukiumi's rage had managed to increase the speed of her attack, but Kazehana barely had time to blink before she was struck head on by the fast moving water. With a yelp, the wind user was blasted clear out of the window she had apparently entered through, and a similarly startled shout came from the courtyard where she landed in the middle of Musubi and Miya's ongoing spar.

"The nerve of that woman," Tsukiumi growled, a fist coming up to shake indignantly in the air as the water user prepared to go after the wind user to continue her chastisement. Hurriedly, I caught one of her hands, the force she was storming off with enough to nearly pull me from my feet. "Shirou, let me go right now so I can…" she began, whirling to glare at me for daring to stop her, another streamer of water starting to form.

"Miya's going to be mad enough as it is, but if she sees you looking like that she's going to explode," I told her frantically, my mind a whirl with the implications of what had just occurred.

"Looking like what?" Tsukiumi shrieked, before glancing down at herself to see just what I was talking about. When she discovered that at some point during our heated exchange I had brushed her tunic down to expose the breast I had been touching, she yelped, and frantically crossed her arm over her chest. As though suddenly remembering just what we had been doing before the interruption, her expression changed once more from rage to embarrassment. "Don't' look!" She shrieked, shooting the streamer of water at me as she turned away quickly to conceal herself. The familiar cracking of ice forming announced that Akitsu was still diligently keeping watch over my safety.

Shifting awkwardly, trying to make it so that my pants were a little less uncomfortable, I sighed as Tsukiumi began fixing her clothing. "Miya is going to kill us all," I muttered, swallowing dryly as I did so. I could hear the landlady already lecturing Kazehana as she took in the wind user's no doubt disheveled state. I had little doubt that she would quickly discover that not only had a resident used violence against another resident, but Tsukiumi and I had nearly violated the 'No Lewd Acts' clause as well.

"No she won't," Tsukiumi swore, stomping her foot. "Not when I was so close!" Still caught up in the throes of the gamut of emotions she had just gone through, the water user wheeled on me, pointing her finger imperiously. "It is Monday, which means it's my turn! Tonight, you are going to take me out to that shack of yours, and you are going to ravage me when there's no one around to interrupt!"

"Okay, okay," I immediately surrendered, holding my arms up nervously as I kept my eye on the finger aimed at me. I found myself reliving certain unpleasant memories of what Rin could be like if something interrupted her happy time, and had no desire to see if a high powered water blast would compare to a gandr when it came to sexually frustrated female wrath. "Tonight, after dinner!"

"Ah," Akitsu began, pausing briefly. "I wanted to watch," she admitted, her flush increasing as she did so.

"What!" Tsukiumi turned to gawk at the snow woman, before flushing brightly herself as she did so. Her clothes began to whip around her as she glared at the other voyeur. "No you may not watch me and my husband consummating our marriage!" she shrieked, more streamers of water forming around her as she did so.

"Oh?" a new voice came from the door of our room, so innocent sounding that it instantly set my nerves on end. Holding a drawn sword, Miya had apparently gotten enough information out of Kazehana to know that she had other targets to gather before she could properly lecture everyone responsible. Despite the difference in size, she was holding Kazehana in front of her by the back of the wind user's purple dress much like a cat would carry a kitten. "What's this about consummation?"

"Landlady," Tsukiumi gulped, cringing slightly as she realized that our time was up. "I mean, that is," the water user tried to find some excuse but came up short. With a gulp, her expression quickly came to mirror that of Kazehana: the face of those who know that there would be no escape, no rescue.

"Emiya-kun," Miya began, her tone pleasant. "Is there something you'd like to add as well, before I begin?" For all that she was apparently giving me a chance to try and talk my way out of what we all knew was coming next, the air around her was already beginning to darken.

"Please don't kill us?" I tried, a nervous smile forming on my lips as I attempted to diffuse the situation through humor.

From the way the darkness started to increase its gathering rate, I think I might have done better without the flippancy.

*Scene Break*

"My god," I whispered, feeling like a shell shocked veteran just back from the bloodiest war in the history of humanity. "I think I finally understand why it is Uzume hates the bleeding eyes so much."

"Y-yeah," Kazehana agreed, her face pale.

"I mean, there was so much blood, and then at the end…" I trailed off, shuddering as my mind refused to properly recall just what it was that Miya had shown us at the very last. Normally I would be against willful amnesia, seeing as not knowing something is often the difference between life and death, but this…

No, don't think about it. Think about something happier. Like being crucified, or disemboweled. Just keep thinking happy thoughts.

"Ashikabi-kun, promise me you'll never do that yourself," Kazehana asked of me, her voice an orchestra of misery.

"If I ever achieve a level of skill with my mask to be able to think about accomplishing something that horrific, then I will have no other choice but to become a hermit living in the mountains so as to ensure I never expose another to such a sight," I swore, meaning every word of it. I knew that Miya would be upset, seeing just how many rules of Izumo House had been broken in a period of a few minutes, but I had no idea she truly felt that strongly about the rugulations. I think the only thing which could have offended her more is if I had somehow managed to get a pet at the same time. And then that pet had destroyed her husband's shrine.

"Thank you, Ashikabi-kun," the relief in Kazehana's voice was obvious. "Thank you."

It was a testament to just how thorough Miya's scolding had been that it was only at that moment that I realized just who I was talking too. Managing to recover a bit of my situational awareness, I glanced over at my fellow commiserater.

"Kazehana," I began, not sure how to broach the next topic.

"Yes, Ashikabi-kun?" the wind user responded, still sounding a little out of it.

"Why are you holding my arm?" I wasn't quite certain how we had gotten where we were, but apparently the two of us plus Akitsu were sitting on the veranda in the usual spot I generally chose when I wanted to do a little garden watching. Akitsu was still in her usual place on my left, but judging from the unfocused look in her eyes the snow woman was also still feeling a little discombobulated from the landlady's lecture. Kazehana was on my right, though unlike the perfectly still Akitsu it appears as though the wind user was unconsciously snuggling against me, my arm firmly wrapped in hers and my elbow deeply burrowed into her cleavage. With the unusual lacing that marked the front of her one piece I could feel the warmth and softness of her assets as their bare flesh was pressed against my sleeve.

"Ah?" the wind user grunted, sounding confused. Looking downwards, the dark haired Sekirei seemed to realize just what she was doing and jerked as though she had been shocked. "Ah? Ah-hahaha?" she laughed nervously, hastily unwrapping herself from around me and skittering away. "Um, sorry," she began, waving her hands in front of her anxiously as her eyes darted from side to side. "You see, the thing is…"

I interrupted her, already knowing what was going on. "You're reacting, aren't you?" I stated with a sigh, not even having to guess.

Her cheeks flushing, Kazehana froze, and then one hand came up to the back of her head as she tittered nervously. "Reacting? Now why would I be doing something like that?" she waved the other one in front of her as though to brush away my accusation as being unfounded.

"Kazehana," I began gently. "Every one of my Sekirei has reacted before as well. I know enough to know the symptoms. I could tell even when Karasuba was reacting, and she was a lot more subtle than you're being."

"Karasuba?" Kazehana paused at the name of her fellow former Disciplinary Squad member. "Wait, Karasuba reacted to you too?" It looked like she had no idea that the number zero four and I had even met, much less had such an event occur. "Where is she then? Did you give her wings as well?"

"No," I told her, glancing out to the garden as I did so. The budding trees and blooming flowers were a good thing to focus on, something to drag my mind away from the horrors Miya had shown me earlier. "I gave her the chance, but she decided that being winged by me would interfere with her own plans so she found another."

"Really?" Kazehana quipped, sounding surprised. From the corner of my eye I could make out her relaxing slightly. "Even though you could have winged her you let her go?"

"She didn't want me as her Ashikabi, and I refuse to force a Sekirei to bond," I explained, and at my words the wind user relaxed even more.

"Well, that's a relief," she murmured, settling backwards a bit. "Though I don't know why I keep acting like this," she continued, a note of complaint entering her voice. "I'm not usually like this, Ashikabi-kun."

"Its fine," I assured her, giving her a glance. In the last few days I hadn't had much to do with Kazehana, though the few times we had run into each other had been memorable. Normally, the first thing she'd do when coming face to face with me would be to hurriedly make an excuse to get out of the room. Considering the things she had learned about me the other night that could be a sign that she was disgusted by my very presence, but the other option that she knew she was reacting to me and didn't want me to find out was just as likely in her case. "You wouldn't know this, being new and all, but I have a history of causing strange reactions in Sekirei."

"Strange?" Kazehana repeated, curiosity entering her voice. Clasping her hands in front of her, she cocked her head to the side, peering at me casually. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when Homura reacted he nearly caused himself to self-immolate," I leaned back myself, thinking back on the numerous occasions where I had found myself responsible for causing the species to do something unusual. "Musubi had to be physically restrained at first. Matsu charged across half of Izumo before declaring that she wanted my babies. Tsukiumi actually fell over the first time she saw me too."

"Huh," the wind user grunted again, amusement entering her voice. "Well, I'm glad it's not just me then. I said it before, but I'm really not usually like this." With a scowl, she brushed one of her long black locks back from her face. "I might enjoy a good drink, and I do so like teasing every once in a while, but really, I'm not as easy a woman as I've been acting."

I glanced over to see how sincere the wind user was being and was granted the sight of her scowling down at herself. It looked like she really was honestly offended at the way she had been behaving lately, and I grimaced in response. "It's okay," I assured her. "I know, it's my fault. At least you're not in physical danger like Homura was."

"Well, I'm glad he's alright now," the wind user mused, rubbing her chin as she did so. "I've had a few drinks with him before, and it would be horrible to lose a good drinking buddy." With a pause, the wind user gave me a subtle once over, still rubbing her chin. "So, Ashikabi-kun," she began, a teasing tone entering her voice. "What do you think about me reacting to you?" With a leer she leaned forward, one hand coming up under her chest to help accentuate them. "Thinking about how good I'd look in your harem?"

When confronted with the bountiful armful in front of me, I couldn't help but remember just what I had been doing earlier with Tsukiumi, and just what the wind user had been doing in response. With a flush, I turned my attention quickly back to the garden. Clearing my throat, my mind raced as I tried to think up an answer to the wind user's teasing question.

"W-well," I began, stuttering a bit before getting myself back in control. "I think it's pretty unusual actually."

"Oh?" still leering, Kazehana leaned in even further. "But aren't you mister 'I can tell when a Sekirei is reacting'? Shouldn't someone as experienced as you are be used to it?"

"That's not what I meant," I said quickly, leaning back a bit to keep the wind user from getting too close. "I mean, it's unusual the way you don't seem to do anything in response to it."

"I remember doing a few things in response to it already," she purred, her tone sultry. I swallowed, also remembering and trying very hard not to let the memories spark an ill timed reaction. When she said that she enjoyed teasing earlier, I had a strong feeling that this was what she meant.

"That's not what I meant either," I hastily repeated, trying not to notice how high pitched my voice was. I cleared my throat again, swallowing afterwards, and when I continued my voice was more composed. "I meant that usually when a Sekirei reacts they try and get their future Ashikabi to wing them. Even with Karasuba, right after she turned me down she went and got another Ashikabi immediately. But for you, even though you're reacting and you know it's me, you're not doing anything about it."

"Ahh," Kazehana murmured, her voice a sigh. Leaning back away from me, her expression changed from teasing to understanding. "Well, Ashikabi-kun," she began, her voice melancholic now. "That's because I have no interest in the Sekirei Plan."

"What do you mean?" I asked, turning to give her my full attention. This was the first time I had ever heard the wind user speak so seriously. Normally she seemed perfectly content to spend her time happily drinking and teasing others around her or squealing in excitement over some love story or another. Most of the time it was a bit hard for me to equate the carefree woman I was witnessing to the image I had built up of her in my head, the one based around her exploits back when she was a member of the Disciplinary Squad.

"Once, a long time ago, there was someone I liked," Kazehana admitted, absently twirling a lock of her hair in a finger as she spoke in a nostalgic tone. "But he turned me down. I decided that a Sekirei Plan without the one I loved was a Sekirei Plan I had no interest in."

Casually, she brought her legs up until she could tuck them underneath her body, a feminine movement which showed off her long legs. For the first time, I noticed the anklet she wore, a thin piece of purple ribbon with a bell attached to it. I realized that despite having known her for about a week, and having seen her moving quite energetically in the past, I had never once actually heard a chime from her. As though realizing where my gaze was, she gave me a small smirk before reaching out to tap the bell, causing it to ring and proving that it was in fact functional and not just ornamental.

I wasn't certain how she was keeping it from chiming, whether it was through grace or a minor application of her power, but it did send a little chill down my spine. Now that was something I might expect from one of the first five.

"Ne, Ashikabi-kun," Kazehana continued, her voice soft as she leaned backwards, once more striking a pose, arms above her head with her chest proudly displayed and the hem of her skirt rising daringly on her thigh. "Do you want me?"

For a moment I wasn't certain whether she was referring to me wanting her physically or if she was asking if I wanted her to be my Sekirei. All I could think at that second was just how alluring the sight in front of me really was. Ever since I became involved with the Sekirei race, I had become no stranger to the beautiful women, but even compared to the well formed members of my flock, Kazehana was another animal entirely. Akitsu had an air of subservience to her, a hesitancy which gave her a mysterious allure, Musubi brought a charming innocence to the table, Tsukiumi had an elegant and strong beauty to her, and Matsu had a childish and playful demeanor. Kazehana on the other hand was a creature of almost pure sexuality.

The ripeness of her body, combined with her own mental maturity, and the air of experience, all combined and when the wind user asked me so bluntly if I wanted her or not, I could do nothing but swallow heavily, my tongue to thick to speak, and turn away to look at the yard, trying my best not to blush.

"Ohoho," the temptress giggled, accurately interpreting my actions as an affirmative to her statement. "And yet even after the scene from earlier you're still so shy!"

"It's no fair, teasing the easily embarrassed Ashikabi," I muttered, feeling a bit childish. "I'm a fighter, not a lover. I should be on a battlefield, not in a bedroom."

"That's not what I hear," she chanted in a singsong voice. With a quick move she leaned in to whisper in my ear, "From what Sexy-Underwear-chan over there says, you do really good in the bedroom!"

On my left Akitsu, or as I guess Kazehana had decided on nick naming her, Sexy-Underwear-chan seemed to come back enough from her harrowing experience at the hands of Miya to flush slightly, the smile on her face widening a bit.

"If you're not careful," I blurted out quickly, trying to get a little distance between me and my tormentor, "Miya's gonna come back and finish the job."

"Good point," Kazehana muttered, though she was still smiling from her successful attempt at flustering me. "Well, I think it's about time for me to start drinking," she confessed, shifting slightly so she could regain her footing. "I'll talk to you later, Lover-kun!"

And now I had a nickname as well. I really hoped she didn't use it around any of my flock, especially Tsukiumi, or there would be hell to pay later.

Still, there was one more thing I had to say.

"Kazehana," I said, and the wind user stopped to glance back at me as she resumed her apparent quest to consume all the alcohol in the world. "I'll make the same offer to you that I made to all the Sekirei that have reacted to me. I won't turn down a Sekirei if they ask me to wing them, just like I won't force one if that's not what they want."

"Hmhm," the wind user give a sound that was part hum and part giggle. "Well then, you'll just have to show me that you're man enough for me first," she put a hand on her hip, leaning forward to wink at me provocatively. "So far, you're doing a pretty good job of it too! Keep it up, and I'll have to show you how adults spend their time!"

With one last look over her shoulder, she turned and continued down the hallway, swinging her hips as she did so. Try as I might, I couldn't quite stop myself from following her movements as she walked away.

*Scene Break*

"My, my," Miya sighed, a pair of chopsticks resting on her lips as she sighed. "It seems that we might have to put one of these tables in storage soon."

"Mmm," Uzume hummed, her mouth full as she chewed on her own bite of food. The ponytailed Sekirei looked like she was going to add something, but paused, keeping a careful eye on the landlady as she did so. Apparently reaching some kind of decision the brunette took a moment to carefully chew her mouthful and swallow before speaking up. "Yeah," she added, now that she was no longer in danger of violating any kind of rule which might bring the wrath of Miya down upon her. "It has been kinda quiet these last few days, ain't it?"

It didn't surprise me that she was being so careful in minding her manners at the moment. It had only been a few hours since the incident in my room which involved the violation of two of Izumo House's big rules. I think one of the reasons that Uzume had actually decided to join the rest of the house for dinner was actually that she was curious about just how severe the already legendary lecture actually had been.

If she wanted proof of the true horror that the incident had brought into the world, she only had to take a look at Tsukiumi. I wasn't certain if it was my own ability to manifest a similar mask, or if perhaps it was some aspect of my higher than average magecraft resistance, or even if it was just a matter of me being a little more immune to horror than most due to my own experiences in battle, but it had only taken me a half hour or so to shake off the monstrosity that Miya had called forth into the world. Perhaps it was due to her own experience as well, both with horror and with Miya's mask, though it could just have been the alcohol she had consumed afterwards acting as an artificial fortifier, but Kazehana had also managed to return to a normal state for her. Even Akitsu had managed to shrug off the lingering affects eventually, perhaps an indication of my earlier hypothesis about post orgasmic satisfaction somehow providing resistance against horrors from beyond human ken.

Tsukiumi on the other hand didn't seem to have any of the potential factors which might have one day managed to allow her a swift recovery from overexposure to malice incarnate. Though the water user had recovered enough to behave in a semi-normal fashion, a small twitch had formed beneath her left eye, and every few minutes she would start, glancing desperately over her shoulder as though to affirm that there was nothing sneaking up on her.

I honestly think the only thing that managed to keep Tsukiumi conscious and willing to exist in the same room as the serenely smiling landlady was the knowledge of what would happen in a few hours if she just managed to retain her hold on her sanity. From the way the water user kept shuddering, and then looking at me as though my presence was granting her some kind of strength to help her endure it seemed only my promise of resuming what we had begun earlier was enough to keep her resolve strong.

I wasn't sure how much of the interplay between Tsukiumi and I the bemused Uzume managed to interpret correctly, but it seemed the brunette was amused by it nonetheless. At least, she was until she found herself looking over at me involuntarily. Every time the ponytailed Sekirei did so, her growing smile would dim, and should quickly look away, her expression tinged by worry.

Just as with many of the others, this was a recently developed habit. Uzume had known for a while, ever since the day we had struck our tentative truce not to bring conflict into Izumo House, that the day would come when we would find ourselves on the other end of the battle field. Uzume had known that I was preparing for the inevitable conflict, gathering information on other Ashikabi and Sekirei in general.

Now though, the knowledge of just what I was planning to do with that information had been painstakingly explained to her. She had suspected before, spurred on by the blood she had seen on my jeans, that I was willing to take measures that many would frown on. Before, that had been a mark of a kindred spirit, a sign that I was one who understood her own unsavory actions and could commiserate with her. After the events of three days ago, with the true extent of my willingness to sink myself into darkness and the depths I would fall, now there was no more camaraderie there.

Now, I was someone who was willing to hunt down her own Ashikabi if the need grew urgent enough. Now, with a flock numbering over a half dozen, and combat skills of my own fit enough to count as a combat element myself and the willingness to kill where others would hesitate, I was a genuine threat regardless of the tenuous truce that we might have had once before.

Uzume was no longer comfortable in my presence, and it showed.

I tried not to let the change in dynamics between the only Sekirei of Izumo House to have another Ashikabi affect me as I unloaded a fresh hot pot onto the table. I could only hope that eventually, with time, the rift between Uzume and I would fade. I knew that eventually there was the chance that we might end up true enemies. Despite that, I held out hope that it wouldn't end that way. There had been a time when Rin and I had been in the same position after all: enemy Masters who would inevitably face each other to the death. In the end though, events had changed enough during the Grail War that the two of us ended up fighting besides each other. Hell, by the end of the Grail War, we had been lovers. Not that I was hoping for a similar fate to occur between Uzume and I. God knows I had enough potential lovers as it was.

But I could still hope that eventually something would come up which would allow things to change, that Uzume and I would be able to one day be friends, watching quietly as the more innocent members of my flock chattered and laughed, both of us knowing that there was a darkness that the others would never truly understand, and both of us content in the knowledge that our bearing that darkness would mean that the others wouldn't have to.

"It's not like a little peace and quiet is a bad thing," Homura responded with his own opinion to Uzume's comment about the lack of excitement in Izumo House. The fire user reached out for the ladle to the hot pot, before freezing, a wince crossing his features as his free hand came up to clutch his chest instinctively. It only lasted for a moment before the former host forced himself to resume his earlier motion, but I noticed it nonetheless as I picked up the empty pot that I had just replaced.

And there was the final member of Izumo House, and his own reaction to the revelations. Besides Matsu's own self imposed exile, I found his to be the most worrying, for a number of reasons.

Just like Miya, Musubi, and Akitsu, for the most part his initial response to my murderous plans had very little in the way of judgment in it. If anything, he seemed to respond very favorably to my idea of destroying MBI in order to relieve the rest of the Sekirei from the onus of battle. Well, favorable to the idea of eliminating the President of MBI anyway. In the three days since Akitsu's party degenerated into shouted arguments he had actually approached me four times about the potential of simply killing the Minaka. I wasn't certain what the exact situation was, but I was fairly certain that there was some serious bad blood between the former host and the Director of the Sekirei Plan.

What truly worried me about Homura in the last few days had more to do with the fact that he couldn't be in my presence for longer than a few minutes before he eventually began clutching his chest in pain. I recognized those symptoms, just like the fire user no doubt did. I didn't know whether the events of a few days ago had some way aggravated his condition, or if it was just the next step in the process he was undergoing. Either way, it didn't speak well for Izumo House having a continued male population of more than myself, especially with even the loss of Shiina's own contribution to that front.

"Moo," Musubi chimed in, pouting as she did so. "I miss Yukari-chan though," the shrine girl admitted, sounding a little sad. "She was so bright and fun!"

"And I personally have never felt safer now that I know she's gone," Tsukiumi muttered as apparently the constant trauma of having been my little sister's number one molestation target managed to overcome the fresher trauma of Miya's earlier displeasure. I suppressed a smile, shaking my head slightly. I think the number one reason that Yukari had targeted the water user was the fact that Tsukiumi was always the one that responded the most ardently.

I was turning away from the table, taking the old empty pot back to the kitchen before I returned to my seat for my own second helping, when the scent of power struck my nose. Unnoticed by the rest of the room in general, I froze.

"Well, it seems that even without someone like that you still managed to violate the rules of Izumo House," Miya pointed out, one hand innocently framing her face as she reminded Tsukiumi of the earlier lecture.

The scent of power grew, and with it came a new scent: intent. My mind raced. What was going on? Was it another Sekirei? But the normal smell of honey, the trace of power I had come to attribute to Sekirei in general, was missing. A magus?

"Kuu-chan wishes Shii-chan was still here," Kusano added her own opinion, pouting from her spot at the table. The small blonde was upset over the fact that despite her fierce negotiations, even going so far as to sacrifice her right to have a day to sleep beside me in favor of always being able to sit between myself and her other brother, the spot on her other side was devoid of her Shii-chan.

But that didn't matter, because even as she spoke my wards were going off. What the hell was going on here? The wards were working, and I could feel the ill intent of the encroaching power, but why was it still getting nearer? If it was a magus, why hadn't they torn down the wards and activated my defenses? I should be trying to make excuses to explain my hasty departure as the geas forced me to battle, not standing here frozen, the heavy weight of the empty pot in my hand a cold reminder of just where I was.

"No," I whispered, my voice hoarse as I realized what was about to happen. "No, no, no." This couldn't be. I worked so hard, put so much effort into concealing the truth. Not now, not like this.

"Emiya-kun?" Miya began, the first to realize that something was wrong.

The reason I wasn't being dragged away to battle was because whoever was coming had completely disregarded my wards. They had entered, knowing full well that I would be able to feel their intent, and even now they were closing in, the bitter smell of smoke acrid and choking in my metaphorical nostrils.

The empty pot tumbled from my hands as I threw myself across the room, tumbling over the table as the gathered Sekirei started to shout in surprise over my unexpected actions. The clatter of silverware met my ears, hot food and sauce splashing against me and my clothes, all things I ignored as I managed somehow to place myself between the other residents of Izumo House and the thin wall which separated them from the courtyard.

Whoever the magus was, they weren't going to let me lure them away to deal with them out of the eyes of the public and in a prepared location. They were going to strike here and now, regardless that it meant I would have the few moments warning that I had.

Raising one hand, I had only a moment to set myself to the place deep within, the hammer of the revolver that signified my magecraft cocking and being released with the speed of some gunslinger of old.

"Rho Aias!" I shouted, and in front of me seven petals of iridescent light bloom. A hyacinth of purple and gold and blue shimmered into existence, shouts of surprise coming from behind me as it did so.

And then the walls of Izumo House exploded, flames so hot they were nearly white impacting against my Noble Phantasm, the shield wielded by Ajax on the fields of Troy, the only shield to ever deflect a javelin thrown by the great hero Hector. I could feel the heat of the strike roll around the edges of Rho Aias, the pure viciousness of the blast enough for a fraction of its power to envelope even the mystic protection I had called forth to protect the other residents of Izumo.

I had closed one eye before hand, a habit that I had long ago developed when preparing to do battle against those who could call forth blinding attacks. I was glad I had as the sheer brightness of the flames caused spots to develop in my open eye. When I opened the one I had shut to protect my vision I managed to make out a silhouette as the enemy magus raced forward through a similarly decimated fence which marked the limits of the Izumo courtyard.

And then, there was no more time for reflection.

As the magus cleared the burnt portion of the fence, I dropped Rho Aias. It would be useless to me now. While the Noble Phantasm might be strongest I knew when it came to defense, it was simply too impractical except for blocking massive assaults like the one I had just stopped. It left me immobile and it only defended a set portion of space in front of me like the shield it was. Moreover, it was a reflection of my own life as well: if the shield were to be tarnished, so to would my body. Better instead to take my fight to the enemy. Even as the walls that had once separated the dining room from the courtyard smoldered I had already traced a dozen blades, nameless masses of steel with no legend to them.

"Trace on," I shouted, and above my shoulders and at my sides the blades made themselves known, catching the light only for a moment before the elements of speed and velocity I had added to their nature made themselves known and they launched themselves, streaks of silver in the dim crescent moonlight. I forced myself after them, od flooding my limbs as I reinforced myself to levels that no human could hope to match normally.

I had expected the magus, a female I noted clinically, to either be impaled then and there or dodge to her sides in the face of the sudden return attack. I was very surprised when rather than make any kind of evasive action the attacking mage instead simply punched the first blade to meet her own headlong rush.

I was even more surprised when the conjured sword shattered at her touch.

My eyes widened, the rush of adrenaline coursing through me giving me the chance to make out each move of her arms as the attacking magus continued her attack. The first blade was met with a fist head on, the black leather gloves on her hands shining at the knuckles with mystic light as her knuckles impacted with steel, and then the other hand came up to palm my second sword, and the first hand came back with a backhand to the third. The nine other blades I had launched were ignored, originally sent in a wide arc in order to catch any dodging actions by the enemy magus and drive her back. Instead, I found myself closing in for a head on collision with my foe rather than chasing after her mid retreat.

Well, I could work with that. Even as my mind raced, trying to figure out what the hell was going on and just who this enemy was, my hands closed on hilts that weren't there moments ago. My two blades, my trusted companions, my closest friends: Bakuya and Kanshou.

If I hadn't just witnessed this strange magus brush off two pounds of steel launched at the speed of a fastball three times in a row, I would have been surprised when the black sword in my left hand was intercepted in the same way. In any other circumstance if a blade of the caliber of Kanshou were to come across a soft leather glove like the one encompassing the enemy magus' knuckles I would expect an arm to be lost. Instead, I felt a jolt through my own limb as somehow, impossibly, the sword in my off hand was not only stopped but repulsed. After her previous defense, I was at least prepared enough for the feeling and instead focused on driving Bakuya forward, towards the diaphragm of my enemy.

I had expected this attack to be met with my enemies off hand. Instead, I had a moment for my eyes to widen in shock as the enemy magus caught my white blade somehow between her elbow and her knee, standing in some kind of strange crane stance from a martial arts I had no way of recognizing off the top of my head. And then I had only a moment to try and bring Kanshou back up to protect my chest as the hand which had destroyed a blade and blocked two more came down and struck me straight in my solar plexus.

The blow was like a sledgehammer. I haven't been hit this hard since I was put through a truck during my second Apostle hunt. The only other experience I could compare to this level of violence was something on par with a Servant during the Grail War.

Clearly, this wasn't a normal magus I was dealing with.

I forced myself to take deep breaths, making my body through sheer force of will ignore the pain that was radiating from my very center. Even as I tumbled head over heel, my arms held carefully to the side with my blades pointed away to keep them from injuring me, I kept my gaze on the magus who had invaded the peace of my home. It was a maneuver which resembled some kind of twisted spotting exercise used by dancers to keep themselves from getting dizzy while doing their endless spinning. Considering just how many times Saber had sent me flying in much the same way during our spars, it was a technique I was actually surprisingly good at.

It was thanks to that technique that I could make out what happened next.

Even as I tumbled across the courtyard, I made out the blast of water which arched from the inside of Izumo House, a lance of blue which was accompanied by a shout of, "How dare you attack my husband!" The attack was met with silence as the magus simply arched backwards, avoiding the first strike through agility alone. My eyes, reinforced and focused made out the flare of light on the enemy magus' pants, four small stars at the ankles and knees of both legs. Then the magus was moving, one hand coming up to trace a pattern in the air, light emanating from the fingers as though the space in front of them was some kind of touch screen on a doohickey like the one Matsu had given me.

My eyes made out the shape of the gesture, and then they widened in shock. I knew those shapes. The glow at the knuckles, at the joints of the legs, I could identify them.

Whoever this magus was, they were using Runes.

Even as Tsukiumi's water based attack closed in, a concussive blast erupted in the empty air, countering the strike. Still moving, the enemy magus darted towards me, ignoring her other aggressor. Fingers outstretched, my attacker started to trace a new shape in the air, and instinctively I brought Kanshou and Bakuya up, forming an 'X' in front of my body as I did so.

Something struck me, harder than even the enemy magus' fist had no more than a few seconds ago. Lifting me up, the force of the blow pushed me airborne, and I had a moment of annoyance at being tossed around like some kind of doll before my back found yet another fence surrounding Izumo House. Even against my reinforced body, I could feel my back bruise as I was launched through the wooden obstacle and into the empty lot next door that held my workshop.

Splinters stuck into me and sawdust erupted as I once more found myself fighting dizziness as I did all I could to keep my enemy in my sights even as I was sent head over heels through the air.

"Shirou!" Homura's voice cut through the air, panic clear in it even in my discombobulated state. "Fire Snake!" At the random words, a new lance of flame erupted, the elemental attack every bit as hot as the one the enemy magus had used to open the engagement.

This time, the enemy magus spoke though I didn't recognize what it was she was saying. "Algiz! Laguz! Uruz!" My mind raced as countless hours of research tried to find the meaning of her words as her fingers inscribed more glowing arcs of light into the night. Whatever it was she had cast, the fire of my only male Sekirei found itself halted as someone besides Tsukiumi called water into existence. It gathered at a fraction of the speed that my blonde Sekirei could manage, but it was enough. Even as the bar of fire cut through the conjured disc of water, the flame had been delayed enough for the magus to dodge past it, and the rest of the attack slipped past her.

However well she had managed to evade the flame though, when she turned her attention back to me, it was to find that I had recovered my footing, and was standing strong with a half dozen blades already forming behind me.

"Trace bullet," I said, the words an oath in my mouth, "Launch."

The first time I had thrown my wall of steel at my aggressor I had done so in a spread formation, designed to force her to maneuver in order to buy me time. This time, each blade was projected individually, a moment's thought all it took for me to direct them. Once more glares of light emerged from the joints of my opponent; knees, ankles, elbows, and even her wrists all shown as she brought her hands down to deflect my attacks. This time, prepared, I could manage to make out some of the runes that she had apparently inscribed previously, whether on herself or on her clothes I couldn't quite tell. I could make out 'raido', journey, 'algiz', defender, and 'nauthiz', need, along with a few other more obscure ones that I couldn't identify immediately but committed to memory nonetheless.

Whatever they were, they were apparently pretty damn effective. Moving as fast as I could under the best that I could manage with Reinforcement, the enemy magus blurred, her arms swinging as she deflected the first, then the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and my final sixth projected blade.

Despite her success, I could feel my own confidence regaining. Even if she had blocked my counter, it had required her to halt her previously relentless charge. Now no longer being thrown through the air like I had, I was finally able to collect my thoughts, the implications of the battle so far racing through my mind as I started planning the next move. Fast, strong, and dangerous, this was no magus like Archibald. This wasn't someone who obeyed the rules of a duel, or stopped to talk with her enemy to explain her mysteries.

This was a Magus Killer.

That was fine. So was I.

Even as I leaned forward, my blades in hand, a glimmer of purple alerted me to the fact that for all my readiness, I might very well not need to do anything else.

Blade drawn, her white blouse a streak in the moonlight, and her sword leaving a bar of silver afterimages in its wake, Miya entered the battle field.

"Violence in Izumo House," her voice echoed across the empty lot, a note of honest anger and chilling rage in it, "is prohibited." Like a vengeful angel descended from heaven or a guardian beast clawing its way out of hell she fell on the one who had dared to damage her home, and the enemy magus had only a moment to take in the sight of the alien landlady before Miya brought her sword down upon the interloper who had destroyed a significant portion of the house that was the legacy of her lost husband.

For a moment I almost considered praying for the poor damned soul. And then the damned soul's hand came up, opening an innocuous pouch strapped to her belt as she did so. From within it, a grey object appeared, like a sphere made of lead yet somehow capable of the buoyancy of a soap bubble.

My blood went cold, and I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Miya," I shouted, my voice shrill with panic. "Stop!"

Maybe it was the long term relationship that had been building between us that caused her to hesitate. Maybe it was the sheer panic in my voice. Whatever it was, the wrathful creature that was my landlady hesitated, her eyes darting towards me even as she brought her sword down on the interloper that had damaged her home, threatened her resident, and destroyed a good amount of her property's fence.

Whatever it was, it was that hesitation that probably saved her life.

The strange sphere had risen to the enemy magus's shoulder, hovering almost innocently, before suddenly changing in shape. Where once was nothing but a sphere of grey, a dagger appeared. The blade was far too small to be effective, and the hilt was round and bulbous, difficult to grasp. Despite that, its shape burnt itself into my eyes. I had never seen it before, but the gaping void within me, the center of my soul, the reason for my flight from the Mage's Association, witnessed it and knew it.

"Fragarach!" the opposing magus declared her voice triumphant.

Fragarach, one of the few Noble Phantoms in existence that could be wielded by a human, myself excluded, the Sword of the Gorging War God. It was the ultimate form of counter attack, the perfect blend of defense and offense. When an attack is made upon the wielder of Fragarach the Noble Phantom not only counters the enemies strike, but nullifies it completely before striking down the one who had struck with the same force it had just stopped.

There were limitations to it, conditions that must be met before the true power of Fragarach could truly manifest. It could only be used defensively for one, requiring that the wielder must first be attacked before it could be activated. Moreover, the true power of the Sword of the Gorging War God could only be manifested if the enemy was using their true power as well. Only when it was used to stop the most powerful of blows was the counter strike an 'A' class attack capable of striking down just about any opponent. However, when being used to counter a blow without the attacker's full force behind it the counter strike was much reduced, being at best a 'D' rank attack. It still held the capability of countering the enemies strike, and so was still useful for defense, but against a Heroic Spirit or some other Mystic Creature with a strong defensive ability it would be much reduced in effectiveness.

Miya, for all her power, for all that she wasn't human, was still a creature of flesh and blood. Her body was composed of muscles and organs, and if enough damage was done to it, then for all her power she would still die like any other mortal creature. I had no way of knowing just how her power manifested normally, having never truly seen her in combat, but at least the distraction my shout had put into her meant that whatever strength her attack might have had it was not her true capabilities. Now, the only question was, 'Could Miya survive an unblockable 'D' class Noble Phantasm?'

For a split second Miya hung frozen in the air, her entire body supporting the blow which would have cut the enemy magus in half beneath her drawn steel, a look of shock sketched on her features as the strike which should have killed her enemy was stopped by some mystic force. Then the hovering dagger erupted with light, luminescent streamers like lightning shedding from its innocuous shape, before it disappeared, moving so fast it left behind only a brilliant after image, sketching a line like a laser disc from where it had been hovering over the female mage's shoulder to a line down Miya's body. The force of the counter swept up the frozen landlady and sent her careening backwards, just as I had been sent only moments ago. I could make out droplets of blood, the fluid black in the darkness as they scattered, and see as her clothing snapped at the wind as she received a blow which would have been identical to her own attack had it connected.

My heart froze in my chest. For a moment I could only track Miya's path in the air as she was tossed aside by the Noble Phantasm's counter. Miya, with her gentle teasing and stern discipline, Miya, who had taken me and my Sekirei into her home despite knowing that I was more than I seemed and who had never pried into my secrets, Miya, whom had become some strange cross of wise mentor, good friend, and overbearing older sister.

I was going to kill this bitch of an interloper for daring to harm the alien, the woman, whom I had come to think of as my friend and family.

I had regained my feet now. In my head more of my simple blades were being Traced; first six, then a dozen, then eighteen. Prana surged through my body, ready to Project my creations the moment I needed them and ruthlessly Reinforcing my body to a point where I was most likely in very real danger of destroying myself from the inside out in order to be able to match my enemies own considerable speed and strength.

So far she had been the one in control of the flow of battle, her sudden ambush keeping me too busy reeling to be able to take control. Now though, now I had seen enough of her style to be able to unravel her mysteries.

First, I needed to get her attention.

"Spirit and technique," I chanted, tightening my grip on Kanshou and Bakuya as I once more brought them into an 'X' shape in front of me, "flawless and firm."

Thrusting my arms to the side, I threw both of my Noble Phantasms, the blades discs of black and silver as they cut through the night, screaming. The enemy magus hesitated at my strange actions, her eyes following the brighter Bakuya for a moment before they widened and she leapt forwards as the two scissored in at where she had been standing only a moment ago. The two clanged, the noise of their collision loud as steel met steel, before they rebound, flying off in random directions.

Still tracking the movement, the mage barely managed to pull her eyes away in time to discover that I had closed the distance between us, two more identical copies of the still flying Noble Phantoms clutched once more in my hand. I brought Bakuya down, the blade cutting the air with an audible whistle, a strike that was once more blocked by the rune inscribed gloves.

"Our strength pierces the mountains," I grit out, and the enemy only had a second to realize that I still had another sword in hand, the black Kanshou blending in seamlessly with the darkness. Faster and stronger than any person had a right to be her other palm intercepted the surprise stab. "Our swords splits the rivers."

Despite the fact that I had forced my body to a level which surpassed what even the most devout of athletes could hope to achieve, the enemy magus managed to match my movements as I rained blow after blow on her. The endless combo that I had spent so much time perfecting was blocked and countered with each attack. It didn't surprise me. With the use of the Fragarach, I had a good idea of just who this enemy was, or at least who her clan was.

Fragarach was granted to the members of the Fraga clan for the services they had rendered to the divine during the Age of the Gods. Besides the ability to recreate and use the Sword of the Gorging War God they had been granted knowledge of runes far surpassing that of what most users of the thaumaturgical branch could use. The runes inscribed in various places on her body were no doubt legacies of that knowledge, some form of personal enhancement magecraft which was responsible for her unreal strength and speed.

The biggest question was just what was she doing here? Though the Fraga had one of the oldest bloodlines in existence in these days, the clan rarely had anything to do with the rest of the world, isolating themselves not only from the rest of humanity as so many magi did but even from the Mage's Association as well. It was rare for any of their number ever to depart the sea side village that they made their home in, but I had heard stories every once in a while of how some of the younger members of the clan would occasionally depart to the world at large. Though they typically shunned the Mage's Association in general, it wouldn't be that surprising if one of the members of the clan had decided to slake their thirst for adventure by becoming a Freelancer or Enforcer.

Whatever the story behind the Fraga I was engaging, it could wait. Despite my best effort to keep her engaged, the enemy magus seemed to realize the peril she was in at the last moment. Launching herself backwards, she disengaged from our combat just in time. The copies of Kanshou and Bakuya not in my hands sliced through the air where she had been standing only moments ago, the dark and bright discs cutting mere inches away from my face as they spun. I let them pass, using the space they had bought me to once more bring my blades up before throwing them yet again. Yet again the air was filled with the screaming of steel as it cut the wind.

The Fraga was off balance now, desperately trying to pull back enough for her to get a grasp on just what I was doing. The four blades were circling, spinning madly and inscribing strange and confusing paths through the air as they did so. Even as a third set of the blades materialized in my hands, she was forced to twist, her body off balance as she barely managed to evade a copy of Bakuya that had nearly taken her by surprise from behind. Off guard and reeling, I finally Projected the other nameless blades I had prepared before I had begun my counter attack. They launched, one after another as the Fraga managed to throw herself to the side, driving her in the direction I wanted.

"Our names reach the imperial villa," I shouted, folding the twin swords behind me as I did so. Prana surged through my circuits, hot as I flooded the blades in my hands with it. As my od filled the twin dao in my grips, the shapes of the legendary implements began to crack, the power too much for their already mystic frames to bear. Extending behind me, the steel grew, like a sponge being supplied moisture, the unnatural expansion causing the steel to splinter, shards barely attached to the once elegant shapes.

They became fragile. They became dangerous. They became Broken.

The Fraga saw all this as I prepared for my final attack, her eyes narrowed as she continued to be driven by the singly launched swords. Whoever she was, she was no amateur. She had no doubt already figured out that I was herding her, trying to drive her towards the center of the lot she had launched me into. Wary of some ward or trap I might have laid before hand, she planted herself firm, and once more her fist blurred, stopping the plain sword I had just Projected with one of her insanely powerful punches, and wheeling about to slap a copy of Bakuya that she caught sight of from the corner of her eye. Even as she blocked one copy of the white sword, the second copy cut into her, a jagged line across her shoulder that sprayed a small mist of blood from her where it cut.

I grimaced at her successful avoidance of my attempt to relocate her, but continued to flood my swords. "The two of us cannot enter heaven together," I grit out. Damn. This could make things tricky. While she had no doubt been suspecting my attempt to herd her as a method of trapping her in some way, the truth of the matter was that I had merely wanted to place her in front of the shed that served as my workshop. I knew damn well how destructive what came next could be, and had hoped to keep the damage limited to the lot by using the shed to absorb the rest of the attack. Without anything behind her, I would have to be careful to keep the destruction aimed away from any of the other buildings in order to keep any innocent bystanders from being hurt. It would take maneuvering, fragile and precious seconds to ensure that no one else was drawn into this conflict, and in a battle like this, seconds could be the deciding factor between which of us would still be alive in a matter of moments.

Even as I bit my lip and planned just what angle I would have to take, the Fraga's eyes widened at something behind me, and she leapt again, once more in the direction I wanted her to go. An instant afterwards, a dagger of ice landed where she had been only a moment ago. The moment the shard struck, the ground erupted, a crystalline structure of jagged razor sharp edges.

Good girl, Akitsu.

With nothing left to slow me down, I charged, wings of steel at my back. The Fraga's gaze met mine, and she planted herself firm, her eyes narrowed as she resigned herself to matching my attack. Four blades of black and white homed in on her, and I brought down the great behemoths I had crafted, aiming to cut the Fraga into pieces.

"Crane Wing Three Realm" I shouted, triumphantly. The twisted and Broken Noble Phantasms in my arm shattered, each sliver of steel becoming a needle aimed at the enemy magus who had dared to strike at my home and attack my family. The four blades I had created earlier would join in, and like the incantation I had spoken, the two blades would not be able to enter heaven together. Like combining an acid and a base, when the black sword met white sword a reaction would occur, an explosion that would destroy everything in the radius of the blast.

Even as the attack began, the Fraga showed no fear. Instead, a small smile crossed her lips. From the same pouch as earlier, a lead grey orb arose.

"Fragarach!" she declared, throwing one arm triumphantly in my direction. The orb rippled, and then it reshaped itself once more, a blindingly bright dagger. My own attack disappeared, gone through whatever mystic method the Noble Phantom employed in order to make its miracle known. A cacophony of light lanced towards me, every ounce of power from the explosions the four entrapping Kanshous and Bakuyas would have produced combined with every needle of steel the Broken blades had produced.

The triumph on the Fraga's face only lasted a moment, and then it was replaced with shock.

Hovering over my own shoulder, shedding its own light, a gleaming dagger flashed. "Fragarach," I retorted, my voice almost clinical as I did so.

Projection complete. Not the best work I had ever done. I had gotten its shape down, and most of its history as well. I think I might have missed a bit during the sympathizing stage, but it was my first time with this new Noble Phantasm. Even as my own attack was returned, the Sword of the Gorging God I had recreated flashed, and then the target of the force I had originally created through the use of the Crane Wing Three Realm was once more redirected, again aimed at the Fraga who was even now palming the pouch at her hip.

There was a reason that magi so jealously guarded their mysteries. Every spell that was created had advantages and disadvantages to it; every feat of thaumaturgy could be countered or overcome with enough study. Like right now: if the Fraga had known just what my true ability was, just how powerful Unlimited Blade Works ability to comprehend and recreate blades really was, then perhaps she wouldn't have so casually used what was obviously her trump card earlier. Most likely she would have instead done everything in her power to conceal the Noble Phantasm from me to ensure that she didn't put such an ability in my grasp.

Now though, it was too late.

My eyes narrowed as I took in the third grey orb that the Fraga revealed from the pouch at her hip. My eyes feasted on it, and if I wasn't so firmly in battle mode at the moment then I would have frowned. It was the same Noble Phantasm, yes, but just like the two before it had minor differences between it and the other incarnations of itself. I reviewed the history of it, sympathizing with its creation and comprehending the minor changes. Each Fragarach was one she had recreated, a process of forging and magecraft which was then soaked in her own blood for a month at a time. Minor details between each such as the precise amount of time down to the minute that they had been charged with the Fraga's blood were made clear to me. It looked like this one was a bit shoddier then the others, not enough to affect its ability, but noticeable in its own way.

"Fragarach," she grit her teeth, nearly not making it in time to stop my counter to her counter. Once more the original force of my attack was directed at me.

"Fragarach," I threw back at her. Like a demented game of ping pong the attack bounced back and forth between us. The battle was nearly mine at this point. Each Fragarach the Fraga used was one that had taken her months to create. Even if she had been creating and storing them for years, she would eventually run out. Me, on the other hand, as long as there was still od for me to call from I could continue just making new ones, endlessly recreating the same Noble Phantasm. My circuits were warm from my continuous channeling of prana, but the cost of creating a Fragarach was nowhere near that of some of my other blades.

"Fragarach!" she shouted, a note of panic in her tone. She must be running low at this point. The only option she had was to keep using her trump and hope that however it was that I was imitating them was in some way limited, or that I would slip up and miss the timing. Her eyes were wide, and sweat dripped down her forehead, but when she saw me once more form my own sword, she sagged, her eyes drifting shut for a moment.

"Fragarach," I told her. Her eyes opened and she gave me a bitter little smile.

"Apprentice my ass," she told me, and then the repeatedly countered attack finally struck someone. The blue light rolled over her, her clothing and flesh being shredded, her body buckling and distorting under the power, and just like Miya she was launched backwards. The attack pressed her, driving her already dead corpse into the wall of my workshop, shattering past the minor wards I had used to safeguard it from entrance, and collapsing the walls. With a long groaning noise, the cheap shed meant originally be a place to hold household goods collapsed, concealing the body from view.

Great. And I had almost finished that damned washing machine too.


	26. Twenty Sixth Wing

In Flight: Twenty Sixth Wing

_Author's notes: First, as always, review responses. I think the most dominant reviews for last chapters were confusion about Fragarach. A lot of people posted information about where I was mistaken about Fragarach's actual usage, and for that thanks. I mentioned before I was a little shady on the specifics so I used my own interpretation, and even if I was a bit off I'm going to keep on using it if Fragarach comes up later, but for all of you who voluntereed your own links and research, thanks for the help._

_A second set of reviews expressed distaste or anger over me killing Bazette. Since those people obviously don't read the author's notes and thus are not aware that I specifically mentioned that it wasn't Bazette fighting Shirou, they probably won't find this little note once more pointing out that no, I didn't really kill Bazette. But since you probably won't read this author's note either, this was probably a wasted paragraph. Whoops._

_Before getting to chapter specifics an important note. I've mentioned before that I have quite a lot going on in my real life, and I'm closing in on the point where I'm honestly not sure just what my future is going to hold. Thus, I'm giving fair warning now, I have no idea when the next chapter will come. It might take me a few weeks to settle down into a routine that will allow me to have time to type again, and if that happens the delay will be a long one. Then again, it might very well turn up that I'm worrying over nothing and I'll have plenty of time to write. _

_Just be aware that I will most likely have a pretty irregular update schedule for a while._

_Now, onto chapter specifics. _

_As always_

_*Spoiler Alert!*_

_This chapter has a lot going on in it, and once more seems to signify the closing of an arch for In Flight._

_Important things to note are Miya. I took quite a few liberties with her in this chapter. People might note her earlier blood thirstiness, but I've mentioned before that while Miya might be a retired badass, she's still a badass to the core. I think that in her situation a certain degree of murderous intent would be in character for her. The other big thing was Miya accidently spilling the beans of her own. Even in canon Miya has always had a rather superior attitude bordering on arrogance, no doubt the result that in the original Sekirei she pretty much is at the top of the food chain. Since she's already aware that Shirou had unusual abilities, I think it seems pretty logical that she would seek to explain them in the way that made sense to her, and since she's already aware that most modern Ashikabi are direct descendants of the Sekirei of the past, I think her explanation for Shirou's skills makes a certain degree of sense. Of course, she's wrong, as I'm pretty sure that magecraft goes way back further than the time when canon Sekirei first landed on Earth, but I since there could be a logical argument to the contrary I decided to go ahead and clarify that in this chapter. Let me know what you think about how it turned out._

_Next up, Matsu. Matsu once more gets screen time showing that she seems to be the one most willing to risk pissing of her Ashikabi in order to make sure that Shirou is safe. I've mentioned before that for all of her childishness Matsu has always struck me as just as ruthless and mature as the rest of the original disciplinary squad in her own way. I think that attacking her Ashikabi and slapping some sense into him even when she's already in the dog house is just another sign of her own commitment to Shirou's safety, but I am willing to admit I'm worried that it might actually come off as out of character. Let me know your impressions on how it turned out._

_Finally, Shirou. Reviews about his character have been pretty split. A lot of people feel that Shirou has been too arrogant, always trying to shoulder all the responsibility for himself, whereas others think he's been perfectly logical and reasonable in his actions. It comes down to perspective I guess, but whichever side you, the reader, sits on, its important to remember one thing: Shirou is screwed up in the head. It hasn't come up explicitly before this chapter, but even canon wise Shirou has his infamous 'distortion'. I've always intended to play that aspect of him in, and a lot of things he's done up to this point I've tried to have him reflect his strangeness, but now it is beginning to be noticed by the rest of the cast as well. Let me know if I managed to do a good job setting it up, or if it seems a little bit sudden._

_Next chapter, whenever it comes out, expect a bit of fallout from just about everyone in Izumo House getting their entire world views rocked. And Karasuba. She was supposed to make it this time around, but with the chapter running long, well, her scene was simple enough to transfer over to the next one._

_If you like it, give a shout. Questions/comments/concerns? Reviews are fine, but the forums are more likely to get personal attention. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

For a few endless moments I could do nothing besides standing perfectly still. My world consisted only of the groaning noises emerging from the shed as its walls continued to buckle, the roof sinking ever lower as it settled, crushing down on the dead Fraga. A small part of me watched the display in order to assure that the magus truly was dead. Yes, it seemed highly unlikely considering just how much force the final Fragarach had generated and it hadn't looked like the Fraga had managed to get a defensive mystery formed in time, but magi could be tricky sometimes.

It was only after the final wall of my former workshop gave in that I allowed myself to relax.

And promptly dropped to one knee, panting for breath. It was late spring and warm enough that my long sleeves were starting to draw curios glances from people when I passed them by on the street, but despite that my breath was misting in front of me as though it was much cooler out. The death match between the Fraga and I had taken only a minute, maybe two, from the moment she had thrown me across the courtyard like I weighed no more than a few pounds, but still my muscles ached. I could feel the sting in my back where splinters had lodged after she had put me through a fence, and it seemed like I might have truly gone too far with my Reinforcing. I could feel patches of numbness in various places on my body that seemed to have no discernable cause or connection; a spot just below my left ribs, a patch on my upper right thigh, a portion of my left arm between my elbow and my shoulder, and for some reason I that really confused me my left ear.

Within me, I could feel a much more pleasant ache from my circuits. The Reinforcing might not have taken too much power, the efficiency I had with the skill making its less costly than others might find it, and the nameless blades I had used to halt the Fraga's charge and herd her into the proper direction had been just as meaningless, but the power I had sunk into the Crane Wing Three Realm had taken about half a dozen of my seventeen circuits to charge. There was still power floating in them, but much less than what I normally could call on. The three Fragarach I had crafted had been much simpler, only using three of my circuits to pull off. Crafting the Noble Phantasms had been a bit costly, a little more than a set of Kanshou and Bakuya might need, but empowering the weapon had been much simpler. Most of Fragarach's strength came from the opponent after all, and it was a Noble Phantom meant to be used by humans.

All in all, the battle had put a strain on my magecraft, but the feeling was more that of the soreness that might come after a particularly vigorous exercise session. Despite that, it was still a sobering thought. I had been pushed so far in only a matter of seconds, and if the battle had been forced into one of attrition, there was no way of knowing how I would have fared.

"Shirou!" The multiple voices shouting my name behind me brought me back from myself analysis. There could be time for me to review the battle later. For now I had over a half dozen aliens who most likely had no idea just what had happened behind me and no doubt worried sick, another alien that had taken an attack from a Noble Phantasm dead on and could be dying at this very moment, a corpse I had been responsible for creating which would no doubt bring some very awkward questions if the proper authorities were to hear about it, the chance of their being even more magi laying in wait, and the very real possibility that the monitoring systems that MBI had in place on all Sekirei had just recorded an entire magecraft battle.

Get your head back in the game, I chided myself. First, get control of the situation. A flash of white from the corner of my eye revealed Akitsu, hands lowered to her side as she stopped in her customary position while a faint circle of mist forming around her and a few stray icicles hung in the air about her like my swords had been moments before. Her eyes were focused on the settling wreckage like a hawk on a mouse as she waited for any sign of movement just like I had been doing a second ago. A second blur appeared, this one a streak of black as darted in front of me, deliberately putting itself between me and the same wreckage. When it stopped moving, I realized I had the answer to at least one of my potential problems.

"Shirou," Homura snapped, his voice high pitched with worry. "Are you alright? What happened!" Not even giving me time to answer, two fireballs erupted, the flames dripping like molten wax from around the edges of his fingers. "Who the hell was that? An enemy Sekirei?"

I broke in as he continued to pepper me with questions. It seemed that the shock of the attack was affecting him, making him too high strung to realize that if he kept interrogating me at that speed then he would never get the answers he was seeking. Before I could start supplying them, there was one thing I needed him to do. "Homura," I snapped, and he froze at the command in my tone, glancing over his shoulder so he could look at me while keeping one eye on the Fraga's impromptu crypt. "Burn the wreckage to ash."

"What?" he asked, turning a little more to study me in surprise. "But what about that woman? Even if she did attack, she's been knocked out now. MBI will be here soon, and then can take care of her and whoever her Ashikabi is…"

"That wasn't a Sekirei, and she's already dead," I interrupted again, my voice hard. His eyes widened as I corrected two of his assumptions immediately. "And if MBI or the police finds the corpse, then there's a good chance I'll end up dead too. Now burn it until even the bones are gone!"

"R-right," Homura responded, his voice stuttering in surprise as he acknowledged my orders. With one last glance at me, either to assure himself of my safety or the sincerity of my order, the former host raised one hand still clasping his element, and without another word a lance of fire erupted, bathing the broken shack in flame.

If I was still a member of the Mage's Association then maybe I could have used their resources to cover this up in a more elegant fashion, or if I was a more competent magus then maybe I could have been able to take care of it myself. But I wasn't, to both of the options. The only magecraft I could think of to keep any investigators from asking questions would be hypnosis, and that was one of the more traditional crafts that I had never been able to progress in; the only person I could ever manage to hypnotize was myself and that was just in regards to my own magecraft. The only option I had for concealing this incident was by destroying all the evidence.

A true magus would have done everything in their power to secure the corpse of their foe in order to unravel what mysteries they could from its cold flesh. They would have never considered the loss of their workshop as acceptable under any condition, nor condone the destruction of their research in any form.

Then again, I was a third rate magus, and proud of it, and so I watched all my notes on runes, Sekirei, and my Reality Marble being consumed with a dispassionate eye, just as I watched the potential knowledge I could have acquired from the Fraga's body disappear from my grasp. It wasn't like it was anything I couldn't replace or recover on my own later. I wasn't researching for the sake of research after all. All of my efforts had been into finding ways to make my own skills combat effective, and any experimentation into finding those means would be even easier the second time around.

"Shirou!" a new voice cut threw my distraction, and I cursed myself for waxing poetic about a broken down shed when I had more important things to concern myself with. "Shirou, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, Tsukiumi," I reassured the desperate Sekirei. The water user had stumbled up to where Akitsu, Homura, and I were standing, thumb clasped so firmly in her teeth that she resembled a child sucking their thumbs. Even as she paused before me, her other hand coming up as though to touch me before hesitating, I forced myself to move. I stumbled briefly as the numbness in my thigh did funny things to my balance, but recovered easily. The momentary lapse seemed to be enough to make the water user move, and she wrapped one arm around my elbow as though to support me. I shook her off firmly. There would be time enough for that later. She flinched at the motion, and I gave her a hasty smile of reassurance. "I'll be fine, I promise. For now, I need you to put out the rest of the fire at Izumo House and then help put out the tool shed when Homura is done with it."

Tsukiumi seemed to have trouble pulling her eyes off of me, but managed to drag them away long enough to see what I was talking about. The Fraga's initial fire burst had most likely been designed to simply open a straight line between her and me and had been a combination of intense heat and energy. Though the concussive force of the spell had propelled the flame fast enough that most of the potential fuel had been thrown about without igniting, even as we spoke a few tendrils of fire were starting to gather strength as the paper walls of the traditional house caught the lingering embers.

"The house is unimportant," she argued, turning back and resuming her hovering. "But if I were to abandon my husband in his time of need…"

"Tsukiumi," I cut her off, my voice harsher than I would have liked, but the urgency of the situation too much for me to be gentle with her. "I said I'll be fine. Please, we don't have much time. Take care of the house and shed before it gets any worse."

The water user grimaced, a sour looking expression appearing on her face. "Now see here, monkey," she snapped, crossing her arms under her chest as she drew herself up to her full height. "I will not have you take that tone of voice with me, husband or not!"

I did not have time for this. What I needed now was the full cooperation of my flock so that I could contain this mess before it spread into genuine disaster territory. The time it would take to argue Tsukiumi into compliance or reassure her of my wellbeing was time I just did not have.

Reaching out without a word I put my hand on the back of Tsukiumi's head, ignoring her squawk of outrage at the sudden contact, and pulled her in to the most passionate kiss I could muster. I used every trick I had ever picked up from all my experience with prana exchange rituals, doing things with my tongue that had been enough in the past to melt even Rin at even her most angry. I only kept it up for a few seconds, but when I pulled back it was to discover that Tsukiumi had frozen, her eyes closed, cheeks flushed, and with the soft blue light of her wings casting peculiar shadows on her face.

"Please, Tsukiumi," I strained to keep my voice calm. "Take care of Izumo House for me?"

"R-right away, husband," she stuttered, a dazed look in her eyes as she cracked them open. It was her turn to stumble as she stiffly turned and started making her way back to the growing flames of Izumo.

It was an effective way to get her to come around to my way of thinking, for sure, but I had a brief moment's worry that I might have overdone it. "Just use your regular water," I called after her. "Not your Norito."

"R-right," I heard her call back, still sounding dazed. Well, that's one less problem to worry about.

"Bro! What happened?" a new voice caught my attention, though when I caught sight of who was speaking it actually took me a moment to recognize them. "Is it over?" It was Uzume who was asking, standing near the edge of the empty lot but still on the side of Izumo proper, but I had never seen the usually casually dressed Sekirei in the strange garments she was sporting now. Her usual pink star shirt was missing, as was her short jeans. Replacing them were swathes of white, two bands of cloth twisting around her neck and ribcage to cover only a brief portion of her chest and another one apparently wrapped around her waist in something which looked like some kind of hybrid of a skirt and a loincloths. Circling around her, winding through the air like serpents, long bolts of similarly white linen snapped through the air. The animated fabric intertwined with itself, making it hard for me to determine whether it was all one piece of fabric or if there were multiple lengths.

I guess I finally had the reason that Uzume had always reminded me of a linen closet. Or why she had earned the moniker of 'The Veiled Sekirei'.

"It should be for now," I answered her, straining my senses to see if there would be a follow up attack, though by now I had my doubts there would be one. If there were others involved with this attack they would have interfered already, probably during the final exchange the Fraga and I had engaged in when I had been immobile and distracted. That didn't completely rule out that there was another somewhere nearby, just out of range, and that they had merely let the other die, but if there was another they must have sincerely not liked the Fraga, and thus were unlikely to try and avenge her, or they were engaged solely in an observation role, and thus unlikely to try and attack.

"That was amazing!" Musubi chimed in, standing near the strangely clad Uzume, firmly in the lot but still a bit away. The shrine girl had thrown her hands up in the air, and her eyes had once more assumed a doe eyed look of pure adoration. Musubi didn't even seem to notice that a portion of Izumo House was gone, burnt away by what should be unknown forces, or that her Ashikabi had just killed an attacker that had wielded strange and unknown abilities only moments ago. If there had ever been a doubt in my mind that there was something wrong with her, this moment would have erased it completely.

"Onii-chan," a new voice chimed in. Kusano peeked out from behind the fence, her tiny hands wrapped carefully around the shattered boards that I had been knocked through. Only the top of her head and eyes was visible as she leaned out, her gaze frightened. "Onii-chan," she said again, and even with so little of her visible, I could make out her trembling. She seemed terrified, a perfectly justifiable response to the events which had just happened. One moment she had been happily seated beside her Ashikabi, surrounded by friends and family, and the next, her home had been shattered, and the life of her beloved big brother had been threatened. Not to mention what had happened to Miya…

Shit. Don't get distracted now. You can blame yourself for this later. For now, focus on fixing everything.

"Miya," I shouted, wheeling to the last place I had seen the alien landlady. "Miya, are you conscious? Can you hear me?"

"Yes, to both of your questions, Emiya-kun," I nearly sagged in relief at the sound of her voice.

"Are you alright?" I asked, and immediately felt stupid at having asked the question. I had just watched her get launched backwards after having a mystic artifact hit her with some kind of phantom copy of her own attack. I limped towards the source of the sound, I tried to locate Miya.

"Actually, I think I'm quite upset at the moment," came her own reply, a touch of her usual dry humor present, but underneath it I could hear a tightness in her voice. I finally located just where she was speaking from, and took in the scene with sharp eyes, forcing myself to remain calm as I did my best to diagnose the situation.

The good news was that she was standing and appeared to be both conscious and rational. The bad news was that she had most definitely not come out of the fight unharmed, and judging from the expression on her face upset might be an understatement when it came to describing her actual mood.

When Fragarach had struck it had been in the form of a plane of light describing a line down her body. I wasn't sure why it had taken that form; my own experience gained no more than a few minutes ago let me know that while the force the counterattack achieved was dependent on the original strike against it, the shape and use of the force was dependent on the user's will. I had been releasing the attack as a mass of energy designed to envelop the Fraga completely for the most widespread damage possible. When the original user of Fragarach had turned the Noble Phantasm on me she had done so in a concentrated beam aimed at my torso. I didn't have the time to try and figure out the exact source of the difference, but whatever the reason behind using Fraga as a cutting attack instead of a piercing attack had been the results displayed on Miya were not pretty.

The attack which had taken Miya out of the battle was clearly marked across her body, starting at her left shoulder and ending at her right hip. It had gone straight through her thin traditional clothing, cutting across the kimono top, obi, and hakama. The kimono still hung on her thanks to it resting atop her thin shoulders, but with the obi cut clean through the traditional belt had fallen to the ground around her. Similarly the hakama had been cut through at the waist, and without it being bound around her hips the garment had fallen off her thin frame. While her sarashi, her breast bindings, had also met the same fate of her obi and fluttered loosely, thankfully her fundoshi, her traditional loin cloth, had at least managed to survive the damage.

The end result would have been almost erotic, the long kimono top draped across her shoulders and over her breast and only her brief undergarment to protect her modesty, if it hadn't been for the blood. While it appeared that whatever kind of creature Miya truly was had indeed been sturdy enough to survive the attack, she hadn't been well enough protected to do so without injury. A deep slice etched its way across her in the line of the attack, her pale flesh marred with the crimson fluid that was welling out of her. Already her kimono and fundoshi were liberally stained, and the last bits of the sarashi that had been cut that remained on her only did so where the bandages clung to the sticky blood. Thick red lines of the oozing life fluid dripped down her legs, across her torso, and even from the edges of her hanging kimono hem.

Despite the injury, Miya stood alert, her sword held firmly in her grasp angled down and to her side. For all the lightness in her tone of voice, her expression was somewhat similar to the mask she so often projected.

To be precise, she looked more than a little frightening at the moment. I didn't blame her. Someone had just attacked her home, swept aside her efforts to punish them, and cut a giant freaking line down her otherwise unblemished body.

I only hoped her displeasure didn't come to be focused on me.

"I seem to have lost sight of the battle, Emiya-kun," Miya continued, sounding almost casual as she did so. Like a blood stained angel of death she strode forward, and even in the darkness of mid evening I could see a shadow which had nothing to do with anything that had a place in a sane and rational world forming around her. Behind her a storm of rage and malevolence followed, a shade that did not properly exist in this reality and thus couldn't truly be seen or heard, yet still somehow managed to catch the eye and scratch the ear. "Could you perhaps direct me towards the young lady who seemed to have business with you? I would like to have a few words with her."

Wordlessly I pointed towards the bonfire Homura was feeding across the lot from me. Miya's lavender eyes followed my finger, and narrowed at the sight of even more of her property being destroyed. Now I was really hoping that she wouldn't turn her grudge against me now that the perpetrator of the attack was gone. After all, the Fraga might have been responsible for the damage done to Izumo proper, but the shed's annihilation was entirely my fault, both with its collapse and then my order for it to be burnt.

As if in response to my worry, the shadow behind Miya thickened. This wasn't the first time that I had come across a palpable malevolence. Ever since the Grail War I had been familiar with the fact that creatures which held true power could sometimes influence those around them just by failing to hold back that strength. Berserker had worn his rage around him like a cloak after all, Caster had made precious little effort to hold back her displeasure when Rin and I had confronted her and Kazuki, Archer had directed his ill will at me more than a few times himself, and Gilgamesh had never bothered to conceal his dislike for 'fakers'. From what little I had seen of her true abilities Miya could rank herself amongst those other legends when it came to her ability.

"Emiya-kun, remind me later to have a talk with you about being careful with other people's property," she murmured, finally turning her attention back to me. I couldn't help but feel that she was being a little unfair. I mean, yeah, I did destroy the shed, but it had been my workshop as well.

"Well, it was either the shed or one of the other buildings," I countered, defending myself against my better judgment. Miya's eyebrow raised and I bulled forward. "If my attack had hit one of the surrounding buildings someone uninvolved might have gotten hurt."

"I wasn't referring to the shed, Emiya-kun," she broke in, her expression stern. "I was referring to the lady who so rudely interrupted our meal. I wished to be the one to chastise her." At the word 'chastise' her power flared with murderous intent, and the scent of blood in the air thickened. "This was the first time I have come across someone so rude. I am disappointed that you took the opportunity to confront her from me."

"Well, to be fair, she was originally coming after me," I mumbled relieved that her current mood was being directed at the deceased Fraga for dying before Miya had a chance to kill her herself instead of at me for destroying the shed.

"'Coming after you'?" the landlady parroted, her power lessening as her attention turned from the conflict itself to its source. "Oh my," she murmured, her free hand coming up to rest against her cheek as she sighed, spreading a streak of blood on her otherwise clean face. "I take it that your mysterious hunters have finally made themselves known?"

"Yes," I nodded. I didn't even bother to try and make excuses for the situation. Trying to cover this all up to the rest of the world might be too much for me to handle as it is, and it would be impossible to think up a convincing lie to the ones who had witnessed it firsthand. "I'm sorry, Miya," I grimaced. "I thought I had enough defenses set up, or that they'd wait until I was alone again. I never thought they'd just attack head on like this."

"Again?" Miya's voice sharpened, and I realized what I had let slip. I winced. Whoops. "So there have already been others that you have dealt with?" The landlady did not seem happy with this revelation, and the declining aura she was producing strengthened. Her eyes narrowed yet again, and for a second her lip disappeared between her teeth as she worried it. "To think that there would be so many…" she murmured. As though lost in thought Miya started to make her way towards the inn before she stumbled once, her sword coming down from its ready position and sinking tip first into the earth as she used it as an impromptu crutch.

Instinctively, one of my hands shot out to grasp her elbow and I moved in to support her. Her aura actually blinked out as a look of surprise appeared on her face and she glanced down as though only just realizing the damage that had been done to her.

"Oh dear," she murmured, and this time her voice held a trace of pain as well as surprise. "It seems that tonight has been a night of many surprises. I do believe this is the first time I have ever been wounded."

"Seriously?" I asked, unsure if the proclamation was unbelievable or not. I mean, yeah, Miya was powerful, but surely at some point in time in the past someone who had seen as much bloodshed as her had at least taken damage before. "This is really your first time?"

"That is what I said," she scolded me, and despite her firm tone I could feel her as her body shivered. From the way her legs appeared to be shaking under the weight of supporting her body it looked like they were about to give out. Unmindful of either her blood or her near nudity, I crouched low, slipping one arm around her waist and pulling her other over my shoulder. "I feel a little light headed," she noted, complaint in her voice. "This is very uncomfortable."

"The adrenaline must be wearing off," I noted, now throwing dignity to the wind and craning my head as close as I could get to her wound while supporting her. The cut was deep, though it appeared her ribcage had protected her chest. I could make out glints of white where bone was exposed, but the damage done to her less protected areas was unnerving. The section of her breasts that the wound covered were the deepest, and the line across her abdomen looked like it had almost been deep enough to puncture her peritoneum, the membrane meant to keep her organs in place. "It was the only thing keeping you on your feet, and now that it's running out you should be feeling your injuries."

"Spoken from experience?" she asked me, gritting her teeth as the hand holding her sword came to trace the wound hesitantly. She winced as the action sent jolts of pain through her, and the arm over my shoulder squeezed me so tightly I could feel my bones creek. I was positive that the way her free hand clutched at me had broken the skin.

"I've lost track of the number of times," I admitted, wincing for more reasons than her grip. This just made the situation even worse. Miya counted as one of the great powers in Shin Tokyo. When MBI investigated they would probably send the Disciplinary Squad, and there was no telling how the enforcers of the Sekirei Plan would react if they came across a weakened Miya. I had the impression that her and Karasuba had some sort of grudge against each other, and even if that wasn't to goad the Black Sekirei into attacking MBI might just order her to capture or eliminate Miya themselves as a precaution.

"We have to get you inside so we can start treating that," I told her, leading the bleeding alien back towards Izumo House, firmly tugging the staggering landlady beside me as I did so. I had to get her out of the public eye, and I had to do something, anything to keep MBI's attention off of Izumo House long enough for Miya to recover.

"My god, Miya," Kazehana gasped, touching down in front of the two of us as we crossed over through the more conventional opening between the lot and Izumo proper. The Wind Sekirei was gaping, her face pale except for two flushes of bright red high on her cheekbone. She looked like she was having trouble believing the sight before her. "Who could have done this?"

I opened my mouth to respond when I saw the potential answer to one of my problems stumble out of the hole in the inn, water from Tsukiumi's hosing dripping down to splatter on the latecomers white dress. Matsu hadn't been in the dining room when this whole mess began, and I wasn't sure if the reason that she had taken so long was because of the distance between her own room and the dining room or if she had held back until the danger was over. Whatever the case was, I was honestly glad she had arrived.

"If even the number zero one could end up like this," Matsu gasped as she stumbled forward, taking her place beside Kazehana as the two gaped at their former leader, the hacker's face as pale as the dress she was wearing. It had been three days, and it looked like the hacker hadn't been paying as much attention to her own condition as I had thought she would. She looked thinner already, and dark rings were around her eyes from the long hours she must have been putting in to get the information she thought I needed.

"Matsu," I began curtly, still leading Miya. "Come here." The redhead's eyes snapped away from the bleeding landlady and she froze when they landed on me.

"S-Shirou-sama," she began, a stutter in her tone. "I didn't mean to… I mean, I heard the noise and came down, but I…"

"Matsu," I cut her off, trying to keep my voice from rising into a shout. "I don't care about any of that, just get over here! Now!" With a squeak she did as I ordered, stumbling the few steps nearer I needed for my free hand to snake out and grab her by the front of her dress. She flinched, perhaps expecting me to strike her or shake her. Instead, I pulled her in and firmly pressed my lips against hers. She froze, unable to move as I forced the Norito on her, wings of light erupting behind her.

"S-Shirou-tan?" she murmured, looking a little dazed as I broke the contact once the ritual was finished, perhaps unconsciously reverting to her more informal customary name for me.

"Matsu. I need you to get into MBI's mainframe and destroy every record of what just happened here tonight," my voice was hard as my mind raced in its 'battle mode'. "If MBI has already dispatched forces, delay or reroute them. Keep everyone away from here for as long as you can."

"But Shirou-tan," Matsu began, still blinking, confusion over the series of events making her slow to process my orders. "If I do that, MBI will no doubt know…"

"I don't care," I cut her off. "Right now MBI could be closing in as we speak. If they send the Disciplinary Squad, and they find Miya like this," the landlady flinched as I jostled her slightly, and Matsu's eyes widened in horror at the mention of Karasuba's squad arriving on this scene, "you can imagine what will happen then."

"Yes," Matsu nodded, her eyes regaining focus and her tone taking the mature speech pattern she reserved only for when she was being serious. "Understood, Ashikabi-sama." Pausing only long enough to pull her glasses hastily from her face her eyes unfocused. "Oracle of my pledge, dispel the confusion around my Ashikabi." With her prayer completed her eyes snapped shut, the REM movement behind the closed lids assuring me that the hacker was following my orders.

"Even if you delay them, Ashikabi-kun," Kazehana pointed out, trailing beside the three of us as I led both Miya and the distracted Matsu back towards the concealment of Izumo House as quick as I could, "Miya-san is going to need a doctor. This is serious. If she were a normal Sekirei, she would already have ceased to function."

Damn. If I were a more diverse magus I might be able to use ether to treat the wounds, or have some other mystery to help stop the bleeding and close the cut. I only collected weapons though, and those were typically meant to make wounds not treat them. There was only one item in my armory that might work, and I had no idea if it would be enough.

"Kazehana, get Matsu and the rest inside," I ordered, and despite not being a true member of my flock the wind user instantly complied, taking Matsu's hand and hurrying her back to the inn as the redhead stumbled after. I closed my eyes and focused on my freehand. "Trace on," I murmured, focusing on the only item I had that could close wounds like these. "Avalon."

The legendary sheathe of King Arthur formed, glistening blue and gold in the darkness. It was only a copy, one of my projections and not the original. I had no way of knowing just how to pull the actual conceptual weapon out of my body. Though I could probably figure it out if I had a little time to experiment, that was time I couldn't spare at the moment. At least I could be assured that the copy was perfect. It was the one jewel of my treasury that I could actually replicate perfectly, the only legendary item that I understood so perfectly that I could truly sympathize every facet of its history; a side effect of it having rested within me for so long.

As quick as I could while still being gentle, I pressed it against Miya's torso, putting it in contact with as much of her wound as I could. I had no idea if this would work or not. True, I might have managed to trick the sheathe into accepting my own od, but that was a result of it having been stored in my body for so long that it I had adapted to it as though it were natural. Normally, the only way Avalon would activate for another besides its rightful owner was if Saber was nearby to feed it prana. The question was, would I be able to duplicate that affect as well?

"Perhaps something softer might suffice as a bandage," Miya grunted, her teeth gritting as she bit back a moan. She didn't even comment on the sudden and inexplicable appearance of something that clearly hadn't been there only moments ago. Uzume, on the other hand, did notice it from where she was still hovering by the broken fence, her eyes flicking back and forth from the new bonfire to the wounded landlady and I as though she was trying to figure out which was the more important spectacle to watch.

"What the hell?" she shrieked, her ribbons flickering around her as she backed away, her eyes wide. "Where did that come from?"

"Pretty…." Kuu whispered, frozen as she stared at the masterwork sheathe with wide eyes.

"Just hold it against your body," I ordered the landlady, ignoring the rest. With a deep breath I began flooding the conceptual weapon with magic much like I would do if I were reinforcing something. For a long moment I worried that it wouldn't be enough, that I would end up just breaking it as the already magical reconstruction took more power than it could hold. Then, slowly, as like water trickling through tightly packed sand, I felt the prana being accepted. I nearly sagged with relief as Miya stiffened, her voice catching slightly.

"What is this?" she murmured, confusion in her voice as she glanced at the blue and gold construct resting against her bare skin. I had no idea what it felt like to her, but it was obvious that she had noticed something happening.

"I'll explain later," I assured her. "For now, just hold it against you, alright?" Hesitantly, Miya brought her hand still clutching her sword up so that she could press the hilt of her blade against the sheath, securing it to her body. I pulled my free hand away from Avalon slowly, checking to see if the weapon would continue to function without my physical presence. Miya frowned, and then winced, and I quickly put my hand back on the scabbard. It seems that just like with healing myself, using Avalon on another was less efficient. It would need physical contact in order to function.

"Just what is going on here, Ashikabi-kun?" Kazehana's voice pulled me back from my study of Avalon's effectiveness on a third party without the presence of its true owner. Matsu was no longer with her; safely back inside where the rest of us should be getting as soon as possible.

"I'll explain later," I repeated, still leading Miya in, trying to keep her from stumbling from the combination of her own pain and her new fascination with the strange item that I was using to treat her wounds. "Once everyone's inside and the evidence is safely destroyed."

"'Evidence is safely destroyed'," Uzume repeated, her tone flat. "You're not even bothering to pretend that what happened here is okay or normal, are you bro?" She shook her head, disbelief in her voice as the magnitude of what she had just witnessed seemed to leave her awestruck. "I can't wait to hear the story behind this one."

*Scene Break*

"Well," I began, feeling very tired as I did so. "I suppose its time that I explain a few things."

I suppose I had every right to feel a little strange about the situation. If it wasn't for the topic which I was about to broach being delicate, the situation in which I was about to begin it was equally unusual. It had taken a further few minutes of tendering before Homura was satisfied that there wasn't enough corpse left to be identified, and another few minutes for Tsukiumi to finish extinguishing the blaze, leaving behind a damp and steaming pile of ash and partially consumed building.

During that time the rest of the House had managed to gather into the mostly defunct dining room. At some point Uzume had stretched long sheets of her signature cloth across the gaping hole in the wall which had allowed us some semblance of privacy. At the moment the rest of the house seemed too caught up in trying to digest the happenings to spend much time questioning me. Akitsu was seated silently nearby, and at some point Kuu had crawled up into her lap, the green girl burying her face in the snow woman's chest as she latched on for physical comfort. Tsukiumi and Homura were both seated closer to the gap in the wall, the smell of smoke lingering pungently on them and detectable even though they were keeping a bit of distance between themselves and the rest of the group. Matsu knelt on the opposite side of the table, her eyes still fluttering behind closed lids. Musubi was the only member of my flock not sitting, and the shrine girl was humming softly to herself as she began stacking various dishes in preparation for moving them back to the kitchen.

The rest of Izumo House's residents seemed to be dealing with various degrees of success the scene that had just occurred. Kazehana had gathered a bowl of water and some fresh towels and was using the two to clean up some of the blood that stained Miya's body. Uzume had assumed a perch leaning against the wall closest to the exit to the hallway, still wrapped in her white garments and watching me as though I were a bomb that might explode at any moment.

"I would like to begin," Tsukiumi started up, her arms crossed under her chest as she glared over at me, fuming quietly. "Just why is it that you are so close to the landlady?" Homura snorted in response to the question, though his gaze was just as firmly locked at on two of us.

"Forget the why," he countered, his voice holding a note of bewilderment. "The question is how the hell are you doing that?"

"The reason I'm so close is because it's the only way I can get this thing to work," I admitted. It must look bizarre, seeing me seated beside the still barely decent landlady and leaning forward to keep one hand on Avalon where it rested against her chest. She was still clad in her blood stained garments since changing so soon would simply mean that another set of her kimonos would get stained, but with Kazehana's efforts the wound was at least mostly clean.

What must look even more bizarre was the way the wound which had been so deep earlier had noticeably decreased in size. The places which once revealed glimpses of white bone beneath were now noticeably smaller, the edges of the wounds closer together. The deeper sections, across the breasts and the abdomen were puckered further, but noticeably shallower then earlier. New blood would still occasionally trickle out of those areas, but for the most part the wound had stopped bleeding completely, leaving nothing more than clean albeit damaged flesh.

"As for how I'm doing it," I shrugged helplessly. "That's pretty complicated and has a long story behind it."

"Oh I bet it does," Uzume snorted, her eyes narrowed as they tracked the progress of Miya's healing with an unusual intensity for the normally relaxed Sekirei. "Now when are you gonna stop stalling and start telling it?" It seemed like she couldn't take her eyes off the bizarre reversal of the once life threatening injury.

"Hmmm," Miya hummed, also studying her own wound closely. She had sheathed her sword at some point, the concealed blade resting by her side within easy access, but for the most part she seemed fascinated by the process her body was undergoing. "I had known you had unusual skills, Emiya-kun, but I had no idea that they were so diverse."

"Stop that," Kazehana chided her as the landlady started to run one of her fingers up and down the edge of her wound, playing with the very uppermost part like a kid poking at a scraped knee. The landlady seemed almost as bemused by the injury itself as the inexplicable healing. She had mentioned earlier that this was the first time she had ever truly been wounded. I knew she had occasionally scraped or cut herself in minor ways during the course of everyday life, but the scope of this injury put it on an entirely different level, an experience Miya was apparently finding novel.

"Done," a new voice cut in, and I turned to face Matsu just in time to see her resettle her glasses onto her face. The already pallid Sekirei looked even more exhausted than she had when I had given my order to her. "I was able to replace all recordings of the last hour with a copy of last night's instead. They'll notice eventually when in the morning the live feed comes back and they realize the shed is gone, but it should hold for a few hours at least. There had been two alerts sent out by the time I started, but I managed to retract them, and one team had been in route before I redirected them."

"Good," I sighed, feeling a tension in my shoulder relax. Matsu shook herself once, looking like a dog trying to shed water before she resettled her glasses after the sudden movement set them askew on her nose.

"I might have delayed them," she admitted, her tone reluctant. "But there's no way of knowing just how many people were already aware of the alerts by the time I got in to their systems. It will probably take them some time, but they're going to figure out that something has happened eventually."

"I expected something like that," I admitted. "Just so long as they can't recover the actual recording and we have enough time for Miya to recover its fine. Even if they investigate they'll just discover the damage and assume we had a run in with another set of Sekirei rather than what actually happened."

"Oh? And what did just happen, Shirou?" Homura asked, already absentmindedly scratching at his chest. He had only been in my presence for a few minutes and already it appeared I was beginning to affect him. "Who the hell was that? Another Sekirei?"

"No," Matsu cut in, rubbing at her eyes. "With all the research Shirou-tan had me doing I'd recognize the rest of the Sekirei on sight. Whoever that was wasn't on any of the MBI databases."

"I would be surprised if they were," Miya murmured, catching my eye as she did so. Despite the injury she was recovering from she seemed almost amused. "I had my suspicions, but it seems that I might have underestimated just how many had managed to retain their abilities."

"Retain their abilities?" I repeated, feeling confused. "And what do you mean by how many?" I felt a jolt run through me as Miya hinted at her knowing more than she had revealed. Had I misread the situation? Was the enigmatic landlady already informed about the existence of magi and other supernatural elements?"

"How many of the descendents managed to retain their Sekirei abilities," Miya smiled slightly. I blinked, feeling completely nonplussed by the announcement. "I thought it must have been quite confusing to you, Emiya-kun, when you first began to display your abilities. But if there truly are organizations of others like yourselves as you've implied then there must have been a significant population which had managed to survive."

"Sekirei abilities?" I repeated, the words echoed by several others in the room at the same time. Tsukiumi gaped, as she and Musubi both spoke in tandem with me. Kazehana paused in mid wipe, peering at her former superior with a speculative glance, and Homura's own eyes narrowed as he turned to give me a searching look.

"Onii-chan is a Sekirei too?" Kuu asked, peeking out from where she had buried her face in Akitsu's cleavage.

"Ah," Akitsu spoke up, pausing briefly, and then slowly put one fisted hand into the palm of the other as though in understanding while giving a brief nod. "Ashikabi-sama is a Sekirei," she finished.

"What?" I turned to direct my gape at the snow woman. Sure, I could understand why the rest of the group was willing to believe what Miya was telling them, but I had already had this talk with Akitsu, so she should know better.

No, on second thought, I wasn't quite willing to believe that the other Sekirei were so willing to believe the currently regenerating lavenderette. It sounded even more wild than the answer I was about to supply.

"What do you mean 'Sekirei abilities?" I broke in, turning back to Miya as I did so. She gave me a reassuring smile, as though to comfort me as she took my confusion to mean that I was shocked at the revelation that she had a story for my abilities already prepared.

"Originally there were eight such ships as the one MBI found," she explained, drawing the attention of the other Sekirei as she did so. "We were all originally dispatched when it was discovered that Earth would soon be developing the potential for the population to display abilities as Ashikabi. Each ship contained one hundred and seven feathers, what you know as 'Sekirei', and one such as me, the 'Pillars'. However, when we arrived there was an incident when several of the ships were put into distress. A few, including my own were forced to take emergency measures during our landing. Though most landed safely I know that two of my sister ships crashed and only a few of the original Sekirei onboard surviving the incident. My own ship had problems of its own, and though I managed to guide it to a successful landing without damaging it or harming any of the occupants, in the end my ship was completely submerged, and I was forced to place myself and all of the other Sekirei onboard into hibernation, waiting for a day when we might be discovered."

"Wait!" Musubi chimed in, eyes glistening with admiration. "Does that mean landlady-san is a Sekirei too?"

"Well," Miya admitted modestly. "Not quite. I was a bit different from the rest of you feathers."

"So than what were you, landlady?" Tsukiumi chimed in, giving Miya a cautious look.

"Oh! Was Miya-onee-san a queen?" Kuu chimed in, still sitting in Akitsu's lap but leaning towards Miya with a wide eyed gaze of admiration as she raised her hand to ask her question like she was in a class.

"Fuhuhu," Miya chuckled, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as she chuckled. "More like a goddess," she corrected.

"And what, pray tell 'oh goddess'," I cut in, trying to keep the skepticism out of my voice as I did so, "does any of this have to do with me having Sekirei power of some sort?" At any other time I would find the exposition to be enthralling. This was no doubt the source of answers to many of the questions I had accumulated since I had first been drawn into dealings with the species. The fact that it was Miya revealing them only made it more noteworthy. If what she was saying was true, there were revelations here to mysteries I hadn't even known about yet.

However, I did find her casual proclamation of divinity to be a little unrealistic. I had only ever really met demigods before, and even then they were the Heroic Spirit incarnations of the originals which had no doubt been idealized and altered from their transcendence to the Throne of Souls. Despite that, I was doubtful just how much of a goddess the creature whose wounds I was tending really was. From the tone of her boasting it sounded more like the landlady was simply claiming the title without realizing just what the implications really were.

"It happened many years ago, but the ships that did land and the feathers, the Sekirei, within found themselves Ashikabi. Though many of those who became Ashikabi found themselves in command of the power the Sekirei granted them sought to use them as a method to gain more power, there were a few that survived the wars for dominance, and those that did had offspring." Miya took my doubt in stride, apparently having prepared herself to defend her claim against any possible skepticism. "I had always assumed that in the centuries since the others lived the Sekirei bloodline had become so diluted that even those who were part of it would be unable to manifest any such abilities." Miya gave me an almost maternal look as she finished, as though feeling pride over what she saw as proof of my own membership to her species. "It appears that I was wrong."

"So what," Uzume cut in, now studying me carefully but seemingly more relaxed than earlier. "Bro here is actually part Sekirei? And that's why he's able to do the things he does? And that chick that just came out of nowhere is another one?"

"That's amazing, Shirou-san!" Musubi chimed in, turning her sparkling eyes to me. "You must be really powerful to have so many abilities!" She began ticking away at her fingers as she listed off my noteworthy talents. "You can make those swords, and move really fast, and heal people, and make explosions, and shoot laser beams, and cook, and wing Scrapped Numbers, and fight off evil organizations!"

"Interesting," I muttered, studying Miya closely. "Actually Musubi, Miya is completely wrong, so don't worry too much about it."

"Wrong?" Miya repeated, raising an eyebrow knowingly. "If I'm wrong, than please, tell me: how else is it that you can do the things you do? Magic?" She posed the accusation as a question no doubt intending to make the suggestion a ridiculous one.

For a moment I considered simply stepping back, using Miya's conveniently applied excuse as a way to conceal the truth once more. It wouldn't take much. If I had come up with such a ridiculous theory I would have had to justify it ad nauseum, but with Miya being the origin the others would accept it without question.

The problem was, I didn't know if it was right to try and keep the truth of my abilities concealed any more. In the beginning I had tried to pass myself off as just a normal student with a tragic past. Back then I hadn't been certain just how honest the Sekirei truly were when they pledged themselves to me, hadn't known the characteristics of their species. Afterwards, when I had truly understood the nature of the bond they formed, I had continued to conceal everything because I had wanted to protect them; they hadn't known just what it was that waited beyond the boundaries of the city, just what forces were aligned against me. I had meant to bear the burden myself in order to preserve that innocence.

The problem was, they didn't seem to understand my efforts to keep them safe. Tsukiumi had declared that she would willingly confront my enemies, Homura tried to protect me even from myself, Musubi cared only that the ones she loved were with her, hell, Akitsu had killed for me, and Matsu had risked the full force of my anger in order to find the truth she needed in order to support me to the absolute best of her ability.

And despite my best efforts to prevent my own burdens from spreading and tainting those around me, the darkness that lapped at my heels had done just that. If I had told Matsu more of the truth before, then maybe she wouldn't have broached it in a way which had put Yukari and Takami in danger. If I had explained just what I had faced, perhaps Miya wouldn't even now be experiencing firsthand what it felt like to nearly be cut in two.

If I let them continue to believe that my powers were similar to their own, if the enemies that would come for me were things they were familiar with, then the next time might end even worse than this.

So instead of accepting the perfect excuse Miya had just given me, I met her eyes coolly.

"Yes. That was magic." Purple eyes blinked in surprise at my confirmation of the ridiculous possibility she had named solely for the purpose of derision. "And I am one that uses magecraft. I am a magus."

"Oh? So you're a magician now, Mr. Ashikabi?" Kazehana chimed in, sounding amused. I didn't blame her. I suppose when it came to comparing explanations for my ability to spontaneously form swords me having alien blood was probably more believable to her than my own.

"So what, you're a wizard?" Uzume chimed in, giving me an amused look. I got the distinct and surreal feeling that despite how much I had to steel myself to make this revelation there was still a good chance that my moment of honesty was going to be dismissed anyway.

"We prefer the term magus," I told her, causing her to raise an eyebrow at my serious tone.

"That's amazing, Shirou-san!" Musubi didn't once hesitate to accept my word, instead clapping enthusiastically at my newly revealed title.

"Magic," Homura repeated, his tone doubtful but less dismissive then the rest as he contemplated my words. Tsukiumi kept her silence, merely alternating between looking at Miya and I as the water user tried to judge which explanation was the most believable.

"Does that mean onii-chan can pull a bunny out of his hat?" Kuu asked, her voice laced with awe as she immediately latched on to the most important skill any magician worth their salt must be able to perform. Her innocent question drew patient looks from most of the rest of the audience.

"Kuu-chan," Matsu began in a cautious tone. It seemed the tired redhead was with Tsukiumi when it came to deciding the veracity of my claims versus Miya's. "I don't think that's what Shirou-tan was talking about when he claimed he could do magic." Kuu deflated, and turned the wide eyes of betrayed youth at me, clutching one hand under her chin as she did so, tears of disappointment forming and preparing to make their pitiful way down her cheek.

I sighed. I knew it wouldn't help my cause, but when confronted with so much cuteness it was either perform or be sentenced to the special hell that only people who made adorable children cry could be condemned to.

"Trace on," I murmured, holding the hand not supporting Avalon out to the little girl. It definitely caught the rest of the room's attention when my previously empty hand was suddenly holding an exaggerated top hat, the headwear appearing with a glimmer of light as I formed it from my od.

"Holy crap," Uzume swore, her ribbons slacking for a moment as she took in the sight.

"Abracadabra," I muttered, trying to be a little dramatic as I did so. Putting the hat down I hid my hand within it, and traced the second part of the trick. "Tada," I said, and when I withdrew it my hand held a small plushy bunny by its floppy little ears. It wasn't the most well performed rendition of the staple trick to any sleight of hand magician, but theater had never really been my strong point.

"Oh!" Kuu gasped in awe, clapping enthusiastically as she did so, Musubi joining in a second later. When I held the toy out to her, the green girl reached out eagerly, even abandoning Akitsu's comforting lap in her effort to get her hands on the new toy. "For me, onii-chan?"

"Since it's a magic bunny it will only last for a day or so," I warned her. Normally a faked object like this would only last for a few hours, but since Projection was one of my unnaturally talented skills an object like the plush bunny could sometime hand around for days on end if it was treated right.

"Oh!" Musubi had her hand up in the air and was waving it back and forth like a child trying to be called on by a teacher. "Me next! Do you know how to cut someone in half like that guy on T.V did?"

"I know how to do that one too," I muttered, watching as Kuu scampered off to find one of the Meow-Meow couple so she could introduce them to the newly christened Miss Pyon-Pyon.

"Really?" Kazehana broke in, sounding intrigued. "I always wondered how it was they put them back together again afterwards, Mr. Wizard," she smirked at me leaning forward a little to pose a bit. It seemed that the stress of earlier was gradually beginning to disperse as the small trick released some of the tension. "Maybe you could make me your assistant and show me just what other tricks those fingers of yours can do?"

With one hand on her chin and the other trailing up her side from her hip, I didn't think she was referring just to petty magic tricks when she talked about what my fingers could do. The heavy flush on her cheeks that had slowly been returning only served to cement that assumption in my mind. I did my best to ignore the shortening of her breath that had been developing. There were more important things to pay attention to then her already admitted reaction symptoms.

"I don't think you'd want to be my assistant for that trick; I only said I know how to cut them in half," I corrected, my voice blunt as I answered her earlier question. "Putting them back together afterwards would defeat the whole purpose of killing them in the first place."

And just like that, I managed to bring the tension level back up.

"I don't' know whether or not Asama-san is correct in her claim that I have Sekirei lineage," I continued, shifting to make myself comfortable as I began my story. "If she is, then it wouldn't be anything special. Japan has long been famous for cultivating inhuman bloodlines. However, even if I am it has nothing to do with the truth of my ability. My name is Shirou Emiya, and I am a magus."

*Scene Break*

I told them as much as I could as quickly as I could; the story behind my adoption and how I became an apprentice to Kiritsugu Emiya, the basics of magecraft and how it was formed and cultivated within the body, and a brief history of the organizations that had formed up from those who could manipulate prana. It was a very general history as I was trying to cover as much ground as I could as fast as I could, and I figured that if they wanted to know any details they could ask me about them later. The important part at the moment was giving them a chance to know all the background necessary for me to explain my position with the Mage's Association at the moment.

By the time I was finished I could see that some of the other residents were beginning to waver over which explanation they were going to believe. Just saying that I could use magic might be unbelievable when faced with the possibility that I was simply a genetic throwback to the time when their species interbred with humanity in the past, but hearing a thorough explanation about magic circuits, the different aspects of prana, and the method used to manipulate power both within and without the body which could account for the abilities they had seen me display was another thing.

Hell, when it came down to it I had a better explanation for my own abilities then they did for their own. All the Sekirei knew about their own powers were that they were there and that they could use them. Compared with the nearly scientific breakdown I had given to magecraft, their abilities were starting to seem like the implausible ones.

"Fascinating," Matsu finally broke in, her voice intrigued as she leaned forward. Despite the exhausted appearance she was sporting, she looked more awake than she did earlier as she put her enormous intellect to dissecting the information I had provided her with. "And you say that there are other wizards like you, enough so that there are entire organizations of them?"

"I dunno," Uzume chimed in. She was still keeping herself close to the exit of the room but it looked like she was no longer doing so to keep an exit nearby if she needed a quick escape. Now it looked like she was still there only because she was too busy trying to digest the information I had just supplied to think about moving. "It still seems a little farfetched."

"Indeed," Miya chimed in, her voice gentle. "Perhaps your fanciful story might be considered a way that humanity has created to explain those with unusual heritage?" It was the same tone of voice she had used so long ago during our spar when she suggested that I might have chosen my bokken based on their appearance rather than their functionality. Despite her condescending tone, she glanced down at herself almost involuntarily, taking in the sight beneath Avalon's touch.

During the course of my explanation the wound had made a great deal more progress in closing; the parts that had been kept from going to deep due to her ribcage were now completely closed, and the slashes on her breasts and stomach were now much shallower looking, more along the lines of simple cuts rather than the gaping gashes they had been. The sections that had closed completely had been reduced to a simple angry red line on her flesh, and from prior experience with the diminished healing ability of Avalon I could hazard a guess that they would be reduced no further than that. Though it would be concealed by her normal attire, it seemed that not only had Miya taken her first true wound today but she had also received her first scar.

"How long ago was it that the Sekirei ships crashed?" I asked instead. If the seed ships had arrived long enough ago then there may very well be some truth to her conjecture. Miya paused, her eyes losing their focus as she searched her memory.

"I cannot recall," she admitted finally. "It has been many centuries." I shook my head at that.

"Magecraft in one form or another has existed for millennia," I told her bluntly. "It is older than recorded history." Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, was made famous by his epic 'Surpassing All Others', which was recorded over four thousand years ago, and he had been experienced enough with magi to be able to judge my mysteries with only a glance when we had battled. I had no doubt magecraft was different back then, with far more in the way of sorcery existing and the unified language being the spoken tongue, but it was still the forbearer of modern magecraft.

"That is quite a boast to be making," Miya countered, her nose wrinkling. "Do you have any proof?"

"None that I can produce at the moment," I admitted. "But even without that, I can at least show that magecraft is fundamentally different from Sekirei power." I settled back, angling so I could point my free hand at the table. The furniture was still covered with the shattered remains of dinner which I had knocked about when I had been forced to scramble over it to defend the rest of the room. Musubi's efforts at cleaning had gotten most of the dishes up, but there were still a few utensils and scraps adorning the normally clean table. "From what I've seen you Sekirei have three types: the brain types, the power types, and the elemental types. An elemental type can only use one specific element: a fire user can only use fire, a water user can only use water, and so on."

Carefully, I aimed my finger at a mostly clean bowl. The small pieces of vegetables still left in it had sat out for a bit, the coagulating sauce making them look sticky and unappetizing. With a deep breath to focus myself I extended one finger and traced a symbol into the air in an '' shape. Where my finger touched the air shimmered, an outline left behind as I imposed my will upon the world, altering the natural laws.

"Kano," I announced, the name of the rune the only aria I needed to empower it. I was inscribing the rune at a distance and moderating my od carefully so it was greatly reduced, but it was enough: a small fire sputtered into existence, a tiny flame that fed off the still moist bits of food with unnatural tenacity.

"Oh! Homura, look!" Musubi chimed in, clapping enthusiastically. "Shirou-san can make fire too!"

"I don't believe it," Homura muttered, disbelief etched on his face as he once more scratched at his chest furiously. I was beginning to worry that he might accidently pop a button on his dress shirt with the pace he was picking at himself.

"Hah!" Tsukiumi put a hand to cover her mouth, giving her rival an arch look. "It seems that Homura has competition." She seemed to find the idea that I could imitate his abilities to be amusing, so I decided to give her a brief taste of the experience too.

"Laguz," I continued, my fingers etching the next rune into the air, something that looked vaguely like an upside down 'L'. The fire I had just brought into the world snuffed out as a stream of water trickled down into the bowl, filling it about halfway before running out. Tsukiumi might be able to call entire rivers with a flick of her hand, but my own talent was a great deal more limited. It was enough for Tsukiumi to freeze, staring at the half filled bowl with betrayed eyes.

"Oh ho!" Kazehana chimed in, leaning forward and poking the bowl with an amused expression on her face. "Me next! Can you do wind too, Mr. Wizard?"

"Kuu too!" Kusano proclaimed, waving her hand eagerly in the air as she volunteered herself, the fabricated bunny flopping wildly in her grip as she did so. Sheepishly, I rubbed the back of my head.

"Um, sorry," I apologized. "I don't think I could do either of yours right now. Maybe in a day or two?" Fire and water were both simple enough, needing nothing more than a single letter each, but producing a wind or growing a plant might take a bit more effort. I hadn't really done much exploration into those two fields; I usually stuck with explosions for the most part, as well as other things that could be used in combat.

"Ha!" Kazehana assumed a pose, thrusting out her chest as she gave a condescending leer at the scratching Homura and the frozen Tsukiumi. "Looks like Kuu-chan and me are special!" Kuu 'fugh'ed again, and assumed a similar position next to the wind user, though the affect was greatly reduced in comparison.

"That aside," I continued, ignoring the comments from the peanut gallery. "So far you've already seen me create two different elements, make objects out of thin air, cause explosions, and even heal. Isn't that just a little too diverse for me to be considered a Sekirei?"

"Hmph," Miya grunted briefly, her eyes lingering on the floor in front of her. "Perhaps," she finally admitted, sounding as though she wasn't happy to be making the concession but having trouble mounting a suitable counter argument.

"There will be time for experiments later," Matsu cut in, her voice serious as she adjusted her glasses. For once the word 'experiment' didn't seem to hold lustful connotations as the hacker's scientific curiosity seemed to reach a point where her dealing with the unknown overcame her innate perversion. "For now there are more important things to worry about."

"Our Ashikabi just proved that he can use super powers and claims he is some kind of sorcerer and you think there are more important things to worry about?" Homura asked, his voice slightly strangled as he kept staring at the cup. He might have meant for it be sarcastic, but Matsu simply nodded her agreement, turning her gaze to me with an unusually intense focus.

"Yes," the redhead agreed. "Like the fact that there are other 'wizards' out there and that they're trying to kill Shirou-tan."

"Hmph," Tsukiumi snorted loudly at Matsu's reminder. "Let them come," she declared, swiping one arm in front of her as though it were a weapon to cut down the redhead's words. "When they do then I will show them the errors of their ways! I will allow no harm to befall my husband!"

"Yeah!" Musubi chimed in, throwing one hand into the air exuberantly. "They may be strong opponents, but that just means when we beat them we'll all be that much stronger too!"

"Uhhh!" Kuu added from where she had set up fort with her small collection of plushies. Carefully, the small girl raised the arms of Mr. and Mrs. Meow-meow with her hands, and then carefully nudged Miss Pyon-Pyon with one of her toes so the floppy bunnies own limb was in a similar position.

"Heh," Homura chimed in, a small lopsided smile on his face as he did so. "I guess your Sekirei have spoken, Shirou." His smile seemed almost proud as he watched the rest of his flock mates get ready to leap to my aid.

Even as some in the room began to express their confidence, the rest seemed far more reserved. Still leaning against the wall, Uzume was studying me. It was different from the wary gaze she had been giving me the last few days. Those had been when she had been trying to judge her chances against me and my gathered Sekirei if I turned hostile against her. Now, she was looking at me with eyes that were instead trying to measure my own chances against an enemy she had only just been exposed to. From the thin line her lips were making as she pressed them so tightly together that they turned white, she was using a different criteria for this evaluation than the last one.

It didn't surprise me. Uzume was one who was already aware of the different set of rules that existed out there. Akitsu, in her place at my side, said nothing, the chiming of chains the only proof that she had reacted at all as she shifted in acknowledgment of Matsu's proclamation. I didn't have to worry about her; the snow woman was also already aware of the truth. The only other three who knew of those rules were unsurprisingly Matsu, Kazehana, and Miya. All three of them had once been members of the first generation of the Disciplinary Squad. All three of them had stridden through the bloody fields.

The new rules were: the winner lives, the loser dies. Nothing else matters.

And it fell to me to make sure that the rest of my Sekirei understood this too.

"If most of you in your present condition were to fight a magus," I began, my voice sharp as I spoke, "then most of you would die." I continued, not giving the now silent room a chance to speak themselves as I drove the point home. "This isn't like the Sekirei Plan. There are no rules here. There is no introducing yourself and listing a number before waiting for your opponent to do the same. There is no guarding the fallen until help arrives. There is no mercy, no remorse, and no hesitation. If a killing blow is launched it will be without warning and at your most vulnerable moment, from behind. If you are defeated, the best you can hope for is death, and your corpse will most likely be violated and experimented on."

My harsh words seemed enough to make Musubi and Kuu flinch, the younger Sekirei pulling her collection of toys in so she could seek comfort in their presence while the shrine girl Sekirei flinched, her eyes drifting downwards as she did so, her body shrinking in on itself. Homura stilled, his face growing somber at my declaration. Only Tsukiumi seemed to take offense at my words. It didn't surprise me. For me they had simply been a declaration of truth, the simple facts of the world. For the water user who prided herself on being an honorable and powerful warrior they must have seemed like an insult.

"Now see here, Shirou," she began, launching to her feet so that she could fold her arms and glare down imperiously at me, not caring in the least that her elevated position happened to give me a perfect view of her panties. "I am the strongest Sekirei and I…"

"Am not ready," I cut her off firmly. "Tsukiumi, you are strong, make no mistake. I've seen magi use water as their primary element before, and even the best don't hold a candle to the way you do. If it were just a matter of a straight up fight, I think you'd be able to win nine times out of ten. All of you," I looked to the rest of the room, taking in the silently watching aliens. "Even Kuu, are strong enough. What's not ready is your mindset."

"Our mindset?" Homura echoed, watching me carefully. For a moment he narrowed his eyes, and then he closed them, letting loose a deep breath in a sigh. "Shirou, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I think so," I admitted, not quite sure just what it was the former host was thinking, but having a good idea. Out of all of my flock besides Akitsu, Homura was probably the closest to being ready for just what fighting in the world of magi is like. "The first rule of magecraft that my father taught me was that to be a magus is to walk with death. Our enemies might kill us, our experiments might kill us, even our magecraft is dangerous; one wrong move, one stumble, and our own power can tear us apart from the inside."

The numb points on my body were a bitter reminder of that lesson. Even though the rest of my wounds have closed the numb spots where I had over reinforced myself were still lingering, strange blank spots in my body that were proving resistant to Avalon's healing power. Magecraft beyond a person's ability was magecraft that could kill. I could only hope at this point that the regenerating ability of the sheath would simply take a bit longer to kick in for those areas.

"For the Sekirei Plan," I concluded, "it is enough to fight until someone loses. The world of magi is different; in it you have to be ready to fight to the death."

"And you don't think that I can, is that it, husband?" Tsukiumi grumbled. From her tone she was trying to be angry, but she was unable to meet my gaze as she did so, her face troubled as she brought a thumb to her teeth.

"I don't want you to have to," I corrected. The exhaustion that had been lingering in me the last few days, ever since the revelation of the Holy Grail War, was getting harder to ignore. "The problems of magi should stay the problems of magi. You Sekirei have enough to worry about with MBI's exploitation and the Sekirei Plan and all the other burdens you are all being forced to bear. Dealing with the depravity of other ruthless organizations should be the last thing any of you have to worry about."

"So to spare your flock you would take these concerns upon yourself, Emiya-kun?" Miya asked, her voice soft in the uncertain silence that my declaration had brought to the rest of the room. A touch at my hand caused me to glance down to where I was clutching Avalon and I realized that my grip had turned white from the force with which I was clutching it. With a conscious thought I forced my hand to relax before I realized that it seemed Avalon had finished its task. The wound marring Miya's torso was closed, nothing more than an angry red line sketched across her chest and abdomen.

It seems that today was a day of first for Miya after all. Her first loss, her first wound, and now her first scar. Gently, Miya pushed the sheathe away, her eyes tracing my gaze to see what it was my attention was focused on. With an awkward smile the landlady turned her gaze away, refusing to meet my eyes as she hurriedly pulled her kimono closed, restoring her modesty and covering the scar from view.

"I'm used to dealing with them," I answered her question, my voice bitter. Her usual choice of kimonos would no doubt cover the sign of her injury, but I would always know it was there, yet another sign of me not being fast enough, not being strong enough, to protect someone in danger.

At least she had survived, and I had been able to help her recover. It might not be perfect, but I was grateful for that much at least.

"You know, I think that there's something very important that no one has ever thought to ask about," Uzume spoke up, still leaning carefully at the edge of the room. "You keep talking about how you got into trouble in London, or how you have a price on your head for some reason or other. The thing is, just what was it you did, bro?" A bolt of fabric drifted low, the edge of it almost casually aimed in my direction. "For all we know, maybe the reason you're being hunted is because you committed some kind of crime. Maybe they have a good reason to go after you, and you just don't want us to find out."

"Mmmm," Kazehana moaned, shifting so her thighs pressed against each other as her eyes drifted half closed. "Good point. Maybe Mr. Ashikabi's been a bad, bad boy." From the tone I thought that maybe Kazehana wouldn't mind me being some kind of rogue.

"That's impossible," Musubi chimed in, her face turning stern. "Shirou is too kind to have done something bad!"

"Whatever the reason that Shirou-tan is being hunted, maybe it's best if we don't know," Matsu broke in, sounding unusually solemn as she did so. "Normally I would be the first to want to know, but considering how the last time I asked something turned out," she trailed off a bit sheepishly for a moment before continuing. "But more than that, as a fugitive myself I guess I can kind of sympathize with Shirou-tan's circumstances." It was a far cry from just a few days ago when she had deliberately manipulated me into revealing something I wished concealed. I wasn't certain if that was a sign that Matsu had taken the lesson to heart, or was in some way trying to make up for her earlier actions.

"That you can empathize with your Ashikabi is well and good," Miya cut in with a soft voice, "but there are others here as well that are affected by Emiya-kun's circumstances." As she spoke she glanced up at me from a lowered head. Her eyes beneath her bangs were fully opened, none of her usual coquettishness present. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to explain your situation more clearly?"

The meaning enough was clear. My presence had most likely officially become dangerous enough that Miya could no longer look the other way when it came to my baggage. That was fine. It had been my intention to explain properly anyway, before I left.

"I received a Sealing Designation," I answered before continuing, already knowing that they would have no idea just what I was talking about without an explanation. "The Mage's Association is primarily an academically driven organization. Most magi join it because the Association is the best source for supplies and information on the newest research. In the end, the most important goal of the Association is the further of the study of Thaumaturgy. Sealing Designations are given either to those who have been discovered to have been involved in forbidden research or those who have achieved some feat of magecraft that is so advanced or so radical that it is potentially incapable of being duplicated by anyone, anywhere."

"And they caught you involved in something forbidden then?" Uzume asked, the aimed bolt rustling softly as she pried. I wasn't sure if she was preparing the attack in order to try and surprise me long enough to take me down, or just to distract me if she needed to escape.

"Of course not! Shirou-san must have done something really amazing in order to be called a 'ceiling'!" Musubi chimed in, pointing at the roof above our head as she casually misinterpreted just what kind of 'Sealing' I was talking about.

"Actually, it's a little of both," I admitted, rubbing at my eyes as I did so. "I managed to achieve an ability which has only ever been recorded six times in humans in all of recorded magecraft. Usually research is forbidden either because it might threaten the secrecy of Thaumaturgy or because it's inherently dangerous to research. My skill is the later; most people who try to duplicate it either kill themselves or go insane after decades of failed attempts. I developed it by accident, almost spontaneously, and over the course of only about two weeks."

"Hmph," Tsukiumi grunted, sounding inordinately proud of my accomplishment. "As to be expected of my husband! No doubt the other contemptible monkeys were inspired by jealousy to attempt to take your life."

"Actually, the reason that I was designated a low priority target was that my research wasn't a threat to the secrecy," I corrected. "As long as I do my best to stay out of sight, capturing me is preferable to killing me."

"Capture?" Matsu repeated, adjusting her glasses. "For trial? Could there be a chance that you might be acquitted due to your unusual circumstances?" The idea that my problems with the mysterious organization hunting me might be cleared up seemed to perk up the redhead. Sadly, she was mistaken.

"Not for trial," I corrected, my voice almost disinterested, as though I was talking about the weather. "For experimentation."

"What?" Miya asked, her voice so innocently curious that I was instantly aware that she had not liked my last statement at all.

"I've been designated as an unusual specimen of which further study might advance the cause of magecraft," I explained my voice dispassionate. "If they were to further examine me they might be able to isolate the variables which allowed me to accomplish something so unusual."

"Experiments?" Musubi repeated, her voice unusually earnest. I winced, realizing that I should have probably been a bit more evasive about precisely what awaited me if the Mage's Association were to get their hands on me while I still lived. I glanced out of the corner of my eye towards the shrine girl. She was sitting unusually still, her posture as erect as Akitsu's usual waiting position. It was only the faint movements of her chest as her breathing rate increased that alerted me to the fact that she wasn't as calm as she appeared.

"What kind of experiments do you mean, Emiya-kun?" Miya prompted, her head cocked to the side as she probed.

I had a few ideas of places they might begin their probing. They would probably begin with my circuits to see if they had any defining qualities to them, most likely after removing them forcibly after ensuring that I would survive the otherwise lethal procedure. They would also most likely wish to check my organs, each of them individually. There was always the chance that it might be something in my flesh too, and thus that would be harvested as well. There were procedures that a skilled magus could do that would be fatal for any more mundane medical practitioner to attempt but could be survived with the proper use of the right magecraft.

I would be kept alive through it though, just in case. If I hadn't already known that a skilled magus could keep a person alive even if they were nothing more than a severed head with no body left attached to the neck, then the fact that I would live through the procedures would probably have been comforting rather than chilling.

But there was no reason to say this kind of thing, not in front of Musubi, not when the poor girl was already no doubt reliving her own similar experience even as the rest of the room focused on me. So instead I stayed silent, jerkily reaching for a cold cup of tea which had survived the nights mess to take a sip.

"Your silence is perhaps more telling than words could be," Miya noted. Despite her bloodstained and ragged clothes, she was once again comporting herself with her usual impeccable self control. "So it was your intention to fight them alone, as you already have before by your own admittance?"

"You mean there have been others?" Homura snapped, interrupting Miya as his head whipped to face me, an accusing glare on his face already. "You mean you've already gone out to fight these so called wizards on your own? And you didn't bring any support?" I nodded, and his lips parted in a full blown snarl as he growled at me audibly. "What the hell were you thinking, Shirou? What if you had been out numbered, or if you lost? What would have happened then? Were you ever even going to tell any of us?"

"No," I admitted bluntly. My words froze the fire wielder mid rant, his face going bone white at my answer. "If I had lost, then I would have been taken alive. At least that meant that the rest of you would have still been safe. Here at Izumo House you would have had Miya's protection, even from MBI and the rest of the Sekirei Plan. If you had known that you might have interfered, or tried to rescue me. If that had happened then the rest of you would have been captured as well. The Mage's Association would have been just as eager to study the Sekirei, an alien race which has actually managed to coexist and interbreed with humans in the past and in the present. Your species as a whole would be just as valuable a prize to them."

"Shirou," Tsukiumi gasped, slumping as she took her turn to stare at me. "You would truly have done such a thing? Disappeared without a trace and left us with no way to come to your aid?"

"Yes," I admitted, my voice firm, my resolve steady. "I told you before; if necessary, I will walk the Path of the Shura. I would weigh the lives of all and chose the course with the least deaths. I didn't mean that just for everyone else: I am also included in the paths. If my death would be enough to keep the rest of you safe, then I would gladly give my life. And if I have to sacrifice something beside my life, I would do that as well." My posture straightened, my back ramrod straight and my head held high. "I just want to save the most lives I can," I finished. "Even if I can't save everyone, I will do everything I can to save as many as I can."

There was a time when the first life I would have been willing to give would have been my own. That had been three years ago, and even I was willing to admit that I had changed a great deal since then. My magecraft had improved, as had my swordsmanship. I had grown more experienced, more inured to the brutal unfairness of the world, more experienced with the politicking and mudslinging that accompanied so much of life. I had learned that sometimes there were people that couldn't be saved, no matter how hard I fought to do so. I had learned that sometimes there were people who didn't want to be saved, and who would only curse me for doing so.

But that didn't change the fact that if it was necessary my own life was a tool I might be required to throw away in order to save another. I might not be as quick to consider it, and there might be some that I wouldn't be willing to spend myself on, but that wasn't the case here.

These were my Sekirei, my flock. They had bonded themselves to me, given me their hearts in ways that I didn't understand and had trouble believing sometimes. They had dedicated themselves to me, and in return, I owed it to them to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe.

And if that meant that I had to be subjected to the tender mercies of the Clock Tower in order to protect them, than that was just what I was willing to do.

"Holy shit, you really mean it," Uzume whispered into the silence that greeted my words. Like a puppet being set to rest the previously wary Sekirei sankd down, her limbs loose and graceless as she slid down the wall she was leaning on, her mobile tapestries collapsing down as well. "So long as you could know that your Sekirei are safe, you would even be willing to be apart from them." The normally cheery Sekirei's voice was touched with shock, and her eyes were locked on me like she had never seen me before, like I was something new, something unexpected.

"That's not right, Shirou-sama," Matsu was the first to speak up, reaching up almost violently to tear the glasses of her own face as she dropped all childish inflections. "It's not right for the Ashikabi to put himself at risk for his Sekirei like that. Don't you understand yet, that we would do anything for you? If there was so much danger for you here, you need only have told us! We would be glad to leave for you, Shirou-sama! If running away would keep you safe, you need only ask it of us!"

"But I can't leave, not yet," I shot back, shaking my head instantly. "There's too much at risk here with the Sekirei Plan for me to go."

"Screw the Sekirei Plan!" Matsu shot back, slapping her hands down on the table as she did so. "If participating puts you at risk from your other enemies, Ashikabi-sama, then it would be best to leave this wretched thing behind! You shouldn't have any obligation to risk yourself, not for this silly game!"

"It's too dangerous to leave it behind!" I countered, my voice slipping briefly into a sharper tone. "There are too many other people here in danger; danger from Sekirei, from Ashikabi, from whatever MBI is planning. People are dying, and that's while the Plan is still in its infancy, when everyone is still mostly following the rules. What if things change, become more anarchic as people stop obeying the rules, or if whatever it is MBI is planning proves to be disastrous?" I scrubbed my hand back through my hair, roughly tousling it in frustration. "I can't leave, not until I know it's safe here. If things do turn for the worst I need to be here to stop it."

"You're serious, aren't you, Shirou-sama?" Matsu whispered, taking in my declaration with narrowed eyes. "You're really serious that you'd risk your life by staying here where your enemies could find you just to make sure that everyone else in the city is safe from the Sekirei Plan?"

"Perhaps such a statement might be seen as a bit presumptuous, Emiya-kun," Miya noted, smoothing an edge of her ragged kimono where it settled loosely over one of her otherwise bare knees. "Is it really acceptable to assume that it is your sole responsibility to safeguard a city as large as Shin Tokyo?"

"If not me then who else?" I countered, sighing as I did so. "One of the other great Ashikabi, who are more concerned with how many Sekirei they can forcibly wing? The police, or the government, the ones who have been bought off completely? Or perhaps MBI, the ones responsible for the whole mess? Or maybe you'd like to take up the challenge, Asama-san?"

I didn't mean the words as an accusation. Whatever the reasons Miya had for staying uninvolved in the Sekirei Plan I had no doubt they were good ones. She was a power all of her own after all, a force capable of keeping even the full power of MBI in check. There was no telling how the other powers would respond if she began moving openly. Despite that the landlady glanced away at my words, a troubled expression on her face as she did so. It only lasted for a moment as she shifted slightly before she forced herself to face me again.

"It seems that as always you have been thoroughly considering matters, Emiya-kun," she began, a touch of bitterness in her voice as she did so. "Nonetheless, it seems I have finally found a reason to scold you properly."

My eyes sank closed for a moment, and I nodded briefly. "I understand. I'll leave immediately. If it's alright, may my Sekirei continue to remain here for the time being?"

Miya blinked at my surrender, honest surprise forming on her face. It seemed that she had expected more of an argument before I accepted her decision to kick me out of Izumo House. The rest of the room at large didn't seem nearly as composed at my eviction.

"What!" Tsukiumi shrieked, stiffening as her head started whipping back and forth between Miya and I. Her exclamation was echoed by Musubi and Homura, both equally surprised by the sudden turn of events. "What do you mean, 'leave'?" Tsukiumi continued, launching to her feet to point an accusing finger at the landlady as the water user glared down at the still kneeling lavenderette.

"A while back Miya warned me that if any of my problems were to cause damage to Izumo House she would kick me out," I explained to Tsukiumi for the still stunned landlady. "Considering just how much damage one of my problems just caused, I think this more than qualifies."

With a grunt, I levered myself to my feet. My body had more or less returned to a more healthy state, though the patch of numbness in my thigh, and for some reason my ear, still remained. Given that the others damaged sections had managed to right themselves eventually, I wasn't worried about their eventual recovery. Turning back to Miya I continued.

"I have a few supplies in various places throughout the city, so I don't need to pack anything up," I assured her. "I can leave immediately. But for now, it would be safer if the rest remained here. That would be fine, right?"

"Ah," Miya began, seemingly completely off balance by my easy capitulation. "Emiya-kun, that's not what I was referring too."

"That's fine," I assured her, glad that she was at least still willing to shelter the others. I hadn't been sure if her original threat had been intended for all of my dependents as well, but it looks like she had meant that she had only been referring to me when she had given me the eviction threat. "I'll be off then."

I turned, preparing to depart, but made it no further than my first step before I stumbled, nearly losing my balance as my leg suddenly refused to move. Glancing down to see if maybe the numb patch was still acting up, I was surprised to see that the source of my arrested movement was actually Akitsu. My first step had taken me directly beside the still seated snow woman, and in a move so fast I hadn't noticed it she had taken advantage of me drawing abreast her to wrap her arms around the leg nearest her. Still kneeling, she had rotated the upper half of her body so that she could pull herself until my leg was nearly sunk into the depth of her mostly exposed cleavage.

"Akitsu?" I began, only having a moment to identify the sudden attachment to my limb, before I was interrupted.

"Good job! Quick! Get him!" Matsu shouted, before imitating my actions of earlier and scrabbling over the table, unmindful of the scraps of food that clung to her otherwise pristine white dress. Without a seconds pause the hacker launched herself at me, securing her arms around my waist in a brutal tackle, the full force of her weight nearly knocking the air out of me. It reminded me of one of Yukari's signature greetings, though unlike the cases with my sister the inability to move my leg left me unable to recover my balance and I went down with an 'oof' in a flurry of clumsy limbs.

"Matsu!" I yelped, gasping for breath and trying to understand the reason behind the sudden assault when a new body was added to the mix. A quick glance to my left revealed yet another body attached to my arm. "Musubi?"

"I got him, Matsu-san!" the shrine girl chirped, putting her full weight on my limb. A second weight was added to my right arm, but I was distracted when moments later my free leg was just as quickly secured. Though the weight was much lighter it was accompanied by a sharp grinding pain.

"Kuu-chan!" I yelped, gritting my teeth. "No biting!" The only response to my desperate plea was a muffled growl as the rabid sprite chomped down on me. "What on earth is going on here? Listen, I know this is sudden, but…"

That was as far as I got before Matsu, originally secured to my waist, crawled her way up the length of my body until she was sprawled over me, one hand on my chest as she glared down at me. With her still free hand, she silenced me with a slap to my face so hard I was left stunned.

"No!" Matsu declared, her voice high with anger. "You listen, Shirou-sama! You've spoken enough for the night!" The childish hacker had never been the kind to indulge in violence. By her nature she was more suited for a supportive role. That was why I was honestly surprised when the normally peaceful Sekirei on top of me fisted her other hand into the front of my shirt and jerked me up as far as I could be pulled as she glared down at me.

It seems that just like Musubi, an enraged Matsu was something I just wasn't prepared for.

"At first I thought that you were saying all these things just because you still didn't understand us Sekirei," Matsu snapped at me. "I thought that it might just be because you were still thinking of us as human. But then I realized I was wrong. You've always tried so hard to understand us, to be kind to us. It wasn't that you still didn't understand; it's just that you were being stupid!"

"W-hat…?" I began, trying to adjust to the sudden and unexpected change in the conversation, but was silenced when Matsu used the same hand she had originally slapped me with to back hand me across the other cheek. It stung, but despite even the diminished greater strength of her species that was all the damage it did to me.

"You must be stupid," Matsu continued, shaking me with the hand still fisted in my shirt. "That's the only reason you can't understand how painful what you are saying to us truly is!" She leaned down, 'thunking her forehead against mine so hard it was nearly painful so she could glare at me up close. "To leave us behind, with no word of your safety and no means to come for you? That your life is so cheap that you would spend it without a second thought? That you would rather stay here and in danger than go somewhere else and be safe?"

My sight was blocked completely except for the face of the ranting Sekirei as she shouted at me. The whole situation was so unexpected that I had no way of bracing myself for it. I could do nothing more than gape as Matsu continued.

"This entire time, you've been using nothing but 'I'," she continued. "'I am used to it.' 'I am willing to die for it.' 'I am willing to take the risks.'" Each addition to her list was accented by a firm shake of my torso. "Not 'I'! 'We'! Whatever it was like before, you are not alone! You have us, your Sekirei! Whatever it is you're planning, whatever it is you're fighting for, you're not doing it by yourself anymore! And since you don't realize that yet, you must be the stupidest man to ever walk the Earth!"

"Matsu…" I whispered, no other words coming to mind as I stared up at the infuriated Sekirei above me. Her eyes were bloodshot, shiny with unshed tears and surrounded by dark bags formed from lack of sleep. One of her usual braids had come loose and was unwinding even as she continued to yell at me. Splattered across her dress and exposed skin were bits of food and ash, and a few spots of blood courtesy of getting too close to Miya earlier.

And staring up at her, her face alive with the passion of her anger as she tore into me, I realized just as I had twice before just how truly beautiful my Sekirei actually was.

Even as the epiphany ran through me, my mouth forming the last syllable of her name, Matsu reared back and slapped me again.

"You keep taking everything on yourself!" her voice cracked finally, growing hoarser as she continued. "You keep talking about how your problems are not our problems, about how you don't want to bring us into it, but at the same time you accept all of ours as though it's your duty! You never once hesitated to accept out problems! Rescuing Tsukiumi, saving Homura and Kuu-chan and Musubi, fixing Akitsu, even helping me when you didn't have to. Even though it meant putting yourself in danger, you still committed yourself to the Sekirei Plan more than any other Ashikabi. Again and again, you did everything you could to help us, but even while you did that you never gave us the chance to help you in return!"

"B-but…" I tried to get a word in, despite the fact that I had no idea what I could say when confronted with these accusations. Matsu was crying now. Sometimes romantics like to dream up the idea that crying is a noble thing, and paint pictures of delicate tears pouring down stoic faces as the sufferer vented their sorrow in dramatic ways. That wasn't what was going on here; Matsu's eyes were red, and she sniffed violently in order to keep her nasal cavity from leaking in the same way as her eyes, her cheeks blotchy with color as she flushed under the weight of the emotions she was trying to express.

It was almost a relief when she slapped me again to shut me up. I was still too confused to think up a logical response to the sight before me.

"If dealing with your other magi or wizards or whatever shouldn't be our problem than dealing with other Sekirei shouldn't be yours! Damnit Shirou-sama, can't you understand that we love you, that we want to help you, to support you? Why can't you let us? Why won't you let us do the same for you?" Matsu glared down at me, my shirt still fisted as she shook with frustration. For a long second I could only gawk up at her, my thoughts still too scattered to think up a reply. Her glare narrowed and she shook me again, as hard as her thin frame could manage. "Well? Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Because I'm worried you're going to slap me again?" I replied, saying the first thing to come to mind. Matsu blinked, obviously not having expected the answer, before suddenly looking at her free hand, still poised in the air to deliver the next blow and blushing even through her already blotchy cheeks. With an uncomfortable throat clearing she quickly tucked the hand behind her back as though to conceal the evidence. As though the action was enough to make her aware of the situation, Matsu seemed to realize just what her position really was at the moment: crouched on top of my pinned body in full view of the rest of Izumo House while she poured her heart out to me. With another strangled noise the hacker promptly ducked her head, using my chest as a means to cover her face as she sniffed again.

If my limbs weren't so securely held at the moment I probably would have wrapped my arms around her to try and comfort her. As it was, the only thing I could do was crane my head and neck so that I could keep her in view. Even though I had been mad at her for the last few days, I still couldn't repress the biological male urge to comfort a crying female.

"Matsu," I began, hesitating. I wanted to find some way to explain, to make her understand that I knew what I was doing, that it was alright, and that she was mistaken in some way, but I couldn't find the words. Maybe because I wasn't sure that she really was wrong at all. Had I really been so selfish? Had I missed what seemed so obvious in retrospect now that it had been pointed out to me? It had all seemed so clear earlier; I had to protect, not just Shin Tokyo, but my Sekirei and my family as well. In order to do so I had to shoulder these responsibilities myself, I had to keep them safely unaware and out of the line of fire.

Had my actions really been such a disservice to my flock?

"Matsu is right, you know," a voice from the corner drew my gaze away from the sniffling Matsu. Homura was still sitting, leaning back against one of the still standing walls, his legs sprawling in front of him. Despite the casual looking way he was sitting, his body was as tight as a bow string. He only met my eyes for a brief moment before he looked away jerkily and continued. "It isn't a kindness to try and keep your Sekirei," he hesistated for a moment, his lip disappearing between his teeth for a second before he corrected himself, "to keep _us_ in the dark. You might want to protect us, but we also want to protect you, Shirou."

"Stupid onii-chan," Kuu added, the words muffled due to the chunk of flesh on my leg she was still gnawing on.

"Indeed," Tsukiumi added, standing near her rival with her arms folded, a pointed glare directed at me. "It is the wives duty to support their husband. You should just sit yourself down at the table and read the newspaper while leaving the rest to us." It was a measure of her sincerity, I think, that for once she didn't insist on referring to the rest of the females in my flock as 'concubines' and instead included them as 'wives'.

"Ah," Akitsu began. "I will allow no harm to Ashikabi-sama," she finally settled on. I couldn't make out her features, the view of her body blocked by Matsu from where the hacker was perched on me, but I could feel her shifting, the metal of her chain pressing against my leg through my pants. "Forever and ever."

"Musubi might not be strong enough yet," the shrine girl on my left arm added, and she beamed up at me, her face a mask of confidence and resolve. "But I'll try hard, and someday, I'll be ready to fight beside Shirou-san!"

For a moment I thought that would be all she would say, and then just like once before, when she was first confronted with a fully winged Akitsu, my metaphorical nostril was filled with the searing heat of an unfamiliar power. If I hadn't been looking right at her, I wouldn't have noticed the change that settled on the ursine Sekirei. It was subtle, all of her physical features remaining the exact same. Instead, it was her bearing, her expression which altered just enough to unnerve me. The same resolution was there, but the confidence became easier, the expression a touch sterner, her posture straighter even as she reclined on my arms in order to keep them firmly set.

"And even if Ashikabi-sama were to be captured, in order to ensure that Musubi gets her virtuous wedding, I, number zero eight, Yume, will be there to ensure his safety," the altered Musubi added in a voice so soft only I could hear it. My blood turned to ice in my veins at the declaration, more specifically, at the name 'Musubi' attributed to herself.

"Yume," shock kept me from actually voicing the word, but I mouthed it as I stared at the sudden stranger which was apparently inhabiting the body of one of my Sekirei.

And just as suddenly as it came, the scent was gone, and I was staring into the normal expression of Musubi as she blinked, apparently confused by something. What the hell….?

It was only then, with the realization that something very unnerving had just happened mere inches away from me to a person that was dear to me, that I realized that there was something else that was very wrong with this picture. Homura and Tsukiumi were still in the corner, Kuu and Akitsu on my legs, Matsu on my waist, and Musubi was on my arm. Despite the fact that all my flock was accounted for, my other arm was also being secured to the floor…

When my head whipped to my right to see just who was holding down my final limb, it was to discover Kazehana's face mere inches away from mine.

I did my best to suppress a manly 'eep', but couldn't stop myself from swallowing nervously.

The wind user was panting, her face flushed and her eyes lidded as she stared down at me, her tongue coming out to trace her lips as she did so. Unlike the others holding me down by simply latching on with their arms and using their body weight to keep me secure, Kazehana had mounted my arm completely, straddling me and pressing down hard, putting my arm in an area which made me very uncomfortable to identify. Moreover, even as I realized her position I also was faced with the conclusion that the unwinged Sekirei was actually fretting against me, and judging from the feeling of moisture that I steadfastly refused to identify, she was once more displaying the arousal typical of her species right before they did something which would complicate my life even more.

Now that she had my attention, Kazehana reached out, trapping my face with both of her hands, arching her back as she did so like a cat about to pounce. The position was even more casually erotic than her usual poses that she used to tease me, and I again had to suppress a swallow of nervousness.

"I won't ask you if you want me," the wind user declared, her voice throaty as she did so. "Instead, I'm going to tell you: I want you." A shudder made its way through her body, her eyes closing briefly as it passed. "I saw your manliness," she moaned. "Even if you are a bit stupid, it's okay. You fight for what you believe in. You worry for us, seek to protect us, would even sacrifice yourself for us."

Kazehana arched backwards, running one hand through her hair and the other down her hip, her chest lifted and presented as she kneeled, still trapping my arm beneath her. Looking down at me, still panting, she concluded, "We Sekirei need humans like that."

"Kazehana," I gulped, feeling very uncomfortable with the way the normally playful Sekirei was acting. Another shudder ran down her body, and I realized that I should probably have kept my mouth shut.

"Yes," she moaned again. "Say my name." Without waiting another second she fell forward, trapping my head once more with her hands, and placed her lips on mine.

I only peripherally noted the soft green that lit the room as the wings emerged from her back. The ephemeral appendages were delicate looking, nearly transparent and seemed even more fragile than the other wings I had seen. If anything, they reminded me of butterfly wings shaped into the appearance of bird wings.

But I only noticed this off hand, as most of my attention was quite consumed by the way Kazehana's mouth was moving against mine. There was nothing chaste or innocent about the way her lips caressed me, or the way her tongue invaded my mouth and teased my own. The moan she emitted vibrated against me, going straight to my brain and rendering it incapable of anything besides supplying more blood to my cheeks, and to other areas. The kiss lasted long after the wings denoting her new status had disappeared before she finally broke free, still panting, her eyes closed.

And then, rather than backing off, she simply leaned back in to steal a second one. This one lasted even longer, and I had the distinct impression that there would have been a third one that would have followed if the sudden cracking noise that emerged hadn't brought me back to my senses.

"Enough is enough!" Tsukiumi screeched, her hand outstretched as she once more attempted to douse me, only to have Akitsu intercept the attack. "How much longer are you going to kiss?"

"Even Musubi is starting to get uncomfortable," the shrine girl added, sounding a bit surprised, as though the revelation came as a shock to her as well.

"Mmm," Kazehana moaned one last time before finally pulling away, assuming a position on all fours above me as she licked her lips, eyes still closed. "I might have gotten a bit carried away there," she admitted, not sounding at all repentant. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked down on me with an adoring gaze. "Thank you," she murmured. "Because of you, my love for him could finally be melted. Number zero three, Kazehana of the wind, accepts your alliance," she shuddered again, and I tried not to think about the feeling of her thighs wrapped around my arm. "An alliance which will last forever and ever, Shirou-kun."

"Uh," I got out, not quite sure how to respond to this situation but finding myself unsure if I wanted it to hurry up and end or maybe to keep going. "You're welcome?" I finally tried.

"Oh," Kazehana squealed, clasping her hands together in delight as she bounced like a child. "You're just so cute when you get flustered, my new love!"

"Um," I coughed, swallowing as I did so. "Thanks?"

"Mmm," a voice from my lap reminded me of the situation with the rest of the room. "Matsu should be saying thanks too," the hacker noted, a flush on her face that had nothing to do with her earlier emotional moment. I realized with a start that she was still seated on my lap, and from the way she was fidgeting she had noticed just what other reaction the sudden winging of Kazehana had evoked. "Matsu thinks this is a case of 'right place, right time'," she added, the smile on her face surprisingly less lecherous and more embarrassed as she shifted on top of me.

Unfortunately, the feeling of Matsu on top of me did little to help the problem. In fact, I was fairly certain that it was just making things worse. Just how the hell had I gotten myself into this position?

"Look," I began, trying to regain control of the situation. From the way both Kazehana and Matsu were both taking advantage of my mobility, I had to talk fast if I was to keep this from devolving into some kind of orgy. "Even with everything else put aside, I still need to be leaving. With Miya evicting me…"

"About that, Emiya-kun," the landlady interrupted, drawing my attention to where she had remained kneeling throughout the entire spectacle. I realized with a start that she had been watching the whole with a disapproving look, and I shuddered at what that meant. There was no way Miya was going to let so much lewd behavior go, not when it was going on directly in front of her. I steeled myself for the inevitable scolding she would no doubt deliver before I had a chance to escape. "I believe that you might have misunderstood my intentions."

"Wait, so you won't let the others stay?" I asked, grimacing as I did so. I would be okay being homeless on my own. I had lived through worse. But if the rest of my flock found themselves in the same situation, that could be trouble. There was no way I was going to let Kuu be without a home, and Matsu was still a fugitive. If the hacker was out in public eye for too long, especially without Miya's protection, I might find myself coming into conflict with MBI a lot earlier than I had hoped.

"When I mentioned scolding I was not referring to eviction, Emiya-kun," Miya corrected. Despite her stern posture, it looked like the landlady was holding back a small smile. "Instead, I was intending to give a lecture much like the one Matsu just delivered. However, it seems that she managed to do just fine on her own."

"Wait," I would have held up a hand to stop her if both of them weren't still secured to the floor. "You mean you're not going to kick me out? But before you told me that if any of my problems threatened Izumo House you were going to evict me."

"Oh Emiya-kun," Miya shook her head sadly, "are you so eager to be homeless?" Miya trailed off, sounding for all the world like she was disappointed in my willingness to follow her own rules. "I had no idea that you would be so eager to abandon your duties too."

"My duties?" I repeated, not sure what she was referring to but feeling a bit insulted. I did not abandon my duties, damn it. That was what half of this conversation had been about.

In response, Miya pointed at the half covered hole in Izumo House, the fluttering of Uzume's sheets barely audible now that I paid attention. "Did you really think I'd let you go before you could properly fix the damage you caused?" she chided me. "I'll have you take responsibility for this first."

Behind her, darkness started to form, somehow much less threatening now that I had born witness to the true expression of her unrestrained power earlier. It was still unnerving, but the masks starting to form behind her somehow managed to seem as cute as they were threatening in comparison to before.

If anything, the evil laughter Miya began to emit, a cackling 'fufufufufu' from behind a hand she had put over her mouth, was more disturbing. I swallowed nervously, and noted how the five Sekirei holding me down had shifted until they were no longer pinning me and instead were latching onto me for protection.

"I'll fix it, I'll fix it," I hurriedly assured the landlady. It seemed to be enough to appease her, and thankfully the laughter soon stopped. Still, I had to be sure of this. Even if Miya had decided against evicting me, it didn't change the fact that I had been more or less responsible for both an assault on her building and on herself. "Are you sure about this, Asama-san?" I asked, uncertainty in my voice.

"It wouldn't be proper if you were to leave your home in such a state, Emiya-kun," Miya assured me, a small but genuine smile on her lips as she did so. With a start I realized just how true her words were. Despite everything, there was a part of me that truly did consider Izumo House to be more than just a place to stay. The realization that I wouldn't be forced to leave it was an honest relief to me, dissolving a tension I hadn't even realized had been forming at the thought of being forced out.

"As the landlady said," Tsukiumi chimed in, tapping one foot as she glared down at me. With narrowed eyes she continued. "Now don't you think it might be appropriate if you were to untangle yourself from there," she suggested pointedly. "After all, tonight is meant to be my chance to…" she trailed off, a small blush appearing on her face. After everything that had happened during the last few hours, it actually took me a second to remember just what it was the water user was trying to imply. Tonight was supposed to be her turn to be with me in the…

Oh. Yeah.

I suppressed a nervous twitch, already knowing how well what I was about to say was going to go over, but knowing that it had to be pointed out. "Um, Tsukiumi," I began carefully. "About that…"

"Shirou," the water user began, the impatient tapping of her foot increasing as she scowled, drawing my name out by syllables. "You aren't going to go back on your word, are you?"

"Well, no," I began, wishing I could scratch the back of my head sheepishly as I did so. "It's just, well, the shed is…"

For a moment Tsukiumi just waited for me to finish my sentence as I trailed off, then her eyes widened as she realized what I was implying. With a strangled noise, she darted to the edge of the hole, pulling the cloth aside so she could reconfirm what she already knew. From the point of view of the yard the sight of the remains of the shed greeted her, black sodden ash interspaced with occasional charred planks of wood which managed to survive the inferno Homura had started in order to destroy the evidence that lay beneath. The full meaning of the shed's destruction apparently struck her: without the shed there was no place besides in Izumo House for us to be together, and with Miya's anti-lewdness mandate that meant that there would be no way for Tsukiumi to get her chance to sleep with me.

I wasn't certain if the noise that came out of her throat could be qualified as a shriek or a sob, or if it was more angry or despairing. Whatever the classification, it definitely made me wince.

*Scene Break*

Even as late as it had been when the conversation where I revealed my true nature had finally ended, it was still another hour or two before anyone in Izumo House was able to go to bed. We hadn't been able to do much about the wall, not at that hour and not with the lack of supplies, but we had managed to get the dining room cleaned, and the dishes put away at least.

That night, in complete violation of Miya's previous decision to split up sleeping areas, the only member of my flock that didn't spend the night with me was Homura. Despite it being Tsukiumi's turn, and despite the fact that the water user hadn't had the opportunity to consummate our relationship like she had planned, she did nothing more but grumble briefly when the others joined the two of us in bed.

I could only wonder what had brought the unusual generosity to Tsukiumi, but whatever the case was I found myself laying awake, the only one who hadn't succumb to exhaustion after the eventful evening, completely covered by my Sekirei.

Being at the bottom of a pile of six warm bodies should have been uncomfortable. The weight should have been oppressive, and the heat their bodies gave off combined with the warmth of late spring should have been stifling. Somehow though, it wasn't. Despite the surplus of elbows and knees, and inopportune shifting and awkward weight, I found myself to be strangely comfortable, the familiar presence of my flock beside me to be unexpectedly soothing.

Even as exhausted as I was after the battle and the emotional confrontations that had followed, even with the soothing presence of my Sekirei, I couldn't sleep. The events of the day kept repeating in my mind, a rollercoaster of emotional peaks and valleys that only now, in the enveloping darkness of either very late at night or very early in the morning, could I begin to analyze and digest.

Matsu's words in particular kept ringing through my head. I glanced down at the pile of sleeping bodies, finding the auburn of the hacker's hair resting on my stomach as she sprawled in a position similar to the one she had held earlier. I couldn't make out her face from where she was pressing it into me, but I could recall her tears as she shouted at me.

'You are not alone.' 'We want to help you, to support you.' 'We love you.'

Strong words, full with conviction and confidence, the oath of one who truly believed in their declaration.

Against my will, my mind flit to another oath I had heard, spoken in a voice that was both alien and familiar.

'Without having once retreated, without having once been understood. He was always alone, intoxicated with victory on the hill of swords.'

The death prayer of Archer, the Counter Guardian Emiya. My own death prayer, in a world that both will not happen and yet already had happened. The two oaths were alien to each other, mutually exclusive by their very nature.

And I despite how much things have changed since the second, I found myself unsure of which of the two were more relevant.

A brief chill flit through me, but only for a moment before the warmth of the bodies with me chased it away. Despite that, it was sometime before I managed to sleep.


	27. Twenty Seventh Wing

In Flight: The Twenty Seventh Wing

_Author's notes: Well, its been four weeks, but here's the next chapter of In Flight. A bit of a long delay, but I did mention that there would be some. So far it seems that either the company I arranged my internship through or the company I'm working for themselves have an obsession with devouring my weekends. They keep arranging all kinds of excursions and parties and stuff. Still, when my reviews start saying things like 'update now or I'll track down your pets and hold them hostage' its a good sign that its time for me to put my nose to the wheel._

_I'll get right to the chapter notes so that you all can enjoy the new addition._

_*Spoilers Ahead*_

_Just like that one chapter before, this one is really mostly a breather episode type chapter. The last couple of chapters have been Wham episodes, or fight scenes, or emotionally tense. Its generally not a good idea to keep the pace like that for too long or both readers and writer will get burnt out trying to maintain that kind of pressure. I know its not what a lot of people were hoping for after such a long delay, but it was definitely time to give the characters a bit of breathing room._

_A couple of specific elements to pay note to character wise. It was a good chance to give the characters a chance to show there reactions to the events around them. Miya for instance dealing with the fall out of her first encounter with her own fallibility is a nice one. Her disappointment about her scarring was a chance to emphasize both her inexperience with that kind of thing as well as her own femininity. Uzume pulling all the Final Fantasy references was a good way to lighten the mood of the story as well, and display her reaffirmed comfort with Shirou's presence. I'm attributing her knowledge to spending too much time in the nerdy parts of town while cosplay costume hunting._

_The three most interesting characters here are Kuu, Matsu, and Karasuba in my opinion. People have been mentioning their desire to see Kuu do something a bit more exotic than fulfilling her token loli role. I'd been toying with the idea of giving Kuu the same kind of hero worship for Shirou that Shirou once had for Kiritsugu for a while truthfully. Part of it was a desire to expand a comic relief aspect by having her being adorably clumsy, and part of it is a lingering mental picture of Kusano fully grown wielding thorn blades and looking badass. _

_On Matsu's behalf, this ends the estrangement between her and Shirou as well. I always wanted some conflict to emerge between Shirou and his harem, more than the usual forgive and forget conflict that usually ends up providing episodic conflict solely for the purpose of keeping characters from sealing the deal. I wanted genuine points of conflict to emerge in the growing relationship between Shirou and his aliens, something to show that relationships are hard, and poly-amorous relationships like a harem are even harder, especially when all members are being treated as equals like Shirou tries to do. _

_Karasuba had a part also on the basis of their needing to be some reactions to the previous events, in this case MBI turning their attention towards Shirou specifically beyond him just being a participant that happens to be related to one of the administrators. It also gave a chance for me to keep Karasuba and Shirou interacting regularly and display their growing familiarity with each other. Specifically, Shirou's lack of concern with Karasuba's homicidal impulses, and Karasuba's continued interest in Shirou's aforementioned lack of concern._

_The next few chapters are going to be more character and plot driven, for anyone interested. There are probably going to be periodic info dumps about magi related matters, but I'll try to keep them low key and interspersed with humor and character development to make them bearable for those who already know all the important facts. _

_As for plot points, probably next chapter will involve an angry Homura, a shifty Uzume, and the beginning of the third stage. Shirou might accidentally snap someone's sanity as well, but that might end up in the chapter after the next depending on how things go._

_Enjoy it? Dislike an aspect? Something catch your eye? Leave a review. Questions/comments/concerns? I haven't been able to keep up with my forums lately, mostly due to travel and crappy internet connections, but I'll see what I can do about catching up on that kind of thing._

_ANd as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

I woke alone the next day. It was the first time since the night I had taken Akitsu into my home that such a thing had happened. Even as my eyes opened I groggily reached to either side, trying to find the warm bodies that I had grown so accustomed to finding beside me during the first few moments between sleep and being alert, and in my half awake state the realization that there was no one there was disappointing.

Sitting up, a task which was usually a little trickier with the added weight on me I noted, I groggily rubbed at my face, briefly wondering what sadistic jerk had found the time to go gather sand and then put it under my eyelids, before belatedly realizing that the responsible party was most likely my own inability to get to sleep last night. In my sleepy state I decided that since I couldn't really blame myself personally for that problem I'd just chalk it up for another thing that was entirely Archer's fault.

"Shirou-tan!" a voice caused me to glance slowly towards the doorway and discover that at some point Matsu had peeked her head in. The dark rings around her eyes that I had noted before were still there, but it looked like the rest she had gotten last night had done her a bit of good. "You're finally awake."

"Finally?" I repeated, briefly confused by the qualifier, but a bleary look out the window jolted me to a more alert state as I realized that the normal predawn glow that I typically woke to had been replaced with the brightness of the noon sun. From the half open window I could make out the sounds of Musubi's and Miya's usual spars, combined with the noise of Kuu playing. "My appointments," I yelped, starting to scramble to my feet, stumbling towards the dresser so I could start to get changed. "I am so late!"

"It's alright, Shirou-tan," Matsu interrupted me, interrupting my made rush quickly. "Matsu already called them to reschedule." Hurrying towards me she lightly grasped one of my arms through her overly long sleeves to get my attention.

"Reschedule?" I repeated, shaking my head briefly like a dog, trying to get the last of the sleep out. "To when? And why did you all let me sleep this long? These people have been waiting for me to show up. It's impolite to cancel at the last minute."

I fretted at the inconvenience. A good repairman should be punctual. It might not seem like that an important a job, but people were depending on me to ensure that they have proper working air conditioners and laundry machines. As silly as it might be, the idea of me promising to show up and help out, only to apparently blow them off made me feel like a bit of a jerk.

"We thought about waking you up," Matsu admitted, giving me a stern look. "But a lot happened last night, and if you were so tired that you didn't wake up even when Tsukiumi-tan and Musubi-tan got in an argument, then you obviously needed some more sleep." Then the hacker's grin turned sheepish and she reached up to scratch the back of her head. "Besides," she continued. "Since all of your tools were in the shed, you wouldn't exactly have been able to do anything anyway."

I froze, the realization that I had lost more than my research in last night's conflagration hitting me like a brick to the head, and I groaned, sinking my head into my hands. "Oh yeah," I muttered, feeling stupid for having forgotten even for a moment the events of the night before.

"Anyway, when Miya-tan started giving everyone chores, Matsu decided to sneak away to her room to keep an eye on Shirou-tan for when he woke up," the hacker continued, giving a fiendish giggle as she adjusted her glasses at having managed to evade the landlady, an act which would no doubt catch up with her at some point in the future.

"Keep an eye on me?" I asked, resuming my trip to the closet at a much more reasonable pace. I might have missed my morning appointments, but that didn't change the fact that there was still a lot to do today. I gave the shirt I was wearing a quick sniff, and suppressed a cringe. It seemed like in the confusion from last night I had forgotten to change into something cleaner before going to bed. Maybe the smell of smoke, sweat, and blood might have been contributing factors last night's insomnia.

I was considering whether it would be worthwhile to try and salvage the shirt when something from Matsu's statement made me pause. Slowly, I turned to give the nearby Sekirei a suspicious look. "Wait. Keeping an eye on me from your room?" Matsu blinked, and then paled a little. Sheepishly, she glanced to the side, laughing nervously as she did so. "Don't tell me you have spy cameras in here?"

"Alright," Matsu nodded immediately. "Matsu won't tell you!"

"That wasn't exactly what I meant…" I began, before giving up with a sigh. I tried to ignore the triumphant grin that spread on the hacker's face at my surrender as I gathered a new shirt from my closet. I briefly considered grabbing a set of pants as well, but decided against it. Matsu had brought up an important point about how there had been more than just a body in my workshop when I had it burnt. I think the first thing I was going to have to do today was start digging through the wreckage to see what I could salvage from it. A good number of my tools had been steel so they might have survived the heat, and I think a few of my tomes might have been protected as well. I had to change my shirt so that when I started looking the neighbors didn't notice the bloodstains, but the pants were less incriminating and already dirty enough as it was.

"I'm really going to need a bath when I'm done," I muttered, tugging at the hem of my shirt reflectively before realizing that I should probably get some privacy while I changed. "Matsu," I turned to the still watching Sekirei, who seemed to realize that she had been watching me a bit eagerly and quickly schooled her expression to something less predatory and more innocent. "Do you mind stepping outside for a moment?"

"No! Matsu doesn't mind at all," she agreed, nodding happily. "She'll just go back to her room for a minute…" She had made it two steps towards the door before the realization of what she was planning hit me.

"Wait," I yelped, reaching out to catch the departing Sekirei's wrist. "Isn't your room where you can watch your spy cameras?" I accused, and Matsu nodded instantly, not even having the grace to look ashamed of her plan to peep on me. "You know what," I decided, "I'll just stop by the bathroom instead."

"That's fine," Matsu added agreeably, and I could only stare at her for a second before I felt another prodigious sigh escape my body as I slouched forward.

"You have spy cameras in there too, don't you," I stated, not bothering to phrase it like a question.

"Fuhuhu, fuhuhu," she giggled, rubbing her hands together as she did so in a way which made me very uncomfortable. "Matsu has camera's everywhere!"

For a moment I wasn't certain whether or not the implied confession of having peeped on me in the past made me feel dirty or not. Finally, I scrubbed a hand through my hair and decided that this was one battle I probably wasn't going to win. "You know what? I don't even care anymore," I admitted. Heedless of the Sekirei's presence I began to tug off my bloody long sleeve. "By now you've probably already seen everything there is."

"Fuhuhu," her muffled giggle made it through my shirt as it covered my ears. "It's not like Shirou-tan has anything to be ashamed of," the perverted hacker added. When my head was finally free I was greeted by the sight of her shamelessly taking advantage of the show I was putting on for her.

"It's not my body that I'm ashamed of," I grumbled, and was tucking my arms into the sleeves in preparation for putting on the new garment when a soft touch on my back caused me to jerk.

"If Shirou-tan isn't ashamed of his body, than is it these that he's embarrassed about?" No longer smiling, Matsu had moved to stand next to me and was resting one of her hands on my skin, directly over the exit wound that marred my otherwise mostly clean back. The feeling of her soft hands on the raised skin of my scars caused a brief flash of goose bumps to sprout across my arms. Even as one hand remained on my back, her other came up to rest directly opposite it, giving the starburst on my chest the same treatment.

"I-It's not exactly embarrassment," I began, my voice hitching as the sensation of her hands tracing my sensitive flesh. "It's just, well, they tend to make people uncomfortable, and sometimes when people see them they start to ask hard questions," I admitted, beginning to lower the shirt.

"Questions like, 'How are you still alive?'" Matsu prompted, and I had no illusions about her not understanding the significance of the matching wounds. "Whatever did this must have gone right through you, Shirou-tan."

"Yeah," I agreed to both her question and her observation. "Things like that." Slowly, I tugged my shirt down to conceal the scars that lined my body. Rather than let the fabric chase away her grip, she instead pressed her arms against my lower torso, her forearms lines of warmth against my skin as she let the clothes fall over her arms, trapping them against me as they did so.

It was a casually intimate action, and I found myself momentarily surprised when rather than make me uncomfortable I instead discovered that it was strangely comforting. Much like the night before when the weight of my flock didn't trouble my sleep, Matsu's warmth against me left me undisturbed.

Of course the realization of that lack of discomfort was enough to make me uncomfortable a moment later, and I found myself taking a deep breath to suppress a flinch. It wasn't just the implications of implied physical acceptance for the alien that caused the feeling, but the recollection of just what our current personal situation was.

"Matsu," I began before trailing off as the redhead leaned in to me, her hands slipping away from where they had been resting on my disfigurements so that they could slowly wrap around my waist as she embraced me. My breath caught in my throat before I released it slowly, letting her hug me.

"Ashikabi-san," she began, pausing for a moment before continuing in a rush. "I'm sorry for last night."

"Which part?" I asked, letting one hand come down to rest against her arm, still buried beneath my shirt.

"For hitting you," she blurted out, burying her face into my arm as she confessed. "Matsu shouldn't have done that. She should have found some other way to tell Shirou-tan how she feels; she should have been more polite, she should have done something, anything…" The pace of her voice picked up, a note of panic and a further note of regret seeping into her tone until she was pouring out her words so fast they were slurring together. She would have continued but she froze as I shifted underneath her grip, finally adjusting myself until the arm she was pressing herself against had moved enough for me to awkwardly rest my hand on her head.

"You shouldn't," I told her, glancing to the side. "Apologize," I clarified a second later. "You, well, you might have been right," I confessed back to her.

"Shirou-tan…?" she began, obviously confused by my dismissal of her assault. With a deep breath, I raked my other hand through my hair, knowing what I had to say but not how to say it.

"It's been pointed out to me in the past that sometimes I might be a little dense," I finally settled on. "There are times when I'm so committed to a course that I forget the potential consequences. I get so concerned over how to help everyone else that I forget to give myself the same attention. You're not the first one to have to smack some sense into me," I gave Matsu a wry, self depreciating smile, glancing down to see her looking up at me intently, a hopeful look on her face.

"You mean Saber and Rin," she guessed, making the connection over just who it was that used to keep me from getting out of line. I nodded sheepishly. A small smirk appeared on the hacker's lips as she noted my confirmation. "So Shirou-tan is the type that needs a woman's touch to keep from getting out of line?" Her grin turned a touch lecherous, and her hands began to trail downward from where they were wrapped around my waist. "Well, if all he needs is some touching some time…" she began, and for a moment I suspected I was about to have to fend off an amorous alien again, when unexpectedly her fingers began to attack my side, tickling me without warning.

"Matsu," I yelped, starting to squirm away from the invading fingers while suppressing the giggles they were evoking. "Stop that!"

"Fuhuhuhu," Matsu giggled in response, but obediently stopped her assault. Arms still around me, she leaned back into the embrace, my hand still resting on her head as she made herself comfortable. "Still," she continued, her voice growing serious again. "Matsu is also sorry about before, when she forced you to tell everyone about the Grail War." She peered up at me from where she was pressed against my arm, giving me an honestly apologetic expression. "Matsu should have just asked. If she had…"

"If you had, then I wouldn't have said anything," I admitted as I cut in. "Or I would have lied…"

"Because Shirou-tan is kind and he's trying to protect us." It was Matsu's turn to interrupt as she smoothly took control of the conversation back from me. "And I think that even if Shirou-tan had said something, Matsu wouldn't have believed him." Glancing down forlornly, the hacker tightened her grip on me. "Shirou-tan was right," she added softly. "Matsu didn't trust him. Matsu thought she knew better, and that she was right. Shirou," she met my eyes again, her expression sincere, "I'm sorry."

Faced with such an honest apology, with sincere regret, I could do nothing else but try to assure the remorseful alien. "It's alright," I forgave her. "Honestly, you're probably right: I probably haven't been a very good Ashikabi either. Or a boyfriend, or mate, or whatever the proper term is…" I trailed off, not quite sure which role was the proper title for my situation, but certain that whichever was appropriate I had in some way failed to live up to an important duty regardless.

"Hmmm," Matsu hummed against me. "Well, if Matsu hasn't been the best Sekirei, but Shiro-tan can forgive her for that, than Matsu can also forgive Shirou-tan for not being the best Ashikabi." An amused smile began to form. "Guess what, Shirou-tan? I think we just had our second fight!"

"Huh," I grunted, recalling how she forgave me for that time when I had panicked and fled when confronted by the truth of the relationship between Ashikabi and Sekirei. "You know," I admitted, "I think you might be right."

"Well, now that we finished, how about some makeup sex?" she offered hopefully, her grin turning into a playful leer. Despite her lecherous suggestion, her tone remained playful and her hands innocent. I found myself giving an amused snort at her obviously intended to be humorous suggestion.

"Maybe on Friday?" I offered, recalling the officially assigned 'Matsu day' briefly before freezing. At my side Matsu also stilled momentarily. That's right. Friday wasn't 'Matsu day'. Not at the moment anyway. With a quick look at the pensive Sekirei, I made my decision. "If you want, you can put your name back up again," I offered, not sure if that was the best way to say that she could add herself back into the rotation of who gets to sleep with me but plunging ahead anyway.

It still felt weird that I had so many woman interested in me that I literally had to schedule the week in advance. It hadn't even been a week since the original punishment had been handed down. The end result had only been one day where she had been denied the same privileges that the rest of the flock had. Despite that, in a promising show of unity Friday had remained untouched for the last four days, no other Sekirei even making an effort to try and claim the empty spot on the calendar. Similarly, even Wednesday, Akitsu's day, had also remained emptier than the rest of the weekdays, though if that was the ice user wanting to lay claim to sleeping by me by herself or if she was simply waiting for Matsu to once again join her was something I wasn't too certain about either.

For a moment Matsu looked up at me, uncertain about just what I was offering, and then her eyes lit up as she understood just what I was saying. Her mouth was instantly open, a word already forming on her lips before she paused, freezing stock still. I had a moment to wonder what was going on in the hacker's head for a moment, before she finally closed her mouth, a determined expression forming on face.

"Actually, Shirou-tan," she began, her tone firm. "Matsu thinks she will wait a bit."

"What?" I gawked at her briefly. A Sekirei, even more, a Sekirei as perverted and obviously interested in a physical relationship as Matsu, refusing the opportunity to sleep with her Ashikabi? "Why?" Realizing that the question might come off as presumptuous, I shook my head quickly and tried again. "I mean, are you sure?"

"Matsu has been thinking, and she decided that it wasn't really fair to Shiro-tan," she nodded, certainty in her voice. "It's always been Shirou who has adapted to being with Sekirei. Not just with being married, but with dealing with the Sekirei Plan as well. And we always just expected him to do just that. Maybe it's our fault that you never really thought you could count on us to help." With a deep breath, the hacker committed herself. "So to make up for that, I'm going to do thing's Shirou's way instead. Matsu is going to help Shirou-tan every way she can with his wizard problems," she stumbled over the word 'wizard' briefly, obviously unaccustomed to speaking it in a serious context, before continuing. "And moreover, Matsu is going to act like a human when it comes to being with Shirou-tan as well!"

"Act like a human?" I parroted, confused. "What do you mean, Matsu?"

"Matsu is going to take her time, being with her Ashikabi," she pronounced, withdrawing her hands from around me so she could cross them under her breasts as she nodded proudly at her declaration. "She's going to go on dates with Shirou-tan, and get to know him better! Matsu will be a girlfriend rather than a wife, and act like a human female!"

I could do nothing but stare at the redhead as she resolutely chose a course of action that I had honestly never expected any of the Sekirei to even consider. The species as a whole had so far shown itself to be rather ethnocentric, or species-centric I suppose might be a better term for their way of constantly adhering to their natural behavior patterns. It was a behavior that was perhaps supported, or even enabled might be the better word, by MBI. I had never particularly had a problem with it, being far too used to being forced to adapt to situations which had developed outside of my control, but if Seo's determination not to get involved with the Plan and Haruka's outright determination to escape it were an indication as to other Ashikabi's responses to their sudden involvement in the game then I was probably closer to an exception than the rule.

And yet here Matsu was offering to ignore my offer to allow her to indulge in those behaviors and instead take up the ones of my own species instead. Coming from her, one of the most aggressive when it came to progressing to a physical relationship and simultaneously one of the most involved with my efforts to control the progress of the Plan, the offer was genuinely touching.

"And then Shirou-tan can be the one to seduce Matsu instead after he finally becomes overcome with lust and throws her down on the kitchen table to ravish her!" Matsu continued, stunting my previously growing gratitude briefly as she licked her lips in a lecherous expression that I was far more familiar to having her display.

I sighed, but despite my resignation I found myself smiling a bit at her bluntly stated goals. "You know, you should probably not mention that kind of thing if you're going to play hard to get at some point," I pointed out, and Matsu's grin grew.

"Matsu's still trying to get used to 'subtle'," she admitted. "Afterwards she'll try and start teaching Musubi-tan for Shirou!" My grin grew at her joke. "For now, maybe Shirou-tan should start thinking about where he's going to take Matsu for their first day this Friday! Maybe some expensive restaurant?" It seems that even if she had decided to pass on sleeping with me she was still going to lay claim to eating privileges, even going so far as to try and get me alone and away from the rest of her sister Sekirei.

"Well," I began, running through a list of restaurants and eateries that might be suitable, "I'll see what I can come up with..." I really wasn't much for eating out, so the list was disturbingly short. Maybe I should ask Takami for some advice? Or Homura? Yes, I had a feeling that Homura would be able to give me some appropriate tips.

A second afterwards a thought hit me like a lightning bolt.

"Um, Matsu," I began, not sure if it was appropriate to bring this up. Maybe she had already figured out a way around the potential snag I had just come across. "How exactly am I going to take you out if you're still on the run from MBI?"

She froze, her face turning as white as her dress as the realization that she was still technically on the lamb hit her for what was most likely the first time since she declared her intentions to woo me honorably.

"Eh…" she let loose a small high pitched whine as she hunched over, her eyes glazing over as she began to think so hard it almost hurt to look at. "Maybe Matsu didn't think this whole 'human dating' thing over enough before hand," she finally admitted, rubbing her head sheepishly as she did so.

*Scene Break*

Matsu was still thinking over the conundrum ten minutes later when I finally made my way to the section of the hallway where a good number of the rest of Izumo House had gathered to watch the spar between Musubi and Miya.

I almost felt sorry I had brought the whole thing up at that point, having watched the furiously contemplating hacker follow me almost like she was on some kind of autopilot as I made a brief trip to the restroom, her waiting outside the room as I did my business and splashed some water on my face to help wake me up, and then resume her shadowing of me as I stopped by the kitchen in order to get a late breakfast snack. It was almost comforting to have her nearby, as she perhaps unconsciously seemed to emulate Akitsu's habit of following me from behind me on my left though her muttering was a bit disturbing from the bits I'd managed to make out as she tried to plan a way to get out of the house with me.

"Afternoon, Shirou," Uzume chirped from where she was kneeling on a cushion placed on the veranda overlooking the yard where the other two females were sparring. She looked like she was going to say more for a moment, but then paused, giving Matsu a strange look. "And why is Matsu muttering about hacking the power plants and shutting down all power to the greater Shin Tokyo region?"

"That's a bit of a long story," I told the kneeling Sekirei as I glanced over the rest of the assembled Sekirei. Sitting on the ponytailed Sekirei's left was Kuu, though it appeared that the youngest of the species was too enraptured by the sight of unfolding violence to pay attention to the arrival of her onii-chan. The green girl was emitting periodic grunts and whines that seemed to coincide with the battle unfolding before her, letting loose pained sounding noises whenever Musubi was dodging or defending and excited squeals whenever the fist fighter was doing the attacking. On Kuu's other side was Akitsu, the snow woman once more making her porcelain statue impression, though she stirred briefly when Uzume called attention to my presence.

"Aren't they all?" the Veiled Sekirei responded to my earlier statement, sounding more at ease in my presence then she had in days. Uzume favored me with a brief smile before turning back to the mock battle between Miya and Musubi. The two were clashing briefly in a furious whirlwind of punches and slashes, an encounter that seemed far more intense than the few sessions I had born witness to before. Uzume seemed to notice the same thing as she nodded at the combatants. "Looks like you got everyone all fired up after last night."

"I guess," I scratched the back of my head briefly, not which part of the events of the evening before had been responsible for the increased intensity of the duel, but willing to accept the blame for it. "Where's everyone else?" I glanced around, trying to find the rest of my flock. The scent of their presences was lingering, but I couldn't make out the specifics of their locations with just that alone.

"Not too sure about Tsukiumi," Uzume shrugged briefly, "but I think Homura is in his room. Saw him earlier and he looked pretty out of it. Don't think he slept too well last night. As for Kazehana, she said she wanted to look through my costume collection so that she could 'give Shirou-kun the wakeup he deserved'."

Judging from what I knew of both Kazehana's personality and Uzume's costume collection I think I was perfectly justified in the brief shudder of terror that crawled down my spine. When Uzume's smile turned toothy I took it as all the confirmation that I needed that I was probably going to be made very uncomfortable the next time I ran into the wind user.

"Well, maybe I should check on Homura later," I decided, ignoring the other topic deliberately. With any luck I'll be out of the house whenever the older Sekirei was finished preparing her surprise long enough for Miya to catch wind of it and derail the whole thing. I was going to continue when one of Kuu's high pitched whines grew unusually loud before cutting off completely. Glancing down I saw that the green girl had leaned all the way forward, balancing on all fours as she stared with rapt eyes at the spar in front of her. I followed her gaze, taking in the unfolding scene.

Both Miya and Musubi had separated on opposite sides of the lawn, Miya with her sword at the ready and Musubi in a rigid fighting stance. Standing completely still, both of the combatants were studying the other, though Miya's expression was a great deal more relaxed than Musubi's tense gaze. It was late enough in spring that the sakura petals were no longer falling, otherwise the whole scene would have been like something out of a cheesy samurai movie.

"I'm coming," Miya finally announced, her voice stern as she shifted her grip on the handle of her sheathed blade. Musubi had time for a brief nod before the lavender haired landlady streaked across the yard, her blade above her head and coming down in a blur as Musubi launched both her hands up to intercept the attack, slapping them together just in time to…

To completely miss the blade as it struck down on the blinking Sekirei's head with an audible 'thunk'.

"Owwww," the shrine girl began to whine, reaching up to cradle her abused appendage, which I noticed already had a collection of forming goose eggs on it. "I still can't do it!" Cradling her head and pouting while wearing her usual bloomer combination, the battle maniac looked a great deal like nothing more than a petulant child. Kuu let loose a disappointed noise, slumping back onto her knees as the young Sekirei gave her older sister a sympathetic wince.

"Now, now," Miya chided the ursine Sekirei, her eyes trailing briefly over to where I was standing, taking note of my newly arrived presence. "It's not so easy to catch a blade, Musubi-chan. Perhaps we should take a break for the moment?"

"No!" Musubi chimed in, her usual cheer returning. "I'm ready to try again!" With one fist raised to accentuate her passion, the bloomer clad Sekirei began to bounce on the balls of her feet as though to prove how much remaining energy she really had.

"I'm sure you are," Miya smiled warmly at her exuberant partner with crinkled eyes. "However, it looks like Emiya-kun is finally awake…" Though it sounded like Miya was intending to say more she trailed off as Musubi instantly whirled to look around as though trying to confirm my presence by checking everywhere in a two hundred and seventy degree arc. The moment her eyes landed on me, her bouncing nearly doubled in speed, and the hand that was previously fisted opened so the shrine girl could wave excitedly at me.

"Ah! Shirou-san! Good morning," Musubi called eagerly. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well enough," I smiled at her as the scatter brain seemed to completely forget about her earlier dedication to training so that she could hop over to me immediately. Miya's smile lingered as the landlady shook her head, though she took began to come over at a much more sedate pace. "It looks like you've been training hard," I noted, angling my head at the collection of bumps adorning her crown.

"Landlady is strong," Musubi admitted, sticking out her tongue and beginning her customary forehead knuckling before flinching as the finger that was grinding into her own temple graced one of the knots already forming there. "Owie," she muttered, wincing again before shaking her head and brushing off the pain. "If Musubi is ever going to get as strong as Shirou, then I'll have to work hard!"

"Onii-chan!" Kuu chimed in, apparently finally realizing that I had been standing behind her. "Good morning!" The little sprite beamed up at me, wiggling in place until she was turned around to face me. Without bothering to get up the girl latched onto my leg, giving me my morning hug.

"Good morning, Kuu-chan," I responded in kind, reaching down to muss her hair briefly. Unlike her usual response to my attacking on her hair Kuu grinned up at me, taking my teasing good naturedly. Even as I did so my eyes drifted over to Miya, my good cheer slipping a bit. "Good afternoon to you too, Asama-san," I added.

"Oh? My my," Miya quipped, affecting a disappointed look. "Such a formal greeting," she bemoaned, putting one hand to her cheek as she did so. "Could it be that you're trying to butter me up before making excuses for why you haven't started fixing my house yet, Emiya-kun?"

I was familiar enough with Miya's mood to know that the last statement was just her teasing, but I still winced. "Partly," I admitted, glancing down the hall towards the doorway that would lead to the decimated dining room. "More importantly, how's your chest doing?"

"Ah!" Miya gasped, one hand coming up to cover herself as though to protect her modesty from some kind of molester. "It has finally happened!" she bemoaned, shaking her head mournfully. "Emiya-kun's base lusts have at last caused him to turn his wicked eyes upon me. Oh, what would my poor husband in heaven think, to know that I would soon be preyed upon so cruelly?"

"He would say you know d-" I glanced down at Kuu and adjusted the exact word I was going to use at the last moment, "darn well what I'm talking about, and then he'd tell you to hurry up and answer so that he could rest easier knowing that there weren't any complications." While Miya's playfulness was a good sign, I was still worried about the exact condition of her wound. I had never used a traced version of Avalon before, especially not on another person, and even more noticeably on a creature which wasn't even human in the first place. "Please, Miya," I continued, trying to be firm without being confrontational. "How are you feeling?"

"Ara," she began, before glancing down as though having trouble meeting my gaze. "A little stiff," she finally admitted, the hand previously being held up as though to shield her drifting a few inches so that instead she could trace her fingers over the line that had been carved into her last night. "It as though my skin is a bit too tight." Her gaze drifted back up to mine, and I think for the second or third time ever I had the opportunity to see the normally unflappable landlady look uncomfortable. "I was considering asking you for your help later."

"My help?" I repeated, not liking the sound of that. "Why, what have you noticed?" I leaned forward as though the few extra inches the act gained me would be enough for me to spontaneously be able to identify just what it was that was troubling the alien. My mind flitted through possibilities. Was my od in some way harming her? Or perhaps Avalon hadn't been able to fully heal her properly inside, instead only closing the external wound while leaving the internal damage alone like it sometimes did. Or maybe, and this thought in particular was chilling, the artifact had in some way impeded her ability to use her power.

"It seems that your 'magic' was mostly effective," Miya somehow managed to sound skeptical as used my chosen term for my power. It looked that the alien was still doubtful about the veracity of my claims, though she was at least choosing to humor them for now. "In fact," she continued, "I was rather hoping that you might be able to schedule some time later tonight for another session as to finish the job."

"Finish the job?" I repeated, leaning backwards as I blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"As fascinating as the process is," the landlady continued, sounding like she was choosing her words carefully, "I find myself greatly disliking the healing process and the marks it leaves upon one's body. Perhaps you could use that…" she paused, lips quirking as she tried to find an appropriate word before she continued, "object of yours to remove them?"

The confusion I was feeling lingered for another second before what she was referring to hit me like a blow to the back of the head.

"You mean the scar?" I blurted out, honestly surprised by the request. Here she was, Miya, a creature so soaked with blood and pain that it had stained the very fundamental nature of her power, was asking me for what amounted to cosmetic treatment to help remove a mark of battle. "But that's impossible," I continued, still confused by the show of vanity I was bearing witness to. "Avalon just doesn't work that way."

"Ah," Miya murmured, glancing back down to the side briefly, before looking back up, her expression once more settled into her customary smile and crinkled eyes. "Never mind then," she told me, sounding so casual that I nearly dismissed the conversation from my mind by reflex. It was only the way her hand continued to trail across her upper body that gave me pause long enough for the realization of just why Miya had brought the topic up.

It made sense, in a way, that the lady in front of me would be upset about the marring of her body. I was so used to thinking of her as a fellow warrior, as an untouchable pillar of power, that perhaps I had forgotten that she was once a married woman. She had had a husband, one she had loved wholeheartedly from what I knew. Though I might not care about the markings on my body, being willing to dismiss them as nothing more than tokens that inevitably made themselves known as a consequence for the life I had chosen to live, there was no reason that Miya had to have the same disregard for her physical appearance. Moreover, this had been the very first time she had actually taken such a wound as well.

It was a somewhat disturbing realization that despite her great power and fearsome history in some ways I was more experienced then her, maybe even more mature. Miya was someone who was so naturally superior to all her other opponents that she had never once in the past had to confront the truth that I had been inured to since the first day I had picked up a sword: anyone who carries a blade is going to get cut.

"'Avalon'?" a new voice chimed in, jerking me back from my thoughts. I blinked, and focused on Uzume, who was giving me a curious look as she repeated my earlier statement. "What's that? One of your magical spells or something?"

"Um," I began, trying to pull my train of thoughts back together. "Well, yeah, I suppose that's a good way to put it," I finally settled on.

"Oh?" Matsu chimed in, the hacker apparently shaking herself out of her previous train of thoughts as she focused in on the conversation once more. "What happened, Shirou-tan? Did you run out of MP?"

"MP?" I repeated, not quite sure what the phrase meant. "What do the military police have to do with anything? Do you think the army somehow managed to get a witness in last night?" Now that was a worrying thought.

"Oh! Musubi knows this one! That means 'magic points'!" the bloomer clad girl declared waving one hand excitedly through the air as she proudly contributed to the conversation. Despite her surety, I was once more feeling like I was missing something very important from the conversation.

"Magic points?" it was my turn to parrot random phrases as I scratched my head awkwardly. "What are those?"

I was half way expecting disbelieving stares or disapproving words, but instead the gathered Sekirei all seemed to take amusement out of my ignorance. Even Kuu managed to give me a look which was a strange conglomerate of laughter and condescension.

"Yup," Matsu chimed in, nodding sagely. "That's the Shirou-tan we've all come to expect!" I managed to get out a small glare, knowing that I was in some way being mocked but unable to isolate the exact joke, before Matsu waved away the earlier statement. "But that does raise a good question. Why aren't you able to finish healing Miya-tan last night? Shouldn't your sorcery have been enough to leave her without a scratch afterwards?"

"Don't call me a sorcerer," I chided her absentmindedly, cringing at the title. "I'm only a magus. And honestly, I'm surprised that it worked at all, all things considered. I've never even tried Avalon on someone else before, and even when I use it on myself I still end up scarring sometimes."

"Worked at all?" Miya repeated, her tone curious. "Goodness. Emiya-kun," she began, her earlier disappointment over me being unable to remove the final traces of her wound being replaced with something vaguely apprehensive. "You didn't attempt anything dangerous last night, now did you?"

"Attempt something dangerous? At what point?" I asked, my voice a touch dry, needing to know precisely which element of the complete disaster that had occurred she was trying to call me out on. "The part where I got thrown through a fence, or the part where I engaged a superior magus in one on one combat, or the part where I tried to use a temperamental Noble Phantasm to heal a completely alien creature?"

Honestly, a good few hours of my lack of sleep could be contributed to me going over the entire scenario with a fine toothed metaphorical comb as I tried to understand just what the hell had occurred last night. I had finally managed to reach a few conclusions, and for once in my life they were actually cautiously optimistic ones.

"He-heh," Uzume chuckled, bringing the cup of tea she had been sipping on while watching the spar up to her lips for a taste. "No need to be modest, bro! Even if Miya is being a sourpuss, the rest of us are pretty impressed at the ass kicking you gave last night!"

"Shirou-san was so strong! Even when Miya-san had been beaten, he managed to make it through alright," Musubi added her two cents, clutching both her hands under her chin as she wiggled joyously.

"Really now!" Miya huffed, apparently affronted by the not so subtle jibes that the two more vocal Sekirei had launched at her, though in Musubi's case it was most likely unintentional. "It wasn't that impressive," she muttered, folding her arms underneath her chest petulantly, acting the most immature that I had ever seen the usually regal landlady behave.

"She's right," I nodded, though my own thoughts were a great deal less jovial than the mood of the rest of the group. "Honestly, last night was downright depressing."

"Don't worry, Shirou-san," Musubi consoled me, bouncing over so she could pat my arm comfortingly. "Just because this opponent was weak doesn't mean that next time won't be any better. I'm sure you'll have a stronger enemy eventually!"

I actually had to take a moment to stare at the shrine girl, trying to figure out just which part of her statement disturbed me the most. On one hand, her strangely twisted sense of priorities was a little jaw dropping. It takes a special kind of crazy to actually hope for stronger opponents, the kind of battle lust madness which had more or less been bred out of humanity by this point. Sure, in the old days when life expectancies were mid forties for old age and the best hope a warrior could have was immortality through glory hoping for a stronger enemy might have been in style. Nowadays though hoping to die young was either the mark of a diseased mind or someone going through a stupidly rebellious period during puberty.

The other more disturbing part was the fact that Musubi seemed to think that last night's enemy actually qualified as 'weak'.

"Musubi," I began, trying to break the news to her gently that reality didn't share her same perception. "I really hope that if another magus manages to find me they're nowhere near as strong as the Fraga from last night. The only reason I won yesterday was because of a fluke."

That revelation seemed to have varying effects on the crowd in general. Matsu narrowed her eyes, straightening slightly as she did so as she started to pay closer attention to my words. Uzume's eyes also narrowed, though her reaction seemed to indicate more confusion than attention like Matsu's. Conversely, Miya's eyes actually opened, a sign that she too was raising the conversation's priority from 'casual' to 'potentially important'. Kuu did nothing more but shift from where she was still clinging to my leg, while the only sign Akitsu gave of her increased intention was the clinking of the chains on her neck as she shifted.

"What's a fluke?" Musubi asked, tilting her head in confusion as she tried to follow just what it was that had changed the mood for the rest of the group. "Is it like 'discretion'? If it is, I think I'm ready for it!"

"It means that last night was an accident," I told the distorted Sekirei patiently. "The Fraga was stronger than me, faster than me, more skilled than me, and more prepared. The only reason she lost was because she underestimated me just enough for me to take the advantage."

"Look," Uzume chimed in, her lips quirking up as she began to give me a crooked smile. "Bro, if you're still trying to do that whole 'impress the danger of the situation' thing that you were doing last night, you can ease up. We get it, things are a bit different from what we're used to. Don't worry about trying to be modest."

"Indeed," Miya chimed in, her voice still laced with the doubt she seemed to be making a habit of displaying whenever I started to talk magecraft. "Though I might have spent a good portion of the fight…" she hesitated before settling on, "indisposed, I saw no indication of any such discrepancies in ability."

I suppressed a grimace, before giving their arguments a careful review. In many ways it was easy to forget that for all that the Sekirei were qualified to be considered mystic creatures, they at times had more in common with mundane humans when it came to their personalities or experiences. They were after all raised by scientists and in labs, and having been exposed to that kind of culture basically from incubation. In most cases they obviously had a reason to be ignorant of some of the fine points of magical society. Last night I might have told them enough for them to understand the absolute basics of my situation, but there were still implications that they simply couldn't understand without a little supplementary material.

Unable to completely suppress a sigh of annoyance, I settled in, leaning back so I could support my frame against the wall as one hand came up to ruffle my hair as I tried to gather my thoughts for the upcoming impromptu lesson.

"Look," I began, not sure how else to begin explaining just how dangerous the battle that had outed me to my Sekirei had truly been. "I'm not sure how else to say this, so I'll be blunt: as magi go, I'm actually not a very good one."

"Not a very good one?" Matsu repeated, pursing her lips as she did so. "What does that mean?"

"It means I barely qualify as an apprentice, much less a proper magus," I elaborated for her. "I only recently managed to make it to third rate. I have only around average magic circuits, only two or three years worth of study, can only really use one outdated thaumaturgical system, and have no magic lineage or traits." I rolled my shoulders uncomfortably. "In other words, compared to other magi I'm actually kind of crappy."

For a moment silence greeted my disparaging self assessment. Finally, Musubi cocked her head to the side. "I'm sorry, Shirou-san," she admitted mournfully. "It looks like I wasn't ready after all. Musubi didn't understand a word of that."

"Matsu didn't either," the hacker added.

"Count Uzume in that list," the veiled Sekirei put in as well, perhaps unconsciously imitating the other two's use of the third person.

"Neither did Miya," the landlady chimed in, before blinking and giving her head a quick shake. "I mean, neither did I." She emphasized her use of a personal pronoun before continuing, her attention returning to me. "Perhaps you might explain your situation a little more clearly, Emiya-kun?"

"Yeah," I nodded, my agreement before I was interrupted by Akitsu making a small sound. Pausing, I turned to give the snow woman a quick glance.

"Akitsu did not either," the snow woman finally finished, apparently also infected by the trend Musubi had unknowingly kicked off. I blinked at her for a second, feeling vaguely nonplussed by the delayed contribution.

"Uh," I began, before taking a turn to give my head a quick clearing shake and collecting my thoughts. "Well, I didn't really have time to go into details last night, but the thing you have to understand is that when I said magi have been around for millennia, I was being serious. Humanity has spent thousands of years using magecraft, and the people who study it, magi for the most part, have accumulated a lot of knowledge and terms. Being a magus isn't just a matter of being able to use magecraft or not, it's like a whole separate culture."

"And that means?" Matsu prompted, adjusting her glasses as she did so, her expression attentive as she took in my impromptu lecture carefully.

"I could spend days trying to explain every little detail or fact and still not cover even a fraction of everything associated with magecraft," I elaborated. "More than that, since I'm not a very good magus in the first place, there are lots of things I just don't know, or think I know and could be wrong about."

"That's fine, Emiya-kun," Miya assured me. A hand came up to cover her mouth, and I got the distinct impression that she was covering either a smirk or a smile. "Perhaps I might be able to help fill in some of those blanks later."

"You're really not letting up on the 'Shirou is a Sekirei' theory, are you Miya?" I asked, my voice dry as I did so. I couldn't be certain, but I think the smile she was concealing might have grown a bit at my exasperated question. "Fine," I huffed, narrowing my eyes. "Maybe if I go a bit more in depth about what magecraft is, I can convince you all that I'm not just making this all up."

"Musubi believes you, Shirou-san," the bloomer clad Sekirei chimed in, nodding reassuringly at me as she did so.

"Thank you, Musubi," I told her, giving her a thankful smile.

"Matsu would probably believe too, if Shirou-tan would just continue his explanation," the hacker added, rubbing her hands together eagerly. It looked as though the curious Sekirei was more concerned with the chance to satisfy her unquenchable thirst for knowledge than proving whether Miya or I was right about the origin of my powers. "Maybe if he started with explaining why he thinks he's a bad wizard?"

"Magus," I corrected the term again, grimacing as I did so. At least she wasn't calling me a sorcerer any more. I leaned back again, scratching my head as I did so. A brief moment of trying to adjust my footing reminded me that I still had Kuu-chan latched onto me. It appeared as though the little sprite had made herself quite comfortable, settling herself down so she could seat herself on the top of my foot and use all four limbs to hold onto me tightly. Resigning myself to not being able to move, I began my brief exclamation.

"Well, I went over magic circuits last night," I started off with. "Magic circuits are kind of like blood vessels, only instead of blood they carry, well, prana." When I noticed Musubi get a confused look and Matsu begin to open her mouth I realized that I would probably have to be a little more general in my explanation for now. "Prana is the energy magi use for their magecraft. The more circuits a person has, the more power they are able to access. In my case I only have a little bit above the average amount in a magus."

"You mentioned those last night," Matsu remarked, nodding her head slowly as she went through my general explanation. "About how maguses use some strange energy to do their sorcery. Does Shirou-tan think that Sekirei use the same energy?"

"But I don't have any circuses," Musubi added, putting one finger to her chin as she gave her own thoughtful contribution to the conversation. I did my best to ignore it, the same way that I was ignoring Matsu's constant misuse of various terms like 'maguses' and 'sorcery'. There'd be time enough later to clear that up.

"I have no idea if you use something different normally, but I know you absorb prana whenever your species gets winged or uses a Norito," I explained. "I haven't been able to figure out much else about the Sekirei, probably another sign of my inadequacies by normal magi standards."

"You sounded kind of proud about that," Uzume noted, cocking her head to the side. I blinked, realizing that she was right and the last statement had come out with a positive tone of voice despite the negative message.

"That's because there are certain aspects of being a proper magus that I don't agree with," I admitted. "Just because I haven't gotten results yet doesn't mean I'm willing to go to the same lengths another magi might."

"Does this have to do with you mentioning you only have a few years of training?" Matsu asked, pursing her lips as she recalled one of the other inadequacies I had listed earlier.

"That and I'm not willing to vivisect any of you so I can study your insides more carefully while you're still alive," I admitted. My comment appeared to be unexpected and an awkward pause settled on the gathered females.

"Uh," Uzume began, wincing as she did so. "That was a rather specific example. You sure that you're not just trying to hype up the bad guys?"

"Not really," I shook my head firmly. "A second rate magi might limit themselves to a Sekirei they haven't bonded with, but a first rate one would probably try to get as many different examples as they could; a few winged to themselves, a few more winged to someone else and their Ashikabi to go with them, a few unwinged ones as a control maybe..."

"Okay," Uzume cut me off, raising her hand as she did so, still grimacing. "I get the picture, bro. No need to go into details. Magi equal bad."

"Interesting," Miya murmured, once more entering the conversation. When I glanced up at her, she continued, her hand no longer hiding her mouth and instead rubbing against her chin slowly. "When you speak of the actions of a 'first rate' sorcerer you speak in terms of experiments and dissection. And when you mention your own diminished status, you emphasize your lack of results."

"Matsu noticed too," the redhead nodded, her voice subdued as she added her agreement to the landladies observation.

"I told you last night, the Mage's Association was primarily academic in nature," I reminded them. "Most magi consider themselves to be researchers above all else."

"Oh!" Musubi chimed in, raising a hand as she bounced in place. "Is that why you were able to beat the meanie from last night, Shirou-san? You said that you were inexperienced, so she must have been as well. I only saw her use one spell after all, while Shirou-san was doing lots of powerful special techniques."

"No," I shook my head instantly. "She was a Fraga, so she was probably studying since she could walk and had a long lineage. Her magecraft was on another level than mine."

"But that doesn't make sense," Uzume argued, sitting up straighter as she shook her head in confusion. "If the psycho from last night was so powerful and awesome, than why is it that you beat her down in like a minute?"

"And what's a Fraga?" Musubi added, her hand still in the air as she continued bouncing.

"Well," I began, trying to figure out how to explain the nuances of a battle where significant portions of the deciding factors had been internal reactions and quick thinking. "Last night was a bit different from a normal battle between magi in that both of us were Magus Killers."

"Oh?" Miya hummed the hand at her chin pausing as she reacted to my confession. "So Emiya-kun is some kind of assassin?" The lavender haired landlady let loose a theatrical sigh, shaking her head sadly. "What has become of my inn?" she bemoaned to herself. "It has become a den for debauchery and sin."

"Magus Killers aren't assassins," I hastened to reassure the group at large as similar reactions of distaste began to make themselves known in Matsu and Uzume. "Well," I paused, cursing my honesty. "Some of them are, but the title has more to do with the way they use their magecraft than any actual killing."

Judging from the confused looks that were spreading, it seemed my attempt to explain things was going less than optimally. I suppressed a sigh and tried again, hoping that this time my explanation would go a little better.

"Look, first of all, like I said most magi are researchers. The most important thing in their lives is their magecraft and their mysteries, so they dedicate everything to their studies. The Mage Association considers its primary goal to be the preservation of thaumaturgy, and the reason that so many magi join it is because the Association is willing to give them all the resources they need in order to make new discoveries."

"Really?" Matsu perked up, sounding intrigued by the idea of a community which considers its primary goal to be research. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"Yeah, well, the thing is that the only thing the Association cares about is advancing thaumaturgy while simultaneously keeping it a secret from the rest of the world," I emphasized the word 'only' as I spoke. "So long as a magi keeps their existence a secret, they can do pretty much anything they want as long as it doesn't affect any other magus."

"That still doesn't sound so bad," Matsu asserted, sounding confused why I would consider something like the freedom to indulge in unrestrained research as bad. I decided that an example would work.

"If a magus were to go into a maternity ward and kill every infant there in the most gruesome ways imaginable, the only things the Mage's Association would care about would be whether or not the act could somehow reveal the existence of magecraft and whether or not it got results," I said bluntly. "And if it did get results, than the Association would start encouraging other magi to do the same."

"Okay, when you put it that way, it sounds bad," Matsu admitted, deflating as she did so.

"You speak as though something so detestable might truly happen," Miya noted, her own tone touched with distaste at my tactless description of typical magi ruthlessness. "Are such things common?"

"That particular incident only happened once as best I know," I admitted, "and he wasn't as discreet as he thought he had been, and the results were too lackluster so he was punished afterwards, but yeah, magi generally aren't very moral people."

"Oh dear," Miya sighed, putting a hand to her cheek as she shook her head resignedly. "They certainly don't sound to be," she agreed with my blanket summation.

"So what does all this have to do with being a 'Sorcerer Hunter'?" Uzume chimed in, bringing the conversation back to one of the earlier topics.

"It's 'Magus Killer'," I corrected, beginning to be annoyed at the constant mispronunciations. "And the difference is how a conventional magus and a Magus Killer focus on when it comes to research. Normal magi are usually pretty devoted to research without giving much thought about how to use their discoveries for anything else besides making new discoveries. Most magi never stop looking for new mysteries, but sometimes a few will decide to focus on developing a new skill; learning how to make the magecraft more efficient, finding pragmatic uses for it, things like that."

"You mean like the difference between pure and applied science," Matsu suggested. "The difference between a scientist that just researches for research's sake versus the scientist who tries to find useful and profitable discoveries?"

"Yeah," I nodded, snapping my finger lightly as I did so. "That's exactly it. And when a magi focuses on combat…"

"They get the title 'Magus Killer'," the redhead nodded, a pleased smile forming on her face. "As in 'a magus who is a killer' rather than 'a killer of magus'." Even though it originally had been the later originally instead of the former, I decided that was close enough for my needs at the moment. "So is that why you won last night even if you really aren't very powerful, Shirou-tan?" Matsu continued, making the logical connection of where my explanation was going. "Even though you weren't as strong as the other wizard, you were better at fighting?"

"Well, that's normally how it goes, but last night really was a fluke in all ways," I admitted, my eyes narrowed as I replayed the battle in my head. "The Fraga had me in every way: she had better magecraft, more power, she was better prepared, and she caught me completely by surprise. Did you get a chance to see her fight?" I shook my head with a touch of helpless awe as I recalled the few glimpses of mysteries I had managed to discern from last night. "Whatever magecraft she was using to boost her speed and strength was a lot better than the one I use. She was breaking my swords by punching them for god's sake, and the one blow she did land on me launched me nearly fifty feet through a fence."

"Yeah," Uzume nodded. "No offense there, bro, but that was actually kind of cool."

"And I don't even find it disturbing anymore that might life seems to double as entertainment to you," I responded back a trifle sardonically.

"No prob," she told me airily, waving her hand as though to dismiss the sarcasm with a grin. I didn't let her teasing get to me though; this was the most at ease I had seen Uzume around me in almost a week. "So that part at the end, where you were both using the same spell: was that the fluke you were talking about?"

"That wasn't a spell," I corrected automatically. "And the actual fluke that let me win happened earlier when she chose to prioritize Miya as more dangerous than me." I glanced at the landlady while pinpointing the exact moment which marked the turning point for the fight. "Which on its own wouldn't be the wrong choice," I admitted, freely acknowledging the much greater amount of danger the alien represented than me conventionally, "but that let me see through her mystery, and then I was able to use it against her."

"I will admit to my memories being a bit disjointed," Miya began, her voice sounding a little stiff as she did so, "but I have trouble recalling at what point I was prioritized during last night's argument. In fact, if I recall correctly that rude young lady did not seem to pay much attention to anyone but yourself."

"Exactly," I nodded. My voice became a little distant as I found myself slipping a bit into my battle persona, reviewing the battle as I had spent most of the night doing. "The Fraga new exactly how to get past my wards and exactly where I'd be when she launched the first attack. She didn't even blink when Tsukiumi and Homura tried to counter attack despite the fact that they were using their powers; instead she just used the most efficient counters she could while staying focused on me. She charged into the middle of a nest of powerful creatures, and then ignored them in favor of targeting the one nominally weakest human. That can only mean one thing…"

I trailed off, reviewing the facts in my head one last time before I committed to them, but rather than a terse or uncomfortable silence forming Matsu simply chimed in. "She must have been watching you for some time if she had managed to figure out that killing you would have stopped just about everyone else."

"Yeah," I nodded my head at Matsu's conclusion. "It's the only thing that makes sense of everything."

The Fraga don't normally join up with the association, so she must have been a freelancer instead of an Enforcer. She knew how my wards worked, and enough about how I fight to get the first attack in, so she must have seen them in action. If I had to bet, I'd say she had most likely been watching me since the day Archibald died. Hell, she might have been the reason the other magi had found me in the first place. It would make a certain degree of sense if the obnoxious bureaucrat had decided to hire a freelancer to hunt me down, something which would no doubt have taken more time, money, and effort than the Clock Tower would likely deem me worth. And the Fraga had been good, very good. I had no trouble accepting that someone as professional as she had shown herself to be would be capable of finding me.

She hadn't been present during the first fight, no doubt having been paid only to find me and then told to get out of the way. Maybe the Archibald was planning on letting her have my body afterwards originally to cash in on the bounty as a bonus. Maybe the Fraga had just stuck around for a bit to see how the fight would go. Whatever the case, she must have seen what my wards did to her employer, seen how I fought against him, and most likely been interested when she also got an eyeful of what Akitsu was capable of.

"She must have been watching for a while now," I elaborated. "Long enough for her to make a few educated guesses: she'd have to have seen everyone who's been coming in and out, and since most of our visitors or residences are either Sekirei or Ashikabi she would most likely have been smart enough to put two and two together and decide that eliminating me would take top priority. She would have been gambling on either defeating me and using me as a hostage against the rest, or worse comes to worse, that the rest would be incapacitated if she had to kill me."

"So she was sitting around long enough to figure out that Miya was dangerous as well?" Uzume leaned back, propping herself up on her arms as she made herself comfortable. "And that's why she used her secret limit break too early?"

"Limit break?" I repeated, having no idea what she was talking about. My eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you making things up on purpose just for the sake of confusing me?"

"He-heh," the ponytailed Sekirei grinned up at me easily as Matsu turned her head suspiciously to the side in order to conceal her no doubt traitorous laughter. "If I was, you wouldn't be able to tell, would you?"

"Fine," I sighed, giving up just like I did earlier. "You know what, go on ahead. I'm getting way too used to this kind of thing."

"Right," Uzume nodded graciously at me. "So then, she used her ultra powerful spell of butt whooping plus one too early, and you were able to use your blue magic to learn it? Or your enemy skill materia? Or, oh, I know! Your mime ability?"

"It was a Noble Phantasm," I corrected her, rubbing my forehead slowly as I let her now over the top shots sail by. "A legendary artifact of immense power. Its how I know that whatever her name was she was definitely a member of the Fraga clan; they're the only ones left in the world with the ability to recreate that weapon."

"Oh, a legendary artifact," Uzume muttered, her grin still splitting her face. "That's even better. So what, you saw that she had a super rare Excalibur item and decided to use your steal skill on him?"

"You know what, that's not too far off," I admitted, causing the teasing Sekirei to blink. "And it was the Fragarach. I already have Excalibur."

"Heh," Uzume chuckled, her grin spreading. "Nice. But it's no fun if you're playing along, Shirou."

"So what?" Matsu prompted, her brow knitted as she ignored Uzume's banter to focus on the pertinent issues. "Since she used the 'fraggle' thing you were able to cast a spell or something that let you block it or recreate the effect or something?" She absently began playing with her braid, her brow wrinkled with the effort of adapting her train of thinking to something which was no doubt the equivalent of alien logic in her eyes. "If it was that easy to do something like that, it must not have been a very good Royal Ghost."

"Noble Phantasm," I corrected, suppressing a wince. Okay, seriously. I mean, I wasn't this bad when I got exposed to Sekirei culture the first time. Sure, I mispronounced 'Ashikabi' a few times, but at least I made the effort to get it right. "And no; Noble Phantasms are some of the most powerful and dangerous artifacts in existence. If she had used it against me first, I wouldn't have been ready for it, and it would probably have killed me on the spot. It's only because Miya is so powerful herself that she survived in the first place. The fact that she willingly used it in front of me when I wasn't its target is actually reassuring."

"Why is it reassuring? And for that matter, if this Noble Phantom-thingy is so rare and powerful, how come you were able to use it too?" Uzume chimed back in, reaching up to scratch her cheek thoughtfully as she reentered the conversation.

"Because it meant she had no idea what my real skill is," I answered. "She still thought I was only an apprentice level when it came to combat. I told you all I received a Sealing Designation because of achieving a unique thaumaturgical ability. One of the side effects is that I'm the only person in the world who would be able to duplicate a Noble Phantasm after having seen it, much less be able to use it afterwards. It was in my notes when the Clock Tower raided my workshop, and since the Fraga wasn't aware, that means that she wasn't working with the Mage's Association."

"And is that good?" Musubi asked, raising her hand again as she used her other one to scratch casually at the hem of her bloomer. It looked like the sweat staining the clothing she had been working out in had begun to dry and the shrine girl was beginning to get itchy. Despite Musubi's confusion, Matsu's eyes lit up in realization.

"If that Fraga person wasn't working with the Mage's Association, than that means they still don't know where Shirou-tan is!" the hacker crowed triumphantly. Leave it to a fellow refugee to comprehend the intricacies of the situation. "And if they don't know where he is, they aren't hunting him, so Shirou-tan is safe!"

"For now," I corrected the jubilant hacker, trying my best to keep the situation in perspective. Despite my best efforts I couldn't keep a smile from breaking my lips as well. "There's no telling if the Fraga had some kind of backup plan, or if she sent a message to someone or had a coworker of some sort. I still have to keep a low profile and keep an eye out for any other magi, but for now I should be alright."

"Congratulations, Emiya-kun," Miya beamed at me, a smile her eyes crinkled with happiness as the realization that their Ashikabi had some small relief waiting for him spread through the gathered members of my flock.

I was honestly glad for what the news meant for my situation. I had spent weeks constantly aware of the fact that at any moment I could be called away to fight to the death against the members of the Enforcers, wondering if I was being watched, or if the next moment might be my last. It was a tension I was more or less used to and capable of dealing with, but it was still a tension none the less. And now that the tension had finally relaxed, I realized just how much it had been worrying me.

For the first time in weeks I felt, if not completely, than at least mostly at ease.

"Thanks," I told the smiling landlady, scratching the back of my head out of habit as I did so. Still, just because I finally had a stroke of luck is no reason to rest on my laurels. I decided that now was as good a time as any to start the day's chores. "Since I slept too late to do any cooking, I figured now might be a good time for me to sift through the remains of my workshop and see what I can salvage."

"An excellent idea," Miya nodded her expression returning to her usual benevolent smile. "Don't worry about lunch today," she continued, tilting her head slightly to the side. "It has been a while since I've taken a turn to cook, but I'm certain I haven't lost my touch yet."

"Are you sure?" I hedged, not liking the sound of that. When Miya's eyes narrowed, I held up my hands in surrender. "I mean, I'm certain you can cook, but I wouldn't mind putting off the shed until later tonight." I winced slightly. There had been a body in the blaze I was about to root through and it would be a little awkward if I were to unearth some particularly incriminating piece of the corpse at an inappropriate moment. It might be best to wait for after dinner before I began the salvage operation.

Seriously. That was my only reason. I was in no way nervous at the way Miya was trying to cut in on my kitchen time. Not nervous at all.

"Its fine, Emiya-kun," the landlady assured me, her smile growing almost imperceptibly wider as she did so. "You just focus on cleaning up the mess your friend caused." Turning away she began to address Musubi, not giving me time to launch an argument about how last night hadn't been my fault. "In the meantime, perhaps you would like to practice a bit more before you go to the bath, Musub-chan?"

"Of course!" the shrine girl announced instantly, pumping both fists in the air. "One more time, please!"

I frowned as the two separated from the group, a little annoyed and a little worried by the implication that Miya might not let me into the kitchen until the inn was completely fixed. If that really was the case, than she could quite possibly have finally found a punishment for me in lieu of my immunity to her hannya mask.

What a scary thought.

I was dragged from my thoughts as a tugging at my pants reminded me that I still had my youngest Sekirei attached to my leg, the tiny girl beaming up at me with a wide smile when I glanced down towards her.

"Was there something you needed, Kuu-chan?" I asked, wondering if her insistence on being attached to me was a sign of her being just happy to see me or a prelude to her making a request of some sort.

"Onii-chan has magic swords!" Kuu-chan announced, nearly bouncing in her excitement over the revelation.

"Um, yeah," I admitted, my hand once more finding the back of my head as I acknowledged the new modifier to one of Kuu's favorite proclamations.

"Hey, hey, onii-chan," Kuu continued, nearly babbling with a hopeful tone in her voice. "Can onii-chan show Kuu-chan how to use swords too?"

"What?" I repeated, blinking rapidly as I tried to convince myself that I hadn't just heard the request I was actually pretty sure I really had heard.

"Swords!" Kuu repeated unwrapping herself from around my leg so she could make a strange and childish maneuver that resembled a hop and a spin that somehow included running in place and left her standing a few feet in front of me, both hands clenched beneath her chin in excitements as she stared up at my face worshipfully. "Kuu-chan wants to use swords, so when she grows up she can be just like onii-chan!"

"Aw," Uzume cooed, her grin widening. "That's so cute! Little Kuu-chan wants to be just like…" Whatever else she was about to add to her teasing was cut off as a generic ringing noise suddenly emerged from her pants. Jumping slightly in surprise, she shifted, stretching her legs out in front of her so she could snake one of her hands into her pockets and retrieving a thin phone I didn't even know she owned. After giving the screen on the front a quick glance Uzume's smile shrank, transforming into a small grimace.

"Ugh," she moaned, before seeming to remember that she had company at the moment. Quickly her smile reemerged, albeit in a slightly more restrained version. "Sorry guys," she held one hand in front of her face in an apologetic gesture. "Looks like I gotta go take this."

"Sure," I said instantly, moving to help her up. Uzume looked surprised at the offer, but accepted the hand I held out to her. "Well," I continued, speaking to myself out loud. "Looks like I should be heading off now too. Lots of work to be done…"

"Onii-chan!" Kuu demanded from behind me, and Uzume gave me a wry grin as she realized that I had been trying to use her as an excuse to change the subject and escape the very awkward situation that had been developing. "What about Kuu-chan's swords?"

Well, it had been worth a shot.

"Um, about that, Kuu-chan," I began, turning back to the young Sekirei to be greeted by the sight of her hands fisted at her side and her cheeks puffing in childish anger. "It's just that you're a little young for that kind of thing…"

"Fuuuuggghhhh!" I was interrupted by the sound reminiscent of the ground rumbling right before a volcano erupted emerging from the Green Girl's throat. Behind her in the courtyard I couldn't help but notice that several of the cherry trees and flower bushes that Miya cultivated had began to move in an ominous fashion. Hastily I held up a placating hand to try and calm the girl.

"Kuu-chan is still too small to be able to use a real sword," I changed my approach, trying to use reason before the little sprite turned rabid. "I'd have to find some practice swords in your size first."

"Fuhuhuhu," Matsu began to giggle, an actual giggle rather than her perverted one. "Looks like we're about to see an explosion of Kuu-chan's jealousy!"

"Don't you have a computer or something that you need to look at?" I muttered at her from the side of my mouth.

"Kuu-chan is not small!" the tiny girl insisted, stomping her foot childishly. The she twirled away stomping to the edge of the veranda, and for a moment I thought that she was going off in order to find a place to pout. I nearly jumped in surprise when she was greeted by a sudden flourish of green and brown; two sprouts had emerged from the otherwise barren earth beside the porches edge. Reaching out, Kuu wrapped her childish fists around the strange growths and pulled them free of the earth with apparent ease. Wheeling around, she held the two sticks at her side facing upwards.

"Kuu-chan has swords too!" she declared, doing her absolute best to imitate my customary fighting stance.

"Aww," Kazehana cooed as well, imitating Uzume's earlier reaction. "That's so cute!"

"You know," I began, eying the two imitation bokken that the youngest Sekirei had just grown spontaneously. "I had almost forgotten she could do that." It had been so long since I had seen Kusano use her Sekirei powers that it had gotten customary for me to think of her as just a young child, and not a member of an alien species with fantastic abilities. Then I blinked, getting distracted from the revelation of Kuu's otherworldliness. I started to turn around in order to face the unexpected voice that had just spoken. "Wait, when did you get here Kazehana?"

I made it about halfway around before I froze, blushed, and then was forced to spin back to face the other direction, my hands coming up to pinch my nose as I tried not to hyperventilate.

"Good morning, dearest," Kazehana purred in an exuberant tone, apparently very happy with my reaction. When she decided to wrap both her arms around me, pressing herself against my back as her hands closed around my chest in a hug I felt my spine stiffen and my blush increase. "I was planning on waking you up, but it looks like I took too long changing."

"Too long changing?" I repeated, feeling faint. "How can you take long to change into something like that?"

"Oh!" Matsu gasped, pointing at the newcomer behind me with awe on her face. "The legendary Naked Apron!"

I had no idea what made it so legendary, but the title was certainly descriptive. The few seconds I had seen it had been enough for me to confirm that yes, the frilly and loosely tied apron was really the only thing that the luscious wind user was wearing. Large swathes of skin visible along her flanks and around her chest were proof enough of that.

"W-were you planning on cooking something?" I offered somewhat lamely, more in an effort to find something else to think about than just what the warm body pressed against my back was wearing.

"Mmmm," Kazehana blew softly in my ear, sending a shudder down my spine. "Well, there was something I really wanted to make, but only with you, husband," she whispered in my ear, and I had the distinct impression that whatever it was she wanted to make it most likely had very little to do with cooking.

"Is this really appropriate?" I asked, hoping to distract myself from the way the hands on my chest were now beginning to wander. "Especially since Kuu, Matsu, and Akitsu are right there?"

"Matsu doesn't mind," the hacker instantly announced, a flush of her own spreading across her cheeks. "Fuhuhu fuhuhu," she added, once more displaying her old man giggle.

"Jiiiiiii," Kuu added, staring with wide, innocent, and very confused eyes at the unfolding sight before her. She had apparently forgotten about her new makeshift swords and their tips had sunk until they rested on the floor.

"Ah," Akitsu began, before pausing. Though she was still mostly facing the courtyard the snow woman had tilted her head enough for her to take in the scene from the corner of her eyes. "I kind of like that," she finally concluded.

"See," Kazehana continued whispering directly into my ear, one of her legs wrapping around mine. I suppressed a manly 'eep', certain that if I showed weakness now it would be all over. "They don't mind. Now, why don't we go back to our room and I can show you how I was planning to wake you up?"

"Oh dear god," I gulped, my voice shaking as I did so. I thought I knew what seductive was. I thought I was prepared for what it might mean if Kazehana ever joined my harem. What the hell had I been thinking?

"Oh," a new voice interrupted, and I realized that at some point the figure of Miya in the courtyard had disappeared. Musubi was still in the courtyard, hand poised to block an attack that would never come and blinking in surprise as where her sparring partner had apparently vanished mid strike. "God isn't here right now," Miya continued from where I assumed she was standing directly behind Kazehana and I, her voice deceptively cheerful as she did so.

I felt Kazehana stiffen, and then the hands that had been trying to seduce me changed to clutching me in terror. "M-M-Miya," the wind user began, stuttering slightly as I felt her shift to look behind her. "W-when did you get here?"

"Now, now, Kazehana-san," Miya tsked, and even with my eyes locked straight ahead I could still hear the sound of howling wind and clashing wood blocks. "I'm always here when it's time to talk about what is prohibited in Izumo House."

I found myself hoping that I was wrong, and that the Fraga from the night before really did have allies, and that they attacked right this very instant.

Sadly, if they were out there, they had enough common sense not to interfere with Miya when it was time for a lecture.

*Scene Break*

It was with a relieved feeling that I found myself an hour or so later shifting through the scorched debris which mark the wreckage of the old shed. I had been fortunate enough to have escaped the majority of Miya's displeasure by way of her giving me a five minute lead where she deemed it more important to drag Kazehana back to Uzume's room in order to find something more appropriate for the doomed Sekirei to wear. Me, being the sane and logical being that I was utilized this respite to escape next door and remove myself from the firing range.

At least now I knew what Uzume was laughing about earlier. It seemed that her and Kazehana were giving every impression that they were going to get along great; something which worried me just a little. It had been a while since Uzume had managed to get any of my Sekirei into her cosplay costumes; the only one who regularly dressed up being Kuu, and only in a variety of adorable animal costumes. Now that Kazehana was here, and apparently game, I was giving the new fear of some of the more racy costumes that no doubt existed in the back of the mischievous Veiled Sekirei's closet.

Still, that was a worry for another time. Right now I had another project to occupy my attention with.

"I remember this rotor," I muttered to myself, shaking my head in dismay. "It only exploded on me twice."

Cradled in my hand was yet another of the components to my lost Mystic Code, the unnamed washing machine with which I was committing atrocity in the eyes of competent magi everywhere. It was a small and unassuming thing, blackened heavily by soot and warped by the heat of the flames, but I could still make out a few of the dozens of lines of runes that I had painstakingly etched into it one at a time. This looked like it could still be useful later.

So far since I had begun picking through the mess I had started four official piles to sort any discoveries into. The first pile had thankfully remained completely empty up to this point: the small hole I was planning on throwing anything which might be connected with the dead body which had been here last night. I had ordered Homura to burn everything, and I had been fairly confident that he had been thorough, but that didn't change the fact that there still might be clumps of bones or personal effects which might have made it through the blaze. Nothing would be quite as awkward if something like a skull had survived in recognizable shape and was found later by some innocent passerby. The same could be said for any jewelry or personal effects, things like engraved rings or reinforced pocket watches. I had dug out a small pit that I was planning to toss anything into before surreptitiously using my own magecraft to finish the job immediately.

The second pile was by far the biggest, a fact that I had used to help conceal the hole for the first pile, and it was merely a space for me to dump any junk in a vaguely organized manner: scraps of wood which hadn't burnt all the way down, melted puddles of metal that might have been tools or scraps, and unidentifiable chunks of plastic which probably had similar histories all were tossed together. The third pile was where still salvageable materials were gathering. So far I'd found a hammer which could still be used, a set of wrenches that had came out in perfect condition, of all things a roll of duct tape, and various other treasures. By the time I was done with the salvage I might actually have enough to fill a tool box with the essentials.

The fourth pile was the one which was proving to be interesting: the pile where everything related to my magecraft was being placed. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, a good number of my tomes had managed to survive the inferno virtually untouched by the flames. It made sense, after I stopped to think about it when I discovered the third preserved tome beside chunks of metal which had obviously been rendered unusable. All the books I had related to runes were actually very basic in the end, the kind of thing which only an apprentice would need with any regularly. And the thing about apprentices is that they do tend to have accidents from time to time. It was probably simpler in the long run to put some effort into making sure the rune primers would be able to survive a little accident rather than have to get a new copy every time a first timer accidently blew something up.

The other thing which was proving to be a useful find was the scraps of washing machine that had begun turning up when I started searching through the area most of it had been located in. While the machine itself was missing too many parts, and many of the parts that I had located were too warped from the fire and pressure of the buildings collapse to be usable, they did provide me something else which would be invaluable: my research.

It was no surprise that a good amount of my notes were gone forever, having been nothing more than paper in the first place. The loss of a workshop would be a crippling experience for any magi who focused on the traditional aspects of magecraft. However, for me as a magus killer I was more or less unaffected by the damage. As a magus killer, I was never interested in intricacies and the development of obscure and unusual modicums of data; my research was all functional and thus much similar. More than that, it had always been my intention to find appropriate combinations to make spells which would in some way or another be used in combat, and because of that most of the combinations I had discovered so far that had proven useful I had already memorized and practiced so as to have them become second nature when I needed to use them in the heat of battle. For the more basic uses of runes, the sections of the washing machine still bearing the earlier spell work and fragments of runes would prove useful for helping me reconstruct my earlier experiments.

As for the other two aspects of my research, the damage was almost equally unimportant. Trying to figure out the specifics of my Reality Marble were almost always internal matters, experiments where I tried to adjust my Aria, increase my concentration, practice my tracing speed, and other things which didn't really require much in the way of notation. Moreover, I already had one experience with someone stumbling across any notes on the subject and things going very bad for me afterwards. I was actually considering whether or not I should even begin taking notes on the Unlimited Blade Works again or just keep all my new research internalized.

In regards to my research in Sekirei, it wasn't like I was making much progress there either. The only thing I think I'll regret in those lines of study was the loss of the place where Akitsu and I had our first time, and that's mostly just due to practicality. My workshop really would have been the best place to go if any of my other Sekirei were intending to engage in intimacy with me, and I wasn't relishing how having a half a dozen mature members of the species all feeling frustrated due to the inherent difficulties they were forced to endure when trying to seduce me with Miya around was going to turn out.

"At least now I can be fairly certain that there won't be any more additions to the crowd," I muttered to myself, picking up a jagged sheet of metal that at one point had been inscribed with runes designed to heat water. "I'm already out of days of the week."

"Well," a sly voice broke in, causing my spine to stiffen from where I was still leaning over the latest piece of scrap, "guess it was a good thing that I went with the other Ashikabi then isn't it, Minato-chan?"

"Karasuba," I responded, the name both an identification and a greeting. "Is it really such a good idea to tempt me when I'm surrounded by ammunition?"

I was pleased that my voice managed to come out so casual, despite the frantic pace my heart had assumed. Part of my accelerated heart rate was over the fact that for some reason I kept having trouble sensing Karasuba coming like I could other Sekirei; MBI's Dog's scent was just so similar to Miya's that when the landlady was around she completely masked the Black Sekirei's power with her own.

The other part had to do with the fact that the enforcer of the Sekirei Plan was apparently watching me as I riffled through wreckage that may or may not still have pieces of a body littered through it.

"Ammunition?" Karasuba responded, a playful tone in her voice. "Whatever do you mean, Minato-chan?"

"And this is your last warning," I told her, my voice dry as I did so.

"Of course, of course. I'll stop now," she assured me, her voice casual and relaxed. For a second I thought she might possibly have meant it, but then with even more amusement in her tone she continued, "Mina-"

Cutting her off halfway through I spun, taking in the sight of her as she leaned casually against the inside of the fence furthest away from Izumo House proper. Karasuba was in the only clothing I'd ever seen her in, barring Musubi's bathrobe, both arms crossed under her modest breasts and one leg bent so she could rest the flat of her foot against the fence behind her. Despite the fact that this time she had her long nodachi sheathed and resting against her hip, the hilt being clutched lightly in one hand to keep the weapon ready, I took aim, letting a thin trickle of od flow into the battered piece of scrap metal in my hand, and then I threw the steel fast at the interloper's head.

Karasuba's grin widened and she dodged, moving only the slightest amount she had to in order to get out of the way of the impromptu projectile. With a solid 'thunk' the Altered metal buried itself only inches away from the swordswoman's ear.

"You know," Karasuba said, not even letting the impromptu attempt on her life phase her as she gave the quivering projectile a casual glance, "I never get tired of seeing you do that."

"Good morning to you too, Karasuba," I told her, straightening up from the pseudo-crouch my attack had left me in. A casual glance of my own assured me of the fact that there was nothing too incriminating exposed at the moment, though in the interest of keeping it that way it might be a good idea if I took a break for the duration of this visitation. "Did you like the fruit basket I sent?"

Karasuba laughed, the sound surprisingly feminine from the bloody warrior, her eyes crinkled in her usual expression of good humor. "Well, you can imagine that we were all a bit surprised when it showed up I'm sure," she admitted. She shook her head slightly at the memory, still smiling. "It took security nearly two hours before they were willing to admit that it wasn't some kind of bomb, or poisoned, or a hidden attack of some sort."

"It was probably the note," I admitted with a shrug. "You think it might have been over the top when I congratulated you on number eighty six?" Eighty six had been the number whose Ashikabi decided that getting a little payback on his exes was an acceptable use of his mate's abilities.

"Maybe a little, but it is nice to see my hard work being appreciated every once in a while," Karasuba admitted with a shrug. One of her eyes opened a bit more, peering out at me from beneath her bangs as she did so. "How did you know I like apples, by the way?"

"I asked Musubi," I confessed, rolling my shoulders as I started to make my way closer her. I could still hear the noises of sparring coming no more than a few dozen yards away, and if I remembered correctly Miya didn't exactly get along with Karasuba that well. It made sense for MBI to send someone to investigate last night's little blip with their systems, and the best option at the moment was to cooperate with the interrogator rather than pick a fight. It was probably best to keep my flock from interrupting, seeing as how Karasuba makes most of them very nervous. "I wasn't certain what the others would like though, so I improvised."

"Well, Haihane certainly seemed to enjoy the bananas," Karasuba recalled, apparently not having any problems with sharing details. "And Natsuo used the pineapple for one of his cocktails later on. It doesn't look like Benitsuba was too happy with the gift though."

"Haihane and Benitsuba," I muttered, trying to recall the details of the name. "The Blue and Crimson Sekirei, weren't they? Did she just not like the selection?"

"Not precisely," Karasuba's grin got wider though she made no effort to question me on my knowledge of the Disciplinary Squad. "You see, once the basket came, Natsuo decided to do a little investigating over who would be sending fruit. Once he found your record, well, it looks like he's taken a bit of an interest in you. Benitsuba didn't like that."

"Oh?" I tried to make my response as casual as I could even as I tensed. "Well, if I'm to be targeted by the Disciplinary Squad this early in the game, I suppose that will give you a chance to fight Musubi soon enough." I tried to keep my comment from appearing like a probe for information, even as my mind raced to consider the implications of her statement. If I had known the gesture of good will would make me a target, I would have tried to be more discreet.

"Not that kind of target," Karasuba corrected me in a knowing tone. She leaned forward as though to share a juicy secret. "It looks like my Ashikabi might have a bit of a crush on you."

"Your Ashikabi?" I repeated, still pondering the implications of being a target when her words caught up to me. "W-wait," I stuttered holding up my hands to stop the conversation. "Isn't your Ashikabi a male?"

Karasuba nodded, looking entirely too pleased by this development. "He was quite excited when he discovered that you already had a male Sekirei of your own," she continued, and I groaned, sinking my head into my hand in embarrassment despite that meaning I took my eyes off of a dangerous creature. "Since Benitsuba still has hopes of 'showing Natsuo the light', she was a little upset."

"You know," I began, groaning into my hands. "Its times like these which make me certain that there is some kind of higher power watching over the world, and that at some point in my past I must have offended it greatly." It wouldn't surprise me at all if that higher power was Archer, and the jerk had somehow managed to find a way to use his status as a Counter Guardian in such a petty way.

"Hmmm," Karasuba hummed, still sounding entirely too amused at my expense. "It's enough to make me wonder just what someone as 'peaceful' as you could have done to deserve it, Shiroi-kun."

I glanced up sharply at the emphasis she put on 'peaceful', taking note in the back of my head that while the blood soaked Sekirei still was refusing to use my real name she was at least no longer calling me by my birth name. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing," she answered in a casual voice. "It's just that recently the forums that MBI monitors to look out for dissidents have started to have some interesting rumors." The blood stained Sekirei pushed herself up off the wall, the first time she'd made any overt movement since she had shown up, and began to pace almost idly along the edge of the fence. I noted that for all her nonchalance she was making sure to keep as much distance between her and the rest of Izumo House as she could as well as avoiding the open hole I had put in the fence the night before. It seemed she was also trying to keep this just between the two of us. "Something about an Ashikabi with swords that is actually a demon disguised as a human that devours souls or something."

"Well, that sounds like the kind of person I should avoid," I told her, trying my best to keep a good poker face on even though I was pretty sure it was pointless. There was no way that Karasuba would have brought it up if she wasn't already suspicious. "If I ever come across someone so scary I'll be sure to send for you right away."

Karasuba's innocent smile slipped, changing briefly into something that carried an almost predatory air to it. Her lips were still curled, and her teeth still covered, but the effect was much different than what it was before. The overall impression might have been helped by the change in the Sekirei's eyes: just like with Miya whenever the landlady was giving something a serious evaluation Karasuba's eyes opened all the way, locking on me and searching me carefully for something though I wasn't quite sure what. I matched her gaze, preparing to defend myself if my attempt at flippancy had been enough to provoke this more intense version of the normally smiling killer.

Then the moment was gone, and the walking genocide in front of me was once more wearing a peaceful appearance.

"Well, that's a relief," she told me, cocking her head to the side in a gesture which seemed to indicate indifference. "I was wondering if maybe somebody had run into this new guy last night." MBI's Dog gave the lot an obvious once over, lingering pointedly on the wreckage I had been sorting before she arrived. "After all, there was apparently some kind of glitch in the mainframe last night. Would you believe that up until right around dawn the system still had that little hovel standing just fine?"

"What an amazing thing," I told her, my voice monotonous as I did so. "Maybe you should see about getting your system checked?"

"Well, they spent most of the morning diagnosing it just to be sure," Karasuba admitted freely before pausing at one particular area along her path, glancing downwards bemusedly. I suppressed a twitch when I realized that she was looking at: one of the gouged craters left over from the Crane Wing Three Realm. "Still, the Director seems to think that there might have been outside influences involved." With a helpless shrug that managed to convey just how little she actually cared, Karasuba continued, moving on from the gouged earth. "He asked me to check around a bit, see what or who I could dig up. After all," she glanced at me from over her shoulder, a movement which actually looked coquettish from her angle, "there aren't many people that could get past MBI's firewall."

I grit my teeth before forcing myself to stop before they made any noise. I could hear what she was saying loud and clear, and though it did answer a few lingering questions, the intent behind it was obvious. There probably weren't many humans that could get into MBI's information and even less Sekirei who could manage to do the same. In fact, there were only two Sekirei with the qualifications that hadn't been terminated yet, and one of them lived right here.

They knew where Matsu was. Of course they knew where she was, after all, she had a tracking chip in her. Despite their intelligence however they still had made no effort to reclaim her regardless of her fugitive status. There could be two reasons for that. The first, they simply didn't want to risk an encounter with Miya, a perfectly logical course of actions.

The second, they simply didn't care what the hacker was doing. Despite having committed some kind of offense worthy of an initial effort to capture her, Matsu was now being allowed to roam freely anyway. I could think of a dozen reasons why they might have given up on capturing her or decided to move on to more important targets, but none of them stuck out in my head particularly.

Whatever the case was, I had to say something back to the waiting Karasuba.

"Have you tried Higa of the East?" I supplied, shamelessly taking advantage of the situation. "I hear that he has a Sekirei with some pretty mean talent for that kind of thing."

It only seemed fair. Higa kept trying to target me ever since I stopped his movements against Tsukiumi; spreading dangerous rumors, offering a bounty, things like that. Now it was my turn to send a little trouble his way.

It's just that the trouble I was directing was more likely to work than his had.

"Hmm," Karasuba hummed, finally unfolding her arms as she paused at another spot on the fence, a spot I realized was stained a dark brownish red. It was where Miya had been thrown last night after her wounding, the first blood she had ever lost staining the earth beneath Karasuba's eyes. "Well, I suppose I should check out that potential lead," she declared, her eyes lazily tracking back to where I was standing and trying to look innocent.

"You should be careful," I encouraged her, nodding my head sagely. "That Higa has a tendency to be violent. You might want to have your sword ready, and shouldn't think twice about cutting down anyone that gets in your way."

For a moment Karasuba paused to study me, her eyes unlidding once more as she took in my admonishment. Then, she began to chuckle, her eyes closing as she did so. "Oh? Are you saying that I should show Higa my own special brand of intimidation, Shiroi-chan?" she asked between chuckles, apparently finding my encouragement to make her visit to the East as bloody as possible to be borderline uproarious.

"It's the only way to get the point across for some people," I told her piously. With a quick glance towards the inn, I leaned in conspiratorially. "Afterwards, as a thanks for all of your hard work, I'll send another basket. This time, I'll include some pastries."

"Hmmm," Karasuba hummed, shaking her head side to side in disbelief at my shameless attempt at bribery. "Now, I'm fairly certain that bribery is something that I, as the head of the Disciplinary Squad should be ab-," she began, before I cut her off.

"I have a recipe for apple tarts," I told her, taking advantage of her recent revelation of a like for apples. Karasuba paused for a moment, and I sweetened the deal. "Delicious apple tarts, with cinnamon."

"Only you, Shiroi-chan," she muttered shaking her head as she did so at the presumption of my offer. For a moment Karasuba seemed to consider the matter carefully before she began to make her way back to the entrance she had originally used, shifting her grip on her sword as she did so. "You better include something with strawberries, too," she told me, and I knew that once more the power of baked goods truly was one of the most powerful forces in the universe. "Benitsuba loves them and it might be enough to stop her whining."

"Deal," I told her, nodding in agreement. "Always a pleasure doing business with you, Karasuba-san."

"You know," she muttered, shaking her head as she smiled as she continued making her way back to the gate leading from the lot to the street, "I honestly think you mean that."

It appeared that the concept of someone enjoying her presence was enough to honestly surprise her. Despite that revelation, it looked like I had officially either been dismissed as the cause of last night's electronic incident or the idea of spilling blood was too much for her to resist any more as she made her way off the property.

Karasuba paused before making her final exit, her warning delivered and her curiosity satisfied. Slowly, with the hand not cradling her nodachi she reached up, gently running her hand down the length of steel which still sat buried in the fence where her head had once been. With her back to me, she glanced over her shoulder, an innocent look on her face as she did so.

"You're an interesting person, Minato Sahashi," she told me bluntly. Still looking at me, she carefully grasped the improvised weapon, tugging it firmly out of the fence as she did so. "I'll be taking this," she continued. "It will fit right in with my collection."

"Call me Minato one more time and I'll be happy to add a few more for you," I told her bluntly, gesturing with one hand towards the piles of scrap and all the sharp objects that still remained in arm's reach.

With a final chuckle and a shake of her head, Karasuba turned away. "I'll be looking forward to those tarts of yours," she told me, waving the newly claimed scrap metal over her head in parting.

"Have a safe trip," I told her in return, watching her disappear around the corner of the fence.

The moment her presence disappeared, I let my enforced relaxation slip as I contemplated the implications of this unexpected meeting. For all the civility of it, there was no shortage of ominous overtones packed into the few minutes she had stuck around to talk.

On my part, I now had confirmation that MBI was definitely aware of Matsu's location and wase willing to look the other way for the most part. More than that, I knew that I was under both official and unofficial scrutiny by the Disciplinary Squad, but that the unit as a whole mostly appeared to look favorably on me at least.

And on Karasuba's part, she had learned that whatever battle here had been heated enough to carve gouges out of the earth in various irregular patterns, and that someone had gotten badly injured at the very least. I had no idea what she would do with that information though. Despite her position, I had no way of knowing just how devoted Karasuba was to her official duty or MBI at all: after all, she had just accepted a bribe from a competitor designed to use her to weaken another competitor. Not exactly the most sterling example of neutrality out there.

Whatever the case was, I decided I'd make it a point to brush up on the apple tart recipe as much as possible in the next few days.


	28. Twenty Eighth Wing

In Flight: Twenty Eighth Wing

_Author's notes: Wow. Been a while since this one has been updated. There are several long stories involved in just why this chapter took so long, composed of wild and amazingly believable excuses perfectly explaining the long wait, but I don't feel like giving them! If you really want to know, I've explained before on forums or even on the last story I published, so shame on you for not knowing the incredible hardships I have endured, all the while berating myself for not being able to fulfill you, the reader's, every desire!_

_Anyway. Normally I give responses to reviews in this section, but since most of my reviews have been threats against my family, my home, and my poor innocent little pet, I'll just jump over that for now. Now, on to details about the chapter._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_I'm honestly not certain how I feel about this chapter as a whole. This chapter was always meant to be a staging ground for the next part of In Flight. With the revelation of magecraft, the responses of Shirou's Sekirei, and sowing the grounds for future plot elements, I had a lot to cram in here. Combined with just how long its been since I wrote any In Flight, I'll admit to being worried that this chapter will feel off, like I would have lost the feel for the characters I had originally when I was doing the long haul earlier. _

_I like to think I managed to recover my original writing style, but if I hadn't, I'm gonna have to shrug it off here and blame the long time between the last time I wrote for any diminishing of quality. Let me know in either reviews or the forums how you think this chapter rates._

_That being said, a lot of reviewers were hoping for GAR to commemorate my return to In Flight. Unfortunately, you get some harem antics. This chapter really does pick up where the last ones left, and there was still a lot of fall out from the events of 25 and 26 to deal with. However, this chapter also marks the beginning of the third stage of the Sekirei Plan. Honestly, from what I have planned for the rest of the story its mostly going to be plot development and conflict from here on out. Harem antics might make themselves known, but that will mostly be to break up the tension of the rest of the story._

_Thing's to note, though I shall not elaborate too much. _

_The bath scene at the beginning I lifted from Pure Engagement, though the part where Musubi reveals her education isn't as lacking as people might have suspected was something I had planned on. Musubi might come off as a pure hero type in canon, but there were definitely scenes where she hinted at having less than chaste intentions throughout the manga. Much like Shirou, she might be a heroically distorted and imperfect character, but that doesn't mean she's necessarily a chaste hero either._

_The final conversation where Shirou spends a lot of time talking about sorcery and other magi details is there for the benefit of helping show the reaction of Sekirei to magecraft a little better than earlier. I had to take a LOT of liberties with the actual sorceries themselves, but in my defense Nasu deliberately never explained the first, fourth, and fifth sorcery, so I feel justified in filling in my own details there. _

_Of interest as well in this chapter is actually Uzume. Fans of canon will no doubt recognize some of her actions, and will also no doubt come to their own conclusions about them. It probably won't be hard to guess just where I'm going with them._

_Now. As always. Read and enjoy. If you like it, give a review! If you don't like it, also give a review, though do try to be constructive. Questions/comments/concerns are more likely to be answered on the forums themselves._

*Story Start*

I woke with a start to the feeling of someone shaking my shoulder.

"Shirou-san!" I identified Musubi as the speaker even as I shook my head, taking a few moments to try and clear my head as I attempted to recall just where I was. The shrine girl continued, her voice innocently curious. "Are you awake yet?"

"Awake?" I repeated, before the memories of just where I was and how I got there returned. Right. "How long was I asleep?" I asked, rubbing my eyes to clear the sleep out of them, ignoring the water that sheeted off my hand as I pulled it from the still warm bath.

"Not long," Musubi assured me, leaning backwards to where she had apparently been seated across from me, the strange glow on her stomach fading as she did so. "You were in here for about an hour before Miya-san asked me to come and get you.

"Ah," I grunted, recalling the events leading to me falling asleep in the bath. I had spent the better part of four hours in the lot behind Izumo House trying to clear away the wreckage from last night's battle to the death, and aside from me being able to convince Karasuba that carving a bloody streak through the East was a fine way to spend an afternoon most of my day had been less than productive.

By the time I had decided to call it quits and come back in I had barely managed to salvage enough for that one single tool box, so at least I'd be able to see to my appointments tomorrow. The haul had been less than stunning, as apparently when I informed Homura to 'burn it until even the bones were gone,' he had taken me quite seriously. In the end I had managed to find some basics like a hammer and some screwdrivers, as well as most of a wrench set. On their own they wouldn't be enough for every kind of task I might find as a repair man, but the recovery of three sets of vice grips were enough for me to make up for the lack of other specialized tools.

There wasn't anything that you couldn't do with enough vice grips, as long as you got creative about it.

My recovered research proved to be even less fruitful, with only my most basic sets of rune primers coming out, as well as the warped remains of my poor mystic washer. Still, I wasn't too concerned about that, seeing as most of the gains from my lost research were already internalized at this point. On the plus side, despite my most careful of searches I had still yet to find any body parts, so I was cautiously optimistic that I wouldn't be investigated for murder anytime soon.

Still, despite only breaking even when it came to salvage, I had to call it quits for the day eventually. By the time the sun was starting to get low in the sky, impairing any future search's productivity, I had accomplished enough for me to justify coming back in from the growing warmth of mid spring. The first stop I had made once I returned for the day was naturally the bath. I hadn't had a chance to clean up from the battle the night before, after all, and with the addition of enough soot and ashes to make me resemble a chimney sweep combined with the blood and sweat of the fight yesterday I was beginning to both feel and smell more than a little rank at that point.

I suppose even if it wasn't exactly safe then it was at least understandable that once greeted by the warm water to sooth away the last of my lingering aches my body would decide to take a brief little nap. There were some things that I, as a lover of traditional Japanese housing, could just not ignore and Izumo's baths just happened to be one of them.

It wasn't until I had begun to stretch briefly to work the last of my lingering stiffness away that I realized something which probably should have caught my attention much earlier.

"Musubi," I began, clearing my throat a bit as I did so and turning away from exactly what it was that had ended up catching my eye. "Why are you in the bath with me?"

"Hm?" Musubi hummed, giving me a curious look, before she beamed at me. "Ah! Well, Miya-san was finishing up with dinner, and when Shirou-san still hadn't come out of the bath the landlady asked us to come and get you!" The completely nude Sekirei opposite me shrugged and then knuckled her forehead, sticking her tongue out all the while unabashed of either her nakedness or the way her movements affected her body. "But when we came in, Shirou-san looked so peaceful that we decided to join him instead!"

"We?" I repeated, trying very hard not to blush or show any other physical reaction to the sight before me as I glanced around the bathroom. Sure enough, it appeared as though there was one other interloper into the bathing area. Akitsu had seated herself quite calmly on one of the stools and even as we spoke was busy lathering her arm up with the same slow deliberate economy of motion which she gave most tasks assigned her. "Oh," I finished somewhat lamely, before deliberately dragging my eyes away from the washing Sekirei and focusing on the ceiling instead.

"Yes," I felt the water move as I made out Musubi nodding vigorously from the corner of my eye. When I realized that particular corner of my eye was apparently growing larger as my gaze started to drift downward I dragged it back up towards the ceiling with all the discipline that years of magecraft had instilled in me. "Akitsu always takes a long time to wash," Musubi continued, as though the number one concern I had with this scenario was why it was that Akitsu was still washing when Musubi had already joined me, "but she always lets me wash her back!"

"Is that right?" I managed to mutter, still a little off balance by the situation. And I had thought that last night's ambush had been dangerous. It seems I had been mistaken as to where the real threat to my safety lay in Izumo house.

"Yes!" Musubi enthused, and I noted two hands sticking up in the air as she displayed her enthusiasm in her typical fashion. "Though I usually end up groping her breasts a little!"

"What?" I demanded, my tone somewhere between startled and nonplussed at the revelation of just what it was my Sekirei got up to when they were bathing. My eyes darted down so I could give Musubi a bewildered look before I remembered that I was trying not to provoke a physical reaction in myself and forced them back up to the ceiling. The brief glance had been enough for my cheeks to start heating up again. "Why on earth would you do that?"

"Well, Yukari-chan always did it to me," the shrine girl admitted, sounding vaguely reflective as she did so. "And she always seemed to have so much fun, so I decided to try it." She hummed briefly, before continuing. "I guess it's kind of fun," she admitted, sounding contemplative as she did so.

"Yukari does not constitute as an acceptable role model when it comes to bathroom behavior, Musubi," I told her as firmly as I could. Unfortunately, given the circumstances, it turns out 'as firmly as I could' included a certain high pitch wavering most often found in puberty when voices start cracking. That most certainly did not bode well for my control of this situation. "You shouldn't go around groping people just because someone else does it!"

"Ah," a voice spoke up, reminding me of the presence of aforementioned victim. Despite myself, my eyes drifted down to look at Akitsu. Too late I realized that my habit of instantly giving the snow woman my attention whenever she spoke up might one day betray me as I caught sight Akitsu, both hands hefting her chest as she looked down at her own assets. "I liked it," she admitted finally, two small spots of red forming on her cheeks as she fidgeted slightly.

"You liked it," I repeated, not knowing why the confession surprised me, but somehow still managing to feel a little bit unnerved by it. This was the same Sekirei who had taken to watching the porn traps that Matsu had set up for me with a great deal of interest after all; who had in fact particularly shown interest in acts which were rapidly accumulating in higher and higher levels of perversity. For that matter, she was the only Sekirei in my flock so far that had actually had a chance to engage in physical intimacy so far.

And, with that little revelation, it appears that Akitsu seemed to share that same certain lack of discrimination that Matsu tended to display at times. I wasn't quite certain just how I should feel about that revelation.

As the red spots in Akitsu's cheeks started to grow under my continued stare, I couldn't help but wonder if I might have inadvertently unleashed a monster that I wasn't prepared to deal with at this time.

It wasn't until Akitsu began to shift in a way which I could only describe as 'preening', her own hands still holding her breasts up as she moved slightly as though to show them off better, that I realized I was staring. The red on my cheeks growing, I quickly snapped my head away, though the act provided me no relief as in my haste I seemed to have forgotten that the view directly in front of me was equally dangerous. Musubi had moved forwards, the water not nearly enough of a screen to keep me from seeing that she was now in a kneeling position with both hands on her knees as she leaned in, her expression curious as she stared down through the water at my own body…

Wishing desperately that I had remembered to bring a towel with me into the tub, my hands instinctively shot forward to conceal just what it was that Musubi had been peering at so intently.

"Ah!" I yelped, flushing frantically as Musubi's gaze came up to give me a curious look. "That is," I began, before realizing that I had no idea how I was going to explain the fact that contemplating my first Sekirei's sexual orientation while staring at her naked body had prompted a certain biological function inherent in all healthy red-blood heterosexual males. And in front of Musubi too for that matter. Besides Kuu-chan, Musubi was probably the most naïve of my Sekirei. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to go about explaining something like…

"Ah! Are we going to have sex now, Shirou-san?" Musubi asked me, her tone childishly curious.

What?

It took me several long seconds to properly process the shrine girl's innocent question. Most of those seconds were me trying to decide whether or not I had, in a fit of hormones, managed to mistake her saying something else entirely for the phrase that actually passed her lips. The next few seconds after that my brain tried to wrestle with the fact that it had been Musubi of all people to have said something that direct.

Finally, my mental faculties gave up, and in the ensuing collapse of my cognitive abilities the only thing that came out was, "Huh?"

"Sex," Musubi repeated, nodding her head firmly. "I've been wondering ever since Akitsu-san and Shirou-san did it when it was going to be my turn."

I gaped at her, still completely at a loss as to how to react to this completely unexpected proposition. Finally, my mouth decided that my brain wasn't going to be catching up anytime soon and decided to just go ahead and take charge on its own.

"How do you know about sex?" I asked, confusion evident both on my face and in my tone. "You don't even know what porn is!"

"Hm?" Musubi hummed, her head cocking to the side in curiosity. "Of course I know what sex is, Shirou-san," she continued, obviously not understanding my confusion. "The people at the lab explained it. Takami-san made sure to explain it was only something that should be done with someone you love. And since I love you, it means it's alright to have sex, Shirou-san." The answer to my first question given, she paused before continuing. "Does porn have something to do with sex?"

Okay. I suppose that makes sense. At least, the logic behind it was enough for me to jump start my brain back into pseudo-coherency. They are a species which are primarily concerned about finding their mates, after all. More than that, they also bonded psychically with those mates when they found them. Add in the fact that most of the species as a whole were both female and very attractive, and it would be what amounted to gross incompetence to release them into the city and NOT give them the specifics of what they could expect once they found the ones they were going to inevitably breed with.

Hell, I expect that most of the Ashikabi who suddenly found themselves with alien wives had probably taken a lot less time to take advantage of their newly mated status then I had.

Unfortunately, while this new train of previously unthought-of logic allowed me to recover from my earlier shock, it did nothing to diminish the fact that I was naked, in the bath with a beautiful woman who was also naked, and was currently being propositioned to engage in sexual intercourse.

In fact, it served to help draw attention to the fact that Musubi was still kneeling in front of me, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, while her arms served to help press together and emphasize her bountiful assets, and that she was still eying a part of me that I was rapidly having trouble covering. The realization of her beauty that I had those weeks ago when I had discovered Musubi's distortion once more struck me, and I swallowed hard.

Despite myself, my eyes shot towards the door leading into the rest of Izumo House proper. This entire situation was entirely too cliché, and seemed to have come directly out of some kind of romantic comedy. I couldn't help but feel that this would have been the perfect moment for someone to walk in on the whole embarrassing scene and then prompt humorous hijinks as they misunderstood what was happening.

When no one suddenly interrupted, I realized that this kind of scene also happened in other types of stories too, though in those particular genres the protagonist would be in the middle of accepting Musubi's offer and moving on to the steamy parts.

Maybe I had been jinxing myself by comparing my life to eroges so often?

When I realized that my attempt to check for intrusions had placed Akitsu squarely in my line of sight as well, and that the snow woman was currently watching the unfolding scene with unabashed attentiveness, I decided that enough was enough.

"Oh!" I declared, standing up quickly, still covering myself with my hands. They didn't seem to do much to dissuade Musubi's attention, but I kept them there regardless. "I think I just heard Miya calling for me! I better go see what she wants."

No, retreat in the face of insurmountable odds was not in any way cowardly. It was a perfectly viable tactic for handling unexpected Danger, and I'd categorically deny any such accusations if they were to be made at me later.

"Oh?" Musubi asked, sounding confused again. "But I didn't hear anything, Shirou-san," she pointed out.

"No," I shook my head making my retreat as quickly as I could towards the changing room. "You just weren't paying attention," I assured her. "I better go see what it is she wants."

"Okay then," Musubi chirped, accepting my word without reservation. Instead, she simply stood up, and I couldn't help but swallow again at the sight of water sluicing off her body. "I'll come too, Shirou-san!"

"No!" I yelped, and I ignored the way my voice squeaked. "It would be a shame if Akitsu were to spend so long washing and then not have anyone to soak with. Why don't you wait here so she can have some company?"

"Okay," Musubi nodded instantly, turning so she could beam happily at the still seated snow woman. "Would you like me to wash your back again, Akitsu-san?"

I made it to the changing room after the snow woman gave her customary, "Ah," but before she finally responded with another, "I'd like that."

It was a testament to just how flustered I was that it wasn't until I was halfway dressed that I froze, the memory of the first moments after my waking but before Musubi had proceeded to pull the rug out from under me finally registering.

Specifically the memory of the strange glow that Musubi's stomach had been emitting right after I woke up.

"What the hell?" I muttered, one hand frozen in the act of reaching for my clean underwear, my thoughts racing so hard that even the vaguely disturbing noises the two had begun to make after I had escaped weren't enough to distract me.

*Scene Break*

It was with a mind still reeling from the unexpected and mildly disturbing visitation in the bathroom that I made my way back to the dining room of Izumo. The hallway was a bit chillier than normal, a sign that tomorrow I would have to start repairing the damaged wall in earnest, but with spring well under way it could have been a great deal worse.

Even as I made my way from the noises of two of my flock, entering the dining room merely exposed me to the arguing of two more of my Sekirei. It only took me a moment to figure out what was going on, but at least I understood just why it was that no one had chosen the most inopportune time to interrupt the scene in the bathroom earlier.

"And I'm saying that it should go to me!" Tsukiumi declared stridently, glaring across the room at her adversary. In contrast, Kazehana looked more amused as she faced off against the water user. "As the legal wife, it should be my turn to be next with Shirou!"

"Ah-ah," Kazehana taunted, folding her arms under her breasts so that she could flaunt herself at the water user. "But as the mistress, it's my duty to steal away the husband whenever possible so he can know the real touch of a woman," the wind user smirked, before losing her arrogant expression so that she could put on the look of a smitten school girl. "And since it's the first night since Shirou-kun and I confessed our love to each other than that means it's time for our honeymoon!"

"No one is allowed to have a honeymoon until the legal wife has one first!" Tsukiumi snapped, narrowing her eyes and thrusting her finger at her opponent. "And even though it should have been my turn last night, I, with the graciousness befitting the legal wife, even allowed for everyone else to sleep with Shirou and I! In return it's only fair that I get tonight to myself to make up for it!"

"But you've had plenty of time to go on a honeymoon by now, Ms. Panty-Flasher-chan," Kazehana pointed out, still wiggling around like a lovesick teenager though her voice managed to regain a bit of her teasing tone to it.

"Good afternoon, Shirou-tan!" Matsu greeted me cheerfully from where she was sitting across the room from the arguing duo. "Did you have a nice bath?" The hacker was currently lounging by the table, her tablet in front of her and cradled in one arm as she taped haphazardly away with her other hand. She seemed to be dividing her attention equally between whatever it was she was working on and the fierce debate which was ongoing between Tsukiumi and Kazehana.

"I," I began, before pausing, the scene I had just escaped from flashing through my mind once more. "I'm not sure," I finally concluded. Matsu gave me a small glance, and I shook my head quickly, hoping the action would help me clear the memories from my head. "So just what are those two arguing about?" I prompted, trying to change the subject while looking around the rest of the room.

Sitting beside Matsu was Kuu-chan, the young girl fiddling with an array of stuffed animals aligned before her on the table. I took notice of the fact that Ms. Pyon-Pyon was still present, the traced plushy looking none the worse for wear despite having been in existence for nearly twenty four hours by now. A clinical part of me took in the sight of it and judged that it probably had another eight hours or so. Not my best work by far, but it had still been around for probably twelve more hours than most other fakers could hope to manage. I took a small measure of pride in that as I watched Kuu continue to happily take advantage of my impromptu work.

On Kuu's other side was Uzume, who was sitting further back from the table than the other two. The tomboy was still watching the argument between Tsukiumi and Kazehana like Matsu was, but it seemed that the Veiled Sekirei was only paying marginal attention to it. She did glance up briefly when Matsu had spoken to give me a brief, halfhearted smile, but it only lasted for a moment before her attention wandered away. I got the impression that even though she was watching the fierce debate her real attention was on something else entirely.

"Fuhuhu," Matsu giggled briefly, one hand coming up so she could hide her mouth with her long sleeves as she did so. "Tsukiumi-tan and Kazehana-tan are fighting the dirtiest of dirty fights between women!"

"Dirtiest of dirty fights between women?" I repeated, not quite understanding what the hacker was referring to. Maybe it was a combination of just having gotten up with the completely unexpected happenings in the bath, but I still felt a little slow for some reason.

"Who gets to sleep with Shirou-tan tonight," Matsu elaborated, the light glinting off her glasses as she cackled. Given her love of watching the drama inspired by the rest of her sister Sekirei, I guess I should have expected her to enjoy something like this. With a sigh, I settled down on the other side of Matsu from Kuu, and took the opportunity to sink my head in to my hands.

"Isn't this why we have the whiteboard in the first place?" I pointed out. I suppose it made sense that Kazehana was trying to get her name on the board all ready. She had been there when I had first started scheduling who would get to do what and when. The Wind Sekirei already knew how the system worked. "There were still two open days. Shouldn't she have just claimed one and then started negotiating with the others?"

"Kazehana-tan has already claimed Saturday," Matsu elaborated, turning her attention back briefly to her tablet as she worked. "But when she tried to claim Tuesday too, Tsukiumi-tan said she already had it!"

"Tuesday?" I repeated, recalling just which day it was at the moment. "That's when Homura is supposed to judge, isn't it? Hadn't he already made assignments?"

"Mmm," Matsu hummed an affirmative before she fiddled with her doohickey a bit more. "But originally Homura-tan said that Matsu and Akitsu-tan could have it. After our fight," Matsu made mention of our nearly final conflict from four days ago easily and without hesitation, "nobody wanted to bring it up until it was time for Homura to make the next week's selection."

"But now they are?" I asked, giving Matsu a quick look. It seems as though the hacker had already begun to spread the word of our reconciliation from earlier.

"Matsu already told everyone that she's not going to have her name on the board for a while, but that it was because Matsu chose to and not because she was getting punished," Matsu admitted, giving me a reassuring smile. "Everyone was really happy for Matsu!" she continued, beaming at the show of support. Then her smile turned wicked. "Until Matsu pointed out that now Tuesday was open, and that Matsu also could decide who would have Friday as well!"

I studied Matsu for a second as she began to emit evil cackling noises, and found myself fighting a smile back even as I sighed in resignation. "Soap opera?" I asked her, already knowing just how much Matsu enjoyed the drama so typical in the day to day life of Izumo House.

"Soap opera!" Matsu confirmed, her tone cheerful as she continued giggling to herself.

"Well," I responded, shaking my head helplessly. "It's nice to know that discovering an earth shattering secret about their Ashikabi isn't enough to interfere with the important things."

It was a testament to the resilience of their species as a whole that even after tumultuous events of the last few days that the previous air of unease which had lingered around the inn had begun to disperse. If Matsu, the one who had been hardest hit by the events her inquisitive nature had unleashed, was comfortable enough to start using her new choice to refrain from engaging in the whiteboard to cause melodrama then it spoke well of her satisfaction with her choice of actions. Similarly, if Tsukiumi and the rest of my flock were willing to take her up on the new openings, it meant that they too had come to terms with the change in dynamics.

I was actually of two minds about this whole turn of events. On one hand the fact that my flock was so willing to move on and adapt to the changes in their lives spoke well of their coming to terms with the revelations of my magical nature and the conflict that brought to the table.

On the other hand…

"Is this really alright?" I mused out loud, watching the easy atmosphere in the dining room. From the way everyone acting, it was as though they didn't even notice the hole in the wall blocked only by a sheet of cloth. It was as though the knowledge that I had fought to the death with a fiercesome foe no more than two dozen yards away from where we were all sitting didn't even matter to them. By extension, the powers I used during that battle and the dangerous consequences of using them didn't really seem to faze them in the least. I couldn't help but feel that I hadn't really impressed just how dangerous the situation really was to my carefree girls.

"Is what all right?" Matsu asked, glancing up at me from the doohickey once more, wearing a curious expression. Something on my face seemed to give away my thoughts, because she continued only a second later. "You mean the way everyone is so at ease, Shirou-tan?"

I nodded, a bit surprised by how easily the hacker had read me. Matsu gave me a reassuring smile back, the expression one of the ones she used that hinted at the true maturity of the usually childish Sekirei.

"Matsu thinks that Shirou-tan is just worrying too much," she told me, lowering her tablet as she did so that she could focus more of her attention on me. "It's not that Shirou-tan's Sekirei aren't worried," she admitted, continuing. "Matsu can say for certain that she's working hard to help do what she can!" Matsu beamed proudly at me, shaking the doohickey briefly to bring my attention to it. "But even if Shirou-tan is really a wizard, it doesn't really matter."

"It's 'magus'," I corrected Matsu once more, wondering if maybe I should put a bit more emphasis on the proper title. "And what do you mean it doesn't matter?"

Maybe I wasn't exactly being impartial, but I couldn't help but feel a little slighted that the secret I had worked so hard to conceal was effectively being dismissed as irrelevant. It looked like maybe Rin had managed to instill a little more magi pride in me than I had previously expected.

"Shirou-tan might have got upset when he realized what Sekirei were, but that didn't mean he didn't get over it," Matsu pointed out. "Why should his Sekirei get upset when they learned he wasn't a normal human?"

I blinked, honestly nonplussed at the simplified way of describing what was happening here. It was true, in a way. The first time I had been confronted with the specifics of their species by Homura it hadn't exactly been enough to shock me into an awed silence. Even later, when Musubi managed to club me upside the head with several key elements of our interaction that I had been too dense to catch on my own I might have had a much stronger reaction. But even my embarrassing in retrospect freak out had been less about the fact that I had been accidently mated four times over by that point with a fifth who might as well have been, and more about just what those implications meant to my developing plans for the Sekirei Plan and the implications of just what MBI was up to.

In the end it had only taken me a few hours and a couple of heart to hearts to really come to terms with the new information that had been revealed to me on both times. After last night's and this afternoon's discussion, it shouldn't be too hard to believe that my Sekirei were capable of assimilating the new situation and then moving on with their lives.

"That's a good point," I finally admitted, releasing another little sigh as I accepted Matsu's logic. "I still think that you all aren't taking this seriously enough though," I added, not quite willing to let the casual acceptance being displayed here slide completely, but equally unwilling to try and make a scene of it. There would be time later to help my flock understand the dangers inherent with dealing with magi. For now it might be better to let thing settle a bit more first.

"Well," a new voice caused both Matsu and I to glance over at the interrupter. "Even if the others aren't, I'm willing to admit that I'm a bit curious."

Uzume had apparently leaned closer at some point during our conversation, hanging a bit over Kuu-chan as she did so. The younger Sekirei seemed to take the contact in stride, too busy having Mr. Meow-Meow and Ms. Pyon-Pyon interact with each other in a way which seemed to upset Ms. Meow-Meow. I wasn't sure what the nature of the imaginary discussion was, but when the two female plushies began to start fighting over Mr. Meow-Meow's attention I couldn't help the stray thought that having a young girl exposed to what amounted to harem politics so often might not be the healthiest developmental conditions.

"About what?" I asked the other Sekirei. I was willing to admit to myself that I was a little happy that someone seemed to be taking magecraft seriously, but that happiness was offset by the fact that it was the only Sekirei who wasn't a member of my flock and knew about magecraft that was displaying that initiative. There was still the fact that Uzume and I would most likely someday come into conflict with each other. I even had the stray thought that maybe I should make some effort to conceal the specifics of magecraft from Uzume in order to keep her from taking advantage of the knowledge someday.

The thought was only a brief one though. Even if Uzume would someday be an enemy, I couldn't fully justify concealing everything from her at this point. She was a member of a species every bit as much at risk from other magi as I was personally, after all. What's more, she was someone I had worked with in the past, and she had a good relationship with my flock as a whole. It wasn't like I could do much to prepare the rest of the Sekirei for the possibility of magi intervention after all, seeing as that would involve revealing the existence of thaumaturgy to their Ashikabi.

I wondered for a moment if this was what Rin had felt like at the beginning of the Grail War when she had to sit down and explain to a potential enemy Master just what he had gotten involved with.

"Well," Uzume began, and then for the second time that day was interrupted by a ringing noise. Glancing down with a frown, Uzume fumbled at the pocket of her tight jeans for a moment before pulling out her ringing phone. Frowning with annoyance, she gave the offending contraption a small annoyed glare, before sighing and running a hand through her loose bangs.

"Never mind," she told me, glancing up with an apologetic look. "Looks like I gotta take this real fast." Pushing herself to her feet, Uzume began making her way towards the door leading out to the hallway. She held the still ringing phone in one hand, apparently waiting until she was alone to answer it, and judging by her expression it looked as though she would much rather wait longer than that to answer it.

She did manage to break a smile when upon opening the door out of the dining room she came face to face with Homura. "Well here's the man of the hour!" she proclaimed, sounding more upbeat than she had a few moments ago when excusing herself.

"Wha?" Homura got out, blinking at the tomboy opposite him. It was the first time I had seen the fire user today, and one glance was enough to confirm Uzume's comment about him apparently not feeling well earlier. Besides the fact that he was still apparently blinking sleep out of his eyes his clothes spoke a much clearer story of how out of it he was.

The usually well groomed fire user definitely had a slovenly air of someone just woken up. His normally well pressed white shirt looked wrinkled and slept in, and rather than his recently developing habit of leaving some buttons undone he had done up all of the buttons he could, but had done them out of turn so that there were buttons without holes still left at the top and the reverse at the bottom. His shirt was un-tucked, hanging over pants that were every bit as wrinkled as his top was. He was barefoot too, without the usual dress socks or house slippers he tended to wear around the house being present.

Homura looked like he had just managed to crawl out of bed, and with the sleepy air about him he was entirely unprepared for when Uzume turned around to interrupt the still arguing Kazehana and Tsukiumi.

"Oi, you two," Uzume called out, a mischievous smile the only warning Homura got that something bad was about to happen to him. "Shouldn't you just ask him who gets Tuesday?"

"Huh?" Homura got out, apparently not aware or alert enough to be more articulate at the moment. If he had been, he might have been better prepared for way Kazehana and Tsukiumi both paused in their arguments, and turned their heads in unison to look at the former host.

"He-heh," Uzume's customary laugh was the last thing she said before she slipped by the confused fire user, escaping into the hallway just as he suddenly found himself face to face with two competing Sekirei.

"Homura!" Tsukiumi snapped, apparently not noticing her long time rival's confusion as she placed herself directly in front of the confused host, finger raised to point authoritatively at his surprised face. "As your rival, surely there is no better choice than me for who gets to sleep and eat with Shirou tonight!"

"Homura-kun," Kazehana sang out at the same time, forgoing personal space so she could drape one arm around Homura's shoulders, leaning against him without hesitation as he stumbled at the unexpected wait. "Haven't we had some good times drinking together? If you give me tonight, I'll be sure to pay you back with some Junmai Daiginjō-shu!" Rather than fall back on long history, it seemed that Kazehana preferred to resort to bribery, the extremely expensive rice wine she was promising being some of the highest quality alcohol available.

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Homura shouted, his eyes snapping back and forth between his two assailants as his now alert mind tried to make heads or tails of just what the two were talking about.

"Shouldn't Miya be doing something about this?" I asked, half amused and half appalled at the ambush of the unprepared looking fire user. Besides his clothing, Homura had a look of general un-wellness to him, one that worried me more than just a little. Despite apparently having just slept, he had shadows around his eyes that spoke of sleep deprivation. More than that, the usually fair complexion he sported was starting to look paler than usual, bordering on an unhealthy shade.

"Even if Miya-tan usually steps in now," Matsu informed me, not even bothering to hide the mad giggling the latest addition to her favorite daily melodrama had spurred. "Right now Miya-tan is busy cooking!" My eyes narrowed at the reminder of just what I wasn't doing at the moment as Matsu spared her attention from the scene in front of her long enough to give me a coy look. "Unless maybe Shirou-tan is going to separate them?"

"That might not be a bad idea," I admitted, pushing myself to my feet. Matsu blinked, surprised at my willingness to violate my usual 'hands off' policy when it came to inter-flock politics. I gave her a reassuring smile, which strangely enough didn't seem to do anything to reassure her as the redhead realized I was serious and began to disappear as though by magic of her own beneath the table in an effort to protect herself from what was about to come, Kuu letting out a yelp as she too was mysteriously sucked under as well, all three of her plushies being dragged with her.

Even as a I began to call upon my Asura mask, the sudden ominous air I was omitting catching the attention of two arguing females and the male unlucky enough to have come between them, my smile remained on my lips.

After all, if Miya was going to take over my kitchen, it seemed fair that I take over discipline in return. And no, I wasn't going to abuse this new duty to the point where the rest of the house would start begging Miya to let me return to cooking in order to keep me too busy to do anything else.

That would be unethical. And wrong. Even if it probably would be effective…

*Scene Break*

"Oh my," Miya clucked, looking about the table with a concerned gaze. "Did something happen earlier?" she asked, eyeing several among the gathered diners carefully.

"What makes you say that, Miya?" I asked in response, attempting to paste an innocent expression on my face. It didn't quite seem to work, as the landlady gave me a speculative look.

"Oh," she said, her eyes crinkled as she smiled back, "just a guess."

"Shirou-kun," Kazehana whined, with a kicked puppy look of her own as she bared soulful violet eyes at me. "I thought you promised never to do something like that?" The newest addition to my flock paused to pour herself a refill of her glass of sake as she mourned my apparent betrayal of the promise I made her yesterday.

"I promised never to do anything like that," I repeated, emphasizing the final word with a significant glance at Miya. The landlady caught the look, and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "But I never said I wouldn't use it at all. It isn't polite to start badgering others in order to try and convince them to give you their nights, especially if the other hasn't been feeling well."

"If you knew I hadn't been feeling well," Homura muttered, stabbing at the food in front of him in irritation as he glared at me balefully, "then why would you make things worse by making me go through that thing too?" It looked as though the fire user was still upset that he had been dragged into my scolding earlier as well. I actually felt a little bit guilty about it myself. He had only been caught in it for a second before he had managed to escape my lecture, but it looked like he was even paler now than he was when he first got up.

Still, I was starting to get a feel for really using my projection technique now, and one of the important aspects of learning new magecraft is to use them properly. Thus, as was the custom, I gave Homura a confused look.

"Something like what?" I repeated, and this time I managed to pull off the innocent act a little better than before.

Homura glared at me again, before turning his fierce look on the food he was busy mutilating. "I knew that those two getting along would be bad news," he muttered, sparing Miya a quick glance as well. Miya seemed to find my imitation of her usual feigned ignorance to be amusing as one hand came up to cover what was probably a proud smile from view.

"He-heh," Uzume laughed, before taking a bite of dinner. "Man, am I glad I got out of there when I did." She pantomimed wiping sweat of her forehead, though the grin on her face made it obvious that she was enjoying the story of what her attempt to rile up my flock had produced.

The rest of the table seemed to take the conversation in stride, though it looked as though Tsukiumi was a bit miffed herself. Despite that, she at least looked satisfied that she had wrangled the seat next to me for the night, even if Kazehana had ended up getting to join the previously scheduled Akitsu in bed with me later. It was the first time that Tsukiumi had managed to get the chance to eat next to me since the fight last night had deprived her of her chance yesterday.

"Shirou," Tsukiumi spoke up, and I glanced to my right to see the water user glancing away, her face red. In her hands she held a set of chopsticks holding a bit of rolled egg. "If you w-want," she began, blushing even fiercer as she looked away, a stern expression on her face beneath the red of her embarrassment, "then I can feed you…"

"Well," I began, suppressing a smile at her shy actions, knowing full well that any sign of mirth would be met with violence. "If it's alright," I capitulated, making sure to show the proper amount of sincerity. Even Rin had never been this bad when it came to her tsun-tsun-ing.

After a quick look to ensure that I was treating her offer with the appropriate respect, Tsukiumi nodded and then began to hesitantly lean forward to deposit the food into my mouth. However, once I opened in order to accept the bit, Tsukiumi's own morsel was quickly displaced as Kuu shoved a bit of sausage in first, beating out the water user.

"Mmm!" Kuu told me, smiling happily at having successfully fed her big brother. Tsukiumi squawked, and then glared at the interloper who had beaten her to the punch.

"You little brat," Tsukiumi growled, one hand rising in a clenched fist as her hair began to move ominously. Rather than be intimidated, Kuu instead glared back, sticking out her tongue childishly as she latched onto my arm possessively.

I would have sighed, or perhaps attempted to settle the two down, or even have been surprised by the interaction if I just wasn't so used to it at this point.

"Now, now," I said, shifting so that the hand of the arm that Kuu was clutching could rest on the girl's head, while giving Tsukiumi a placating look. "Why don't the two of you take turns?"

Tsukiumi held her glare for a moment longer, before huffing, and turning to look away for a moment. "Fine," she capitulated, still sounding put off by the ambush. "But you better eat as much of mine as you do hers, Shirou," she warned me, shifting her glare back to me. "I've waited too long for the chance to sit by you to let this opportunity slip by!" It seemed that despite her prickly nature, the water user was just too happy to finally have her chance to sit next to me during dinner to let even Kuu's interruption get in the way.

"Oh my," Miya gave a reserved chuckled, taking in the scene with an amused eye. "Emiya-kun is so popular, as always," she teased me. I gave her a wry look in return, but even as I did so I felt a bit concerned. As teasing went, that was pretty halfhearted for the landlady. I hadn't been around her that much today, but even the few times we had spoken I had noticed that Miya didn't seem quite as energetic as she usually did. She hadn't even made one disparaging remark about my base sexual urges all day.

A part of me was a bit worried by this trend, though another part was glad that I hadn't had to put up with any perverse jibes. For all Miya's attempts to insinuate my own baser nature, she sure had a tendency to stray into that territory herself. Still, my gaze lingered on the landlady with a touch of concern.

I wasn't certain just what was causing her newly developed funk, and honestly there were too many choices for me to even be able to guess at. Maybe she was upset about the damage to her property, or she could just be trying to deal with the revelations of a whole new set of potential enemies existing. Then again, maybe she was simply still annoyed by the way the fight had gone last night. For all I knew, she was still just feeling depressed because of the scar.

"Maybe it's because of magic," Uzume chimed in, jumping in on the teasing despite Miya's own lackluster efforts. The tomboy Sekirei was displaying none of the earlier discomfort she had once had in my presence. If anything, the revelations of yesterday seemed to have inspired an almost gregarious cheer in the Sekirei. "He's already admitted to being an evil sorcerer outlawed for practicing black magic," she pointed out, before taking a large bite out of the meal that Miya had put together. "Maybe he's using dark brainwashing techniques!"

"Would you stop calling me a sorcerer? I'm just a magus," I asked her in an aggrieved tone. Sure, the accusations of black magic were also annoying, but I could take that part of the teasing in stride. Then I paused, and felt compelled to correct one other aspect of her teasing. "And I'm useless at brainwashing techniques as well."

"Wait," Uzume, paused, giving me a startled look. "You can do that?"

"Like I just said," I assured her, opening to take a bite from Tsukiumi. "I'm not very good at it."

"You know," Matsu butted in as Uzume tried to decide how to respond to the revelation that I actually had brainwashing techniques, "Matsu is curious about something." She paused, catching the attention of the rest of the room as she spoke up. The hacker was still playing around with her tablet, though it looked like she was only glancing at it every few moments at this point. "Shirou-tan keeps mentioning that he's not a 'wizard' or a 'sorcerer', and that he's just a 'magus'."

"Is there a difference?" Homura muttered, still looking put out by his earlier encounter with abominations from beyond mortal ken. "It's not like it matters what you call them."

"Actually, there is a big difference," I told him, my tone a little heated. "I'm nowhere near the rank of sorcerer or wizard." Honestly, it was a little silly to let something like that get under my skin, but it looked like my recently discovered pride as a magus was acting up again. It seemed a little insulting to hear the difference in position between a magi and a sorcerer diminished so casually. Also, it was probably a little unsafe as well. If a sorcerer were to hear someone say something like that, they'd probably be upset, and upset sorcerers are things no one wants to deal with.

"Really?" Musubi chimed in, giving me a curious look. Akitsu and her had been the last two to show up to dinner, having apparently gotten too comfortable in the bath after I had left. Ironically, just like they had been sent to get me out for dinner I had had to return the favor. "What is it?"

"Sorcerer is like a rank, and it's only given to magi after they master a sorcery," I explained, before pausing to accept Kuu's turn at depositing food in my mouth. Even as I chewed I realized that an explanation like that was probably a little circular and most likely didn't make much sense to the rest of the room.

"Well then," Miya chimed in, sounding more amused than she had earlier. "If that's all there is to it, it makes perfect sense."

"Is there some sort of difference between 'sorcery' and 'magic'?" Matsu asked, apparently more willing to give me some credit for my explanation. The hacker was definitely paying me more attention than she had earlier, setting aside her chopsticks though she continued to play with her doohickey anyway.

"Alright, let me try again," I admitted. "First of all, a magi is someone who uses magecraft." This time, I went right on ahead, not giving the peanut gallery any time to break in. "Magecraft is anything that can be accomplished in the same way without using any magic at all."

"Watcha mean by that, bro?" Uzume prompted, apparently just as interested in the conversation as Matsu was judging by the way the ponytailed Sekirei had also put aside her chopsticks.

"Like if a magus were to make a ball of fire, anyone with a lighter could do the same," I gave a simple explanation. Deciding that since the cat was already out of the bag I could give a more explicit example, "or like what I do." I closed my eyes or a second, recalling a simple blade from the Unlimited Blade Works with ease. "Trace on," I murmured, voicing my aria. When I opened my eyes it looked like the rest of the room was paying as much attention as the two as my hands filled with sharp steel. "Even if I made it through magecraft, anyone with the proper knowledge of metallurgy or forging could make a sword exactly like this."

"Jiiiii," the noise from my left let me know that Kuu was once more gazing with wide and excited eyes at the sword. Akitsu shifted where she sat across the table, her chains clinking slightly, and Musubi began to clap excitedly at the display. Even Kazehana and Homura seemed to pause in their moping over the earlier incident, their attention coming to focus on my casual display of power.

"Now, now, Emiya-kun," Miya spoke up, the only one who was either unimpressed or just better at hiding it. "No swords at the dinner table."

"Right," I told the landlady, letting the blade dissolve as I did so. "Sorry, Miya," I told her. Not only was displaying weaponry at a meal bad taste, but from the way Kuu's hand was halfway to the sword it looked as though Kuu-chan was about to try to play with the lethal implement as well.

"Fuuughh!" Kuu fumed at being denied the chance to potentially hurt herself, confirming my suspicion. With a huff, the blonde girl turned away, pointedly giving me a tiny cold shoulder to express her disappointment.

"Hmmm," Matsu broke in, bringing the subject back away from what was appropriate tableware. "So if magecraft is something which can be done with technology, then is sorcery something that can't?"

"Precisely," I nodded, before pausing as Tsukiumi stubbornly continued to feed me mouthfuls. It looked like even a discussion of powers previously thought impossible wasn't enough to dissuade the stubborn water user from taking full advantage of her turn next to me. "Sorceries are rare these days. There used to be a lot more of them, but nowadays there are only five left, and three of those have been lost already."

"Rare?" Homura broke in this time, leaning forward. With an absentmindedness which spoke of long habit he casually scratched the side of his chest. I noted the movement, before realizing with a start that that was the first time he had done so the entire dinner. "Lost? How can someone lose something like that? Did they lose a magic book or something?"

"Oh!" Matsu chimed in, her eyes widening. "Does it have something to do with technology?"

I blinked, honestly surprised at just how quickly Matsu had come to that conclusion. "Exactly," I nodded. "Two hundred years ago, being able to fly was impossible with technology, so flight would have been a sorcery. The same with dynamite or black powder: being able to make something like an explosion four hundred years ago would have been sorcery."

"So now there are only two magic spells left that technology can't do?" Uzume broke in, flopping back to rest back on her hands as she made herself comfortable.

"No, there are five sorceries. It's just that only two of them can still be performed." I grimaced, already knowing what the next questions would be and trying to figure out a way to explain it. "Magecraft, or rather thaumaturgy as it's properly called, isn't an infinite resource."

"Thauma-whatsit?" Uzume repeated, cocking her head to the side. Surprisingly, it was Homura who spoke up at that.

"Thaumaturgy," he repeated, narrowing his eyes in thought. "It's Greek. It means 'wonder working', or 'creation of mysteries'."

I blinked, joining the rest of the room at staring at Homura's sudden bit of trivia. "Y-yes," I began, nodding my head and pretending that I had actually known that beforehand. I had always thought thaumaturgy was just a word some pretentious noble had made up to make themselves feel more important. I had no idea it had actually been a REAL word. "That's it exactly."

Shaking my head, I decided to move the explanation along in order to not let that little secret slip.

"Anyway," I continued, "calling magecraft 'mysteries' is probably the most appropriate. Magi never reveal their secrets, going out of the way to conceal the truth of their works from others. That's because the more people who know a mystery, the less powerful it is."

"Less powerful?" Miya repeated, apparently honing in on the implied combative aspects of my explanation.

"Well, let's say that there was a mystery which could make gold out of thin air," I began, falling back on the lesson Rin herself had given me long ago back when I had first begun correcting the holes in my education under her supervision. "This mystery can only create one pound of gold a year. If there's only one person in the world who knows the technique, then when they use it they can take the whole pound for themselves. However, if two people use it, that single pound gets divided in half between them."

"And if there's a hundred, or a thousand, than no one really gets much gold at all," Matsu finished up, taking the story to the logical conclusion. Then she paused, and the light glinted off her glasses briefly. "Say, Shirou-tan," she began, rubbing her hands together in an ominous fashion. "Is there a spell like that?"

"No," I told her bluntly. She deflated, looking disappointed at the lack of potential magical riches. "Anyway, since a mystery is only powerful as long as it remains a mystery, magi rarely share their magecraft with anyone other than their heirs. Magical combat is much the same way," I continued, glancing at Miya. "Like last night. If the Fraga had kept the Fragarach concealed, then I wouldn't have been able to counter it. However, once she showed it to me and I learned its secrets, I was able to defeat it."

"Is that so," the landlady murmured, her eyes slightly opened as she looked down at the table in front of her, lost in thought. From the way her hands shifted in her lap, I could hazard that she was considering this new insight into the battle the night before carefully. After a moment, she seemed to relax a little. If I were to guess, it was that Miya was starting to feel slightly less disappointed in her performance the night before.

"So since none of the other sorcerers wanted to give away their secrets, their sorceries, or 'mysteries' as you call them, ended up getting lost?" Homura prompted, leaning forward. Despite his earlier moping, the fire user looked completely absorbed with the discussion. If anything, he looked as though he was growing more and more energetic by the second, his earlier lethargy forgotten as he focused himself in learning more about the history of magecraft.

"Yes," I nodded, "though sometimes it's not just a matter of knowing how to do it, but having enough power or talent, or being able to use the right kind of elements or even having a compatible origin." I paused, realizing I was starting to bring up even more topics which might ended up confusing the newly initiated, and decided to refocus the conversation. "There are only two sorcerers left alive at the moment, and those two," I gave an involuntary shiver, "well, nobody messes around with a sorcerer."

"Oh," Uzume pantomimed a gasp, her grin obvious. "Spooky! So what can they do? Turn people into frogs or something?"

"Turning people into a frog isn't technically impossible," I told her, rolling my eyes at her attempt at humor. "All it would take is horrific reconstructive surgery, and would probably end up with the person dying or going insane, but it's technically possible."

"So what are the sorceries, Shirou-tan?" Matsu prompted, pursing her lips in thought. "Matsu keeps trying to think of what is impossible with science, but she's having trouble imagining something like that."

"Well, the first sorcerer's name is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, though most people just call him 'Zelretch the Wizard Marshal', the user of the third sorcery, the Kaleidoscope'," I said listing the sorcerer's titles as well as his name. "The Kaleidoscope's domain is the operation of parallel worlds."

"Parallel worlds?" Matsu repeated, sounding confused. "What does that mean?"

For a second I couldn't believe that Matsu of all people would be confused by the concept of parallel worlds. "I mean parallel worlds," I repeated, speaking slowly, "as in alternate realities."

"But that's impossible," Matsu insisted, her brow creasing as she folded her arms. "Parallel worlds are just a theory made up by bad science fiction writers! There's no scientific proof…" she had been working her way up to a rant, before she paused, realizing just what she was saying.

"Hence why it's called a sorcery," I told her, a wry smile on my face.

"Wait, are you being serious, Shirou?" it was Homura's turn to voice his disbelief, a skeptical expression already forming. "So what, this guy can go to different worlds or something?"

"Not just that," I shook my head. "The Kaleidoscope is the operation of parallel worlds," I stressed the word 'operation' in order to give it significance. "He can gather power from different worlds and then manifest it in this one, travel at will between them, or even just take the information from alternative versions of himself and use it as his own." I suppressed a brief shiver, recalling some of the more colorful stories I had heard of that last particular skill. "The man is over four hundred years old by now, and is probably one of the most powerful creatures on the planet."

I considered telling them about the time that the Zelretch once stopped the freaking moon from destroying all life on Earth, but figured that might be a little too much for them at the moment.

"Are you just pulling our legs or something, bro?" Uzume asked, a skeptical look on her face as she did so. Still, she didn't seem completely willing to dismiss my outrageous claim.

"Oh, I only wish," I told her with a sigh. "Fortunately, Zelretch doesn't like getting involved with the world in general that often. He usually spends most of his time travelling. Every once in a while he swings back by London, and then he hangs around making all the rest of the other magi very nervous before he pulls a prank or tries to take an apprentice. They actually hold celebrations when he finally goes away, though I heard once that he came back right after he left so he could get in on the party."

I heard that the Head of the Department of Mineralogy at the time had been so drunk that he hadn't even realized that he had actually been toasting Zelretch's departure with the man himself. Apparently Zelretch found the whole incident so amusing he afterwards donated some of the prizes of his wanderings to the department and that the Head had sworn off drinking forever afterwards.

"Sounds like fun," Kazehana added, holding up her own cup of sake to salute a fellow connoisseur of good times.

"Wait," Homura held a hand up to cut the inebriated wind user off. "If he's so powerful, why is it that everyone is so eager to see him leave?"

"Because he likes playing pranks," I explained, before deciding that just calling what the Zelretch found amusing 'pranks' might not be proper representation of the man's sense of humor. "And his definition of funny is to call up the memories of an alternative version of the victim whose life goal was to be a transvestite circus clown and then implant them into the victim's personality, or taking them to a parallel world where they never invented clothes and everyone is vastly overweight and particularly hairy and then abandoning them there for a few months."

Awkward silence greeted my description of Zelretch's definition of 'funny' for a few moments, before Uzume finally snorted.

"Okay," she began, holding a hand up to suppress a giggle. "The first one? No, not so funny. The second one? Yeah, that is kind of hilarious."

"Matsu agrees!" the hacker finally nodded, giving me a lecherous look as she began rubbing her hands together again.

"Why am I not surprised?" I sighed. "Anyway, the second living sorcerer is Aoko Aozaki, the wielder of the fifth sorcery, The Blue," I continued, hoping to derail what appeared to be a building surge of approval for nudist lifestyles. "As for just what The Blue is, well," I shrugged, "not many people actually know. Some of the higher ups in the Mage's Association have been told, but no one will talk about it."

"Oh," Musubi raised her hand, waving it for attention as she bounced in her seat. "Is it because it's something bad?"

"More because they don't want to piss the user of The Blue off," I admitted. "I've done a bit of research on my own, and the closest thing I can get to figuring out what The Blue is is that she somehow managed to master cold fusion."

"Now that's something a bit more believable," Homura spoke up, leaning back a bit. It appeared that the description of the Kaleidoscope might have been a bit more than he was prepared to accept, but hearing of a sorcery that could actually be described through scientific methods, even if it couldn't be achieved in the same way, helped him accept my stories a bit easier.

"Why would you come to such a conclusion, Emiya-kun?" Miya also chose that moment to speak up, studying me closely with half lidded eyes. Even if the rest of Izumo House was treating the conversation with skepticism and humor, Miya was obviously paying close attention to everything I said. I wasn't certain if she was just trying to get a feel for what other magi might be capable of, or if she was trying to weigh their combat potential against her own, or if she was just trying to find evidence to support her own theory of me being a Sekirei descendent, but whatever the case she was certainly being attentive.

"Because," I began, only to pause as Tsukiumi held another chopstick of food up, only to be interrupted by Kuu-chan who apparently realized that she was about to miss her turn to feed me. After I managed to chew and swallow both of the morsels which had been stuffed into my face simultaneously I continued. "Because that's the only way I could explain her managing to destroy an entire archipelago with one mystery."

"What's an archipelago?" Musubi spoke into the ensuing silence, looking around curiously at the quiet room.

"A lot of small islands very close to each other," I informed her helpfully. Musubi's eyes brightened as she nodded happily. "The Blue spends most of her time as a bounty hunter, and while hunting a particularly nasty Sealing Designee she eventually got frustrated at how well hidden he had been, and well, she just blew up the entire chain of islands."

"Didn't you mention before how all of the other mages get really upset when someone does something which might reveal the existence of magic to the rest of the world, Shirou?" Homura finally spoke up, rubbing his forehead as he did so. He shrugged his shoulders, pulling his still mis-buttoned shirt tight against his chest as he did so. "Wouldn't something like destroying a geographical feature count for that kind of thing?"

"It was only a small set of islands," I assured him. "Located out in the Indonesian islands; just a dozen or so, no real occupants except for the hiding magus. It was actually surprisingly easy to cover up their destruction."

All it had involved was some careful hypnotism, and a bit of faith in the belief that most people would rather assume that old maps were just wrong and that the islands never really existed in the first place. That and some crossed fingers for luck.

"I agree with Homura," Tsukiumi spoke up, still glaring at Kuu due to the girl's insistence on getting in the larger blondes way of feeding me. She paused briefly to give me a quick glance, her lips pursed in thought as her eyes narrowed. "Surely if those apes would go so far as to hunt you down for something so insignificant, Shirou, then they would do the same for someone so obviously dangerous."

"Would you want to piss off a person who can apparently make small nuclear blasts by pointing at things?" I asked, my voice dry. When Tsukiumi paused, and then glanced back down to reach for another morsel of food I nodded. "Me neither."

"So those are the two sorcerers that are still alive?" Matsu finally spoke up, breaking the disbelieving silence. "Then what are the rest? The ones that are lost?"

"The first one is Denial of Nothingness," I began, holding up a finger as I began to list the remaining sorceries. "It's basically the act of creating something out of nothing. Not like I do," I hastened to add, already suspecting the questions that would come up with such a vague explanation. "Whenever I create something," I held up my hand again, this time deciding to project something simpler and settling on a small glass ball, "I'm not actually making something out of nothing. I'm simply taking my own od, my magical power I suppose you could call it, and then shaping it into something else. Even if its looks and feels like something else, it's still just altered od. Eventually, it will lose its shape and disappear. The Denial of Nothingness actually makes something real out of nothing."

"Thus violating a dozen laws of physics," Homura muttered, though he studied the glass ball I had created anyway. He shook his head, sounding put out by my outrageous claims of just what could be accomplished with magic. "What's next? Time travel or something?"

"Actually," I began slowly, sounding apologetic as I did so, and the fire user turned a glare at me.

"Oh come on!" he snapped, dropping his head into his hands as he realized what I was confirming his hyperbolic guess.

"That's the fourth sorcery," I admitted, still feeling like maybe I should be apologizing for further destroying the normally pragmatic Homura's world view. "It's been lost for a long time, as far as anyone knows. Though I suppose it could just be that the last sorcerer just went to a time they liked better than their original period and settled down."

"You mean like some medieval dude went to the future where everything is mechanized and convenient, decided he liked indoor plumbing and microwaves way too much to leave, and then never went back?" Uzume ventured, a crooked grin on her face. "He-heh. Who could blame him?"

"So that's four," Matsu nodded, fiddling with her doohickey as she did so. It occurred to me later that I might have to have words with her if she was taking notes on my lecture. It would probably be better to have them erased, but I suppose if I impressed the importance of it I could convince the hacker to just encrypt her notes really well. It's not like many magi would ever be able to figure out that the little boxes in her room might hold secrecy threatening information, and even if they did I doubt they'd be able to access them. "So what's the fifth, Shirou-tan?"

"The final sorcery, or the third sorcery actually," I began, before pausing. "The last was called the Heaven's Feel."

"Wait," Kazehana was actually the first to react this time, pausing mid sip as her delicate eyebrows nit together in thought. "Wasn't that…?"

"The true purpose behind the War for the Holy Grail," I admitted with a nod. There was an understandable reaction at the confession that the secret war I had admitted to once having been a part of, one which had taken the lives of hundreds over the years, was actually a part of one of the most powerful mysteries still known to mankind.

"So what, that whole story you told us about a bunch of people finding the actual Holy Grail was a lie?" Homura was the one who spoke the loudest, his eyes narrowed as he studied me for deceit.

"Not precisely," I admitted, my voice still calm. "The original Heaven's Feel was lost over a millennia ago. The original family to have it was desperate to try and recreate it." I leaned forward, interrupting yet another stubborn attempt by Tsukiumi to ignore the hubbub around me and indulge in her long sought after position. "But since they weren't able to do it in the original way, they tried to accomplish it another way."

"What do you mean, Emiya-kun?" Miya spoke up, reminding me of how seriously she was taking this conversation. I had the attention of just about everyone at this point, the only ones still eating being Kuu-chan and Akitsu, with Tsukiumi finally giving in to the momentum of the conversation with a huff as she sat back to let me say my piece.

It was Miya though who caught my attention the most, especially considering the direction the conversation was about to go.

"The Einzbern, the original family to use the Heaven's Feel, specialize in a type of magecraft called alchemy," I continued my explanation, my voice serious as I described the true nature of the Grail War. "It's a form of magecraft which accomplishes mysteries through the use of materializing them directly. Basically, instead of going through the normal process of spellwork they simply throw enough power around and make it happen spontaneously instead. It's a versatile but costly method of performing mysteries. So when they tried to reinvent the Heaven's Feel, they created one of the largest and most powerful rituals in history in order to try and gather enough power to simply force a sorcery."

"Ritual?" Matsu prompted, honing in on the key word in my story instantly. I nodded.

"Ritual. The Grail War took place in Fuyuki city because it's one of the best places on earth for large scale magecraft." I considered giving a brief explanation about ley lines, but decided that would just be extraneous information at this point. "The ritual itself involved summoning Heroic Spirits, and then sacrificing them all in order to power the final focal point of the ritual, the object known as the Holy Grail."

I paused, waiting for someone to ask the obvious question as I reached for my cup of tea to wet my throat after all this talking, but no one took the lead. It looked like everyone was being too drawn into my story to interrupt at this point. Matsu shifted restlessly, but made no comment as she held her peace. I was thankful for the moment to get some fluid in me after all the talking I had done, and took a drink from my cup.

It wasn't until I took the first sip and had to suppress a cough that I realized that at some point Kazehana had switched my tea for some of her sake. The wind user winked at me flirtatiously while shaking the pilfered cup tauntingly, apparently unabashed at having interrupted my story in order to sneak me booze. I considered trying to get my tea back, but decided that if I was going to be talking about the Grail War then booze might be appropriate after all. I took another sip and continued.

"I said that there were originally fourteen participants of the Grail War," I started again, settling down to reveal the true nature of the events in Fuyuki city four years ago in their entirety. "But what I couldn't say is that only seven of those participants were human. Each of those seven humans were magi who were then given the opportunity to summon a partner, a Heroic Spirit. Heroic Spirits are, well, for lack of a better term, people who grew so famous in life that they ascend to a sort of pseudo-spiritual entity resembling a force of nature."

"Ummm," Musubi decided to break in, raising her hand again like she had earlier. "Musubi is a bit confused."

"Well," I began, and then realized I didn't really have any other way to explain it simpler. "Don't worry about it," I told the shrine girl with a sigh. "It's really complicated, and I honestly can't think of another way to put it. Let's just say that they were really, really strong people."

"Ah!" Musubi nodded, apparently willing to accept my gross simplification. "Strong people!"

"Strong people," I repeated, moving on to the rest of the explanation. "Heroic Spirits normally can't manifest as people, but the ritual found a way of forming Heroic Spirits like humans and then using a system to manifest them as entities known as Servants and bind them to the magi, the Masters as they were called, and letting the Masters support them in order to keep them in that form."

"Masters and Servants," Miya murmured, her tone considering. "How similar."

I paused, trying to understand what the landlady intended with that statement, but it was Matsu whose eyes lit up as she made the connection.

"Masters and Servants, like Ashikabi and Sekirei," the hacker pointed out, her voice intrigued as she drew the parallels before I did. "So that's why Shirou-tan is so familiar with the Sekirei Plan!"

"It looks like Shirou-kun's experience isn't just with women," Kazehana noted, before pouring herself a new glass and offering me the same service.

"I thought so too, originally," I admitted, glancing at the cup as the alcohol poured into it. "But the similarities are only superficial." I took a long sip before continuing. "The Sekirei introduce themselves, and then fight until one is incapacitated. Servants always fought to the death, and the only introductions they made were if the particular Servant felt like it. And in the Sekirei Plan it's forbidden to harm Ashikabi. In the Grail War, killing the enemy Master was not only allowed, it was encouraged. It was the best way to stop an enemy Servant without risking a direct confrontation."

"Is that why all your plans for the Sekirei Plan involve killing?" Uzume asked, her attention still locked on me, though her smile had slipped at the turn the conversation took. I nodded, not needing to say anything else. Uzume's mouth quirked for a moment, before she turned to Musubi. "So, Musubi," she began. "Thanks for convincing bro to not kill us all."

"Huh?" Musubi asked, her head tilted in confusion. It took me a moment to understand the reference, before I recalled what it was Uzume was talking about. In a way, she was right: if it hadn't been for Musubi revealing the true nature of the Sekirei's bond to their Ashikabi, then there would have been nothing holding me back from setting about the Sekirei Plan with the lethal force the Grail War had instilled in me.

"What a violent thing, this War was," Miya mused, her eyes open as she studied the table in front of her, lost in thought. "Was the prize so worth it?"

"The Holy Grail had enough power in it to force even a sorcery to occur," I countered, shaking my head. "Whoever was the one to claim it, the one to win, didn't have to use it for the Heaven's Feel. With that much power, the Grail could grant any wish, no matter how impossible. And even the Heaven's Feel itself was a prize worth fighting for." I met Miya's eyes, trying to convey my seriousness, knowing what the next revelation would mean to her. "The fourth sorcery is the Materialization of the Soul." Seeing Miya's confusion, I elaborated. "The Materialization of the Soul is perfect resurrection: the raising of the dead without negative consequence."

It was because I was watching her so closely, that I saw Miya feel temptation for what might have been the first time since I met her. Her eyes widened, and probably instinctively they darted to the room where I knew she kept her shrine to Takehito, her dead husband. It was only a moment but I knew that in that moment Miya measured just what she would do, just what violence she would aspire to willingly, if it meant that forbidden promise.

When her eyes snapped back to find mine studying her, and a flash of guilt sparkled in them, I knew that she hadn't been proud of the answer she had found in herself.

It looked like Miya hadn't been the only one to feel that temptation. Uzume herself glanced down at the table, biting her lip as she did so. Homura glanced down at himself, his gaze settling on his chest, which I realized only now was straining just a little too hard against the material of his shirt. Kazehana was content to merely throw back her sake, a bittersweet expression on her face as she did so. Akitsu shifted once, her chain rattling as she did so.

Despite the reaction of some of the gathered Sekirei, not everyone was affected so harshly by the promise of the Grail.

"Hmph," Tsukiumi, muttered, folding her arms under her breast and scowling as she did so. "What a useless thing." It looked as though the water user honestly felt that there was nothing a wish granting device like the Grail could give her. Musubi on the other hand brightened, her eyes wide as she apparently found her own wish.

"So it could make everyone in the world find love?" she asked, excited at the prospect of having one of her obsessions fulfilled not only for her fellow Sekirei, but for everyone in general.

"Muuuu," Kuu added, also seeming excited. "Kuu-chan would have onii-chan and Shi-chan play with her every day! Lots and lots!" she declared, throwing her hands up in the air in joy at the prospect of having her two favorite people showering her with attention.

"But didn't Shirou-tan say that the Grail was broken?" Matsu broke in, her voice deliberately light hearted, even as the hacker kept a serious expression on her face. It looked like she realized just how dangerous ground the topic had become. "What did he mean by that?"

I welcomed the attempt to move the conversation away from such dangerous ground, even if it did lead to topics every bit as dangerous. "I meant that at some point between the Third and Fourth Grail War, something happened to corrupt the Grail. It became a monkey's paw."

"What kind of monkey?" Musubi asked, still looking excited at the prospect of worldwide peace and love. It was Homura who spoke up, shaking his head as though to force his thoughts back to the conversation.

"He means a monkey's paw," he repeated, addressing Musubi with exasperation. "It's an old story about a couple who get a totem that can grant wishes, but every time they used it something bad happened in order to grant their wish."

"Exactly," I nodded. "If someone were to use the Grail to wish to be the richest person in the world, than the Grail would have destroyed everyone with more wealth than the wisher and then gave that wealth to them. Or if they wished to be the most beautiful person, then it would have maimed everyone else on the planet. The Grail had become something which could only grant wishes through destruction. It was why it was destroyed in the end."

"Perhaps for the best," Miya added, a trace of bitterness in her tone. The scent of her power, the acrid flavor of regret, grew more poignant, nearly suffocating for a moment before it returned to its usual intensity. The landlady glanced up, also apparently pulling herself away from her own dark thoughts to give me a considering gaze. "And is this the reason that you refuse to abandon the Sekirei Plan, Emiya-kun? Because you're once again worried that it and the Grail War might have something in common?"

"I've already seen one secret tournament nearly end the world, Asama-san," I confirmed. "I'm not going to turn my back on a second one that might do the same."

I'd mentioned before that I had doubts as to just what the end result of the Sekirei Plan could be, and my suspicions that it wouldn't be something at all good for the rest of the world, but the revelation that I had prior experience to justify my paranoia seemed to help drive my fears home in the rest. Again, Miya seemed to become lost in thought, though this time Matsu was also similarly distracted. Kazehana might have shown some reaction as well, but then again her pouring another cup of sake might just be her natural fall back action rather than a tell.

And then Uzume's phone rang again, and everyone in the room looked at her reflexively at the loud noise of her ring tone.

"Eh?" the tomboy muttered, staring at her pocket for a second in surprise as well, before she blinked and scowled at the interruption. "Sunnova…" she began, muttering as she frantically groped at her pocket, before finally pulling the phone out.

She took one glance at the screen at the front, which I had recently learned actually displayed who was calling ahead of time, before her scowl widened. Rather than answer like she had earlier, she instead fumbled with a few buttons, and then the ringing stopped. Still scowling, Uzume then opened her phone, and hit a few more buttons before the appliance emitted a disappointed sound and turned off.

Still muttering, Uzume glanced back up to see that she still had the attention of the room in general. Flushing, she put a hand to the back of her head and began laughing nervously.

"Sorry," she apologized, her voice full of forced cheerfulness, as she waved a hand in front of her dismissively. "Those telemarketers!"

"Ugh," I agreed, nodding my head. "They always wait until the worst of times to call." I spent a second to send a glare of my own down at my pocket. I think I was happier when I was ignorant as to the true capabilities of what a cell phone was. And people claimed that they were supposed to be convenient. "Did you end up on a calling list somehow?" I asked her, falling back on my own newfound experience. "You've been getting a lot of calls today."

I took the flush of embarrassment that went down Uzume's face as confirmation, even as she glanced guiltily to the side, not meeting my eyes.

"Something like that," she muttered, giving a bit more forced laughter as she did so. "Oh!" her eyes lit up as though she remembered something and she turned back. "So you were talking about Heroic whichamacallits earlier, weren't you?"

"Heroic Spirits," I prompted, wondering just how hard it was to remember so simple a phrase.

"Yeah, those," Uzume nodded, looking grateful at the change of topic. It's not like it's that embarrassing to have accidently signed up for a calling list. I mean, even if they call at odd times, the sword collectors enthusiasts list I had inadvertently added my name to did have some interesting offers every once in a while. "So that means that you ended up having one of your own or something?"

"You mean Saber?" I asked, blinking in confusion at the change of topic before I realized I might have said something unwise.

"Wait, as in Saber, your lover whom you were cruelly separated from?" Kazehana broke in, now leaning forward intently as the conversation strayed to something she truly enjoyed: story book romance. Judging from the gleam in her eyes, Kazehana seemed to realize she had just struck gold.

"Ah," I began, and now it was my turn to not mean anyone's eyes guiltily. "Maybe?" I finally settled on, hoping that the non-answer would be enough to dissuade the aliens around me.

Judging from the looks I was now receiving, which reminded me vaguely of foxes eying cornered hens with their intensity, it didn't look like I was going to get off that easily.

"Ohh!" Musubi's eyes sparkled as the topic strayed to love. "You mean she was a strong fighter too, Shirou-san?"

"How exactly does someone date a, how did you put it," Homura paused, searching his memory for the right words before he quoted me, "'pseudo-spiritual entity resembling a force of nature' anyway, Shirou?"

Judging from the small smirk forming on Homura's face, this putting me on the spot was revenge for either the earlier Asura incident or for me describing all the unbelievable ways that magi violated the natural laws of nature.

"Well, when the Grail summoned them, it can't call a Heroic Spirit in its entirety," I began, hoping that the technical aspects would distract the rest of the house away from prying any further into the specifics of my relationship with Saber. "It did that by forming seven archetypes, or classes, and then placing their previous human consciousness into them. After that the strength of the Servant itself depended on the individual magi."

"Ohh," Matsu too seemed to sense blood in the water as she leaned forward. "So just who was 'Saber'? You said that Heroic Spirits were really famous? I don't remember anyone famous called Saber."

"That's because 'Saber' wasn't actually her name," I elaborated, seeing a possible out. "It was the name of the class of legend most famous for using a sword. The other classes were…"

"Shirou," Homura interrupted, now definitely enjoying my discomfort. "Stop stalling."

Looking around the table, I found no faces sympathetic to my plight. Uzume definitely seemed to be enjoying me being put on the spot, as was Homura. Matsu, Musubi, and Kazehana all seemed more interested in hearing the steamy details. Tsukiumi just looked annoyed that the topic of my exes had come up at all. Akitsu had focused the laser like intensity of her stare on me once more, studying me with the same slow deliberation she had used to use so often back when I had first accepted her as my Sekirei. Miya was actually beginning to smile a bit as the teasing managed to make its way through her previous dark thoughts. Most likely the landlady was waiting until there was more blood in the water before she started contributing.

Even Kuu, innocent little Kuu, was looking at me expectantly. With a sigh, I gave in.

"Arturia Pendragon," I admitted, sagging as I spilled the beans.

"Arturia?" Matsu repeated, sounding like she didn't recognize the name. The hacker blinked, and then started to tap away at her doohickey as she apparently decided to seek outside help to identify who I had been sleeping with.

Homura on the other hand, dropped his chopsticks.

"Wait," he began, his previous mirth disappearing as he stared at me. "You don't mean ARTHUR Pendragon, son of Uther Pendragon, the King of Britain? As in King Arthur of Camelot, with the Knights of the Roundtable?"

"That's the one," I admitted. "Though it turns out that history got a few key details wrong."

"A few key details…" Homura gaped at me, his mouth moving up and down like a fish for a few moments. Finally he snapped, pointing at me in accusation. "You turned King Arthur into a woman too?" he demanded, giving me a betrayed look. Then his face screwed up, and he looked a bit ill. "And you were boinking him!"

I knew, objectively, that much of Homura's indignation had less to do with a deep and abiding respect for the legend of King Arthur and more to do with my perceived part in the change in gender of the legend. I noted the ominous 'too' attached to the sentence, after all, and given Homura's current situation I could understand intellectually just why he was so upset.

Still, did he have to put it so crudely?

"Oh!" Kazehana's eyes lit up, as she took in the detail that she deemed the most important. "A love so forbidden that none may speak of it!"

"Shirou!" Tsukiumi jumped in on the reaction wagon. "B-but I thought you said you weren't like that!"

"Fuhuhu, fuhuhu," Matsu's perverted giggle was enough of a response for me to see just what her reaction to this new information was. I honestly think she was panting so hard that a bit of steam was beginning to form on her glasses.

"I didn't turn Saber into a woman!" I protested, resisting the urge to drop my head in my hands and cry. "She always was a woman! It's even in her legend, if you look for it!"

"And just where in the legend of King Arthur does it ever say something like, 'oh, and King Arthur was really a girl,'?" Homura demanded, gritting his teeth as he fisted his hair. It appeared as though once more I had managed to cross over Homura's line of acceptable willing suspension of disbelief.

"The part at the beginning where her father asks Merlin to take her someplace safe," I pointed out, leaning forward so I could debate more directly to Homura. "The legend is always a bit vague on why Uther Pendragon would send his son away like that. The truth was that when her father saw that she was a daughter and not a son that could be an heir during those times he asked Merlin to take her some place where she could be safe."

"If she was sent away to be safe, then how the hell did she end up becoming the king anyway?" Homura pressed, obviously not willing to give up the debate yet.

"Because Merlin was kind of a jerk," I said bluntly. "He deliberately set it up so that when Uther died, Arturia would have a chance to succeed the throne anyway. Before he let her do so, he warned her that if she were to become the king then she would have to accept all the burdens and responsibility of kingship, so Arturia decided that in order to do that she would conceal her gender."

"And how the hell would she do that?" Homura pointed out. Despite the fact that he was still upset, it sounded like even he was realizing that he wasn't winning this argument. After all, I did have firsthand accounts of all these incidents. Rin and I had occasionally managed to get Saber into a talkative mood, and sometimes the former king would point out the differences between what actually happened and what legends claim occurred.

"When she received Excalibur and its scabbard, Avalon, from the Lady of the Lake," I held one hand up in a position that Rin liked to use whenever she was winning a debate. "You remember the legend, right? How when Arturia was holding Excalibur's sheath she was invincible, and would never lose a drop of blood? Well it did a lot more than that. Avalon was such a powerful healing artifact that as long as Arturia had it she actually stopped aging. When people noticed they claimed that the King was so blessed by the gods that he was being preserved as a holy youth."

"Wasn't that what Shirou-san said he used on Miya-san?" Musubi broke in, sounding curious as she did so. Both Homura and I blinked at the interruption, and I realized that I had gotten so caught up in proving that no, I hadn't changed Saber into a girl, that I had forgotten that the rest of the room was still here.

"What?" Homura asked, confusion in his voice as he turned towards the shrine girl.

"Earlier when Shirou-tan woke up he said that the thing he used to heal Miya-tan last night was called 'Avalon'," Matsu explained, now dividing her attention between the debate and her tablet as she typed away furiously.

"He said what?" Homura snapped his head towards Matsu, surprise on his face. "When did he say that?"

"Oh, earlier when Homura-tan was asleep," Matsu dismissed his question, the hackers eyebrows narrowing. "So if Shirou-tan really does know King Arthur, then was he not joking when he said he already had Excalibur."

"He said WHAT?" Homura demanded, his head snapping back and forth between Matsu and I, his eyes wide. "Wait," he paused, and his search went to the rest of the room. "Shirou mentions having mythical weapons from over a thousand years ago? And no one thought to warn me? Again?"

"Oh," Matsu shrugged, not sounding too concerned about her oversight in warning the fire user about another of my eccentricities. "Matsu must have forgot."

For a moment Homura just glanced around the room, a slightly betrayed look on his face before he finally collapsed his head down onto his hands.

"Every time I tell myself I won't be surprised anymore," I could hear him groan. "Every time. And every time he somehow manages to do it again." He managed to raise his head to give me a glare, though it looked like it lacked any real heat. "Anything else I should be aware of? Was Arthur secretly married to Lancelot or something?"

"No," I shook my head, a touch of regret in my voice as I recalled another prominent aspect of Arturia's legend that her true gender helped explain. "She was married to Guinevere, like the legends say. However, it was only a political marriage. Arturia needed to give the appearance of stability to her country, and Guinevere agreed to pretend to be married in order to help. However, after years of a false marriage, eventually Guinevere and Lancelot fell in love. Arturia never blamed them, but when her enemies found out and revealed the affair, she was forced to condemn both to execution." I shook my head slowly. "Saber never liked talking much about that," I admitted. "She was good friends with both Guinevere and Lancelot, and what happened afterwards was something which hurt all three of them deeply."

"That's so sad," Musubi noted, frowning sympathetically at the story of doomed love.

"So the reason the Queen cheated on the King was because the King was a woman?" Homura's question sounded skeptical, but it looked like even he noted how Saber being a woman would have contributed to the legend of Guinevere's infidelity and Lancelot's fall from grace.

"And then the King, whom had spent her whole life denying her womanhood was whisked away to the future," Kazehana continued, her voice breathy as she elaborated on the story. "And there she met a kind young man who helped awaken her to her femininity, teaching her what it means to love?"

"Kazehana," I muttered in a pained tone of voice. "Do you have to make everything sound so…so…?" I struggled to find a word that properly expressed just how uncomfortable her ability to make everything sound like the plot to a trashy dime store romance, but found myself coming up short.

"That means yes!" the romantic Sekirei gushed, clasping her mostly empty bottle to her chest as she squealed, throwing herself backwards without restraint so she could kick her bare feet in the air like she was a schoolgirl laying on a bed. "Oh! It's just so wonderful!"

"Well, all that aside," Uzume broke in, sounding unusually hesitant as she did so. "I don't really know much about the legend at all. What's this about that Ava-thingy not letting your ex age?"

"Avalon?" I asked, and Uzume nodded. "Well," I began, recalling what I knew about the ancient conceptual weapon, "it was originally crafted by the fey, and then given to Arturia. Its full name is Avalon, the Everdistant Utopia. It was meant to symbolize mankind's dream of a perfect future without strife or harm."

"Yeah," Uzume waved a hand as though to dismiss the history of the ancient sheath, leaning forward more with a more focused expression. "I mean how did it stop her from aging? And what was that bit about 'never losing a drop of blood'?"

I paused, my eyes narrowing a bit as I wondered just what Uzume was getting at. Avalon was one of my trump cards after all, an artifact which had saved my life more times than I could count. I didn't exactly like explaining it to someone who could potentially be an enemy. Still, if I were to choose my words carefully, I might be able to reveal a bit about Avalon in such a way as to discourage future attacks on me.

"When Saber held it, it granted her a superior degree of regeneration," I explained slowly, picking my words. "The regeneration was so strong that it even stopped her aging. She could heal from even critical wounds in a matter of hours, and minor wounds in minutes."

"That sounds kinda out there, bro," Uzume noted, her own eyes narrowing briefly before she glanced across the table. "I mean, didn't you use it on Miya over there? If this Avalon thing was so great why does she still have a scar?"

"Oh my," Miya murmured, giving Uzume a disapproving look at the unsubtle reminder of her new blemish. "Perhaps Uzume-san might wish to consider her statements more carefully in the future." A sudden darkening of the room behind the landlady helped emphasize her displeasure at being called out like that.

"Sorry, Miya," Uzume muttered, though despite the chastisement she still focused more of her attention on me then on the threat of imminent horror. Miya actually seemed surprised at the near brush off she had just received from one of the more easily chastised members of Izumo House.

"Avalon was originally meant for use by Arturia and only Arturia," I explained. "It took me years before I was able to start using it myself, and I'm the only person besides her who could use it."

I made sure to emphasize its uselessness to anyone but me, heading off any potential attempts to try and steal the artifact. It wasn't like anyone here would be able to remove it from me without my permission anyway.

"And even though I can use it well enough to heal even mortal wounds," I continued, "I still can't use it to the same extent as Saber could. I can't stop myself from aging, for instance, and if whatever causes the wound is powerful enough, then sometimes I can't stop it from scarring either."

I gave Miya an apologetic look, which she acknowledged with a glance. I really did wish I could do more for the landlady. She was a good friend to me, and someone I respected immensely. But there were sometimes things even magecraft couldn't do. We would both have to be content with me being able to heal her to the extent that I had.

"So then just how good can you use it?" Uzume pressed, leaning forward intently, her eyes unusually serious. "I mean, yeah, you can use it for little things," she continued in a rush, "but can you use it for big things? I mean, just how much can you heal with something like that?"

I definitely didn't like the way this conversation was going, though I did take note that if this was the first sign of Uzume plotting an attack against me there was very little chance of her deciding to do so by ambush. Subtle did not seem to be the normally cheerful girl's strong point.

In response to her question, I simply lifted my shift, tugging it up over my chest so that the red starburst of scar tissue in the center of my chest was clearly visible.

"I can use it well enough to recover from having my heart carved out," I pointed out, my voice perfectly bland. Uzume blanched back, looking at the scar as though she had never seen it before. She had only had the chance to look at it once before, back when I had left the bath in a towel to scold Yukari and Matsu for corrupting poor Shiina, though at the time she had restrained herself to just making appreciative remarks about the rest of my physique. This time though, it looked like she paid a little more attention to the nature of the marred flesh.

"I've survived having all of my limbs broken at least three times each," I continued, clinical disinterest in my tone as I highlighted the extent of my recovery ability. It felt a little cheap to try and intimidate Uzume this way, but if a little browbeating now was enough to keep her from becoming my enemy later, then I would do so. "Each of my ribs has been fractured at least eight times. My hips, twice. My spine, only once. All of my organs have taken critical damage or been destroyed completely at least once at one point or another, except for maybe my brain."

I paused, and then my eyes narrowed as I thought back a bit. "No, there was that one time where I gave myself a stroke," I noted, recalling the first time I ever attempted to trace Bakuya and Kanshou. "That took about two days to recover from." I refocused on Uzume, who was looking a little intimidated by the full list of just how much damage I had taken. "Most of these injuries were received simultaneously," I continued, pressing on. "In fact…"

I was interrupted by a cracking noise. Glancing down quickly to see what it was that had interrupted my attempt at heading off any potential ambushes; I noted with surprise that the leftover sake in my cup had frozen over so quickly that the crystalline structures had shattered under the stress of its new form.

"Emiya-kun," Miya spoke up, a hint of warning in her tone. "Perhaps it would be better if you stopped speaking for now."

I started to look towards the landlady, unsure of why she was interrupting, but even as I glanced I caught sight of the rest of my flock. Akitsu, was sitting stock still, her eyes narrowed, and that smile that had been so ever present lately no longer being displayed. Matsu was watching me, eyes narrowed as she scrutinized me closely. Homura still had his head cradled in one hand, but he was angled so he could glare at me, his other hand clutching at the shirt around his chest. At my side, Tsukiumi was looking away, her thumb nail clenched tightly in her teeth, a spot of blood already forming from the force with which she was gnawing at it. Kazehana was still lying on the ground in the position her earlier exuberance had put her in, though now she was laying still, her face concealed by the angle of the table. Kuu-chan was clutching at the sleeve of my shirt around the elbow with one hand, though she was looking away while she did so.

"Wow," Musubi noted, looking the least disturbed out of everyone there, one hand on her chin as she peered at me curiously. "Shirou-san sure has fought a lot, hasn't he?"

I flinched, closing my eyes as the self-recrimination started. Idiot. Talking so casually about just how many times you've been hurt, especially around a group of aliens which were biologically compelled to love you unconditionally. Next time why don't you just take a fork and stab them with it or something?

"Experienced indeed," Miya noted. She cocked her head, her eyes narrowing as she smiled at me, ignoring the tension I had inadvertently brought to the dining room. "It seems you weren't exaggerating when you mentioned that you had lost track of the number of times."

"Yeah," I muttered, grimacing as I squeezed the bridge of my nose. "Sometimes it seems like I've been across too many battlefields to count."

"He-heh," Uzume added in, one handed coming to the back of her head as she forced her customary laugh. "Sorry about asking, bro." She seemed honestly repentant about having pressed me so hard about Avalon earlier, so I nodded.

"It's alright," I told her. My own hand came up to scratch at my opposite shoulder awkwardly. "Sorry about going off on you again."

"Heh," Uzume's laugh was a little less forced this time. "Yeah, you sure seem to like letting me have it, don'tcha?"

"And I think it's time for Shirou-kun to let someone else have something!" a bright voice interrupted the uncomfortable atmosphere. It was the only warning I received before I suddenly found my head being crammed in between two very warm and very soft globes of flesh. I yelped in surprise as Kazehana completed her ambush, wrapping both arms around my shoulder as she further secured me in the gap that ran down the center of her clothing, the warmth of her breasts hot against my own unprotected skin.

"Kazehana!" I yelped, trying to control my blush as way too much of my head then should be possible was sank into her cleavage. I swear, her breasts were nearly big enough to cover my eyes from that position!

"Shirou-kun has been spending a lot of time talking about his swords," Kazehana continued, heedless to my discomfort as she happily wiggled against my back. "All this talk about his legendary tool has been making onee-san curious!"

With a curious move which somehow managed to keep her chest firmly attached to my head, she rotated, swinging around my body like a pole and leaving me face first in her cleavage. A yelp at my side revealed that Kazehana must have somehow angled the move to knock Tsukiumi out of the way. With a plop, Kazehana dropped herself into my lap, making her well-developed form a little too comfortable there as she did so. With her arms now around my neck, she leaned in, letting her forehead brush against mine.

"Ne, Lover-kun," she whispered throatily. "Won't you show this nee-chan your weapon?"

"Huh?" was the best I managed to get out as the sudden and completely unexpected assault on my person.

"Kazehana!" Tsukiumi snapped, and I could make out the water user righting herself from where she had been knocked over. "How dare you! The one who should be sitting on Shirou's lap is me!"

"Ne, ne, Panty-Flasher-chan," Kazehana flipped a hand loosely at the wrist towards the displaced Tsukiumi. "If you were going to do something like that, then you should have already done so!" Dismissing the furious water user completely, Kazehana trailed one finger down my cheek, whispering huskily as she did so. "Now. Won't you show me that sword of yours?"

"Ohh!" Matsu chimed in, sounding excited. "A brazen seduction play at the dinner table!"

"Even Musubi thinks this might be too much," the shrine girl speaking in the third person added.

"What's too much?" Kazehana asked, a fake looking pout forming on her lips as she did so. "Shirou-kun here has been talking so much about that legendary sword he apparently has, that Excalibur, that he made me curious about what it looks like." Her eyes narrowed devilishly as she gave an otherwise innocent look at the rest of the room. "Why? What did all of you think I meant?"

As the room continued to dissolve into chaos, I shook my head at just how quickly the whimsical wind user had managed to completely defuse the tension. It wasn't until a few seconds after that stray thought crossed my mind that I realized that maybe that was exactly what Kazehana had been intending to do from the very beginning. I couldn't stop myself from giving the wind user, still on my lap despite the rapidly growing madness of the dining room, a speculative glance, and when she caught my look the wink Kazehana sent back was so discreet that I was sure I was the only one who caught it.

It looked like the older Sekirei was unexpectedly canny, despite her normally flighty behavior.

I shook my head in awe, even as the fireworks went off in the background. It was strange, that this lively scene was actually becoming something comfortable too me. It was almost like having Fuji-nee back in my life. Heck, even the quantities of food the Sekirei ate as a whole were comparable to how much Fuji-nee used to eat.

Even as I started to relax, settling down to do what I could to alleviate the chaos, I found myself pausing. Looking over my shoulder, I saw what had almost slipped my notice in the growing din.

"Fireworks?" I muttered, looking curiously through a hole in the sheet covering the broken wall. Sure enough, brilliant flashes of blue and white followed by long drawn out cracking noises marked the eruption of more of the aerial pyrotechnics.

Even as I tried to figure out just what event was going on today that would warrant the display, a beep from Matsu's doohickey went off, almost unnoticed save for a glance down by the hacker as she started rooting on the brewing cat fight between Kazehana and Tsukiumi. That quick glance became a second, much longer one, and then the hacker's eyes widened in shock.

"Shirou-tan!" she yelped, loud enough to catch the attention of the rest of the room. Even as everyone else began to take notice, she was already holding up her doohickey.

"Everyone," Hiroto Minaka, the Director of MBI began, seated imperiously on throne of white marble, wearing a ridiculous looking white cape over a white suit, "it's time for the third stage to begin."


	29. Twenty Ninth Wing

In Flight: Twenty Ninth Wing

_Author's Notes: Well, here it is. After a long wait, it has returned. As I mentioned before, I actually had a good 20 pages already finished but was ultimately dissatisfied with how they turned out. After reviewing them, I got them about to the place I wanted them to be, and after that it was easy enough to finish it up._

_Normally, at this point I'd go in to answer some reviews, but I've actually been a little afraid to go back and look at recent reviews. I fear the death threats to my pets._

_Instead, I'll just go on to the spoiler section of my notes._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_The first part of this chapter was hard to write, mostly because it ended up being a rehash of actual canon events. The first match of the third stage had a lot of elements that I wanted to keep in, or just couldn't bother to change for that matter. So in order to not be redundant, I tried to give a brief outline of what was happening while concentrating instead on the reaction of Shirou and the rest of his flock as well. I am a bit worried that it came out as a bit of a 'peanut gallery' scene, but I just couldn't find a better way of progressing past the scene then how it ended up._

_After that, we get to the point where things began to diverge from the way Sekirei canon is actually going._

_One big divergence is Miya's premature coming clean on the truth of the Jinki. I'd like to think I'd been building to this. In Sekirei, Miya never quite trusted Minato. She seemed to think of Minato, probably rightly so, as an unreliable weeny, and it was only after he got emo enough after Uzume's termination that she finally decided to throw him a bone._

_In IF, on the other hand, I'd like to think a camaraderie between Miya and Shirou has been building for a while. The fruits of that relationship come out early here, when Miya finally decides to trust Shirou with some of her own burdens._

_A second element that I want to call attention to is the Jinki. Minato might have been happy, or unambitious enough, to just play along with MBI's plan, but for Shirou that just won't do. That just won't do at all. When confronted with a way for him to finally get a measure of control, a way to take some initiative, it seems pretty natural that Shirou would want to grab the chance with both hands. _

_This has always been one of the planned turning points in In Flight, by the way. Though things might echo Sekirei events on occasion later on, you the readers can expect things to start branching further and further away. It also marks the beginning of the end for In Flight as well. While so much of the story has seemed like massive build up and repetitive slice of life, the framework is at last set up and things are going to start building to the conclusion soon. _

_How soon that will be on the other hand I'm still not clear about. I'm still tentatively calling the end of IF at around chapter 40, so there is still a good bit of story left to be told._

_Also, I'd like to call attention to Shirou's reaction to the Jinki. I put that in partly as a way to help illustrate just how ominous the little doodads are, something which Sekirei itself seems to mostly ignore in favor of more boobies. Also, I wanted it to be a weakness for Shirou as well. Yes, he needs them, yes, he's going to hunt them, but the fact that he can't look at one without a minor embolism is gonna be trouble._

_Finally, though I wonder if it should even count as foreshadowing considering just how much most of the readers have been expecting it, it's time for Uzume to get center stage for a bit. Honestly, I doubt anyone is gonna be surprised by it, but if you were, well, SURPRISE!_

_*End of spoilers*_

_That being said, here's the twenty ninth wing of In Flight. I'll be starting a thread on the forums for any questions or comments, and I actually intend to follow that thread, so any questions, comments, or concerns, just go on over. If you just want to pop out a review, go right on ahead._

_And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

The Third Stage. I had known for a while that the Sekirei Plan, this strange combination of danger and courtesy which both allowed for the mating of an alien species with their human soul mates and then promised to cruelly tear them away just as easily, was still only beginning to run its course, but despite that foreknowledge the casual declaration of the advancement of the plan being announced on the screen across from me caught me by surprise.

I should have been aware. After all, I had actually planned on Kazehana's eventual winging, knowing that one day she would either find her own chosen partner or simply be caught unaware or unprepared and taken forcibly by one of the less savory Ashikabi in Shin Tokyo.

I couldn't help but feel like a bit of an idiot that I spent the first few seconds after the announcement being honestly surprised. I should have seen this coming, should have been starting my preparations the moment Kazehana had sealed herself to me with a kiss. I should have been paying more attention to the movements of either Ashikabi or MBI, keeping Matsu prepared and ready for the incoming storm.

Well, to be fair, after a brazen death match in my backyard combined with what amounted to only a few hours for everyone involved to adjust to the sudden shift in world views as long held beliefs were shaken to their core I guess everyone here did have an excuse for being caught unready. Judging from the look which was crossing Matsu's face, the hacker herself seemed to be every bit as off-balance as I was, and she had probably been preparing for this announcement even longer than I had.

Fortunately, it seemed that Minaka was expecting this kind of reaction, because he spent the next few seconds after his announcement simply smiling at the screen, looking entirely too smug and relaxed for someone responsible for so much pain. It was enough time for me to quickly shake my head, pulling myself back to the present through force of will as I leaned forward, eyes locked on the screen of Matsu's doohickey.

"Is this a live broadcast?" Mastu muttered, her fingers fiddling with the edges of the screen.

"Jeez," Homura nearly growled. I could make him out from the corner of my eye, and the fire user was also leaning forward, much like I was. In fact, it looked like most of the room was doing their best to try and angle themselves so that they could see the small screen Matsu was using to display the posing CEO of MBI. Unlike the rest of the room, whom were mostly displaying expressions of curiosity, Homura's cheeks were red with what my first guess labeled as 'suppressed killing rage' judging from the sudden heat his body was emitting and the way his eyes flashed dangerously. "What the hell does that idiot think he's doing?"

"Matsu," I added, keeping most of my attention locked on the screen. "Are you recording this?"

Before the hacker could respond, Minaka was already continuing, one hand rising from the armrest of his throne to gesture proudly. As though the gesture was a cue, the camera focused on him drew back to reveal a screen behind him displaying what looked like some kind of water treatment or chemical plant. Large iron and steel tubes were intertwined together, mixed among basins used to hold what was probably hundreds or thousands of gallons of fluid. "The arena of the first match of the third phase is not in the city. Instead, it will be held on a private island owned by MBI."

"Match?" Musubi chimed in, blinking as she raised a finger to her mouth. Across from her Tsukiumi, who had frozen in her usual pose as this new interruption cut off the brewing catfight between her and Kazehana, shushed the shrine girl. Matsu opened her mouth to answer my earlier question, but when Minaka continued to speak, the hacker just gave me a quick nod, not wanting to interrupt the broadcast.

"Now," Minaka continued, leaning backwards and apparently making himself comfortable. Raising both his hands in the air as though gesturing an audience to rise, the white clad man continued, the camera once more closing in to a close up on his face. "Let's take this time while the contestants gather to talk about the past."

"Long ago," Minaka began, the smile on his face wide as he began his history lesson, "back when the Sekirei first landed during the Age of the Gods, they brought with them many treasures. After so many centuries many of those treasures were lost, and as time marched on that wondrous age became nothing but legends and stories. But there are still a few who remain that remembers that age, and still some of those ancient treasures exist." He paused, and I got the impression that Minaka might have a tendency towards either melodrama or grandstanding. "Several of these treasures were called 'Jinki', and I have hidden one of them somewhere within this arena. The first person to find the Jinki will be the winner of the first match."

The name of this supposed prize itself was meaningless to me. I had no idea what these so called treasures, the 'Jinki' were. Judging from the way most of my flock reacted, neither did they for that matter. Tsukiumi was nibbling on her thumb again, but that seemed to be more a sign of general nervousness then any real reaction. Musubi's expression didn't change from her usual curious one. Akitsu didn't appear to even notice the broadcast, her gaze locked on me with the same intensity it had since I had bluntly listed a few of my more colorful injuries in the past. Kuu just glanced around the room with childish curiosity, wondering just what her brother and sisters were so interested in.

Then again, there were a few who reacted less sanguinely to the promised prize. Matsu herself was leaning forward, her glasses pulled off as she watched the president give his speech. Kazehana, whom I noted absently, was still on my lap, shifted, turning her attention briefly to Miya. Given what that the landlady was probably the most informed about Sekirei matters, I expected a more expressive reaction from the enigmatic lavenderette. However, Miya showed no reaction whatsoever. Sitting stock still, her posture erect but calm, the landlady simply kneeled with her eyes closed.

Honestly, Homura's reaction was far more impassioned, though like Akitsu it seemed he wasn't so much as paying attention to the speech being delivered as he was focusing all his energy at glaring at the speech giver instead. I felt a moment of fear for the poor doohickey, seeing as Homura's eyes actually could set things on fire if he tried hard enough.

"These rules can change at any minute," Minaka continued, relaxing back with the grace of a king finishing a proclamation to his subjects. It looked entirely too forced to me, but then again I did have a great deal more exposure to actual kings then this wannabe director. Saber had been blessed with more than enough charisma when she chose to act regal, and even if the two of us had been natural enemies it didn't change the fact that Gilgamesh had had a style all his own as well. "And future matches can have different rules. This applies to the arenas too. I've prepared many fun arenas!"

Minaka displayed a disturbing grin as he finished describing the general rules of the third stage of the Plan. The camera zoomed in, letting the white haired man's face fill the screen.

"The Sekirei must fight, and fight, and fight, until their Ashikabi has one: the treasures of ancient times. They are the keys to the heavens which will open the way to a new Age of the Gods.

"I hope all the contestants enjoy the competition. Now, let the first match begin!" Minaka made one final gesture, and then the screen blanked out briefly before once more filling. The scene displayed this time appeared to be the island he had showed earlier, though now the view was different. The angle was from above, pointing down at a small gathering of three people as they made their way gingerly across a helicopter pad.

"Seo," I muttered, identifying just who it was that Minaka had decided on opening the third stage with. The rough looking part-timer strode easily across the otherwise empty scenery, one hand up to keep his hair from flapping in his face as Hikari and Hibiki followed after him. Whatever audio receivers they had on the island, they were apparently good enough to pick up the man's muttered complaints as he glanced around the broken down scenery.

"Man," he grumbled. "A treasure hunt? What kind of stupid kid's game is this?"

"Not a very hard one," Hikari added, pointing up towards one of the pipes. "They even put up signs everywhere." The signs in question were so ridiculously obvious that I could only attribute missing them earlier to my paying attention more attention to Minaka then the screen. They were all bright reds and blues and shaped like arrows. Some of them had little slogans like 'This Way!' and 'Keep Going!" drawn on them with either sparkly or glow in the dark paint.

"Meh," Seo muttered, kicking angrily at one of the nearby structures. "I guess it can't be helped. If I don't get moving I just know that shrew is going to get on my back about it." He kicked a wall again, and even his low grumbling was picked up by the sensitive microphones. "Why the hell do I put up with her again?"

"Because it's the only job you can hold down?" Hikari muttered, and her twin gave her a chiding look.

"Hikari," Hibiki whispered in a scolding tone. "You're going to hurt his feelings if you keep that up!"

Seo ignored her more acerbic Sekirei's sarcastic comment, and instead glanced around casually. "He said there would be three groups this time," he continued, idly kicking at some rubble as he did so. "I wonder where…"

Without warning, he whipped around, spinning to face something that was off camera. Judging from the way Hikari and Hibiki mirrored that motion I assumed that there was some sort outside stimulus they were reacting to that I couldn't identify from the doohickey's screen. Sure enough, the angle of the camera suddenly shifted to reveal a newcomer.

"Where am I?" the new figure wailed, tears in her eyes as she sobbed. "It's so big and scary!" It was a girl, a Sekirei most likely judging by the gender and clothes. She looked young, maybe in her mid-teens, with dark skin and childish eyes and was dressed in shorts and a halter top with strips of black leather woven through them and hanging off of her.

Even as the newcomer drew up short at the sight of Seo and his Sekirei, I tried to figure out just who she was. She looked familiar, so she was most likely on my list of Sekirei to watch out for, but the trouble came in remembering just why she was on my list of dangerous Sekirei. I was still trying to figure out where I knew the new Sekirei from when she turned and bolted, only to be brought up short by Seo grabbing one of her leather strips.

It wasn't until Seo was interrupted in his attempted interrogation of the newcomer by a lead pipe to the back of the head that I finally identified just who she was and more importantly whom her Ashikabi was.

"Sanada Nishi, the Ashikabi of the West," I listed, as the aforementioned Ashikabi began to hug and cuddle his Sekirei shamelessly. Considering the fact that he was dressed like some kind of biker delinquent and his Sekirei looked like nothing more than trampy jailbait, the raw and obvious affection the two held for each other was a little disconcerting. "His Sekirei are numbers eighty nine, Kujika, number ninety three, Kuzuri, and number one hundred and six, Shijime."

"That is the Ashikabi of the West?" Tsukiumi muttered, giving the man on the screen a disdainful look as one of the four great Ashikabi in the Sekirei Plan was summarily electrocuted by the Thunder and Lightning twins. "It seems my earlier belief in all Ashikabi being uncouth monkeys was perhaps not as inaccurate as I had begun to believe."

"Wait a minute," Sanada's voice came from the screen as though to support Tsukiumi's observation. "You two use lightning, so why aren't the two of you in tiger striped bikinis?"

It looked like Sanada's accusation seemed to catch Hikari and Hibiki completely by surprise. Actually, it caught me a bit by surprise as well. I wasn't sure what the angry biker was talking about, but whatever it was seemed to be enough to draw a suppressed snort from Matsu, so I simply assumed it was something perverted and instead focused on the screen as the Hikari began to lose her temper at the Ashikabi with Hibiki once more being forced to step in and play peacemaker.

"Oi," Seo's voice interrupted the scene of brewing violence, announcing the rejoinder of the part-timer to the confrontation. "So you're Sanada?"

"Seo…" Hikari and Hibiki both began at the same time as they turned to their Ashikabi, relief evident in even Hikari's voice as they did so, only for both of them to freeze, their happy expressions turning blank as they took in the view before them. Seo looked unharmed for the most part, except for a trickle of blood making its way down his forehead. Unfortunately, the rest of his appearance was less then inspiring.

"Kaoru," Miya murmured, sounding excessively aggrieved for her usual calm self as she took in the sight of the man she loved to hate casually groping the chests of two of Sanada's Sekirei. Kuzuri, the Sekirei who Seo had first captured before Sanada had made his entrance, had been joined by the Sekirei I could identify as Kujika. Kujika wore a similar outfit as Kuzuri, though Kujika's top was much smaller, just a bikini top with a prominent star pattern on both cups. Currently, both of their tops had been pressed out of the way and Seo had one of each of their breasts firmly griped in his hands. The two Sekirei were squirming, apparently attempting to escape their molestation.

"Odd," I muttered, noticing something which stuck out to me.

"Odd isn't quite the term I would use to describe it," Miya actually muttered, shaking her head in annoyance at the actions of her husband's old friend. "Perhaps 'distasteful', or 'shameful'."

"No," I shook my head back, focusing as Seo continued to taunt the other Ashikabi about the feel of his Sekirei's breasts. "Why don't they break out on their own? They should be able to overpower a normal human like Seo easily."

Seo's words from so long ago, nearly forgotten, came back to me once more. 'Takehito was one of the researchers for the Sekirei Project, and he might have done a little tinkering on me as well.' I already knew about Seo's ability to sense the number of an Ashikabi's Sekirei and the man had insolently hinted about how there were more abilities he held. It looks like Seo might have just displayed another one of those powers right now.

"Ha," Seo was mocking Sanada now, a smirk on his blood stained face. "Boobs with no feeling. Is that what gets you off, Sanada?" It was a childish and immature taunt.

"Don't touch my boobs without my permission!" Sanada returned in kind, an outraged expression on his face. Sadly, it looked like the maturity level of this confrontation was most likely not going to get much higher than that for now.

"Somehow, it feels like when they got serious I lost all my power," Hibiki noticed, the more levelheaded twin looking embarrassed as the two Ashikabi continued their bickering.

"Don't say that, Hibiki," Hikari pleaded, appearing like she was trying to conceal her own embarrassment with annoyance. "It'll make me cry if you say it."

Hikari looked like she was going to say something more, but before she could open her mouth to do so a new voice interrupted, reminding me that there were more Ashikabi than just Seo and Sanada present.

"Ha! As idiotic as ever," the new voice noted, scorn evident in her derisive laugh. "Come, Master. Stupidity is contagious. We should go now before you catch something."

As though taking the interruption as a cue the camera adjusted angle, moving away from the thunder and lightning twins even as they whirled to confront their insulters. The newcomer who had spoken was tall and with long grey-blonde hair, dressed in a cleavage bearing dress and miniskirt held tight to her hips with crisscrossed belts and covered all over by a light blue overcoat. There were two other Sekirei with her, and the two of them were so similar in appearance and dress that I thought that they might be twins for a second. I brushed that thought aside quickly enough. The only other set of genuine twins besides Hikari and Hibiki in the game were both winged to the same Ashikabi, and they were the only two the Ashikabi had to his name. The presence of a third Sekirei disqualified him from being that contestant.

The moment I laid eyes on the only human among the newest group I promptly narrowed them. Just like with Sanada, he was one of the few humans whom I was more likely to recognize on sight then most Sekirei.

"Hayato Mikogami," I announced to the group in the room with me at large. "The Ashikabi of the South." Mikogami was not what I was expecting at all. I mean, yes, I had seen the pictures of him before, and yes I could recognize him. It was a little startling to see him next to someone else for the first time and realize how young the other Ashikabi was. At only fifteen, it seemed just as unnatural to see him in some sort of marriage bond with the older looking Sekirei around him as it was to think about what Kuu's bond to me meant. In an all-white suit that looked more expensive than all my clothes put together, with a fluffy looking neckpiece on and toting around a handheld game system he looked like a bored upper class schoolboy just out for a weekend trip rather than the dangerous and selfish Ashikabi whom had forcefully taken nearly two dozen Sekirei as his own.

"Another of the Four Great Ashikabi," Matsu murmured, humming at the scene before, drowning out Hikari and Hibiki's response to Mikogami's Sekirei's rude remarks. "Only the first match of the third stage, and already two of the powers of Shin Tokyo have been drawn in."

I blinked, glancing at Matsu as she finished her contribution. She was right. Statistically speaking there were dozens of different Ashikabi which could have been brought in on the first match, and yet only Seo was one that didn't count as a power in Shin-Tokyo.

Or was he?

My eyes narrowed as I corrected my previous thought. Seo had been in contact with Takehito, one of the preeminent minds behind the Sekirei Plan, and had personally received genetic adjustments which affected his abilities as an Ashikabi. Moreover, the scruffy part timer was also on somewhat good terms with Miya, and probably had been exposed to Sekirei for the longest of any of the other Ashikabi.

Add in the fact that Seo was also in frequent contact with me, though the time we usually spent together had precious little to do with Sekirei and more to do with earning non-traceable income for ourselves, and that he also was spending a lot of time with Yukari and Shiina, whom were recognized as the powerful 'Devil Ashikabi' and 'Grim Reaper Sekirei', and an entirely different picture about Seo's role in the Sekirei Plan began to take shape.

"You're right," I nodded to myself, finally responding to Matsu's observation verbally. "There's no way that the three were chosen at random."

"What do you mean, Shirou?" Tsukiumi broke in, the water user glancing back and forth between Matsu and I with suspicious eyes. Tsukiumi never did like getting left out of the loop, and though she was powerful the water user just didn't seem to be able to make the same connection that Matsu and I had. Considering her possessive streak it was no surprise that being left behind in the conversation would cause her to bristle.

"It means that Minaka is playing games," Homura filled in for his elemental opposite. The fire user was still focusing most of his attention on the screen, but it looked as though he had managed to get his temper back under control at least. He had resumed his customary cool stance, his arms folded under his chest as he kept his expression calm. The only sign of his earlier annoyance was the trace amounts of scorn which leaked into his voice at the name of the hated Director.

"Taki," Mikogami whined, the confrontation being displayed on the doohickey having carried on as our own conversation had developed. "It's boring having to deal with small fries. Let's hurry up and get the rare item!" The young Ashikabi began to tug impatiently at his tallest Sekirei's sleeve. "It's all I can think about. I want it! I need it!"

The older female that Hayato called 'Taki' smiled down at her Ashikabi with an expression which was part indulgence and part adoration, before giving a condescending look to the other two Ashikabi and their Sekirei.

"Our objective is simply to seize the Jinki," Taki told the groups at large. "It seems we don't have time to deal with hooligans like all of you!" She emphasized her declaration by waving her hand. The motion seemed to prompt the air around her to thicken, mist forming around her much in the same way it sometimes did around Akitsu when the snow woman was using her power. It made me wonder whether this elemental ability was in some way related to ice. Then again, it could just be a function of water as well. It could even be heat for that matter. "Curtain of Mist!"

By the time the final syllable of her attack had been pronounced a wall of fog so thick it looked like it could be cut with a knife had sprung out around her, blocking the camera from seeing the actions of the South's party. The mist was so well contained that even as it blocked the caster and the rest of her party from view, no other part of that area was obscured at all.

"Just who are you calling a hoodlum?" Hikari screeched, shaking a fist angrily at the now gone other Sekirei. Angrily, back arched like a ruffled cat, the lightning user began to march into the cloud of mist with fists clenched. "You just wait right there!"

"Wait Hikari," Hibiki spoke up, one hand up as though to placate her more temperamental sister. "What about Seo…?"

Hibiki trailed off as she glanced back only to find that her Ashikabi apparently hadn't even noticed the interruption. Instead, the scruffy part timer was simply glaring daggers at the Ashikabi of the West, a look which was being returned in full by his adversary. With a sigh, Hibiki turned and began to follow her sister, leaving her Ashikabi behind to fight his own battles.

"You know what?" she muttered as she departed, "I think he has things under control here."

Seo didn't seem to care one bit about his abandonment by his Sekirei, one which I noted left him alone and against an enemy Ashikabi who still had two active Sekirei with him. A part of me wanted to scowl at the apparent disregard for their Ashikabi's safety, but that part was overshadowed by the belief that they had probably made the right call. Somehow, I didn't think that the eminent confrontation between Seo and Sanada was going to end up with Sekirei being involved.

"Now that it's turned out like this," Seo shouted, bringing his hands up into a guard position as he made fists out of them, "it's a battle between the two of us!"

"That's fine with me," Sanada shouted back, his own hands fisted as he began to stalk towards his opponent, a scowl on his face as he did so. "Your personality seems like some kind of rip off of mine. It pisses me off!"

"That's my line!" Seo responded, and the two reared back with their fists, preparing to launch the first blows of what promised to be an epic confrontation between the romanticism of two men.

Then, right as the two began to throw their first punches, the audio sensors of the cameras picked up the faint noise of a high pitch melodic beeping. Seo paused, looking down at his jacket pocket in surprise. Unfortunately, Sanada didn't have the same hesitation and took advantage of Seo's distraction to land the first blow.

"Orya!" Sanada shouted as Seo's head snapped to the side, causing the other man to fall to his knees at the hit.

"Oi! You sonnovabitch!" Rather than be beaten by that first strike, Seo seemed to only become more enraged by it. Launching himself out from his crouch he returned the favor, landing a stunning looking uppercut to Sanada's chin. "Taking advantage of my phone ringing to hit me? What kind of cheap bastard are you?"

"Maybe you should of have turned it off before coming, you idiot!" Sanada managed to shake off the counterstrike, and another punch was launched quickly back at Seo. "Only an idiot leaves his phone on all the time! What if you had been riding a bike and had an accident? You wanna die, you punk?"

"I'm not on a bike you idiot!" Seo's counterargument was delivered at the same time as a block. His return shot was just as easily blocked.

"The one who calls someone an idiot is an idiot, you idiot," Sanada snapped back.

"Than that makes you a super idiot, you moron!"

Even as the argument continued to degenerate from there, I found myself releasing a sigh that was something between amusement and embarrassment. Normally I found Seo to be a canny man, and I hadn't changed my first impression that he would make a skilled and useful ally. That didn't affect the fact that I couldn't help but feel that maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if the other Ashikabi might put a bit more effort into maintaining a more professional appearance. He was sort of representing me as an employee, after all.

Oddly enough, I heard an echo of that sigh from Miya as well. I doubted her thought process was identical to my own, but I'm sure she had her own reasons for being exasperated by her longtime acquaintance.

"A fist fight between Ashikabi," Matsu chimed in, settling back a bit as the camera continued to display the scene of the two fighting men. "Or rather, between two men. Matsu shouldn't be surprised, but she kind of is."

"Interesting," I added my own two cents, doing my best to recover from my earlier disappointment. Unlike Matsu, I was still leaning forward, focusing all my attention on the battle between Seo and Sanada. The rest of the room seemed to have relaxed as the fight continued. I honestly wasn't certain why, but it looked like the moment Sekirei weren't involved they seemed to have dismissed the battle as relevant.

"Why's that, Shirou-san?" Musubi asked. Besides myself, it looked like she was the only one who was still giving the conflict any attention. "They don't look particularly strong."

"What's interesting is that neither of them are dead yet," I responded plainly. "Look. Sanada has the perfect chance to kill Seo right now. He's alone, already taken some damage, and both of his Sekirei are too far away to respond if Sanada were to just tell his own to kill him. Despite that, they're still fighting."

"Of course," Tsukiumi nodded, giving me a distasteful glance. "To do otherwise would be shameful! Even if it is just two humans, to interfere in another's battle is unforgiveable."

"No," it was Homura who interjected now. The flame user had originally begun to relax when the conflict on the screen had changed to the current fight, however once I spoke up he had begun to pay more attention. "I think I see what Shirou is saying." Then he paused for a second before continuing in a dry tone of voice. "Though on second thought, I'm not even surprised that the first thing he noted was the lack of bodies, and I think that lack of surprise is actually a little disturbing."

"Well then, Shirou-kun," Kazehana spoke up, a teasing note in her voice. "Just what's so interesting about watching two Ashikabi fight?"

Despite the nature of her question, her tone was unusually cheerful, as though she didn't really care what my response would be. When I glanced down at her in response to her question I realized just why she didn't seem particularly interested in my answer. The wind user had been seated in my lap before the third stage had prompted this unexpected viewing, and in my efforts to get a better look at the tiny screen we were using I had at some point leaned forward as close to the table as I could. The end result was that I was now haphazardly pinning Kazehana to the table, her behind still planted on my lap as the rest of her body was bent over the edge of the table.

The final picture made for a vaguely erotic position, as though we had been engaged in some sort of impromptu or hasty intercourse with the kitchen table serving as a makeshift resting place for the Sekirei. Combined with the way Kazehana's usually brief outfit had been disheveled by the positioning I was surprised that Miya or Matsu hadn't already made some sort of comment on the inappropriateness of our position.

The wicked grin Kazehana threw over her shoulder at me let me know that she at least was perfectly aware of how we must look, and it was only because I was still rather firmly in 'battle mode' that I didn't blush and make a hasty exit.

"Well," I began, and even though I was too focused on the fight to give into adolescent hijinks I wasn't so focused that my train of thought couldn't slip just a little. It took me a second to recollect my original reasoning. "What's interesting is how Sanada is acting. The only other Great Ashikabi I've had any interaction with is Higa of the East. Considering how ruthless he is, I'd been considering him as the standard for what I could expect out of the other Great Ashikabi."

"Matsu thinks she sees," Matsu broke in, also refocusing on the screen as she made the connection that I was leading up to. "If it has been the East, then Seo-tan would already have been attacked. But instead the two are just fighting it out by themselves. It's like neither one of them even cares about the rest of the match." Matsu paused, and slowly began to resettle the glasses she had removed earlier as her face screwed up in thought. "Shirou-tan," she continued, giving me a quick look. "The South too."

"Right," I nodded, and as though the change in topic was some kind of unknown cue the camera angle showing the fight between Seo and Sanada changed to display Hikari and Hibiki as the two raced after Hayato and his collection of Sekirei. "Mikogami of the South could have ambushed the two right then and there. They had better position and the advantage of surprise. Instead, all he did was just leave so he could search for these Jinki things."

"So one of the two great Ashikabi doesn't seem interested in the goal of the match at all," Homura chimed in, nodding as he voiced the conclusion he had reached. "And the other doesn't care about anything but the prize." His head turned slightly towards me, his eyes narrowed as he started to study me for some reason. "Compare that to Shirou and Higa, and it looks like all of the Great Ashikabi have different goals for the Sekirei Plan."

"Matsu agrees," the hacker broke in, also giving me a glance. "Comparing the North and the East to the West and the South is like comparing night and day."

I glanced away from the two as I found myself unable to think of a proper response to their contemplative looks. They were right. There definitely seemed to be a rather large difference in the nature of each of the Four Great Ashikabi: the South, who had so far left an impression that had more in common with a spoiled rich kid than one of the great powers of the city; the West, who seemed to have little to no interest at all in dealing with the whims of MBI; the East, who seemed to be willing to do anything no matter how shady or underhanded to accomplish his goals, whatever those might be; and myself, the North, who was simply watching things unfold while plotting endlessly for how to end the game in the most efficient fashion possible.

Somehow, when I put it like that in my head the end impression was that I was the most ominous of the four. Even if Higa so far was the most dangerous of the Ashikabi in the Sekirei Plan at least his actions had clearly defined goals. On the other hand I was just some silent figure lurking in one quarter of the city which periodically emerged to terrify and eliminate anyone who got in my way.

Dear god, I really had managed to make myself the Caster of the Sekirei Plan.

As though sensing my darkening thoughts, Matsu cleared her throat, returning her attention to the screen. "Well," she began, adjusting her newly donned glasses. "At least the thunder and lightning twins are still doing okay!"

"Wait," Tsukiumi spoke up, a confused scowl on her face. "Weren't those two just for comic relief?"

"Tsukiumi," Homura sighed, shifting his crossed arms as he closed his eyes as though to conceal his amusement over his rival's statement. "Even if those two have never succeeded in hunting down any of the unwinged Sekirei, it doesn't change the fact that during their fights those two have accumulated more battle experience than all of the other Sekirei in the Plan."

"I fought them once," Musubi chimed in happily. "I lost completely! They really are strong."

"That's nothing to be proud of, Musubi," Tsukiumi scolded the bear Sekirei sternly, leveling a disapproving glare at the fighter. Musubi grinned sheepishly, knuckling her head gently and sticking out her tongue as she did so.

"Experience is very important," I added, watching as the two aforementioned lightning users began to rant about the hardships of their lives as they fought against the nearly identical Sekirei from earlier. The two were dressed in yellow and black one piece dresses with designs that reminded me of the type worn by girls who promoted race cars and used a whip and wires respectively.

"You seem rather certain of the importance of that particular element, Emiya-kun." It was Miya who surprisingly enough chimed in at that point. I glanced at the landlady, a bit startled by her contribution. Ever since the announcement of the prize of the first match of the Third Stage the landlady hadn't responded to anything that was happening around her, barring her embarrassment at Seo's antics. For her to rejoin the conversation for something so banal was unexpected. "Is there a source to your confidence?"

"Ah," I began, needing a second to gather my thoughts in order to give a proper response to her inquiry. "It's just that you can learn more from one battle fought, whether you win or lose, then you can learn from a hundred hours of training. Techniques that different weapon users might use, or tricks that elementalists might have, how to use the surrounding terrain to your advantage, or even just how to take a beating and escape; there are dozens of different elements to combat that can only really be learned through experience."

"Indeed," Miya nodded slightly, her eyes flickering downwards in what was perhaps an unconscious gesture. She seemed to realize that her gaze was lingering on her newly marred chest after a moment before she dragged it back up to meet mine. "Is that how you yourself learned, Emiya-kun?"

"I wasn't always quite so familiar with battle," I couldn't help a small crooked grin from forming at the understatement I was delivering. "And since the first real life or death situation I was in was the Grail War, I had more than a few hard lessons along the way."

"From what you've described of your War you must have had quite the steep learning curve," Miya noted. On the screen, as though to punctuate our conversation about the importance of experience, both Hikari and Hibiki were dominating the fight with the South's Sekirei. When Sanada's two biker girls appeared to join the fray it was probably the only thing that kept the whip and wire user from being summarily terminated.

"It helped that I had a legendary artifact of immeasurable healing power to keep me from dying," I admitted. "It made the early mistakes a bit more survivable."

"Shirou-tan!" Matsu broke in, interrupting Miya's line of questioning. At first I thought that her exclamation was in response to my flippancy over my previous injuries, but the hacker quickly continued, a note of urgency in her voice as she began tapping the doohickey's screen. "There!"

I pulled my attention back to the ongoing battle, trying to determine just what it was that was catching Matsu's attention so emphatically. At one point one of Sanada's Sekirei, Kujika if I remembered her name right, had broken away from the three way fight between the different factions of Sekirei and had begun racing quickly towards a particularly tall tower that was located in the middle of a few dozen other similar towers. Standing at the very top of the tower was a third Sekirei, this one looking almost as young as Kuu did and dressed all in white. Below her, Mikogami was running frantically as fast as his human legs could carry him with an outraged expression on his face.

"My Jinki!" the young Ashikabi shouted, his tone frantic as he heedlessly charged the alien that was probably a dozen times stronger than him and was holding superior ground as well.

"Hey!" the young Sekirei, number one hundred and six, Shijime, if my memory was correct, seemed to notice the incoming Kujika and began to wave happily. "Lookie! Lookie! It's sparkling!"

My attention moved to the object she was cradling with both hands, the sparkling thing which had apparently so caught her attention. When the screen obligingly zoomed in for a close up of the object I was finally able to make out… make out a….

What the hell was that?

For a moment, I felt as though my brain had frozen solid, as though literal bars of ice had been driven into each individual lobe. I felt as though all the color in the world had been sucked out, no, as if all the colors had been reversed, no, as if there were no colors to begin with. A part of me noted the general shape of the thing I was looking at, that it was a three dimensional heptadecagon consisting of an eight sided pyramidal shape with the addition of an extra eight sides between the arch and the base. The original material of the heptadecagon was some form of synthetic polymer, not too common but not exactly noteworthy either.

It was the thing inside the casing which was causing my reaction.

It looked spherical, but that was all I could make out of it. It was… It was something, something which I couldn't comprehend despite how much my mind tried to. I was almost certain it was biological, but it was also mechanical. It was inert, yet it was also in motion. It had been forged through machinery, and yet it had never been touched by any mechanical process.

It was hot. It was cold. It was up. It was down. It was left, but it was also right. It was inside, outside, and sideways. It was wrong, and yet I'd never seen anything more correct in my life.

What was it…

What was it?

WHAT WAS IT?

"Shirou-tan!"

A voice interrupted my thoughts. The sound of it was enough to pull me up from my thoughts. I focused on my name, and a second later I was blinking trying to focus on something which wasn't that THING. I realized that I was in a room, and that there was a sheet in one corner of it. There were people there, no, I realized a second later, there were females there. Women. No. Not women. Sekirei.

And they were all, to one degree or another, giving me worried looks.

"Shirou-tan," the same voice from earlier repeated, and I realized I knew who was talking. Matsu. Yeah, that was her name. "Shirou-tan," the newly re-identified speaker said again. "Are you okay?"

I felt like I was pulling myself out of a tar pit, my thoughts sluggish as I responded. Despite the jolt back to where I was, I was still having trouble focusing. The only response I could bring myself to make was delivered in a confused and addled tone of voice.

"What was that?" I sounded plaintive, even in my own disjointed view point. I realized that my breath was short, that I was panting. I felt like I had just run a marathon, or had another death match with Gilgamesh or Archer. It was hard to inhale, or more like my body was just desperately lacking air. Had I forgotten to breathe for a few moments there?

"Shirou," Homura began, leaning forward as he did so, eyeing me carefully. "Are you alright?"

"What was that?" I repeated, deeming that response an appropriate one for his question.

"What was what?" Kazehana prompted, eyes narrowed in speculation as she peered over her shoulder so she could look at me askance, our position still vaguely suggestive. "The Jinki?"

"That was a Jinki?" I muttered, before even I realized just how dazed I sounded. "I mean," I tried to shake my thoughts free, and succeeded in managing to recover a bit of my composure. "What WAS that?"

"Kazehana just said what it was," Miya reminded me, a slight look of concern showing up in her expression as I continued to give the impression of an idiot. "Emiya-kun, are you perhaps feeling unwell?"

"No," I shook my head emphatically. "I know the name of it. I mean, what was it made out of? How was it constructed? No matter how hard I looked I just couldn't understand that damn thing." I think I had managed to get out of the dazed phase, though now it appeared I might be slipping into the hysterical phase. I had only ever come across one other thing that I couldn't understand. It made me very, very nervous to bear witness to yet another.

After all, the last item I couldn't comprehend had been Ea, the Sword of Rupture which could split apart the sky and the earth, and which was the only anti-world Noble Phantasm in existence. If these so called Jinki could evoke the same reaction within me, than just what kind of power could they hold in their deceivingly small frames?

"Understand it?" Matsu parroted, blinking as she did so. A small frown crossed her lips. "Shirou-tan, what do you mean? Just because you saw something doesn't mean you have to understand something, especially if it's the first time you've ever seen one…"

I debated arguing that point for a moment, before giving myself one more shake, grimacing as I did so. There was no point in trying to explain that first time or not it shouldn't have mattered to me when it came to comprehending something. Though I had done a fairly good job at catching up my flock and Miya on the basics of magecraft, trying to explain something as obscure and unusual as having a Reality Marble which provided an automatic unconscious comprehension of physical objects while simultaneously recording every aspect of any weaponry that comes into my sight might be a little too much to handle right this second.

"Never mind," I instead, prompted, my eyes drifting unconsciously back to the screen that had captivated me only moments before. I wasn't sure if I was just trying to catch up on what I missed of the match or if some part of me was hoping to catch sight of that thing, the Jinki again.

I wasn't certain how long I had been entranced by the alien artifact, but apparently it had been long enough for the first match to officially have ended. Fireworks were going off again, and I realized I could make out their distant booming even without the video. The screen was now alternating between the various members of the first match, as though this was some kind of reality show and they were now showing the individual reactions of all the participants after a grand winner had been announced.

"Seems like the match is over," Sanada noted, not looking as though he cared one bit. The leather clad biker was sprawled out on the ground, covered in bruises and drying blood from the fist fight he had been engaged in earlier. Beside him, lying parallel and in much the same state, Seo grunted.

"Not like I care," Seo muttered, the part timer turning his head to the side and snorting, a bit of dried blood and snot being ejected as he did so. Careless of the distasteful nature of his previous gesture, the part timer leveraged himself up so he could prop himself up by his arms, slouching lazily. "Guess that kid from the South ended up with the Jinki after all."

"Oi, bastard," Sanada grunted, propping himself into a similar position as he did so. "Aren't you going to answer your phone already? The ringing is really starting to piss me off."

Seo glanced down at the pocket of his jacket, scowling as he did so. Though the fight between the two had only been displayed in part, judging from the annoyance that both the Ashikabi were demonstrating the still present beeping of the part timer's cell had mostly likely been a constant presence during their battle.

"It's probably just that damn shrew again," Seo muttered, even as he began fishing in his jacket pocket for the offending appliance. Sanada snorted, giving his former foe a level look.

"The hell?" Sanada muttered. "You got a girlfriend as well as your Sekirei or something?"

"No," Seo snapped, sounding childish as he finally freed his phone, the look on his face as he glanced at the caller ID screen one as though he had just bit a lemon. "Just an annoying boss." Flipping over the phone in a casual move, Seo put the receiver to his ear. "What?" he snapped, sounding as though he thought he already knew what would come next and probably wouldn't like it one bit.

Judging from the way Seo cringed away, his face a grimace of pain as he quickly put distance between his ear and the cell, it seemed he had been spot on with that assumption.

"What?" he snapped after a second as whoever it was on the other end of the line apparently lowered their volume. "No," he continued a second later, before pausing and scowling again. "Because I was busy beating the hell out of someone, that's why."

Another pause and his scowl grew. "Well whatever you think, I thought that fighting him was more important. So there!" He blinked, listening for a few more minutes, before he sighed, palming his face in what appeared to be frustration. "No, I will not give a speech about love and justice... Why?" He pulled the phone in front of his face, grimacing as he did so before taking a deep breath, and then shouted in a voice which was probably just as loud as the one he had been treated to moments ago. "Because I think it's freaking stupid, that's why! What the hell do you think this is, a manga or something?"

I suddenly had a sinking suspicion about just who it was that Seo was talking to.

"I don't care if you could find a manga that could predict the future and had winning lottery numbers," he continued, before pausing, apparently listening to something from the other end of the line. "No, not even if the lottery ticket was worth a million bucks. Not even that would be enough for me to give some bullshit speech!"

As the one sided conversation continued, the man Seo had just been locked in masculine combat with started to grin, eying his former opponent gleefully as Seo continued to debate the merits of speech giving during battle with the suspiciously obvious other speaker.

"You sure that ain't your girlfriend?" Sanada drawled, his eyes narrowed in pleasure as he teased his former foe in a sing song voice. "You two sure sound like a couple, that's for sure."

"No! If speech giving is out, than sentai poses are even further out!" Seo snapped at the phone, before pulling it away and covering the mouthpiece with one hand so he could glare at the Ashikabi of the West. "And no way in hell would I date that shrew," he growled, his voice still angry but not at the yelling pitch he had been using for his phone conversation a second ago. "For one thing, her tits ain't big enough."

As though in response to that last statement, the volume of the sound from the earpiece of the cell increased to the point where even the audio sensors of the cameras spying on the whole scene began to be able to pick out individual words. It wasn't enough to hear it all, but the few words that were discernible were definitely not the kind of things that should be said around children.

Sadly, it was also enough for me to confirm just who it was that Seo had been arguing with.

"Yukari," I muttered, sinking my head into my hand in shame. It had only been a few days since I had last seen her, yeah. But was it too much to hope that those last few days would have been enough for her to depart, even just a little, from trying to reenact the elements of the manga she so loved?

Speeches about friendship and love? Trying to get Seo to strike sentai poses, the kind most often used by Saturday morning cartoons and live action kids shows?

I didn't think it was possible, but it looked like my little sister was actually getting worse…

The only redeeming element of that particular tidbit was that at least it wasn't me who was getting the brunt of it for once.

"Ara, ara!" Miya chirped, and I caught sight of one hand coming up in order to conceal a smile as the landlady seemed to take a customarily sadistic glee in watching Seo get harangued by my sister. "What an excitable girl that Yukari-chan is!"

Regardless of the Miya's delight in his suffering, Seo apparently had had enough and with a grunt he flipped his phone shut.

"I don't get paid nearly enough to put up with that crazy loli," he grumbled angrily swiping one hand through his hair as he did so. Considering how much Yukari hated to be called on her less developed features, I couldn't help but wonder if he was aware of just how much surveillance was on him, and just how much us onlookers were actually able to watch.

Well, with Seo it could go either way. Either he was aware, and was just choosing to push Yukari's buttons in order to rile her up, or he wasn't aware, and I suspected he would soon find out the hard way just how much my sister had heard him badmouthing her.

"A spitfire loli, eh?" Sanada grinned, giving the phone in Seo's hand a speculative look even as he continued to grin at his former opponent's ill fortune. "Sounds like she might be my type," he continued, and I froze. "Think you can get me an introduction?"

Slowly, I moved my hand enough so that I could look out at the doohickey across the table. Had the Ashikabi of the West, one of the four great powers of Shin Tokyo, just seriously admitted to having a thing for lolis?

And a loli that was my sister of all things?

There it was again: that hideous urge to kill in the name of familial piety. With narrowed eyes I glared at the screen. I hadn't been able to properly put the fear or the big brother into Shiina, seeing as the number one hundred and eight was just too polite to warrant it. Sanada on the other hand, well, he didn't quite have that advantage going for him

"No way man!" Seo was giving the Ashikabi of the West a look which was equal parts amused and equal parts incredulous. "Are you freaking serious? Lolis? It's all about the breasts, the breasts! What kinda fun is a girl who doesn't have any?"

"I like those too," Sanada shrugged, grinning as he did so. "I also like them tall, short, fat, thin…"

"Enough already," Seo cut off the other Ashikabi, though it sounded less like he was doing so because he was outraged by the apparently indiscriminate nature of Sanada's preferences and more because he was amused by the diversity. Then he Seo paused, and his eyes narrowed. "Also, a word of advice," he began seriously, and Sanada paused, eyes narrowed as he did so.

"Yeah? What's that?" The Ashikabi of the West seemed to be caught between belligerence and curiosity at his opponents tone.

"If loli's like that are really your type, never go to the North again," Seo said, a wicked grin starting to form. "Because if you do, then a vicious Asura is going to kill you for sure."

"Damn straight," I growled, and decided that next time Seo came over for food I was going to give him extra helpings for discouraging Sanada from going after my sister like that.

"An Asura?" Sanada snorted, dismissing Seo's warning. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"A demon, man, a demon," Seo explained, a vicious smirk starting to appear. "The North has two of them. The Hannya might be a scary thousand year old hag, but all she'll do is scare you off. The Asura though, well, get in his way and he'll kill you dead."

"Thousand year old hag…" I paused in my glaring to slowly turn my head towards Miya again. "Seo-san," Miya continued, and though she was smiling in her customary way with her eyes pleasantly crinkled, I couldn't help but note the twitch at the corner of her eyes. That, and the gathering cloud of bloodlust which was beginning to darken the air around her.

"Now, now, Miya," Kazehana chose that moment to speak up, and I could feel her shiver briefly due to her lingering proximity. "Why don't you just take a deep breath? I mean, it's not like he's actually here at the moment."

"Yeah," Homura also chimed in, looking a little pale as he eyed Miya carefully. "I'm sure if you just wait long enough he'll show up eventually."

"Hopefully with that Sanada as well," I muttered, turning my glare back to the screen as the doohickey finally changed scenes right after the two previous combatants were about to shake hands before being struck by lightning. Still, despite that inappropriate nature of Seo's proclamations, I couldn't help but shake my head a bit.

Damn, that man was canny.

I still wasn't certain whether or not he was aware that he had been broadcasted. Seo just enjoyed his little slander wars with Miya too much to pass up the chance to get a snipe in at the landlady, regardless of how much she'd make him pay for it later. But the last part he had added on there had no doubt been deliberate: the part about the Asura in the North being a killer.

Even if he Sanada had been the only one intended for the comment, it was still yet another rumor about the North that might end up making its ways around the forums. The fact that it had been broadcasted was just more icing on the cake. With Seo tying it into the already prevalent urban legend about the North's Hannya, it was just that much more likely to be spread as well.

The only thing that could have made it more effective was if Seo had somehow managed to tie in 'swords' to the new rumor about an Asura that he was trying to start. With the addition of the appropriate weaponry than it would be just that much easier to capitalize on the new rumor if the situation ever came up.

It was while I was busy churning these new developments over in my head that the screen flickered again, and Minaka's face once more took up the predominant space on it. The Director of MBI was still seated on that ridiculous throne of his, and was grinning proudly at the conclusion of the first of his little matches.

"Continuing on," Minaka began, his smile widening. "Shall we start the second match?"

"Already?" Matsu yelped as the screen changed. The hacker adjusted her glasses nervously, still fidgeting as her eyes went unfocused, no doubt peeking up at some other bit of information she had on one of her computers upstairs.

"This arena is in the East," MBI's CEO continued, "at the MBI dome!" The screen showed an aerial view of the arena, a pretty typical stadium that was used for a variety of different sports and congregations for any number of reasons. "And because the first match was pretty interesting, the rules are the same! Once again, the fastest one is the winner!"

"Eh?" Tsukiumi yelped at the blunt and rather unprofessional choosing of the rules, a noise which was echoed by Musubi as well as the two continued to crowd in to watch the next match. Though I was less vocal, I had to agree with them at least. It was such a haphazard way of choosing the rules of combat. Homura on the other hand seemed to focus on a different topic.

"Shirou," he spoke up, his voice intense as he rounded on me. "Where's your phone?"

"Hm?" I grunted, giving him a startled look before I made the connection he already had. Quickly, I fumbled in my pocket as best I could. It was a task that should have been easier than it was, but unfortunately it was complicated by a matter which I really should have done something about earlier.

"Kazehana," I began as the wind Sekirei grinned at the way moving my hands in my pocket caused them to brush up against her in rather inappropriate places. "Would you mind getting off, already?"

"Oh, I wouldn't mind getting off at all, Lover-kun," she purred, and once more my combat mode was the only thing to keep me from blushing at the deliberate misinterpretation of my request. Despite her teasing though, the wind user did finally shift off my lap, plopping herself deliberately on the side that Tsukiumi was seated on.

"That's my seat!" Tsukiumi instantly glowered at the interloper at having been displaced from my side, outrage causing her hair to start moving like it usually did when the water user's power was influenced by her mood.

"Not any more, Panty-Flasher-chan!" Kazehana crowed, and Tsukiumi's eyes narrowed even further.

"Not right now, please," I entreated the two with a sigh as I pulled out my phone. Despite the delay my cell was still silent, and when it remained that way for a handful of moments more I nodded.

"Looks like we missed this one as well," I noted, and Homura nodded in agreement, his eyes still narrowed but his posture relaxing slightly as we were again spared having to participate.

"Hmmm," Matsu hummed from over by the doohickey, gnawing at her lips gently as she did so. "It looks like they're still gathering up the contestants for the next match," the hacker noted. I glanced back at the screen to discover that at some point it had transitioned into an image of pasture of some sort with long blades of green grass blowing gently in the wind. Centered on the screen were the words 'Please Stand By For Mortal Combat!' floating innocuously. Matsu still had her eyes unfocused, but she managed to have enough attention in the room to frown slightly at the absurd image. "Matsu doesn't think that is at all appropriate!"

"It is in pretty bad taste," I agreed, shaking my head with a grimace.

"I thinks it's pretty!" Musubi disagreed beaming at the peaceful scene being displayed, though whether it was because it was such a gentle image or because Musubi just liked the words 'Mortal Combat' was anyone's guess at this point.

"Pretty!" Kuu-chan agreed, throwing her hands in the air happily as she did so. At least in her case I was pretty sure she was commenting on the greenery. With another small sigh, I let their contributions pass.

There were other things to think about, after all.

So far the Third Stage was already revealing a plethora of new information that was going to take me forever to analyze, and this was only the first match. Minaka wasn't even trying to pretend like he wasn't going to interfere in the most outrageous of ways: he had already deliberately put together a match which brought two of the great powers of Shin Tokyo into conflict, with a third lesser known but probably just as influential power in Seo as well. Besides that, he had already revealed that the rules he could and will impose were probably entirely arbitrary and according to his whatever whim he felt like acting on.

Not to mention the most important revelation that had come up…

"That thing," I began, letting my mind wander back to that twisted artifact I had caught sight of for only a moment. "The Jinki. Just what was that?"

"Were you not paying attention either, Shirou-san?" Musubi asked, tilting her head to the side curiously as she responded to my rhetorical question.

"'Not paying attention either?'" Tsukiumi parroted, giving her rival a disapproving glare. "As in you weren't paying attention yourself, Musubi?"

"Hehe! Not at all!" Musubi nodded cheerfully, willingly confessing to her lack of attention before sticking out her tongue and knuckling her head with good cheer. "Musubi was too busy watching the fighting!"

"The Jinki was just that," Homura chimed in, "A Jinki." Though he only gave a cursory glance at the developing argument between the two. Instead, he seemed more interested in focusing his attention at me.

"That's about as helpful as when I explained that sorcerers were those who could use sorcery," I returned, my forehead knitted as I narrowed my eyes. Just the memory of the thing was enough to distract me, the thought of so many converse and mutually exclusive elements which had somehow managed to be compacted into an innocent looking sphere.

Wait, had it really been a sphere? Perhaps it was simply ovaloid. I think that the x-axis might have been a bit long in comparison to the y-axis. But how would that cause the z-axis to be able to manifest…

Frantically I shook my head, trying to pull my mind away from the thing. Homura caught my sudden movement, and it was his turn to narrow is eyes at my sudden and unprompted movement.

"Shirou, are you sure you're okay?" he asked, getting attention from both Matsu and Kazehana as he tried to see what was wrong with me. "You've been spacey ever since you first laid eyes on the Jinki." He pursed his lips, and though his expression was mostly stern I could hear a bit of worry in his tone as he continued to interrogate me. "That's not like you at all, especially with things related to combat."

"Homura-tan is right," Matsu added, the redhead giving me a cautious look as she turned the doohickey around to start fiddling with it. It looked like she was planning on taking advantage of the brief lull in the matches to set up a few more of her programs on her network. "Ever since Shirou-tan saw the Jinki, he's looked a little pale."

"It's just," I began before trailing off, grimacing as the topic called to mind the thing again. "It's just that it was WRONG," I finally settled on, unable to keep my voice from rising slightly for a moment before I caught myself. Taking a second I tried to force myself to calm down a bit. "You don't understand," I continued. "That thing, the Jinki… I've never seen something like that before. Well, no, I have once," I allowed, my eyes narrowing. "And the last thing I saw like that was one of the most dangerous weapons I've ever come across."

"Something like what?" it was Kazehana's turn to chime in, and even though the Wind Sekirei sounded concerned it also sounded like she was confused. "Shirou-kun," she added slowly. "You're not really making sense. How was the Jinki 'wrong'?"

"It was alien!" I finally grit out, resisting an urge to pull at my hair as I did so. I knew, intellectually, that they were right. I wasn't exactly being the most articulate here. If I just tried to say that 'it was wrong', then there was no way that the others would be able to understand what I was trying to say.

"Well, yeah," Homura agreed, looking nonplussed by my choice of words. "It is a Sekirei artifact, after all. Isn't that what that bastard Minaka said already? That they were 'treasures' brought by the Sekirei when they first landed?"

"Not that kind of alien," I shook my head even as I acknowledged the fire user's point. I got it, that the Jinki were originally created by the Sekirei, that it was an extraterrestrial artifact. "I meant it was ALIEN, as in completely different from anything on this world. I don't think there's anything on this planet that is anything remotely similar to that thing. I mean, how was it made?" I noted that my tone was once more drifting into plaintive, maybe even into desperate as I tried to somehow fit some sort of structure onto my memory of the Jinki.

"Ah," Matsu sounded confused, and for a moment she shared a concerned look with the fire user sitting next to her. Finally, the redhead seemed to reach some sort of conclusion. "Is this one of those things related to you being a magi?" she asked, tentatively reaching a conclusion for just why an artifact that hadn't really affected the rest of the gathered crowd was getting to me so much.

"Yes," I nodded, glad to at least have a bit of context provided for my thoughts. If I had been thinking clearer I would have already mentioned it. "Well, not for most magi," I allowed, shaking my head as I corrected myself. "Only a few other magi would be as affected as I am, but yeah, it's got something to do with magecraft."

"So what?" Homura was still leaning forward, but now that he knew that there was some impulse behind my erratic behavior it seemed to help him focus. "Does the Jinki affect your, your magecraft?" he stumbled on the last word, no doubt still not use to the particular terminology but trying it out anyway.

"I…" I trailed off again, my head shaking as if of its own accord. "I don't know?" I finally admitted, frowning as I did so. Actually, now that Homura pointed it out, this reaction was kind of a bad thing. If just the sight of a Jinki had been enough to throw me off this much, then what might happen if I were to actually be in one's presence? Or if I touched it even?

It was a sobering thought. The first match had been a race to get the strange artifact, and though the second one hadn't yet begun it looked like it would be the same way. How on earth was I going to compete in one of these contests if the mere sight of the prize was enough to render me completely insensate?

"What does that thing even do?" I growled, one hand coming up to brush through my hair angrily as I scowled at the table, the recent revelation of my potential helplessness just one more thing on the list of problems that I was going to have to review.

"If the proper conditions are met, then the Jinki can be used to commit an indefinite number of mass genocides on humans." Miya spoke softly, her gentle delivery almost enough for me to miss the actual content of her words. Almost.

I froze. I wasn't able to move, or react in any way, the words that Miya had just uttered with deliberate calmness rendering me as immobile as the sight of the Jinki had earlier. It actually took me a second to be able to move, and it felt like time had slowed down as I turned to face the landlady. Miya was sitting calmly, her hands in her lap, her head slightly lowered, her eyes closed, and her face expressionless. Well, almost expressionless. The lavenderette had a good poker face, but it seemed that even she wasn't completely able to suppress a physical response to her own words. It was just a slight tensing of her jaw, a pinching at the corner of her eyes, but it was there.

She was serious, I realized.

It seemed like the brutal meaning of that short sentence was enough to affect many in the room as well. Matsu and Kazehana were both still, their expressions serious as the two former Disciplinary squad members reacted with almost professional calmness. Then again, it was likely that the two had already been aware of the potential devastation that the thing had been capable of unleashing. Homura looked a bit more affected by the revelation, his eyes darting between Miya and the doohickey as though the machine might show the newly ominous item again at any moment. Tsukiumi had gone still herself, even the interloping of Kazehana not important enough to warrant further response in the face of potential mass slaughter.

Then again, not everyone in the room reacted so conveniently. It was almost disturbing how regularly Akitsu, Musubi, and Kuu-chan seemed to fail to display the appropriate level of concern when faced with such massive revelations. Akitsu didn't look concerned about anything but maintaining her vigil over me that she had started when I had carelessly let slip my previous injuries. Musubi just cocked her head to the side, looking curious at best as she watched the rest of the room react. Kuu on the other hand….

"Onii-chan," Kuu whispered, tugging at my sleeve as she did so. It was enough to get my sight to drift to the little girl, whom I realized was just giving me a curious look as she blinked up at me. "What's mass genocide?"

Kuu just didn't apparently understand the word itself.

"It's the loss of an unacceptably large number of human lives," I explained almost mechanically. "Usually centered on some sort of geographic location or ethnic type."

"Ah," Kuu's eyes widened as she nodded seriously, before she crossed her arms and scowled at the doohickey. "That's bad!"

It looked like Kuu was tapping into Homura's train of thought about how the machine might spontaneously show the newly labeled 'bad' item which was causing her onii-chan to worry.

"Before," Miya continued, still maintaining her façade of composure, "you mentioned your concerns about the direction of the Sekirei Plan, Emiya-kun. At the time, you spoke of your worries that perhaps MBI was using the plan in order to act as a cover for something more insidious. At the time, it raised some worry in me that your speculations might be in some way correct. Than, I dismissed the possibility that such a thing was likely. I had thought that not even Minaka would be so brazen as to allow the Jinki to be so casually distributed."

Miya opened her eyes and smiled at me. It wasn't a happy sight. No smile should be that laced with remorse and shame. Then scent of regret was palpable to me, and for a moment I honestly wondered how no one else in the room could fail to react to it, regardless of their lack of sensitivity to magical energy.

"It seems that I was wrong," Miya admitted softly. "Not only is Minaka failing to enact proper caution with those items, but it seems he is even handing them out now as prizes, without regard to the character of those who receive them." The landlady bit her lip, and for a moment her eyes lowered before she caught herself and forced them back to mine before she closed them once more.

With that same smile on her face, Miya continued.

"When Takehito died, I was supposed to have retired," the lavenderette admitted. "But when faced with the strength of your will, I can't help but want to give some guidance. Tell me, Emiya-kun: would you like to know a bit more of your heritage?"

Oh, did I ever. Miya had always been one of the key players in the Sekirei Plan. More than just strength, locked in that slight frame was a surplus of knowledge about the Sekirei, their history, MBI's past actions, and their future goals. Just the night before, when she had mistakenly assumed that my powers were based upon some potential inhuman ancestry, she had told me almost as much if not more about the Sekirei's legacy on the planet than I had gotten out of Matsu in nearly months.

Despite the import of what she was offering combined with the severity of the situation she had revealed, I found myself equally torn between sighing and smiling.

"Still insisting on me being part Sekirei?" I asked, noting the way Miya had placed emphasis on the 'your heritage' part of her sentence. When Miya's smile became a trifle less painful to look at, I knew that she too had found her insinuation to be amusing, the amusement maybe even being the reason she had chosen to word her sentence as she did. Still, it was brevity that couldn't last in the current atmosphere. "Miya," I added on a moment later, my tone becoming more serious. "Are you sure?"

For all the potential answers being offered to me, I was hesitant to take them. This was Miya, the one who had calmly bore my own secrets, who had welcomed me into her home, whom had forgiven me my trespasses and damage against the last legacy of her departed husband, who's very scent revealed how deeply troubled she was by the things she had endured. To brazenly seek to get those answers from her, to accept and receive them when the answers themselves might bring her more pain was unacceptable.

"It's fine," Miya told me, her smile finally appearing natural as she opened her eyes. "I trust you."

I couldn't stop myself from taking a surprised breath at that, almost a gasp. Those words… I remembered saying those words to her myself. I wondered if this was how she felt when she heard them herself, back then when I had revealed a part of that painful truth to my flock about the history between Saber, Rin, and I.

"Alright," I said to Miya, nodding in gratitude as I did so. "Tell me what you want say."

*Scene Break*

By the time Miya was finished with her story, I couldn't help but wonder if she was taking a little too much pleasure in reversing the situation. First she hit me with the 'I trust you' turnabout, and then she delivered a story which left me wondering if this was how the others had felt when I broke down and told them the history of Thaumaturgy.

I'd like to say I was surprised by it, the bloody secret history of the Sekirei from when they first arrived on my planet, but honestly, it was nothing special. I'd heard more fearsome tales from Saber in the past, and found more terrible stories of violence when researching the Servants of the Grail Wars.

However, despite all that, it said my mind ablaze.

"So the Jinki's are the treasures of the other's like you, Miya," Homura summed up the flame user staring at the table in front of him in concentration. Homura always was a serious one, and the story Miya had just told was one that deserved that gravity. "And in the past the other bearers of the Jinki, the original Ashikabi, they gathered together to fight for control of them."

"Indeed," Miya nodded. "Though do to geography, and the misplacement of my own ship, the eight Jinki were never fully gathered together in those times. Instead, they were buried with their owners."

The number zero one looked almost serene after having finished her lesson on the past. I suppose I could understand that. It was hard keeping secrets from those you cared about. I wasn't quite certain just how Miya felt about the Sekirei as a whole. For her, the first of the flock that had landed with her, she could possibly have seen herself as a guardian or perhaps a leader or ruler of sorts. Then again, considering that most of the rest of her race still living had been nothing more than embryos at the time when she was contacted by MBI maybe her feelings were more maternal in nature.

Whatever she felt for the rest, I knew that at least for the residents that lived in her house Miya considered herself a caretaker at the least, as family most likely. Whether the relation was as a mother, or perhaps a big sister, or even just a favored aunt, it was a connection that I think Miya enjoyed immensely.

"However," Miya continued, releasing a small sigh as she did so. "It was my error in mentioning them in this time. Once they were discovered, MBI set about locating all of them. Now it is finally possible for all eight to be gathered."

"It's not your fault, Miya-tan," Matsu chimed in, the hacker sounding comforting. "Miya-tan couldn't have known what MBI would use them for."

"Hmm," Tsukiumi muttered, the water user gently gnawing at her thumb again. I couldn't be certain just what was going through her head, but she did seem at least a little concerned by the information that had been revealed. "Matsu," Tsukiumi finally added, her eyes narrowed and a suspicious tone in her voice. "It seems to me like you were already aware of much of this."

"Of course," Matsu retorted, turning her head up childishly as she did so. "Matsu knows just about everything about the Sekirei Plan!"

"No doubt due to excessive peeping," Miya added, a familiar tone of scolding in her voice. Matsu deflated at the blow to her ego.

"Miya-tan," Matsu whined, but couldn't seem to mount a proper defense once more to the landlady's accusation.

"Actually, most of the single numbers already know that, Panty-Flasher-chan," Kazehana chimed in, and Tsukiumi glared at the invader who was still between her and I.

"I'm a single number, and I didn't know!" Tsukiumi declared, scowling as she did so. I suspected that if she had been standing then she might have accompanied the proclamation with a stamp for emphasis.

"Neither did I," Homura added, folding his arms as he did so, still lost in thought as he stared at table.

"Ah," surprisingly enough, Akitsu also seemed to have something she wanted to add to the conversation. "Neither did I," the snow woman admitted.

"Yeah, but you are a Scrapped…" Homura began to respond with a snort before he trailed off, blinking as he did so and pulling his gaze from the table to give Akitsu a startled look. "That's right," he added, a surprised tone in his voice. "You're not a Scrap anymore." His eyes narrowed in confusion as something seemed to occur to him. "I guess that means you can resume you position as number zero seven."

"Wait," it was Tsukiumi's turn to squawk in surprise as the water user turned to give the quiet snow woman a bewildered stare. "You were the number zero seven?"

For the first time in what was probably hours, Akitsu finally broke her gaze away from me so she could turn slowly to the water user. She blinked, and I found myself trying to recall just how long it had been since she had done that, and was disturbed when I realized that I couldn't recall.

Akitsu hadn't really been staring that long without blinking, had she?

"Yes," Akitsu nodded slowly at Tsukiumi's question, and the water user stared for a second longer before folding her arms and narrowing her eyes.

"Well then," Tsukiumi continued, before leveling one hand to point at Akitsu, the other finding its way to her hip in a way which I noted deliberately elbowed Kazehana. "You might have been excused before, but from now on I expect you to announce your number before combat!"

Akitsu was still for a moment, before her head slowly drifted to the side in a move which indicated curiosity in my eyes. "Ah," she began, a note of surprise clearly evident in her voice. "I suppose."

It looked like Akitsu had never really considered the ramifications of her being winged beyond the matter of her finally having an Ashikabi. Honestly, Tsukiumi's order came as a surprise to me as well. Apparently I hadn't been very observant about the ramifications either.

Still, that was for another time. There were still more important things for me to consider.

Miya was the first to notice that despite the way the rest of the room was slipping back into their usual shenanigans, I was still being unusually quiet, and I had little doubt that my face was still far too serious for such light hearted talk. It should be, seeing as I was still fully in combat mode.

"Emiya-kun," Miya began, calling the attention of the rest of the room back to me by interrupting Tsukiumi's reeducation of Akitsu on Sekirei protocol. "It seems that you are still considering matters carefully. Have you come to some sort of conclusion?"

"Yes," I nodded slowly, my mind racing as I did so. "The Jinki. I want them. As many as possible."

It looked like this wasn't the response that Miya had been expecting. Her brow furrowed slightly as she cocked her head to the side. "Emiya-kun," she began, speaking a little slowly as she did so. "What do you mean?"

"But how to get them?" I continued, speaking more to myself then to the room at large. More and more I felt my thoughts racing as realization after realization blossomed. "Even if they're handing them out, MBI will have them under careful guard. If I could get them through matches, that would be fine, but who knows how long that will take? There's no telling what else they have planned either." My hand came up, running through my hair roughly as my eyes darted across the table in front of me, racing as fast as my thoughts as they searched the innocuous wood for some sort of inspiration to help my burgeoning plans. "Maybe if I target the winners of the matches? But would MBI stand by for that kind of aggressiveness?"

"Shirou," it was Homura's turn to cut in, his dubious tone revealing his own unease at my sudden intensity. "You can't seriously mean to start attacking other Ashikabi?"

"Indeed," Tsukiumi added, a scowl on her face as my sudden change in tone pulled her attention away from Akitsu. "Haven't you always advocated discretion and obedience to the rules? Why on earth would you change your mind now?"

"You don't get it, Tsukiumi," I muttered, a smile starting to pull at my lips. "This is it. This is what I've been looking for!"

"What do you mean, Shirou-tan?" Matsu added, a confused expression on her face as she leaned forward, my change in mood drawing her attention away from her doohickey completely.

"The way to stop the Sekirei Plan completely," my grin grew. I wasn't sure if it was vicious or victorious, and at the moment I didn't even care. "The Jinki are they key!"

"Stop the Plan…?" Miya chimed in, her expression changing. Her features had started to turn towards disappointment as the knowledge of the Jinki had apparently inspired my avarice, but when she heard my intentions she paused, a cautious look appearing on her face.

"Think about it, Miya," I enthused, nearly fidgeting with nervous energy. "I've said before that the Sekirei Plan just doesn't make sense. It had no apparent pay off, no way of improving their situation. But with the Jinki, that changes. You said before that no one was ever able to gather all of them together, not even the, what did you call them, the 'Authority Holders' of the past. But if you factor in the Jinki as prizes, then the current Sekirei Plan stops being just a mad blood bath, and starts being something different."

"You mean," Matsu began, her tone cautious as the hacker tried to reason out my train of thought. "As a method to determine the most worthy of the Jinki? But surely there must be a better way than this, Shirou-tan?"

"Not if you look at it from the same perspective as the Grail War," I countered, leaning forward as I did so. Matsu paused, her eyes widening before they narrowed again. "For the Grail War, all that was required was that all seven of the Heroic Spirits were sacrificed. If all the contestants had just agreed to order their Servants to die, then it could have been accomplished the first time. However, there would be no way to determine which of the seven Masters would receive the prize. That was why they ended up fighting, to determine which would be able to receive their wish…"

"And because it would only go to the victor, then the losers wouldn't be able to complain about not getting the prize?" Matsu half asked, half declared as she began to nod slowly. "So if the Jinki only go to the last Ashikabi standing, then they would have the same claim on the Jinki."

"Exactly," I nodded, thankful again that Matsu was so quick to pick these kinds of things up. The hacker nodded as well, but her lips pursed as she did so.

"So does that mean that Shirou-tan is going to start participating in the Sekirei Plan?" Matsu asked in a cautious tone. "So that Shirou-tan can be the one to get the final prize and use the Jinki?"

"Use it?" I repeated, blinking as I realized that Matsu didn't quite understand my intentions yet. "Why would I do that? I'm not going to use the Jinki. I'm going to destroy them!"

Now that got a certain reaction from my house mates.

"Emiya-kun!" Miya didn't quite gasp, but it was definitely the most nonplussed I'd ever seen the landlady react, barring of course her infamous 'eep'.

"You can't be serious!" Homura's own choked response was matched with a wide eyed stare as the fire user gave me a look more usually reserved for staring at a crazy person who had just said something unusually outlandish. Matsu turned nearly as white as her clothes, and beside me Kazehana gave me her own incredulous look.

"B-but… T-t-that…" Tsukiumi stuttered, not sure how to respond, though whether it was to the destruction of an item she hadn't even heard about before today or to my declaration of ending the Sekirei Plan that she was so inured in was anyone's guess at this point. Once again, Kuu, Musubi, and Akitsu gave the most moderate of the reactions. Kuu and Musubi just seemed curious about my stated goal while Akitsu just resumed patiently watching me as though waiting for an order she could follow.

"Whatever the case might be, all eight of the Jinki are needed for them to fully activate," I continued to explain. "Without all eight of them they're just unusual alien items. Dangerous, probably yeah, but not to the point that Miya was explaining earlier. If I can just get one of them, then destroy it, whatever MBI is planning would most likely be impossible. The Jinki must be a central part of their goals. The whole third stage is apparently dedicated to introducing and spreading them around. Without a key factor in their plans, then it might even be possible to stop the Sekirei Plan completely!"

"Though that might work," Miya began, and now it looked like the lavenderette was less startled and more cautiously intent. "I'm not certain as to the feasibility of your plan Emiya-kun," she grimaced slightly. I turned to give her an expectant look, though my intensity might have been a bit diminished by the way I was nearly fidgeting with excitement. "They are items which could potentially cause untold death and devastation to those with Sekirei lineage. If one were to be destroyed, then such a reaction might be triggered automatically. Besides," she added, her eyes narrowing in thought, "I'm not certain that there actually is anything which CAN destroy one of the Jinki."

"Oh, I'm willing to think I could find a way," I assured her, my mind already flitting back to some of the more destructive Noble Phantasms in my possession. There wasn't much out there that something like Excalibur couldn't destroy, not if I tried hard enough. Still, she raised a point. It wouldn't do to accidently set off the very cataclysm I was attempting to avert. Despite that, my enthusiasm wouldn't be so simply contained. "Fine," I allowed, shrugging off that particular detail in my plan. "Then I gather as many as we can, and then I run."

"You mean flee like cowards!" Tsukiumi squawked, and it looked like the water user was definitely not going to be happy with anything I came up with afterwards.

Tough for her.

"But if WE run like that, with a Jinki nonetheless, then MBI will definitely chase us," Matsu pointed out, and I noted the way she emphasized the pronoun. I realized that even without intending to I had already begun to think of just myself alone in my upcoming plans. Judging from Matsu's glare, it looked like she definitely caught that little omission.

I shook my head, and decided to think about that particular bit later. For now, the important things.

"They wouldn't be the first organization to chase me," I pointed out, before shaking that tidbit off and returning to my original topic. "And if we can't destroy them," I corrected my speech almost automatically, "then we hide them. We can sink them in lead and drop them into the deepest part of the ocean, or in a volcano or something. We could track down the gates to the faerie realms and get the fey to take them. Hell, we can find a tribe of vicious cannibals in the Congo and have them guard them! It doesn't matter how, all we have to do is make sure that MBI can't get them again!"

"Cannibals?" Musubi repeated, tilting her head to the side at the unfamiliar word.

"Faeries?" Kuu chimed in as well, brightening at the now doubt stereotypical thought of tiny girls with wings and green dresses. I didn't have the heart to disillusion the little girl about what the Fey truly were like.

"But even if we do that, then MBI is still going to be looking for them, Shirou-tan," Matsu pointed out, though she seemed somewhat mollified that I had started thinking in terms of a group instead of just myself.

"So what?" I shot back. "Even if they hunt us to the ends of the earth, just as long as we have a Jinki, the Sekirei Plan CAN'T continue! It will have to be put on hold until they get the stolen Jinki back! Think about it!"

"Matsu still isn't sure about what some of the later phases of the Plan are," the hacker added in, and I noted that despite her hesitation it looked like she was starting to warm up to my idea. She almost casually pulled off her glasses, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she started to commit herself to analyzing my hasty and partially formed plan. "But if they do require the Jinki for them…"

"Then they would have to be put on hold while they try to recover the ones we stole," I finished for her. "Meanwhile, all the other Sekirei and Ashikabi would be more or less free to live their lives. Yeah, they would still be confined to Shin Tokyo, but that might be safer anyway. With MBI's forces acting to keep them contained, they'd also be protected from any outside forces like foreign governments and stuff. Things might be hectic for a bit, but eventually an equilibrium would probably develop."

"Still," Miya broke in to the rapid back and forth dialogue which had somehow developed between Matsu and I. It looked like even she was beginning to find the idea interesting. "It would first require that you gather the eight Jinki yourself, Emiya-kun," she pointed out. I shook my head, cutting her off.

"I don't need all eight," I informed her, already trying to do the math in my head. "I just need enough to make sure that no one else gets all eight. Five would be the best, just to make sure that I had a majority. There's no way of knowing if some sort of partial reaction could be achieved if enough were gathered, so having over half would be best. Four would be fine too, making sure that half are out of the way. At the very least, three would do."

"Holy shit," Homura breathed, his eyes narrowed as the flame user began to realize how serious I was. "This might work," he concluded, amazement in his voice as he did so. Then his eyes narrowed and he shot me a quick look. "Though it might be best if we were to take out Minaka first, just to make sure," he added, and if I wasn't so giddy I would have snorted at the fire user's one track mind when it came to killing the Director of MBI.

Beside me, Kazehana didn't have that compunction and snorted audibly. "Just let it go, Bishounen-kun," the wind user told Homura, once more cutting off his attempts to push for the execution of Minaka. Still, despite her almost instinctive response the wind user's eyes were narrowed as she gave me a searching look. "It might not be so bad," she mused, her eyes distant. "Living a life of danger, always on the run, desperate battles during the day followed by steamy, love filled nights of desperate life affirming sex…"

"Sure," I sighed at the inevitable destination that Kazehana's thoughts generally seemed to end up at. "That'll be fine. Just as long as the battles are finished first. And as for Minaka, it might be best to let him live," I added for Homura's sake. "He's the driving force behind the Sekirei Plan. As long as he's in charge, we can be somewhat assured that the pursuit will continue."

Homura snorted at the byplay, and though he looked a bit sour at having his contribution shot down once more. It only lasted for a moment before his thoughts turned back to my plan. "This might work," he repeated, sounding awed by the potential scenario I was painting. "This could really work."

"I certainly thought so," Matsu added, and I blinked as I realized she had slipped out of her childish speech pattern. My eyes locked onto the hacker, and I discovered that Matsu had once more sat up straight, showing the maturity that she only used at the most serious of times. "After all, I already tried it."

"Already tried…" I repeated, not quite sure where she was going with this, but finding myself suddenly even more excited than I had been before. "You don't mean…!"

"I wasn't able to escape the city," Matsu admitted, her own smile growing slightly. "I was only able to flee to Miya-san for help. But I was able to get a Jinki when Ieft." Her smile grew even more as she revealed just what crime it was she had done to get the wrath of MBI on her in the first place. "It's upstairs, concealed in the attic. So that just means we need four more, right, Ashikabi-sama?"

I didn't even care anymore if my grin was vicious, victorious, or even just plain manic. I wouldn't be able to stop the smile even if I tried at this point.

"Ah," Musubi chimed in, and I glanced over at the bear Sekirei, wondering just what she would want to contribute to the conversation. It was a bit uncharitable, but even I had to admit that this kind of strategizing might be a bit over the rather simple Sekirei's head. "Where's Uzume-chan?"

I blinked, and my eyes shot around the table. Musubi was right. I tried to remember the last time I had paid any attention to the Veiled Sekirei, and realized with a dropping in my stomach that I couldn't remember when that had been.

*Scene Break*

It wasn't until two hours later that I discovered what had happened to Uzume.

"Come on, Ashikabi-kun!" Kazehana demanded, latching onto one of my arms as she did so. I blushed again as I noted once more just how deep my elbow sank into her cleavage at the motion. "It's time for bed!"

"Not now, Kazehana," I noted absently over my shoulder. "There's still too much to do. I have to go over the second match, and review the combatants, and start making underground contacts for travel papers, and…"

"And you're not going to be able to do any of that if you don't get any sleep," Kazehana cut me off gently, her voice a sultry purr. "If you're too tired, then you might end up missing something."

"I'm not that tired yet," I protested stretching my neck and wincing as I both felt and heard the pop of stressed muscles relieving themselves. It was getting on to those hours of the day which were either extremely late or extremely early, depending on who you asked, but that shouldn't matter now.

Immediately after the new plan had been decided on, I had retired up to Matsu's room with the hacker. Now that we finally had a course of action, it was time to start laying the ground work for what we did next. It was a task that Matsu was perhaps unfortunately unprepared for. Once more the consequences of having been raised in a lab were starting to show through, and Matsu honestly had no idea just how to go about planning how to flee a country.

Luckily this was one of those areas were we could fall back on my own experience.

"Yes you are," Kazehana countered, and I grimaced at the implication that I wasn't operating at my best. "You must be tired, or you'd already have noticed what I'm wearing."

"What you're wearing…?" I began, finally dragging my eyes away from the computer screen, vaguely catching Matsu's amused look as I turned to confront the Sekirei attached to my arm. "Why on earth should that matt- erk!"

"There," Kazehana purred. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah," I managed to get out in a strangled tone. "Where on earth did you get something like that?"

"Sexy-Panty-chan let me borrow it!" Kazehana chirped, arching her back in a move which was no doubt designed to display her cleavage better, and which accomplished that feat remarkably well. The wind user had managed to locate and change into what appeared to be the sheerest negligee I had ever come across. The thin silk gave the visible flesh underneath a slightly purple sheen and barely came down to her upper thighs. The only opaque part of the nightclothes was centered on her breasts, just barely concealing the center of her breasts and displaying the rest of her bountiful assets quite plainly. I was also able to tell that the only other thing she appeared to be wearing was quite possibly the skimpiest string panties I had ever born witness to.

"Are you sure you should be wearing that?" I couldn't help but demand, not liking how my voice wavered but not able to sound firmer when confronted with something so erotic. "Miya is still around you know."

"It covers the important bits," Kazehana dismissed coyly. "Now, are you coming to bed yet, or do I need to ask Sexy-Panty-chan for help?"

"Help?" I repeated, before I was startled when I felt another body latch on to my other side. A quick glance revealed just who it was that snuck up on me. "Akitsu?" I yelped.

"Ah," the snow woman began, before pausing as a faint blush formed on her cheeks. "I'm helping," she added.

"You had two of them?" for some reason I couldn't focus on anything besides the fact that Akitsu was wearing what appeared to be an identical set of clothing to Kazehana, only ice blue instead of purple. Just like Kazehana, Akitsu had a figure which seemed designed to fill out the provocative ensemble.

Now this just wasn't fair!

"Fuhuhuhu," Matsu chuckled, the light catching her glasses as she fully turned away from her computer screen. "It looks like Shirou-tan is going to be busy the rest of the night!"

"Oh, he will be," Kazehana cooed, and then she blew in my ear. I wasn't ashamed to admit that I couldn't quite suppress a shudder at the move. I noted with glowing alarm that Akitsu actually nodded in agreement.

If this was what I could expect from the two of them, I might just have to make it a rule that the two were no longer allowed to sleep with me on the same night. For the sake of my sanity, and not getting killed by Miya later on.

I was only human, and I don't think there was a man alive that was straight who wouldn't be affected by the sight of the two of them like this.

"Go on and go to bed, Shirou-tan," Matsu added, rubbing her hands together deviously. "Matsu will be sure to keep working hard!"

"Working hard?" I repeated, before my eyes narrowed. "You're just planning on peeping with your spy cameras!" I accused.

"Fuhuhu, fuhuhu," Matsu didn't even bother to deny my words, instead already turning back to her computer.

"Well them," Kazehana started to stand, pulling me up behind her as she did so. Akitsu lagged a bit after, but rose as well. "Let's get back to our room."

I swallowed hard, and wondered how I was going to get through the night without giving the landlady cause to destroy me completely afterwards.

I wasn't certain if it was the revelations of the night, the frantic planning I had begun, whether I really was too tired to function, or just the two provocative Sekirei clinging to me, but whatever the case was I hadn't even noticed the smell of soft linen that accompanied Uzume until we had opened the secret door to Matsu's lab to discover her standing directly across from us.

Whatever the case was, the moment I laid eyes on her I froze, all other thoughts banished from my head in a moment. Beside me I could feel both Kazehana and Akitsu tense through my arms.

Uzume stood in the uniform I had only seen on her once before, twin sheets concealing her breasts and wrapping around her neck and ribcage, another sheet forming that strange sarong/loincloth garment on her lower body. Around her, bolts of white drifted in the same way that Tsukiumi's hair tended to flutter when she was calling on her power. Another veil was resting on her head, pulled low enough to serve as a cowl which concealed most of her face.

I noted with newly attentive eyes that the sheets of cloth Uzume used as her weapons weren't pure white anymore. Lining the edges of some and splattered in places on the others were dark stains, almost black in the shadows of the hallway.

Blood.

"Hey, bro," the Veiled Sekirei began, her voice low. She had one hand stretched under her breasts, gripping the elbow of her other arm, which hung limply at her side.

"Uzume," I responded, my own tone tense as I did so. I wasn't certain where this confrontation had come from, but I didn't like where it was apparently going.

Uzume glanced up, and I was able to make out her eyes from beneath her cowl. They were hard, and focused.

"I'd like to make a deal," Uzume told me, and held up the hand which had been hanging limply at her side.

Clutched in it, also stained with droplets of blood, was a Jinki.


	30. Thirtieth Wing

In Flight: The Thirtieth Wing

_Author's notes: Well, it isn't quite my once a week schedule like it used to, but it sure ain't another six month gap, which should be encouraging to all of you readers out there. Here's chapter 30, and I hope you all enjoy it. As I've mentioned in the past, certain elements of the real world have conspired to annoy me immensely. I can now happily announce that most of those elements have been resolved, and though I will probably take a bit of time to readjust to the new schedule, I hope to get a chapter out every two weeks at the latest in the foreseeable future. _

_I also recall making that claim before, and I hope that this time I'll be able to follow through._

_Now onto reviews. A lot of people probably already have a good idea what's going to happen in the next few chapters do to their familiarity with the Sekirei plot and with the generous foreshadowing that I've been applying. Most reviews have been curious about what Uzume has been up to, and those questions are answered here in 30. A lot of people have also been interested in the 'Take the Jinki and run plan' that Shirou came up with. While I will be shadowing some of the events of the original Sekirei canon, more and more the story is going to be going in a new direction. Hopefully, when the final climactic conclusion comes people will be suitably satisfied with the final destination of In Flight._

_Now, onto the spoiler section_

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_The biggest parts of 30 that I want to call attention to are naturally Uzume, more specifically, her interaction with Shirou. I kind of like the way the two of them end up playing off of each other. Both of them are perfectly willing to do ruthless things in order to accomplish their goals, and both of them might regret those things afterwards but will still willingly follow through. It kind of comes off with most of their conversations being the two of them offering support dealing with those ruthless things, and in the end they have evolved into a strange sort of 'buddy cop' friendship. Since one of my goals with In Flight was to experiment with character driven drama, I am definitely enjoying writing scenes with those two interacting._

_Another big element of the story which has just been properly introduced is Chiho. I actually went back and researched every scene that she showed up in so that I could try and get her exactly. For instance, the name of the hospital that she was in was shown exactly once in the story, during the opening scene of either episode 10 or 11 of Sekirei: Pure Engagement. _

_You have no idea how long it took me to find that too, by the way._

_When I first started writing Chiho, I wanted to make sure I got the specifics of her illness right. I originally thought about making her condition the result of lingering injuries from the accident which left her orphaned, but then I found that she had been sick since she was a kid. After that, I wanted to mention that she hadn't been able to walk because of her illness, then there was the part where Chiho told Kuu that she could walk, but that it made her condition worse which was why she didn't._

_Finally, after being unable to discover just what her condition specifically was, I threw my hands in the air and decided her condition was a case of 'terminal moe', a dangerous illness which crops up in anime whenever they want to make a character more sympathetic through illness but don't want to actually attribute a real illness to them._

_However, since I needed specific elements of her illness for future plot points, that just wouldn't do for me. Hence, I researched incurable illness and eventually came across the one known as 'Lupus'. It's a real disease, and while I won't go into the specifics, (If you want to know, go ahead and wiki it. It shouldn't be that hard to find), it does suit most of Chiho's symptoms to a 'T'. If any of my readers actually suffer from Lupus, which is actually pretty unlikely considering just how rare it actually is, I hope that using the illness doesn't offend any of you, and good luck with your treatments._

_So far most of Chiho's dialogue is almost verbatim from canon, so not much in creativity yet. However, she'll get some original lines soon enough, and I'll go into her character later once she had some time to shine._

_*Spoiler End*_

_And thus, chapter 30 is open to perusal. If there are any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to visit the forums. Just want to post a shout out, go ahead and review. _

_And as always, Enjoy_

*Story Start*

It had a two on it.

For some reason, that was the first thing I could really focus on. It was still the same heptadecagonal shape, nearly identical to the last Jinki I had seen. In fact, the casing which gave it that shape was so closely identical to the last one I had seen that I had the suspicion that it must have been created as the same time and by the same process as the earlier one one.

Still, at least I could understand that casing. It was the same synthetic polymer as before, and though it was tough, extremely tough in my expert opinion, it was still human in origin. Probably made by MBI at some point in order to contain the THING inside.

It was that THING that I realized was the true Jinki. That sphere, well ovaloid, well spherical-ovaloid, well spherical-ovaloid composed of an infinite number of asymmetrical planes which were set at simultaneous perpendicular and parallel arcs from each other whose arcs had the radius of the square root of pi divided by zero to the nth power while also bizarrely tasting of not purple but orange with an after flavor prismatic opalescence…

"Ouch," I yelped, jumping as a sudden pain dragged me from my thoughts. Muddled I turned a confused eye to the one whom responsible for the assault. "Did you just pinch me?" I demanded fuzzily.

"Mhmmm," Kazehana nodded, and though her expression was serious I couldn't quite remember why.

"Okay," I nodded, the clarification appeasing my confusion before I paused. "Why on the butt?" I added a second later.

"Well, if I absolutely had to pinch you, where else would I do it?" Kazehana pointed out, and once more I found myself nodding to her logic. It did make a twisted kind of sense, but as my thoughts began to clear more I frowned as something else came to mind.

"Why did you have to pinch me on the butt?" I demanded, my eyes narrowed as I realized that the assault was completely uncalled for.

Instead of responding this time, Kazehana's eyes just narrowed and she nodded towards my front. Following her direction I looked back and came face to face with a blood stained Uzume who was looking a little bemused by the interaction.

"Oh yeah," I muttered, recalling that this was no time to be distracted. Unfortunately, that didn't do much to actually clear up my distraction, so I shook my head hard, hoping the motion would help focus me. Finally, I was able to turn back to Uzume, though this time I made sure to not look at her outstretched hand and the Jinki clutched in it.

It took a whole lot more effort than something that simple should, but considering I doubted this would be an entirely peaceful meeting, it would probably be better not to degenerate into an insensate distracted state again.

Using that same focus, deep inside in that imaginary place of mine, a hammer was slowly pulled back and prepared. It could be dropped in a heartbeat, but I went no further than that for the moment.

"So," Uzume began, her eyes still shadowed and serious, but a brief upturning of her lips let me know that she had definitely caught the irreverent exchange. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Just a little," Kazehana drawled. Despite the casual words, the Wind Sekirei's tone was unusually serious for her. It was completely lacking of her usual light hearted teasing or her sultry seductiveness. It was a voice that sounded like it belonged to a Sekirei who had stood against entire armies of aircrafts and left those armies burning in her wake.

"He-heh," Uzume's customary chuckle also lacked her usual amusement, and the small smile disappeared completely. "Sorry about that, but I'm afraid I can't go away and come back later. Not now."

"Where did you get that Jinki, Uzume?" I asked, my eyes drifting to the blood stains on her sheets. Behind me, I heard a rustling that I assumed to be Matsu finally realizing something had delayed us on our way to my room.

"From the winners of the second match," Uzume shrugged jerkily. "They weren't going to need it anymore, and I figured I could get some use out of it."

My eyes narrowed. Well, it looked like I wouldn't have to put the winners on my 'Sekirei to watch' list. In fact, I doubted I'd have to worry about number seventy three, Namiji, or her Ashikabi, Takano Kouji, at all anymore.

Beside me on my left Akitsu shifted, and though the snow woman didn't let go of where she was still clutching my arm she did adjust herself until more of her body was in front of mine. Her posture straightened, her chest thrusting out as her free arm fell down to its customary position at her side.

It was her favored battle position, though in her current seductive outfit I wasn't certain if it was more threatening or less than it usually was.

"So why are you here?" I asked, my voice almost diffident as Akitsu prepared herself. There were only a couple of reasons that someone who had just admitted to terminating another Sekirei in order to get their Jinki would should up in blood stained clothes at the place where another Jinki was being held, and most of the reasons I could think of weren't the pleasant kinds.

Which is why when Uzume hesitated for a moment, and then finally sank to her knees, putting the Jinki directly in front of her and then placing both her hands on the floor and lowered her head to rest them on it in the 'Dogeza' prostration position only used for the highest display of reverence or for making the most earnest of requests that I paused, not quite sure what was going on.

"Please, Emiya-san," Uzume spoke, still kneeling. "Please, I want you to save my Ashikabi!"

In my head, the hammer relaxed, slowly settling. At my side I could feel Kazehana draw in a surprised breath of her own, though Akitsu still remained stiff. Behind me I heard Matsu quietly mutter an, "Uzume-tan!" in surprise.

"Why don't you come inside?" I suggested, taking a step back and indicating Matsu's room. "This sounds like a conversation which shouldn't take place in a hallway."

*Scene Break*

"You know already, about my Ashikabi?" Uzume began once we were properly settled. Perhaps because she was nervous or maybe because she was still trying to ask a favor, but Uzume had ended up sitting by herself in the center of the room. She was kneeling in the seiza position though she was fidgeting as she did so.

I had taken the same kneeling position across from her, though I was apparently a little more calm then the cloth user and managed to sit still. Akitsu, as was her usual, had finally detached herself from my arm to assume a position behind me on my left. Despite the familiarity of the situation the snow woman was still in her modified battle stance with both her arms hanging directly at her sides as she watched Uzume like a hawk. Matsu was sitting by us, but she had assumed a position closer to one of her computers, and was idly turning one of her detachable keyboards in her hands as she directed her attention at her long time housemate and friend.

It was a tense scene, but that tension was little diminished by the fact that in defiance of common sense Kazehana had chosen to just lay herself down next to me so that she could curl on her side like a cat on the floor with her head on my lap. It was a little uncomfortable for a variety of reasons, such as proximity of her head to certain areas, the way one of her hands was idly toying with the knees of my jeans, and the way that her lounging had put her obscenely sheer bedclothes all in disarray.

It took almost as much effort not to let my eyes wander down to the view of my Sekirei as it did to not let them wander to the Jinki that Uzume had brought in with her and put in the center of the room between us. I guess I should count my blessings that I happened to have the iron and indomitable will of a magi trained to maintain his concentration in life or death situations.

Alright, maybe my eyes did wander a little bit, but at least I was lucky that they wandered to the female in my lap rather than the mystic artifact capable of rendering me a stuttering fool with one look.

Okay, maybe both of the distractions were capable of rendering me a stuttering fool normally, but at least in battle mode I could shunt the girl induced stuttering foolishness to the side until later.

Focus, Shirou. Focus.

"Chiho Hidaka," I answered Uzume's question, forcing my eyes to meet hers. "Age, seventeen. Orphaned at age fourteen due to a plane crash. Current guardians, a maternal aunt and her husband responsible for the oversight of her trust fund. Suffering from a long time illness, and requires hospitalization for treatment."

"Yeah," Uzume grimaced, probably not liking just how much I already knew about her Ashikabi but having expected it anyway. Uzume took a deep breath, and then pressed on. "How much do you know about her treatment?" she prompted, and it was my turn to narrow my eyes.

"Not much," I admitted, turning to give Matsu a brief glance. When the hacker met my eyes a moment later she gave a brief shake of her head, before settling her keyboard and beginning to type. Uzume noticed the movement, and just shook her head.

"I'll save you the time," the Veiled Sekirei told us. "Her treatment is extremely expensive, and there's only one known medical facility that can provide it." Uzume hesitated, and then took a deep breath. "And the only hospital that can do it just happens to be owned by Izumi Higa."

I couldn't stop myself from taking a quick breath: Izumi Higa, the Ashikabi of the East. "Oh," I muttered, and this time it was me who couldn't stop myself from grimacing. "Oh."

Well, that changed things. That changed things a lot.

"Matsu," I began, and when she paused I continued. "I want you to go through the rest of the files later and look for other connections to Higa in the rest of the Ashikabi profiles. Things like workforce, debts, familial connections, that kind of stuff."

"Okay, Shirou-tan," Matsu nodded, though with a look of confusion on her face as she did so. "But, why…?"

"Because I didn't even see this one coming, and I really should have," I told her, before turning back to Uzume. The Veiled Sekirei had paused, and seemed confused by my reaction. "I didn't even realize that you were on his list of blackmailed Sekirei," I told her, shaking my head ruefully. In my lap, I felt Kazehana tense, probably at the revelation that Uzume had been compromised.

"You didn't?" Uzume seemed honestly surprised by the revelation of my ignorance, and I wasn't certain if that made me proud that I had managed to foster such a reputation for being well prepared that me not already knowing about something came as a shock, or disappointed in myself for not being able to live up to that expectation. "But, all those times that I came and asked you for profiles, and then they turned up…" Uzume trailed off, biting her lips and looking down as she did so.

Every one of the profiles that Uzume had ever borrowed from me had turned up as a level three or four. Often, their Ashikabi's had been damaged as well. It was what had made the rumors of the Veiled Sekirei so ominous, after all, the way she appeared without identifying herself, attacked even the Ashikabi, and then disappeared without guarding the fallen.

"I thought you were just following your Ashikabi's plan," I admitted, shrugging uncomfortably as I did so. Uzume tensed and when she looked back up her eyes were narrowed.

"You mean you thought that Chiho would ever suggest something like…!" Uzume began, and from the raising tone of her voice she definitely didn't seem happy with my assumption of her mate's ruthlessness.

"I didn't mean it like that!" I hastily cut her off, holding both hands up placating. "I meant that I thought it was for her protection!" Uzume paused, and her eyes narrowed further.

"What do you mean by that?" she demanded, still tense. Most of her cloths had settled to the ground at the beginning of the meeting, probably as a show of peace, but with her rising aggravation some of the bolts were beginning to shiver on the floor, motions which were either wave like or serpentine.

"Well, your Ashikabi was in the hospital, and couldn't really defend herself," I hastily explained. "If anyone were to find out about that, then she would have been an easy target. I thought you were taking down other Sekirei in disguise so that no one would be able to identify you and manage to track you back to her. I figured that was probably why you were living away from her too, so that just in case anyone did survive and could identify you they wouldn't be led back to your Ashikabi."

Like I had told her before, attacking without warning and leaving no clue was a good plan, one I wish I could have been as lucky to use. It made extra sense in Uzume's case. With her Ashikabi in such a perilous position, making sure that no one ever found her that might want to take advantage of her became even more important.

Unfortunately, it looked like my biggest error was in assuming that no one had already found her.

Uzume was tense for another moment, before she seemed to deflate as the fight went out of her. "Yeah," she admitted softly, nodding as she did. "Even if Higa had never found her, then you betch'ya ass I wouldn't have let anyone else near her."

"I'd expect nothing less from a Sekirei for her Ashikabi," Kazehana spoke up from my lap, making me start slightly as she did so. "For a Sekirei, nothing is unforgiveable if it's done in the name of love."

Uzume paused a sec, and then she gave a crooked little smile. "Damn straight, nee-chan," she told the older Sekirei.

"Still," I cut in, happy that I had managed to adequately defend my earlier assumptions. "If you've been doing the East's dirty work for a while now, then just why are you here now?" Even if it was against her will, whatever system that must have developed between Uzume and Higa had apparently been in force for a while now judging by how many targets Uzume had had in the past. The only reason she would be coming to me now would be if something had changed. "What happened?"

"It wasn't that hard at first," Uzume admitted, her shoulders hunching as she did so. "In the first phase it was usually just that asshole secretary of his calling me and giving me targets. But a bit before the second phase began Kakizaki started asking me for information about you, bro."

"I can guess why," I shook my head palming my face as I did so. "That was right about when the situation with Tsukiumi began."

I knew that giant debacle would come back to bite me. I just knew it.

"Right," Uzume nodded. "I didn't say anything!" she added hastily, probably trying to assure me that she hadn't betrayed me. "I got away with saying that I already had a way at getting at your information, and that if I tried anything else you might get suspicious, but they started pressing more and more. Finally, they started making threats towards Chiho."

The flash of pure rage that went across Uzume's face at those words actually unnerved me a bit. It made me very thankful that I was not the one those feelings were directed at.

"So then what happened, Uzume-tan?" Matsu also seemed to notice the Veiled Sekirei's anger, and I got the impression that her words were more meant to distract her then they were to move the conversation along.

"Well, they were starting to get really pushy," Uzume admitted, swallowing back her anger in an actually visual move. Uzume turned her gaze back to me, and her crooked smile returned. "But then, well, then that whole wizard thing came up, bro. And when the Third Phase started, and Higa changed my orders to get the Jinki, I thought that hey, as long as I'm going to be stealing a prize, why don't I try trading it for something else, right?"

"Magi, not a wizard," I corrected automatically, before I realized what she was implying. "Wait, you mean…?" I trailed off, starting to get where Uzume was going with this.

"Yeah," Uzume nodded. "So…" she began hesitantly, one hand coming up in what looked like an unconscious gesture to scratch the back of her head. "I don't suppose I could convince you to use your heal3 Ava-thingie on my Chiho, could I?"

Of course. The Sekirei with an Ashikabi in the hospital, finding out that one of her roommates just so happened to have insane regenerative powers. I felt like pounding my head into the wall. All of Uzume's curiosity, all of her questions about my recuperative abilities; I had thought that they had been probes for potential weakness. The idea that Uzume might actually want to use them herself for her Ashikabi hadn't even occurred to me!

Looks like I was still feeling the legacy of the Grail War. Even though I had been trying to adjust my mindset, doing what I could to remind myself that the Sekirei Plan wasn't as vicious as the other tournament I had been in, it seemed even now my thought process was still a little too brutal.

Still, self-recriminations could wait.

"Alright," I nodded to Uzume's request. "I'm in." In my lap I felt as Kazehana took her turn to start at my instant acceptance. Matsu also glanced over, her eyes widening in surprise.

"I know you don't have any reason to help," Uzume continued in a rush, leaning forward as she did so. "I know that someday we might be enemies, and that it will just be helping out someone you might have to fight later, but please! I'm willing to trade the Jinki for it, and I'll help take out other Ashikabi, anything, just…." It was about then that Uzume blinked, my earlier words finally penetrating her desperate babbling. "What?"

"I said I'll help," I told her firmly, nodding as I did so. When Uzume didn't react any further to my reaffirmation, instead just staring at me blankly with her mouth agape, I narrowed my eyes, not sure just why she was reacting like that. "What?" I asked, starting to feel a little uncomfortable.

Looking to the members of my flock who were present I realized that Kazehana had rolled over in my lap so she could look up at me directly, a surprised expression on her face. Not sure why she was staring at me like that, I glanced over at Matsu, wondering if the hacker would be able to explain just why her fellow former Disciplinary Squad member was behaving like that only to see that she was also just staring at me, blinking repeatedly as she did so.

"Is there something on my face?" I asked, glancing over at Akitsu to see if she was imitating the rest. The snow woman was staring at me as well, but at least it was with her normal expression, the one she generally wore when she spent long periods of time just looking at me.

"Shirou-tan is really going to help?" Matsu finally asked, rubbing at her eyes as though in disbelief. "Just like that?"

"Well, yeah?" I half responded and half asked, starting to be confused myself by the strange actions of the rest of the room. "Do you not want me to or something?" I asked, wondering if maybe this was another one of those weird Sekirei things that I hadn't been made aware of.

"No!" Uzume instantly yelped, one hand coming up to wave at me furiously. "I mean, yes! I want you to help! Please!"

"Then why is everyone…?" I began, still not sure just what was going on.

"It's just, well," Uzume began, her fidgeting increasing as she glanced to the side. "Well bro, it's just that most of your plans have been kind of scary so far," she finally admitted, slumping as she did so. "I didn't think you'd be willing to help me so quickly."

"Scary…" I repeated, my eyes narrowing. A part of me was a little offended by the accusation that not only was I 'a little scary' but that it was somehow unexpected that I would be willing to help in some way.

And then I remembered just what Uzume meant when she said that most of my plans were scary. Most of the ones she was aware of did end up with me bloodying my hands a good deal.

"Well that was before the Jinki were added into the equation," I declared, waving my hand in the general direction of the present artifact without looking at it directly. "Those change everything!"

"So I guess it was good I brought one after all," Uzume sighed in relief, before pausing as I shook my head, my lips pressed into a thin line.

"I'm not just doing this for the Jinki," I told her. "I'm not doing this because helping you would cause Higa to lose a powerful pawn, or give him a bloody nose. Uzume," I began, giving the Veiled Sekirei a straightforward look. "I'm doing this because you're a friend, and you're someone who needs help. I'm disappointed in myself that I gave the impression that you couldn't ask for help without trying to bribe me first!"

"Well said, Shirou-tan," Matsu whispered, and from how quietly said it I don't think that she actually meant for me to hear it. The smile on her face after my exclamation, however, she made no effort to hide. Kazehana seemed to also have her own bit to add.

"Mmmm, Shirou-kun," the Wind Sekirei hummed, one hand coming up to trace my cheek, directing my gaze downwards. "Did I mention I love it when you talk so manly, Ashikabi-kun?"

I obediently let her guide my gaze, not quite sure why she was doing it and kind of hoping that I would get an explanation at some point before I gulped. It looked like her gown had shifted when she had rolled off her side onto her back, and the sight of the small opaque pieces of the top of her gown not covering the areas they were supposed to was enough to cause me to flush and quickly glance away.

Kazehana chuckled slightly, and I felt her wiggle a bit more though I carefully did not look to see just what the wind user was planning this time. "I'm going to have so much fun breaking you of that shyness!" she enthused, and I swallowed again at what I could assume was some sort of ominous omen of the future.

"Fuhuhu, fuhuhu," Matsu's perverted chuckle provided me a target to lock my eyes onto, and even though it looked like the shameless Sekirei was enjoying watching me get thoroughly teased by Kazehana, Matsu at least seemed to have gotten past whatever had caused the weird reaction earlier. "So should Matsu start waking up the others, Shirou-tan?" the hacker suggested, referring to the rest of my flock that had already gone to bed. It seemed more like a way to change the subject and get the conversation back on track, but when I shook my head Matsu paused, blinking again at my denial of her suggestion.

"No," I said firmly, thankful for the reminder that there were more important things to focus on then just what my final flock member was wearing. "There isn't enough time."

"Not enough time to wake up the others?" Uzume asked, fidgeting as she did so. It looked like now that my assistance had been promised she was restraining herself a bit less then she had earlier. She shifted slightly, pulling her legs free from under her and sprawling them a bit to the side. Seiza position might be incredibly formal, but it really was hell on the legs for sitting long periods of time.

"By now, Higa has to realize that something is wrong," I pointed out, my eyes narrowing as I started to slip into battle mode. "You said he sent you to get the Jinki, right? Well, if you haven't got back with it by now, than he must be suspecting something."

"No," Uzume shook her head, and I focused on her. The Veiled Sekirei's expression was certain as she continued. "He always insists that I take the long way back whenever I report in. He doesn't want anyone being able to follow me. He won't be expecting me back for at least another two hours, maybe as late as dawn."

"Good," I nodded, adding the information to my plans. "That gives us some time. Still, it's better to assume we will only have only about half that much time. He already knows that you've been getting more rebellious lately. Plus, this is the first time he's given you a task which wasn't just a simple hit, right? A guy like him would probably have some insurance in place."

"So what's the plan, Shirou-tan?" Matsu asked, settling her glasses on her nose as she did so. With keyboard ready, the hacker looked like all she needed was an order before she'd be off.

"For now, Kazehana, Akitsu, and I will go with Uzume to get her Ashikabi," I rattled off, and in my lap I felt Kazehana nod.

"Alright!" the Wind User cheered, leveraging herself up so she could jump to her feet. "This way I get to watch Uzume and her Ashikabi's lovey dovey reunion!"

"Uhh," I began, finally losing the battle with my blush. "First, you should probably get changed."

I expected some kind of affirmative reaction from the wind user, seeing as running around the city and performing clandestine operations in skimpy lingerie never really struck me as a practical way to go about things, but instead Kazehana just winked at me, jutting her hip slightly as she put a finger to her mouth in a teasing pose.

"But Ashikabi-kun," she purred, and I had to swallow at the tone of her voice. "I was thinking that this would be a fine way to serve as a distraction if needed!"

"I'll say," Uzume muttered, and for the first time since the conversation started I could make out some of the tomboy's usual spunk in her voice. "You don't hold much back, do ya, nee-chan?"

"Just go get dressed," I muttered, trying to find some place to look at that wouldn't be inappropriate. When I found my eye straying towards the Jinki instead, I snapped my gaze up to the ceiling. "And someone put that away," I added.

"Well it would have been hard to get dressed without putting these away," Kazehana chirped, and I involuntarily glanced towards her to try and figure out what she was talking about to find her with her arms under her breasts, flaunting her chest in a most distracting matter.

"Just go!" I finally snapped, unable to keep my voice from rising in embarrassment as I pointed my finger towards the door. With a throaty chuckle, Kazehana sashayed out of the room, and I definitely did not watch as she did so.

"What about the rest of us, Shirou-tan?" Matsu asked as she shuffled forward towards where the Jinki was still resting. "And why isn't there time to wake everyone else up first?"

"Because it would take a while to explain everything to them all, and that would be time we just don't have," I admitted. Not just the explaining, but the reactions as well.

I wasn't quite sure how Tsukiumi would respond in general to the idea of helping a fellow competitor in the Sekirei Plan. From what I knew of the water user she could go either towards refusal to help a potential enemy to outrage at Higa's actions in regard to the Plan. Musubi would probably not understand at first, but when faced with the chance to support love she would probably eventually jump at the chance. Kuu would probably go the same way. Homura was another one who I couldn't quite predict. With his past actions as the guardian of Sekirei he might be all for chipping in, though he could just as well advocate caution and taking our time at the moment. Whatever he chose, I was also certain that the flame user would no doubt raise a strenuous objection to me being involved at all.

Even if they all decided to contribute, it would take time to get everything straightened out. More than that, if they did decide to chip in they might want to come along as well and that might do more harm than good. There were probably going to be enemy sentries, and for all that it could be considered an enemy base it was still a hospital. I didn't want any of the other patients, or the doctors and nurses, getting involved.

This would probably be best done as a discreet operation: get in, get Uzume's Ashikabi, and then get out with minimal fuss.

"So Shirou-tan is going by 'easier to ask forgiveness then permission'?" Matsu concluded, quirking one eyebrow at me as she pouted. "That's unexpectedly sneaky of you!"

"Well, that and there are other things I'm going to need," I admitted. "I figured I could leave you the list, and once we're gone you could wake the others and explain what's going on before getting them on the rest of the supplies."

"And now Shirou-tan is going to make Matsu do his dirty work," the hacker complained, her pout growing though she still seemed amused. "Matsu didn't think it would be more work for her when Shirou-tan finally started acting like an Ashikabi."

"One of the benefits of being a leader is the ability to delegate," I told her, rubbing my eyes as I did so. It had been a long day, and even with the nap I had gotten earlier in the bath I was starting to feel it. All the tension of watching the first match combined with the additional stress of beginning my planning was beginning to catch up with me a bit.

"Well, I'm willing to follow your lead for now, bro," Uzume added, and I was thankful for that much at least. It looked like now that she had committed to this course of action Uzume was going to go all the way. However, I noticed that the Veiled Sekirei was starting to smile about something. "However, ain'tcha forgetting about something?"

"Like what?" I asked, my eyes narrowing as I tried to go over the elements of this impromptu plan. What was it that Uzume had noticed that I hadn't?

When she pointed behind me, I turned slightly and realized what it was she was hinting at. With a sigh, I massaged my forehead.

"Akitsu, getting dressed means you too," I reminded the snow woman, still kneeling obediently in her indecent sleep outfit at my left.

"Ah," Akitsu nodded slowly. "Yes." With her usual measured grace, Akitsu slowly stood, her posture relaxing for the first time since Uzume had shown up as she did so. With deliberate steps she followed Kazehana, walking out the door and heading towards my room where she had probably stored her usual outfit.

I definitely did not watch her as she left either.

I think that if it hadn't been for Uzume showing up when she did, I might just have been in some serious Danger if I had slept with the two of them tonight looking like that.

"I must be more tired than I thought," I muttered to myself, shaking my head again as I tried to focus on the incoming operation to save a hospitalized girl from the evil clutches of her oppressor. "I honestly forgot that she was even there."

"Oh!" Matsu chirped, and discarded her keyboard so she could crawl under one of the tables supporting a collection of her screens. With the upper half of her body concealed and her lower half wriggling as she apparently searched for something she continued her voice muffled. "In that case, why don't you try one of these, Shirou-tan?"

Without quite pulling all the way out, Matsu half tossed and half rolled a small plastic bottle out from wherever it had been concealed. With a curious look, I picked it up, reading the label.

"An energy drink?" I asked, looking at the small bottle with curiosity. It claimed to be even better than coffee, and somehow miraculously contained enough vitamins and minerals to also be healthy and natural. Honestly, it looked a little small to me, but I had seen stranger things in my time.

"Matsu is a hacker, after all," the braided Sekirei enthused as she pulled herself out of her little cubbyhole. "Every hacker knows they have to have caffeine!"

"Well," I muttered with a shrug as I cracked the bottle and threw it back quickly. "Worth a shot. Now," I wiped my mouth briefly before focusing again. "Let me get you started on the list of supplies I'll need."

*Scene Break*

"Wow," Uzume whistled as she gave me a curious look. "I guess Matsu really knows her caffeine."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, a little curious at the strange observation.

"Well, it looks like whatever that stuff was it was strong enough to get you jumping from roof to roof," Matsu pointed out, landing as she did so and resuming a sprint. I landed a second after her, and did the same, keeping up with the alien easily. Behind me and beside me Akitsu and Kazehana were also leaping from building to building as the four of us raced through the dark night, high above the casual observation range of most of the residents of the city.

"It's magecraft, Uzume," I told her, snorting at the idea of just some coffee substitute being enough to give me the strength to use the unofficial high roads of Shin Tokyo that most Sekirei seemed to love to take.

"Huh," Uzume grunted, giving me a slight grin as she did so. "Come on, bro. You expect me to believe that your hocus pocus is doing that? Nah, must be the coffee!"

"Well, it would explain just why Matsu is always so high strung," I admitted, playing along with her joke.

"Hmmm," Kazehana chimed in. "Well, extra stamina is always good!" It didn't take a genius to realize that the Wind Sekirei wasn't really referring to moving quickly at the moment. This time I didn't even blush at the implication. I got the impression that this was going to become pretty common in the upcoming days.

Always before Kazehana had been a flirtatious albeit distant figure in Izumo House. The flirtatiousness had always been a part of her character, at least that's the conclusion I had come to from prior interaction with her. However, for the most part the Wind Sekirei had always made sure to keep a certain amount of space between the two of us. Before she had been reacting, after all, and the number zero three, had at first tried to keep that concealed through the use of distance. Later, after I called her on the reaction and assured her I wouldn't take advantage of it she had become a bit more personable, but still had kept her distance to make sure she wouldn't accidently be overwhelmed by my overreaction causing tendencies.

Now though, with our contract, or marriage I guess as most Sekirei tended to think of the ritual, it looked like not only was Kazehana going to be in my presence a lot more, but also if I had thought that she liked to tease before then it seemed I had seriously mistaken just what 'teasing' really was.

Though, I wasn't really sure if it counted as teasing anymore either. It was only teasing if they weren't going to follow through with it. It was called flirting otherwise.

"Akitsu," I called, interrupting my thought process as our small group started to approach a particularly high incoming building. Though Izumo House was located in a mostly suburban area of Shin Tokyo, the closer we got to the center of Shin Tokyo the higher the buildings started to become. Even though with my currently reinforced body I was capable of mostly keeping up with the aliens running beside me, there were still limits to my Reinforcement.

"Yes, Ashikabi-sama," Akitsu murmured as she appeared in an instant at my side, one hand already drifting to secure itself around my waist as my own arm settled on her shoulder. In another one of those strange moments of synchronicity between me and my flock our steps fell in line without me even realizing it, and we both crouched and launched ourselves in complete tandem in order to make it up to the next roof.

"Ah, no fair," Kazehana pouted as she followed us into the air. Akitsu and I landed again in perfect synch, before separating as we continued to sprint through the night. "Next time it's my turn, Sexy-Panty-chan!"

"Still, it is kinda unreal," Uzume added, giving me a curious look as she darted in to study me more closely. "I kinda never really thought a human could do something like this."

"Most can't," I admitted, shrugging briefly as I did so. "Even most magi don't ever learn how to do this kind of thing. However, as a Magus Killer, physical enhancement is a pretty important skill. This is actually one of my best spells."

"Huh," Uzume grunted, looking reluctantly impressed at my physical capabilities. "I guess it kind of makes sense how you can fight with other Sekirei," she concluded, shaking her head as she did so. She paused, giving me a curious look. "What else can you do, bro? I mean, I missed most of the shindig that you had with that other wizard lady. If it comes to a fight, how are you going to do it?"

I wasn't quite certain the reason behind Uzume's questions, but I had a few good guesses. It made sense that she would want to know what to expect if this mission would devolve into conflict and it came to a battle. More than that, it could just be curiosity over my capabilities. It would make sense for her to want to know more about the person she was gambling her Ashikabi's future on.

Of course, there was also the possibility that she was gathering information for when she confronted me herself. However much I wanted to set aside that possibility, it still remained in the back of my head.

However, considering the last time I had thought that Uzume was trying to seize me up I had misinterpreted her desperation for aggression, I made a conscious decision to give the Veiled Sekirei the benefit of the doubt.

"Trace on," I muttered, and between one step and the next Kanshou and Bakuya appeared, brandished behind me as I continued to run. Uzume whistled, giving the two blades a measuring look as she did so.

"So I guess that makes you for sure the Ashikabi with swords," she noted, sounding like she really wasn't too surprised by the revelation. "So these are your weapons?"

"Some of them," I told her, the feeling of the two Noble Phantasm's in my hand warm, comforting, and familiar. Still, there was no point in keeping them out for long. With another thought, I let them dissolve, the pressure of the world erasing them in a shower of faintly luminescent flakes as they disintegrated in a heartbeat.

"Ah," a voice at my side caused me to glance over and I found that Akitsu had closed in at some point, her proximity somehow not interfering with my run. I blinked, trying to figure out why it was that the snow woman was so close. There wasn't another jump I'd need her help with for a while yet. For some reason Akitsu also looked a little disappointed about something.

"You're being pretty open with this kind of thing," Kazehana's voice pulled me from my befuddlement, and I changed my gaze to take in the Wind Sekirei instead. She was running easily along with the rest of us, her long ponytail streaming behind her in the wind as she sprinted. Kazehana moved with a casual grace, even at this speed. Her sandaled feet rarely made any more contact with the ground than the balls of her foot, and it almost looked like instead of running she was simply leaping from purchase to purchase, lazily drifting through her element as she did so.

It was a jarring realization that this was the power of the former Disciplinary Squad, and it made me a little less proud of my ability to keep up with my Sekirei.

They were probably holding back quite a bit, even now.

"Well, there's no point in concealing as much anymore," I admitted, shaking off the brief surge of inadequacy. There was no cause to be competitive with creatures that fundamentally existed at a higher level of ability then I. I was already used to it, having dated Saber after all. Getting jealous over someone because they can physically beat you out in every category wasn't a good way to go about a relationship. "I've had to conceal most of my abilities for a while now because I was hiding the fact that I was a magi. Now that you all know though…"

I trailed off, and Kazehana nodded as she understood my implication. Now that they knew, I would be able to use a lot more of my powers. It would make things a lot easier in any future fights.

"If I wasn't counting on that kind of thing, then I'd probably say that's pretty ominous, bro," Uzume noted, and though her tone was mostly lighthearted her smile was a bit crooked while she did so.

Despite the attempt at brevity, I found myself grimacing at Uzume's playful words, choosing not to respond to them verbally after a moment. Though she had meant them as a joke it was a reminder of just how Uzume thought of me, as a ruthless killer whom she had to first bribe before I would even consider helping her and her Ashikabi.

Well, it was better than being thought of as a viable target, I suppose. This was what I had been trying to do when I set out to get myself a reputation for being dangerous. I guess I'll just have to bear with it for now.

It wasn't going to matter soon, after all. With this, I'll be two Jinki down on my impromptu treasure hunt. Just one more at the least, three more at the most, and then I'll be gone and I'll have other things to worry about besides whether or not a bunch of bonded aliens and humans were scared of me or not.

"Akitsu," I said again, noting as another tall mass marked the start of a new level of building height before me. Just like before the snow woman appeared beside me instantly as I instinctively adjusted my pace to match hers. However, this time I realized I had two arms around my waist, and a glance to my right showed me that Kazehana had been serious about getting in on jump time.

Despite the fact that the three of us should probably have tripped considering our unusual proximity, when it came time to jump once more all three of us smoothly timed out interaction, and all together we sailed through the air easily to get to the next rooftop. Afterwards, both Akitsu and Kazehana lingered a bit too long for my taste, neither one of them apparently wanting to be the first to let go, before the wind user finally detached herself. Akitsu followed suit a moment later.

I had the feeling that it was going to take some time before I fully got used to these little challenges that seemed so common amongst my flock. Musubi and Tsukiumi's constant face offs had finally started to become routine, and I wondered briefly if maybe Akitsu and Kazehana had somehow managed to strike up a similar type of relationship. If so, it seemed like it would probably be a great deal more amicable than Musubi and Tsukiumi's.

I didn't exactly see Musubi and Tsukiumi coordinating their sleepwear for a joint seduction attempt any time soon.

For a few minutes as the four of us ran a period of silence settled down on us as a whole. Uzume seemed to take my silent response to her earlier observation as a sign that I was upset with her, while Akitsu's quietness was a natural state for her, and it looked Kazehana was subtle enough to read the mood and lay off any more of her erotic teasing for the moment.

Still, as the tension began to build I couldn't help but understand that I was being a little petty. The truth was, the fact that Uzume had thought that the only way she could get my help was bribery and that I wouldn't be willing to help her without it was, as juvenile and immature as it might be, a little bit of a sting to me. Then again, I suppose it wasn't unwarranted. Actually, as the silence dragged on I had to admit that it was probably a mutual feeling at the moment.

I had honestly thought that Uzume was doing her own ruthless eliminations of her own will as well.

Still, while both of us might have reason to be offended at the other, it probably wasn't the smartest idea to go into a delicate operation like this one with those feelings lingering. It looked like my previous experience with touchy women was shining through again as I realized that the best way to handle this would be just to apologize up front. Taking a deep breath, I prepared to do just that.

"Uzume," I began, and it looked like I wasn't the only one who had something to say as at that exact moment the Veiled Sekirei broke in with her own, "Bro…"

The both of us cut off, and when I glanced over to see what it was she wanted I met Uzume's own somewhat reluctant gaze. The two of us paused for a moment, each of us waiting for the other to go ahead. Finally I nodded, holding one hand up in invitation.

"Ladies first," I offered, and Uzume gave a crooked smile at my faux manners.

"Bro," she began, and then paused again. "Shirou," she began again, using my actual name instead. "Can this really work?" Even if her nervousness hadn't been apparent in her voice, the bolts of cloth trailing behind her like streamers would have given away just how anxious the Sekirei really were. They writhed behind her, irregular serpentine motions that punctuated the more natural motion that our quick pace caused.

"Can what work?" I repeated, thinking of several different topics she could mean. "The extraction?"

"That too," Uzume nodded, "but I meant your magic healing thingy," she continued, giving me a desperate look. "Can it really do it? I mean, I've seen it do some pretty impressive things with Miya, but for Chiho…" Uzume trailed off, her lips pressing together as her worry for her Ashikabi caused her voice to tighten.

"I think so," I nodded seriously. Uzume gave me a quick look, her eyes narrowed.

"Just think so?" she snapped, and though the aggressive tone made Akitsu bristle, I let it slide.

"I've never once been sick in my life," I continued, turning to look towards the next jump. "Heck, I've never even had a cavity. Though I can't be one hundred percent certain, seeing as I've never attempted something like this before, I can say that I'm probably about ninety percent sure that this will work."

Uzume was rigid for a few more moments before the tension finally seemed to seep out of her. I got the impression that if she wasn't currently running she might have sagged to the floor. "Sorry," she muttered, glancing away. "I know that you promised to help, but it's just…" Uzume grimaced again. "I've done so many things," she continued in a soft tone of voice. "Things I'm not proud of. Things that I didn't want to, that I'll probably never be forgiven for. I don't regret them, not one bit," she added, her voice fierce. "If I hadn't done them then Chiho would have suffered. It's just that now, I finally have the chance to make things right, to really help Chiho…"

When Uzume trailed off, I nodded, thinking I understood what she wanted to say. "Now you just don't know if you can believe it's true?"

"Yeah," Uzume smiled, though it looked more like just a grimace that bared her teeth than any kind of happy gesture. She gave me a quick glance. "Ever get that kind of feeling, bro?" she asked, a bit of sardonic humor in her voice as she did so.

I think it surprised her when I nodded seriously.

"Ever since I found out what the Sekirei Plan was, I've been trying to find a way to deal with it," I admitted, and it was my turn to speak softly. "But no matter what I came up with, nothing would work, not the way I wanted it to. Every time I tried to come up with a new plan, it always ended up with an even higher cost than the last. No matter how hard I looked, there was nothing but bad choices waiting."

If I went with Archer's plan and destroyed MBI, hundreds of humans would die and thousands more would suffer. If I had used Kiritsugu's ideal and just forced the Sekirei Plan to an end than the entire species would have been wiped out, the hundred and eight aliens a sacrifice for the safety of their Ashikabi and the innocent bystanders of Shin Tokyo.

And if I went with Saber's plan, and just finished the Sekirei Plan according to the rules, even that wasn't without consequence. After all, the idiom of the Sekirei Plan was that the Sekirei had to fight, and fight, and fight, until there was only one left: not one Ashikabi, one Sekirei.

It meant that at some point even my own girls would have had to turn on each other. Either that or I would have had to make a choice over which one I would support and which ones I would have to discard.

And if it was necessary, if I had thought it was required, I would have willingly followed through with any of those plans. No matter how hard I had tried to push it away, no matter how much I had steeled myself for it, it was still a fact which had left a bitter taste in my mouth every time I thought of it.

"Shirou," Kazehana murmured, and I glanced over to find the Wind Sekirei giving me an inscrutable look as she listened to my confession. Uzume didn't say anything, but it looked like she understood, a hint of empathy in her expression as she listened to my own confession.

"But that doesn't matter now," I continued, my tone rising. "Finally, after waiting so long, I have a way. It's a way for everyone to survive, for everyone to be happy, for everyone to be saved. The fact that it gives me a chance to help save your Ashikabi just makes it that much better." My voice was fierce as my smile widened. "There's no way I'm going to let it go now. I will not fail!"

"Heheh," Uzume's chuckle was also fierce, a sharp edge to it as she responded to my assertion. "Hell yeah, bro." For what was probably the first time tonight, Uzume's stance regained some of her confidence as an anxiety she probably couldn't suppress was finally relieved. Her grin widened a bit more as she then shot me a curious double look. "So. Not even cavities, eh?"

"Never been to the dentist once in my life," I nodded, my smile growing a little more jovial at the lighthearted and irreverent comment. Uzume whistled, her grin growing in response. Then she paused, a hint of confusion reappearing.

"What was that about having a way to save everyone?" the Veiled Sekirei asked, her brow creased as she recalled that particular tidbit from my declaration. I blinked, and gave her a curious look.

"I guess you left before you heard that bit," I muttered, realizing that Uzume apparently hadn't heard my latest plan for dealing with the Jinki. "When did you leave earlier, anyway?"

"Pretty much right after the match started," Uzume admitted, scratching the back of her head as she did so. "I had turned off my phone so that Kakizaki couldn't bother me, but once I realized the Third Phase was starting I figured it would be best if I checked in with them quick."

"Oh," I murmured, nodding as several things began to click. "So I guess you really didn't have telemarketer problems," I noted, thinking back on just how many phone calls I had seen Uzume getting in the last day or so. They had started right after I had winged Kazehana, so I guess Higa must be keeping pretty good track of MBI's records if they had figured that out right away. It made me a bit annoyed to realize that the East had been more up on top of the Third Phase than I had been.

"Like I'm dumb enough to get myself on one of those things," Uzume snorted, and I glanced away, feeling sheepish that apparently I was the only one to have that kind of problem. The Veiled Sekirei gave me a cautious look as she continued. "So what's this about having a way to stop the Plan?"

I shook my head in bewilderment. So Uzume had brought me the Jinki without even realizing what she was doing? Man, I wasn't certain if that was just good luck or some kind of karma, but whatever the case if Uzume had been happy thinking she had just found a way to cure her Ashikabi then finding out there might be a chance to live with her peacefully afterwards was really going to make her day.

*Scene Break*

"Come on," Uzume muttered, a note of urgency in her voice as she gave me a small glare. "I thought you were in a hurry to do this."

"I might be in a hurry, but rushing in only ever makes things worse," I told the impatient Sekirei, eyes narrowed almost to being closed and with my head tilted almost completely upwards as the four of us remained concealed in the dark alley.

"Geez," the Veiled Sekirei muttered, shaking your head. "Always with the planning. Tell me something, bro: Have you ever done anything spontaneous in your life?"

"Yes," I told her, nodding my head as I responded, still trying to concentrate despite the distraction. "Quite often when I was a kid. It got me stabbed a lot."

"Right," Uzume grumbled, and despite her apparent surrender I noted that she still sounded rebellious.

"I might be a bit of a slow learner," I chided her, still sniffing the air as I did so. "But if even I can learn to take a moment before charging in, then doing just that is probably a good idea."

"That's alright, Shirou-kun," Kazehana assured me, and when I cracked an eye open it was to find her grinning mischievously at me. "We didn't fall in love with you for your brains."

"Oh? Then why did you fall in love with me?" I asked, almost bemused by the casual banter.

"Well, I did because you're so good in bed!" Kazehana chirped brightly, and I was sure she had waited until I was mid sniff just so she could watch me choke on it. Uzume snorted too, though probably because she was amused rather than shocked.

"Is now the time?" I muttered, feeling my cheeks flush slightly at the blatant insinuation.

"It's always the time, Lover-kun," Kazehana assured me stretching in a way which absolutely could not be casual considering just how it showed off her curves.

"Ah," I was mildly surprised when Akitsu also chimed in, and turned to give her a small glance during her pause. "That's why I did too," she confirmed, nodding her head slowly.

I stared, completely unable to really comprehend what I had just heard. It took me a second to reconfirm the small yet proud smile that was forming on the snow woman's lips, accompanied by a tiny blush as well. Had Akitsu really just made a joke? And about something like that too?

I was beginning to suspect that Kazehana just might be a bad influence on the former scrap. And despite that growing certainty, I had no idea what to do about it. I mean, it was yet another sign that Akitsu was starting to come further and further out of the shell her one time condition had imposed on her, yeah, but on the other hand…

Alright, think about potential Danger later. For now, focus on the more imminent type of danger.

"So far I've detected three other Sekirei," I declared, purposely ignoring the direction the conversation had started to veer towards earlier. "However, I still can't manage to figure out anything else about them."

"Why not?" Uzume asked, happy that we were making progress towards the rescue of her Ashikabi. Kazehana pouted briefly, but only for a moment before she focused herself to.

"I just can't figure out what their scents mean," I admitted, shrugging reluctantly. "Which probably means that they're weapons users of some type."

When it came to Sekirei with elemental powers I was usually pretty good at reading my impressions of them. However, whenever it came to something a little less obvious my senses were a bit less reliable. Musubi had smelled like a bear, after all, despite being a fist fighter, I still hadn't figured out just what it was that Matsu reminded me of, and the two Sekirei I had fought against while rescuing Tsukiumi might have had the distinct odor of arousal but that had indicated more about their temperament than their abilities.

"So we come in from above, take out the three of them, and then get to Chiho?" Uzume summed up, looking eager to get to the action. She grimaced impatiently when I shook my head.

"They'll be expecting attacks from the above," I told her, wondering just why it was that Sekirei always seemed to like coming in from the high roads. Tsukiumi had seemed to have a love of rooftops when we were reacting and Homura had seemed uneasy when I had him walk on the road while we were searching for the water user. Though we had traveled most of the way here in the same route, I had made sure that we came back down to street level when we got within viewing distance of the hospital so that we wouldn't be picked up by any sentries. It might be a convenient way to travel quickly, I admit, but I still stood by my reservations about it being just too obvious a way to identify non-humans.

"Besides," I added, shaking my head again. "I don't want this to turn into a fight if it doesn't have to. For all that this might be enemy territory, it's still a hospital. I wouldn't put it past Higa to have his Sekirei under orders to use patients as hostages or shields if they need to, and I don't want bystanders to get hurt. And even if we do take out the Sekirei then MBI will dispatch their recovery teams, and I don't want any chance of interference from them either."

"Alright," it took Uzume a second before she finally agreed with me, though she looked like she was reluctant to do so. She grimaced a moment after. "I'm not really on good terms with MBI either, ever since I helped Matsu escape in the first place," she admitted.

I blinked, not having known that little tidbit either. I guess it made sense that Matsu would have had help getting away with one of the Jinki. It might even be a second reason why Uzume had always made it a point not to be nearby when one of her targets was being recovered as well.

"Do you know how to get to your Ashikabi's room?" I asked, focusing instead on hammering out the last details of the plan.

"Of course," Uzume snorted. "I've been sneaking in to see her after hours for months."

"Mmm," Kazehana purred, a sly grin forming. "Getting some secret love-love time with your Ashikabi?" I wasn't certain if the wind user was trying to lighten the mood again, or if this was just her reverting to her typical school girl persona in the face of story book romance, but Uzume grinned slyly in response and looked pretty darn smug about her achievements.

"Well I don't want to go in directly," I told her, now firmly sinking into battle mode as the details came together. "Can you get in from a different location and then find your way there through the hallways?" Uzume took a moment, considering my question before nodding firmly. With a final pause to go over the details in my head, I nodded.

"Alright, here's the plan," I began, and I was pleased that both Uzume and Kazehana seemed to calm down, serious expressions coming on to their faces. "Akitsu, Kazehana," I glanced at my Sekire in turn. "I want both of you to split up. Take to the roofs, and see if you can locate any of the sentry Sekirei. In five minutes, if they're outside then engage them. Try to make it a surprise attack, and take them out without a fight if you can. If you can't locate them outside, or if it becomes a battle, lead them back away from the hospital as far as you can, and then go ahead and fight them. I want them far enough away from the hospital not to either endanger the other patients or to come back for Uzume's Ashikabi."

"What about you, Shirou?" Kazehana asked, and despite her concern she was still all business. I nodded towards the Sekirei not in my flock.

"I'll be going with Uzume to secure Chiho," I informed them. Uzume gave me a quick glance, and then nodded briefly. "With the two of us we should be able to deal with any of the sentries if you two don't get a chance to take them out or distract them in time. That way, if we get Uzume's Ashikabi and then get ambushed while we're retreating there will be at least one of us not tied down carrying her."

"Understood," Kazehana, nodded, once more slipping into a more serious mode of her own. At my left Akitsu nodded slowly as well, the chink of her chains as they shifted audible.

"Understood, Ashikabi-sama," the snow woman agreed.

See, this was why I had taken just the two of them. If Homura had been here we would have lost at least ten minutes with him arguing against me going off on my own, Tsukiumi would have complained about sneak attacking being unfair, and Musubi would probably have already charged in.

"You sure about this, bro?" Uzume asked, her face set. I got the impression that even if I wasn't, it wouldn't be stopping her from going through. Her body was tense with impatience, and I thought that if we didn't move soon then worry for her Ashikabi was going to finally overcome her so far admirable patience.

Was I sure about this? I was only deliberately aiding a potential enemy by healing their Ashikabi and revealing some potential secrets of my magecraft. Not only that, but I was going to be going alone with a Sekirei that had already shown herself to have no problem with attacking even other Ashikabi, and was damn good at it too.

Okay, maybe I hadn't quite moved beyond that recklessness of my childhood after all. I'll just chalk this up to one more under 'Legacy of a Misspent Youth'.

"Let's go," I said firmly.

*Scene Break*

Considering that this could be considered my first deliberate major action of the Sekirei Plan, I was reasonably concerned that it would end badly. Rescuing Kusano had been unexpected, and had ended up with me making my first termination of the Plan. Going to have a conversation with Tsukiumi had cumulated in what was still considered the largest conflict in the game so far. Even just going out to experiment with my Sekirei's Noritos had eventually ended up with me hospitalizing an Ashikabi.

It was because of all that, that when Uzume and I slipped easily through the door separating the hallway from Chiho Hidaka's room only a minute and a half after we had our group had separated to our individual tasks, I was marginally surprised that there had been no incident yet.

I suppose it helped that this was actually a planned action. By their very definition, 'covert extractions' were generally meant to be 'covert', after all. It looked like taking those few minutes to hammer out the details with everyone was already beginning to pay off.

The Nagayama Association Hospital was a fairly typical looking, for a hospital anyway. At seven stories tall and with four wings, it definitely gave the appearance of a modern place of medicine. Taking into account that Chiho's treatment was apparently very expensive and rare, it was probably logical to assume that Nagayama was most likely a forerunner of medical advances and technology.

However, while a hospital might need some surveillance in it just to keep it running, it wasn't exactly a fortress. It had taken Uzume less than five seconds to jimmy open the lock on the window she had chosen as our entrance point. Seeing that the window had been on the fifth floor, I had actually required Uzume's assistance in order to make it to our break in point. I guess the experience from her own frequent break-ins to see her Ashikabi in the past was shining through.

It had been an odd feeling, being cradled in those long bolts of cloth that were constantly circling her, kind of like being in a hammock actually. Once the window was open, letting us into a room half full of sleeping patients attached to a variety of machines, we had proceeded soundlessly out the door and down the hallway. Hospitals at night were rather quiet places, and with the dimmed light of the hallways the only illumination it lent the place a mysterious, perhaps slightly spooky air to it. Uzume proved just how well she had come to learn Nagayama during her nighttime trips to meet her Ashikabi when she led the two of us through a somewhat labyrinthine series of turns through the hallways of the hospital that somehow managed to avoid any nurse stations or other potential encounters with employees.

We moved quickly and with purpose, not needing to speak as we jogged over the linoleum floors of the hospital. The only time we broke our pace was when Uzume slowed down as she approached one final door. The placard on the frame revealed the name of Uzume's Ashikabi. Slowly, with a warning glance at me as though to tell me to keep quiet, Uzume opened the door and I got my first real look at her Ashikabi, Chiho Hidaka.

I'd seen pictures of Chiho before, so I knew mostly what to expect. Uzume's Ashikabi was a young looking girl, only around seventeen according to the profile Matsu had put together on her. With long light brown hair spread out on the pillow around her head, and dressed in a light pink nightgown, Chiho had the appearance of a sleeping angel or a delicate porcelain doll.

The moment we quietly stepped into the room, a change came over Uzume that was so noticeable it reminded me of when I switched into battle mode. It was as though a tension which was so ever present in the Veiled Sekirei just vanished completely. Uzume's expression softened, and her shoulders slumped a little, and a small worshipful smile started to form on her lips. It was startling, just how different Uzume appeared from her usual self in Izumo House. With a bit of surprise I realized that this was probably the first time I had ever seen the tomboy Sekirei really relax. Even at Izumo House when she was playing around with my flock or laughing uproariously at the chaos that haunted my life, Uzume must have always kept a small part of her ready, a part of her that always remembered that she might need to one day fight against any of us, that in order to protect her Ashikabi and get her the medical attention that she needed the Veiled Sekirei could one day be called on to come for even the friends she had made.

But here, in the presence of her Ashikabi, Uzume was at peace.

It made me a little uncomfortable to see, actually.

While Uzume slowly made her way to the bedside to kneel at her Ashikabi's side, one hand coming up almost hesitantly to trace a long lock of the sleeping girl's hair, I couldn't quite suppress an uncomfortable need to shift in embarrassment. Despite the fact that I was invited, I felt like I was intruding on something here. In order to cover for my embarrassment, I decided to focus on the things I could do. Making sure to stay out of the way, I decided to focus on Chiho's medical records instead. Uzume didn't even notice when I made my way to the foot of the bed, taking the rather thick clipboard that was hung there so that I could flip through it.

It only took me a moment to find what I was looking for on the records, and when I did I couldn't suppress a victorious grin at what I found.

The one hang up on this entire plan that I had managed to isolate was just what it was that Chiho had been suffering from. Matsu had already given me the heads up that the other Ashikabi was sick, that much I had known. But just like the two of us had never made the connection between the hospital and Higa, I hadn't ever really paid much attention to the specifics of the illness. It had been enough to know that I would be able to locate the other Ashikabi if things ever became… unfortunate.

Because of that, I hadn't known just what it was that Chiho had been suffering from. I had been reasonably assured that whatever it was, Avalon would be enough for it. Saber's scabbard was one of the most powerful healing artifacts in the world, after all. It had seen me through injuries that should have been my death probably over a dozen times by now. However, the key had been that Avalon functioned as a regenerative artifact. If whatever it was that Chiho had been suffering from had been something congenital, something she was born with or something innate to her, I had honestly had no idea how Avalon would have responded to the condition. It had been possible that while Avalon would restore any of the damage caused by a defect like that it wouldn't know to correct the actual problem. The end result would have been a cure for Chiho, yes, but only a temporary one.

Luckily, it seemed that Chiho wasn't suffering from any kind of condition like that. It seemed that her illness was a genuine one, something she had apparently caught when she was very young. The clipboard proclaimed her disease to be something called 'Systemic Lupus Erythematosus', and while I had no idea just what that was, her medical history clearly indicated that it had been contracted when she was still a toddler, and that her worsened condition was the result of the disease's progression.

This was the final piece I had needed. With this that ninety percent certainty could be upgraded to ninety nine percent. I'd have to get Matsu to double check everything on her treatment list, but even if complications might come up later, it had taken thirteen years for Chiho's illness to reduce her to this state. If I put Matsu to it I'm sure I could find something, maybe some new experimental treatment to cover any chances of relapse. Hell, if I gave the hacker enough Noritos we could probably even check MBI to see if they had a cure as well. The company had gotten to where it was based on its medical technology.

Still, that was later. For now, getting Uzume's Ashikabi somewhere safe was the priority.

"Chiho," I heard Uzume whisper, and when I glanced back at her it was to find her still kneeling by her Ashikabi's bed, that soft smile only wider as one hand gently stroked the sleeping Chiho's forehead.

I prepared myself to interrupt, opening my mouth to remind Uzume that we needed to move, when the girl on the bed opened her eyes, locking gazes with Uzume from inches away.

"Uzume-chan," Chiho murmured, gazing sleepily at the shocked Sekirei. "What's wrong? It doesn't look like you've been crying again…"

"Eh?" Uzume grunted, her cheeks flushing as she gave her Ashikabi a look like a deer caught in headlights. She recovered quickly, and Uzume broke into an easy grin, rocking back on her heels so she could rub one hand against the back of her head while she waved the other dismissively. "Haha!" Uzume laughed, and it sounded so natural that if I didn't already know better I never would have assumed it was forced. "Me, crying? Why would I do that?"

"I know," Chiho murmured again, the girl's voice certain despite the hint of sleepiness still present. Weakly, the sick girl raised one of her hands and clasped the hand Uzume had been waving in the air. Uzume froze, and despite the fact that she could have probably pulled free easily the Sekirei made no move to extract her limb. Instead, the blush on her face only grew. "I know," Chiho repeated, smiling at the frozen Uzume. "I'm your Ashikabi, right? When Uzume is happy, so am I. And when Uzume is sad, then I'm also sad. Even when you want to cry, really badly, you always smile for me, don't you?"

Uzume didn't seem capable of moving as Chiho interlaced her fingers into the frozen Sekirei's. With a smile, Chiho continued. "I know everything about you, you know that?" Chiho asked, her own blush coloring her cheeks. "…That's because I love Uzume-chan."

That seemed to be about all that Uzume could take, as she pulled her hand away from her Ashikabi so that she could put it on her chest, her blush nearly electric in the dark room. Almost bashfully, Uzume brought one hand up to her face, scrubbing at her eyes surreptitiously as she did so.

"I," Uzume began, before pausing to swallow. "I love you too, Chiho." With a quick sniff, Uzume seemed to recover herself. The Veiled Sekirei began to grin, and the startled expression was quickly replaced with something a lot more mischievous. "Ne, ne," Uzume began, wriggling forward so that she could prop her arms on Chiho's bed. "Can we kiss? Pretty please? Can we?"

"U-Uzume-chan!" Chiho didn't quite squawk, but even I could hear the embarrassment in her tone as the sick girl seemed to shrink in on herself, her hands disappearing as she wiggled them under her sheets so that she could pull her covers closer to her chin. Despite her earnest and straightforward declaration of a moment ago, it seemed that Chiho was a rather shy girl. It looked like she didn't know how to handle being propositioned so bluntly like that.

It was while the Ashikabi was looking around the room, most likely for something to distract her amorous Sekirei, who was still closing in on her lips while wearing an expression that I'm pretty sure I'd seen on Matsu a few times right before she tried to experiment on me, that Chiho realized that it wasn't just the two of them in the room.

"Eh!" it was Chiho's turn to 'eep' in surprise, and the covers which had only been at her chin a second ago were raised even higher until they covered her nose as well. With only her eyes visible, Chiho stared at me, though whether it was in embarrassment at having been witnessed while saying something so romantic or fright at a strange man appearing in her bedroom in the middle of the night I couldn't quite be certain.

"U-Uzume-chan," Chiho continued, glancing over to discover that Uzume hadn't really given up on her quest for a kiss and the sick girl squeaked again. "Uzume-chan! Someone is watching!"

"Oh yeah," Uzume muttered, blinking as she did so. It looked like she had honestly forgotten that we hadn't come here just so she could sneak some, as Kazehana would put it, 'Love-love' time with her Ashikabi. Her face sobered as Uzume glanced at me, a grimace reappearing as she did so. "Chiho, about that. This is…" Uzume trailed off, looking like she didn't know how to even go about trying to explain this situation to her unaware Ashikabi. When Uzume gave me another quick look, this one as though she was imploring me for help, I decided to take things into my own hands.

"I am called Shirou Emiya," I quickly introduced myself, stepping forward and offering a polite bow as I did so. "Though this is our first meeting, I'll be in your care."

"Oh," Chiho breathed a little easier and the covers began to lower a bit from her face. "My name is Chiho Hidaka," the other Ashikabi responded, before returning the traditional greeting. "Please, take care of me too."

Once more, it looked as though the Japanese tendency to rely on customary formality to break the ice has shown through. Unfortunately, it was at this point that I realized that maybe I hadn't planned quite as well as I had thought I had.

I had no idea what to do next.

Somehow, telling this shy girl peeking out from beneath her bed sheets that I was a magi capable of using a mystic legendary artifact capable of fully regenerating her from a condition which by all conventional medical technology was completely incurable didn't seem to really have the weight of credibility with it. Moreover, mentioning that I was doing so in order to free her loyal Sekirei from being blackmailed by a shady business man who had been using the Sekirei that she loved to do horrible things in the name of expediency just seemed crass.

As the silence that had formed began to drag on, I glanced at Uzume helplessly. Judging from the way the tomboy's lips were pressed together and her eyes were darting from Chiho to me, it looked like Uzume was similarly uncertain about just what to do next. On the bed, Chiho was also glancing nervously between myself and her Sekirei. It looked like the other Ashikabi was aware that things weren't quite as simple as a late night visit from her Sekirei.

"Ano," it finally seemed that Chiho was the one who ended up taking charge of the scene. "Pardon me," the teenager began, the blanket lowering a bit more until it was all the way beneath her chin. "Might you be the same Shirou-san that lives with Uzume-chan?"

"Uh, yeah," I nodded, a little thankful that the conversation was moving again. Chiho seemed to relax, and a smile started to reappear as she finally lowered the blanket below her shoulders to the position it had been in before she had used it as an impromptu barrier.

"Then I must thank you," Chiho's smile was very kind and her voice was touched with gratitude. "Uzume-chan mentions you and the others quite often. It seems that you have always been looking out for her."

"Oh, it's nothing," I assured her, once more falling back to polite conversation as a cover. "Uzume has always looked out for me as well." After a second, I couldn't stop myself from indulging in a bit of curiosity. "So what has she been saying about me?"

"That Shirou-san is much funnier than T.V," Chiho began, suppressing a small giggle as she did so. "That every day he keeps getting into silly trouble!" I blinked, and then turned a deadpan look towards Uzume. The Sekirei gave me a wry half grin, apparently completely unapologetic for corrupting her Ashikabi into thinking of my life as a form of amusement. A second later Chiho blinked, and seemed to realize that maybe she should have been a bit more discreet then to admit directly to a person that they had been listening to stories of their life like one of those weird reality shows. "Oh!" Chiho gasped, once more retreating behind her blanket in embarrassment. "I'm sorry! I didn't even think…"

"It's fine," I assured her with a sigh, rubbing my forehead as I did so. "Honestly, it's about what I expected from Uzume."

"Um, Uzume-chan says more than just that!" Chiho hastily added, giving me an earnest look as she tried to apologize for her earlier misspeak. "She says that even if Shirou-san is very serious, he is also strong and reliable!" I blinked, again, a little surprised that the usually playful Uzume seemed to actually hold me in such regard. "Uzume-chan has mentioned that Shirou-san has helped her often in the past, and that he is a good person!"

"Chiho," Uzume cut off her Ashikabi, her tone embarrassed as the Veiled Sekirei tried to cover up the fact that despite using me for entertainment she apparently held me in pretty high regard.

Honestly, I wasn't certain just how the conversation had turned to such an odd topic, but even as I opened my mouth to respond the mostly quiet night was interrupted by a ferocious muffled cracking noise. It didn't quite have the concussive force of an actual explosion, but both Uzume and I tensed as we recognized it for what it was. It sounded as though a large stone or cement wall had been shattered.

The two of us shared a glance, already coming to the same conclusion. It seemed that five minutes had already passed, and it looked like either Akitsu or Kazehana hadn't been able to terminate their targets free of complications. It looked like we were out of time.

Well, I still hadn't thought up a way to break the news to Chiho gently, but the time for that had passed. It looks like I'd have to resort to bluntness.

"Hidaka-san," I began, my voice firming up as I tried to keep my expression stern but unintimidating. "I would like to ask you to come with us."

"Go with you…?" Chiho began, her voice trailing off as she took in my serious tone. The bedridden Ashikabi gave a quick glance at Uzume, only to find that her beloved Sekirei's expression had also lost its playfulness. I had honestly expected the girl's next question to be confused about what was going on, but instead I was surprised when Chiho just turned back to me. "Does this have to do with whatever it is that is causing Uzume-chan to suffer?"

"Chiho," Uzume yelped, the tomboy hastily moving to reassure her Ashikabi. "It's nothing like that! What on earth would make you think that I was suffering or anything?" Uzume had pasted a cheerful look on her faith, and her tone was touched with laughter as the Veiled Sekirei tried to reassure the human she had bonded to.

"Uzume-chan," Chiho cut her off with a small smile. "I told you already, didn't I? That I love you? That I know everything about you? Of course I would know if you were in pain. Even if there was nothing I could do about it, even if I was the cause of it…"

"You could never cause me pain, Chiho," Uzume cut off her Ashikabi fiercely, reaching out to take her Ashikabi's hand once more. "Never."

"Uzume-chan," Chiho began, before cutting herself off with another blush at the sudden contact. It looked like she was seriously considering retreating under her bed sheets again before she took a deep breath and turned back to me instead. "Please," Chiho began. "Can you tell me, Shirou-san?"

Well, I was officially impressed. I didn't know what I was expecting when I agreed to meet with Uzume's Ashikabi. For a long time I had thought that she had been behind Uzume's secret campaign, and had built up the image of someone who might not quite be an evil person but was at least somewhat calculating. Instead, even after only a few minutes of conversation I was already certain that Chiho didn't have a cruel bone in her body.

More than that though, it was the almost uncanny empathy that the bedridden girl was almost casually displaying. The way she seemed to read Uzume's every movement, the way she had instantly come to the conclusion that my presence was related to whatever shadow was hovering over her Sekirei. Even earlier when Uzume and I hadn't been certain how to proceed Chiho had managed to read the mood and set both of us at ease effortlessly.

I wasn't certain if her ability to understand so much so effortlessly was in some way related to her status as an Ashikabi or if she was just naturally so perceptive. Whatever the case was, her straightforwardness deserved an honest reply as well.

"Yes," I nodded in response to her earlier question. "It has to do with that." Uzume shot me a warning look, as though trying to caution me not to reveal too much about her activities, but I focused instead on Chiho. "For the past few months, a bad person has been using your hospitalized status to blackmail her."

"Shirou," Uzume hissed, a betrayed look on her face as I revealed what she had most likely been desperate to conceal. Before she could say anymore though, Chiho simply tightened her fragile grip on the Sekirei's hand. When Uzume glanced back at her Ashikabi it was to find the gentle girl giving a knowing, albeit sad smile to her. With her other hand, Chiho stretched out to indicate one of the sheets which circled her Sekirei. When Uzume followed her Ashikabi's gesture she flinched to find it was the sheet still stained with blood from earlier. Finally, Uzume looked to the floor, unable to meet her Ashikabi's smile.

Even I could tell what Chiho was trying to say without words: that she had already known.

"Then why are you here, Shirou-san?" Chiho prompted me, turning back to give me that same resigned smile she had just turned on Uzume.

"Recently, I have gained access to an experimental procedure," I told her, trying to scrap together enough of my rather limited ability to twist the truth to come up with a suitably vague yet believable story for what I was about to propose. "Though there is some risk involved, if it's successful then it should be able to treat your condition. When Uzume found out, she asked if I would be willing to use it in order to help remove you from the danger you're in here."

"An experimental procedure?" Chiho repeated, looking down at her blanket as she did so. "So if I transfer to this new facility, then I will be able to continue receiving treatment without Uzume-chan having to suffer?"

"Not quite," I admitted, and Chiho gave me a curious look. "If the procedure is successful, then you'll most likely be entirely cured."

I was expecting a variety of different reactions to this offer. For Chiho, the thought of being actually cured, of never having to stay in the hospital again and being able to return to a normal life, it should have been an inconceivable idea. I was expecting doubt, or maybe anger at what might seem like a cruel prank on her hopes. I was even expecting excitement over the thought of a disease that had been with her probably since before she could even remember being gone at last.

Instead, Chiho surprised me again.

"And if it works, then Uzume-chan will never have to suffer again?" the bedridden Ashikabi asked, apparently the only thought on her mind how best she could protect and help her Sekirei rather than herself.

"Yes," I told her, and then paused, deciding that might be a bit too generous. "I meant that the ones responsible would no longer have any leverage on her, and that you and her will be free to go about your lives as you choose," I clarified. It wasn't like I could promise that she would never suffer again. Life was too strange, too uncertain to be able to make an oath like that.

But I could do this much at least.

Again, Chiho surprised me with her next statement. I had thought that there would be more questions, more doubts that needed to be answered. Instead, Chiho just closed her eyes for a second before reopening them. Without another moments wait the sick girl began to sit up, pushing her covers away from her as she did so.

"Take me with you," Chiho declared, struggling to pull herself into a seated position. "I don't want to see my beloved Uzume-chan in pain or losing her voice from crying because of me anymore."

"Chiho," Uzume whispered, no doubt touched by the fact that the one driving element behind her Ashikabi's choice was how her decision would affect her Sekirei. I know I was touched anyway.

It was almost inspiring the way that Chiho seemed so dedicated to Uzume. I already knew just how far Uzume would go for her Ashikabi, but to see an Ashikabi going so far for her Sekirei was a bit rarer, as far as I knew. This was what Sekirei were meant to have, what winging was truly supposed to be: them finding a partner, a mate, and then bonding with them. Receiving and giving their affection in turn to the one who was most suited for them.

This was what the Sekirei Plan had taken from the species. And this was what I was hoping I'd be able to give back to them once I had gathered enough of the Jinki.

For now though, it would be better to focus on making sure Chiho was taken from here safely.

Which raised a whole new point in my head which I apparently hadn't put enough thought to.

Just how was I going to treat Chiho without revealing the existence of magecraft to her? It would be pretty hard to explain away the procedure I was planning for the use of Avalon as medical in nature, seeing as it would probably end up being more of a ritual than anything else. Ideally, it would be best for Chiho to be asleep for what was to come, but I wasn't certain how to go about putting her in that state. Drugs would probably be enough, but I had no idea what kind of drugs would be appropriate and what might potentially be harmful due to her condition. Besides that, there would be the problem of Avalon actually working to purge those drugs from her system as well.

It was times like this that I wished I was a better mage. Being able to use hypnotism at this point would make things so much simpler.

"For now," I began, making sure to meet Chiho's eyes as she continued to try and force herself into a sitting position, and giving a halfhearted attempt at lacing my words with prana while simultaneously projecting my od through my eyes into hers like Rin had explained to me when she had tried to hammer hypnotic suggestion into my head, "you should just sleep and get some rest, Hidaka-san."

It came as a complete surprise to me when Chiho's eyes instantly drifted shut as she slumped backwards on her bed. At her side, Uzume yelped, scrambling forward on her knees so that she could frantically run her hands along her Ashikabi's face.

"Chiho," Uzume called, her voice rising as panic began to set in. "Chiho!" I wasn't certain if it was just panic affecting the Sekirei who had been tense the entire night or if she somehow managed to connect my suggestion to sleep with the unanticipated onset of the condition, but Uzume's head snapped to face me, an angry snarl already forming on her lips. "What did you do, Shirou!"

"Hypnotism," I said blankly, staring at the still form of Chiho. "I just hypnotized her to put her to sleep." If I had made that statement with more surety then it would have just been a statement of fact. However, even I could tell that my voice sounded more confused than confident.

"Hypnotism?" Uzume was still tense, but it seemed like she was calming down. "Is that more of your wizard stuff, bro?"

"Well, yeah," I admitted, too out of sorts to correct the title that I was beginning to suspect Uzume was deliberately misusing as a way of teasing me. "But that shouldn't have worked."

"What, because you didn't have a pocket watch or something?" Uzume asked, and despite the fact that she was still continuing her inquisition the tomboy was beginning to gather up her Ashikabi, gently wrapping the still girl in the long bolts of cloth like I had been earlier. It seemed that now that Chiho had agreed Uzume was ready to take her and get the hell out of here.

"Because I can't hypnotize people," I admitted, still frozen in confusion. Uzume glanced at me, pausing in her task at picking up her Ashikabi. "It's one of the areas of magecraft that I suck in. I've never hypnotized anyone in my life."

"What, so you just had a breakthrough or something?" Uzume snorted, and began to resume her task before she froze again. "Is she going to be okay?" Uzume demanded, her expression once more slipping into something fierce as she glared at me from the corner of her eyes. "Something didn't go wrong, did it?"

"I have no idea," I admitted, and the moment the words were out of my mouth I realized that I should be doing something besides contemplating my unexpected success. I hurried to kneel beside Uzume, not even caring that it put me unprotected and in range of her favorite weapons. Quickly I reached one hand out, placing it on Chiho's neck. There, her pulse was fine, beating regularly, not as strongly as I'd prefer but that was more likely the result of her long bout of illness than anything I had done. Focused, I shifted my grip to gently peel back the still girl's eyelid. Her eyes were unfocused, and I noted that they were twitching slightly from side to side in what I realized was REM movement. Even as my hand lingered on her skin I tried to focus my magical sensitivity. Normally I perceived prana phenomenon through smell, yes, but this was my own od, and I was more naturally attuned to it. There, I could sense the lingering aura of my power as it flowed through her, focusing on her magical circuits.

It was the typical response to a magi's use of hypnotism, that much I was certain of. If it had been another magi's work I wouldn't have paid it any attention. The only reason that this response was worrying was, well, because I had been the one to cast it by accident.

Still, from everything I could tell nothing else seemed to be wrong with this situation. If Chiho had been a magus or if another magi were to try and undo the hypnotism all it would take was a brief surge of their own prana in order to clear their circuits. The amount of power I had used was probably enough to keep Chiho under my suggestion for around thirty six hours by my best guess, and after that it would wear off on its own naturally.

"She's fine," I announced, only then realizing how close I was to Uzume as I had checked the sleeping girl. The Veiled Sekirei's eyes were darting between me and her Ashikabi, and several long strips of cloth were hovering around me, not quite threatening but not entirely peaceful either. "She should sleep until sometime tomorrow if left alone, but I should be able to wake her up easily if I need to."

"You sure about that, Shirou?" Uzume asked, apparently not quite sure whether or not she should be taking my words at face value of whether she should be more suspicious. I began to nod my certainty when the door to Chiho's room burst open, and the night got just that much more complicated.

Despite the tense situation with Uzume when the newcomer arrived the first thing that went through my mind was just how bad this situation must look. If a nurse, probably in response to the commotion outside, had come to check on a patient only to find that two strangers were in a patient's room unattended, one an unknown man and the other a female dressed in very odd clothes and surrounded by floating fabric, well, I could imagine that their first response would most likely be panic. Since the last thing anyone in this room wanted at the moment was a commotion I had jumped the moment I heard the door slam open on the wall, spinning around as I hastily tried to come up with a perfectly good explanation for why we were here and apparently abducting a defenseless sick girl.

Then I froze. The newcomer was most certainly not a nurse.

"You!" Still kneeling I could make out Uzume's growl, and it was definitely not a pleasant sound. The intruder seemed to realize that too, and even as they began to turn and try to escape from the room my eyes narrowed.

"Moving is prohibited," I hissed, the feeling of my own dark power springing around me. The intruder froze as they were, probably for the first time ever, exposed to the hateful wrath of an incarnated Asura. I still wasn't quite sure how to manage all the little tricks that Miya so loved to spring on me, but I didn't need those right now. All I needed was to stop them from escaping.

The newcomer was female and had pale grey hair, cut short in the back and with long bangs on the side. She was wearing what looked like either a cheongsam or a sleeveless kimono, pale lavender in color and belted with a long thick length of leather rather than an obi. Around her neck and waist were large brocades of paler lavender lace, and she had long sleeves which fastened around her biceps and hung down until they opened and widened at her wrists. On her face was either a birthmark or some form of makeup describing a dot on the center of her forehead, and she wore thick glasses with no rims on their top fastened by a long length of thin chain which drooped to hang around the back of neck.

"Number twenty two, Kochou," I stated, eyes narrowed as I took in the sight of the interloper. Kochou was frozen in the doorway, half turned to try and run but unable to go any further as she was held in place by the animal instinct which told her that maybe if she stood very, very still, then the thing behind me might ignore her. "The only other remaining brain type of the Sekirei Plan. The Sekirei of Higa of the East."

Oh yeah, did I recognize this one. I had a list of dangerous Sekirei, after all, and considering just how much Matsu had contributed to me over the course of the Sekirei Plan I had very little doubt that number twenty two definitely ranked highly on the list of Sekirei to be wary of.

Now, the question was what was I going to do with her?

Here I was, confronted with what I could easily consider to be one of the highest priority targets in the Sekirei Plan. In my opinion Kochou was easily more dangerous than even Karasuba should be considered. Karasuba worked for MBI, after all. The Black Sekirei had guidelines she had to follow, rules set in place by her sponsors in the company. Even if I got the impression that Karasuba might be a little generous in her interpretation of those rules sometimes, she still at least paid them lip service. Kochou on the other hand, the one she served had already proven to be a dangerous individual, one that had in the past employed underhanded and unscrupulous methods of achieving his goals. When those kind of actions were taken on by normal Sekirei, ones meant more for battle, then they could potentially be noticed and countered ahead of time.

Kochou though, if she was being used anything like the way I was making use of Matsu, well, there was no way of knowing just how many plots she might be involved in. Just how many of the blackmails and attacks that Higa had perpetrated had originated with this frozen, shaking Sekirei?

If the situation was even the slightest bit different, then now would be the best opportunity I would probably ever receive to take out a vital component of any of Higa's future plans. However, was it really the time for this kind of action?

Even as my thoughts raced I could already feel the power of one of the other Sekirei that had been guarding Nagayama extinguished. The third Sekirei was most likely in still engaged in combat with either Kazehana or Akitsu, or even both by this point, and while it was likely that it was my flock that would be triumphant, there was no guarantee of that either. Kochou had already been coming to check on Uzume's Ashikabi, so most likely they had already figured out what our target was, and there was a chance that even now reinforcements were on the way, possibly in numbers great enough to be a threat. Moreover, with one Sekirei already terminated MBI was certainly on their way as well. With both of those potential combatants en route, combat was still a possibility but we'd be hampered by the necessity of guarding Chiho, a dangerous proposition if the fight got intense too quickly.

Also, this was a hospital. There were numerous sick and injured people here, and there was no way of knowing if the MBI retrieval squad might in some way inconvenience those bystanders.

"You," Uzume growled again, somehow sounding even more enraged than she had before. I glanced at her, and to my surprised for once the Veiled Sekirei seemed completely unaffected by the mask projection technique. Instead all the cloth that hovered around her were writhing, even I noted with dismay the ones which were wrapped around Chiho. "You bitch…"

It was then that I figured out that maybe Uzume might have a bit of a grudge against the frozen number twenty two. It made sense in a way. If Kochou was one of the brains of Higa's operation than it was possible that the Sekirei might have been involved in some of the less savory operations personally. Judging by the way Uzume was reacting either Kochou had done something noticeably repellent to her in the past or had perhaps just accumulated enough malice over the long term, but it seemed that whatever the case was Uzume was coming to the conclusion that the other Sekirei no longer had any control over her.

If I let this go, then it just might be possible that Chiho would be spending the rest of the trip back to Izumo in even more blood stained bandages, and Uzume might have another regret to add to her long list of shameful secrets.

"Uzume," I snapped, still maintaining the projection as I did so. When the tomboy's eyes darted towards mine, still clouded with rage, only to pause when they took in the sight of my Asura for what seemed like the first time, I continued. "Remember your Ashikabi."

Uzume froze, and the angry writhing of her bolts slowing as she glanced down to the sleeping Chiho in her arms. She hesitated, her eyes trailing back to the still frozen Kochou almost against her will. "Shirou," Uzume began, her voice still angry but noticeably more calm then it had been moments ago. "You don't know what this bitch has done."

"I can guess," I assured the Sekirei, turning back so I could level a narrow eyed glare of my own at the offender. "But priorities first. After we've secured your Ashikabi, then we can hunt down this one."

"Bro," Uzume began, and though I wasn't looking at her I could still hear reluctance in her voice. I decided that if even Uzume was seriously considering even the thought of neglecting the Ashikabi that she obviously adored, than whatever grievance she had with twenty two must be something pretty spectacular. That decided it for me. Uzume had enough regrets to deal with. I could spare her this one for now.

"Don't worry," I assured her. "I'll let her go for now so you can take care of her later." My eyes narrowed further as I fed more power into the mystic construct behind me. "Until then, I'll make sure to leave a message for her Master."

I blinked a moment afterwards, realizing my slip in referring to another Ashikabi. I would have to be more careful with that.

"Right," I heard Uzume mutter before the sound of her taking a deep breath reached my ears. When she spoke again she sounded much more composed. "Let her have it, bro."

The sound of a window being opened followed by the rustling of cloth let me know that I was alone with the still immobile Kochou. The number twenty two did not seem to enjoy this relative privacy.

I only had a few moments before I would have to leave as well. Though I was relatively confident that even if other enemy Sekirei were to arrive that I would be able to detect them in time to avoid ambush it was still never a wise idea to be without a guard when being killed was the simpler of options when compared to having your allies defeated first. Still, it looked like I was once more about to do something over the top in order to make a suitably ominous impression on my captive audience.

"From hence forth, interfering with number ten or her Ashikabi is prohibited," I told the Kochou, beginning to approach her with slow steps. Behind me, I could feel my contract strengthen yet again. It seemed that strong emotions might evoke a response in it. I wondered, could this be the key to finally unlocking the higher levels of its mystery? I made a note to look into it later. "Any action taken against the North is similarly prohibited."

I was only a few paces away from Kochou at this point, and this close I could see that she wasn't completely frozen. She was shaking, small irregular tremors which spasmmed her body in at apparently random intervals. It appeared that without previous experience with Miya's Mask technique like most of Izumo House had then such a strong first manifestation might have negative effects on the subject. I briefly wondered at the possibility of causing the trapped Sekirei an aneurysm.

"The only reason I haven't terminated you is that I want you to pass on a message to your Ashikabi," I continued, leaning forward to put my face close to the trapped Sekirei. "Tell him that demons are real. And that one of them lives in the North. Tell him that if he continues to meddle in my affairs, than those demons will eat him alive."

It was time to cash in on those Asura rumors that Seo had tried to start earlier today. Finally, I let the projection drop. Immediately, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, number twenty two fell to the ground, her legs giving out from underneath her in a heartbeat.

I looked down on her for a moment, meeting her wide eyes as the sound of her frantic panting reached my ears. Then without another word, I turned my back on her, visibly dismissing her. I don't know what the other Sekirei would think when she watched me, supposedly just an Ashikabi, a normal human, exit the room through the same window that Uzume had used.

Hopefully, whatever conclusion she came to would be enough to help motivate her to convince her Ashikabi not to interfere with my business again.

*Scene Break*

It was later, when the four of us plus Chiho were making our way back to Izumo House that Uzume finally spoke again. The Veiled Sekirei hadn't said anything the entire trip back so far, not even when Kazehana and Akitsu rejoined us, the Wind Sekirei grumbling about how Akitsu had finished her opponent before she had. Instead, Uzume seemed focused on just covering as much ground as quick as possible, her Ashikabi still cradled in her arms and her sheets.

"It had bleeding eyes," Uzume said, seemingly out of nowhere. I blinked, taking a second to try and understand her reference before I realized she was talking about the incident back at Chiho's room.

"Oh, yeah," I muttered, remembering just how much Uzume hated the bleeding eyes trick. "Sorry about that," I apologized. I was surprised when Uzume just shook her head.

"From now on," she declared, sounding like she was coming to some sort of momentous conclusion, "whenever I see those bleeding eyes again, I'm going to remember the look on that bitch's face. And then, I'm going to smile."

I took in the sight of Uzume as she began to grin, looking like she was trying her hardest to repress the expression but not succeeding. I suppressed a low whistle. I was beginning to think I really didn't want to know just what Kochou had done to her.

"Glad to have helped," I instead told Uzume.

After that neither of us spoke as we continued to make our way back to Izumo House. Once we got there, it was time to really start working on saving Chiho.


	31. Thirty First Wing

In Flight: Thirty First Wing

_Author's notes: Well, it's not quite the week to two that I was planning on, but three weeks wait is a lot better than six months, so I'll take what I can get._

_In regards to most of the reviews, I kind of suspected that using lupus as Chiho's illness would spawn some House references, but I guess I underestimated the strength of the meme. This time, yes, it really was lupus! I tried to address a few minor questions about the illness itself in this chapter, but if any readers are still curious wikipedia can probably tell you more._

_A lot of reviewers were also curious about why Shirou let Kochou live. For the most part, it was because he didn't want to inconvenience the rest of the hospital. It's not the smartest thing for Shirou to do, but it is the kind of thing he'd have done in the game, I think, so Kochou continues to live for now._

_Now, onto the spoiler section._

_*Spoilers*_

_Is anyone else getting really tired of Shirou endlessly talking about magi things? I'm writing the fic, and even I'm ready to move on to something else. Unfortunately, it just wouldn't be completely natural for his Sekirei to just shrug and say, 'Ooh, magic is real. Cool. Now lets ignore this revelation completely!'. I've at least been trying to keep Shirou's lengthy explanations relevant to future story elements, and adding in Slice of Life drama between his Sekirei helps keep it from being completely boring. The Uzume arc as well helped the readers by providing actual story advancement while all this tedious stuff was being covered._

_That being said, I'm so ready to get on with the next planned arc of the story. For those wondering, it isn't much of a spoiler to admit that yes, we're moving on to the third match of the Third Phase. Anyone familiar with Sekirei canon shouldn't be surprised by this, so I'll go ahead and at least give you readers some comfort in knowing that yes, Shirou is going to be kicking ass soon._

_With regards to Uzume herself, and the healing of Chiho, I had to take care with this scene. For anyone wondering, the reason it got so drawn out was because I didn't want Avalon to end up just being some simple 'Deus Ex Machina' effect to the story. It just would detract from the tension if whenever someone gets injured the reader could just shrug and think 'Well, there's Avalon again'. Because of that, I wanted to imply that Avalon is there, and can be used, but it's not the heal all instant happy ending as well. _

_*Spoiler End*_

_Anyway, this chapter took a bit longer to write, and I'm not completely sure I'm satisfied with the way it turned out. I'll spare anymore details here, but I'll be posting another thread on the forums for anyone who wants to debate particular elements of it._

_So for now, if there are any questions, come on down to the forums. If you just want to give a shout out, feel free to review. And as always, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"Welcome home," was the first thing we heard when we finally returned to Izumo House. Miya smiled pleasantly at the five of us as we shuffled our way in through the front door to the small lobby at the beginning of the Inn. "Did everything go well, Uzume-chan?"

I wasn't quite certain just how it was that Miya already knew about our unexpected side trip, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It wasn't like we had been particularly quiet or subtle when we were leaving earlier that night. Besides, Miya somehow always seemed to know everything that was happening in her inn. I wasn't certain if that was a characteristic of hers that originated from her background as a Not Human or if it was just something that had developed after having been a landlady for so long.

Either way, despite the fact that the sky was only now beginning to lighten with the first traces of dawn Miya appeared as unruffled and composed as if she had just stepped out of the kitchen. She was wearing her old style apron over her shrine clothes, and her eyes were crinkled in their usual cheer.

"Hey, Miya," Uzume returned the landlady's greeting, a crooked grin on her face. "Sorry for getting back so late."

"Well," Miya sniffed slightly, "while it's good to see a lay about like you getting out of the house, it's worrying to see you holding such late hours! It wouldn't do for Izumo's reputation if you were to go from being a shut in to being a delinquent!" Despite her gentle teasing, Miya's eyes opened to a more studious expression as she took in the figure still sleeping soundly while being cradled in Uzume's arms. "So is this your long absent Ashikabi, Uzume-chan?"

"Yeah," Uzume glanced down at Chiho with a tender smile once more appearing on her lips. "This is my Chiho."

"The poor dear must be worn out," Miya commented, noting the way the ill girl was still slumbering. The landlady tsked slightly. "Perhaps when she wakes up she could do with a nice bath and some breakfast."

"Ah, don't worry about that for now," Uzume shook her head, causing Miya to blink. "Right now Shirou has her under some of his evil dark brainwashing magic stuff. She shouldn't wake up for another day or so."

"Really now," Miya tsked again, though the look she gave me was more curious than anything else. "Is that truly necessary, Emiya-kun?"

"It would be pretty hard to explain just what I was going to do when I heal her," I shrugged slightly as I finished pulling off my sneakers. "It would be simpler if she just slept through the whole procedure."

Miya frowned, and for a moment it looked like there was something she wanted to say in response to my declaration. However she seemed to think better of it and the moment passed. Instead a new voice joined the impromptu gathering.

"Shirou-tan, Shirou-tan," Matsu voice came from the top of the stair, muffled probably by the door to her room. She appeared moments afterwards, one hand clutching her tablet as she made her way to the top of the stairs before pausing. "Welcome home," she chirped cheerfully. Her eyes trailed briefly to Uzume and lingered on the newest visitor to Izumo House. "Did everything go alright?"

"Actually, yes," I nodded, reviewing the events of the hospital with a clinical eye. "We managed to avoid any serious complications, and got out with Hidaka-san without fuss."

"Shirou-tan sounds surprised by that," Matsu pointed out, her lips pursing as she took note of my tone.

"I kind of am," I admitted, rubbing the back of my head briefly. "I'm used to things going wrong more often when it comes to this kind of thing."

"Who would have thought that Shirou-tan is a pessimist?" Matsu noted, though from the twitch at her lips I assumed that she was just teasing me. Then again, I do have a habit of planning for the worst that I apparently would have to work at to get over.

"So did you manage to get the supplies I requested?" I instead asked, changing the subject. For the most part the group which had formed had stalled at the foot of the stairs. Uzume, still cradling Chiho, fidgeted slightly where she stood reminding me that just because the first part of this operation had gone alright it didn't mean that the job was done yet. Matsu's grin widened a bit as she began to hop down the stairs childishly.

"Well, everyone was a little upset at first when they found out that Shirou-tan had gone out without them," Matsu began, her smile growing even wider. "But Matsu quickly found a way to get everyone motivated!"

"Oh?" I asked, wondering just why it was that Matsu found the situation amusing. "And how did you do that?"

"Well," the hacker began, finally reaching the last stair and perching proudly on it with her hands behind her back. "Matsu pointed out that she still hadn't decided who could have Friday, and then she mentioned that she might just use the traditional method in order to choose who could sleep with Shirou-tan…"

I still hadn't quite figured out what she was leading up to with her roundabout explanation when she was interrupted in her story by a loud banging noise. Despite myself I jumped, whirling around towards the loud noise while wondering if maybe the getaway hadn't been as clean as I thought it was when I discovered that the source of the noise was none other than Musubi. The shrine girl was standing proudly in the doorway, with both hands up in victory from where she had slammed open the door. Dangling from each of her elbows were shopping bags bulging slightly from their content.

"Musubi wins!" the bear Sekirei crowed happily. A second later she toppled forward with a yelp as Tsukiumi plowed into her from behind. The water Sekirei was huffing with exertion, and she nearly lost her balance as well when she ran into her rival.

"No fair!" Tsukiumi growled, looking despondent at having been beaten by Musubi once more. "I lost again!"

"Shopping race?" I asked Matsu, having already guessed at just how the devious Sekirei had diverted the rest of my flock's attention away from midnight disappearance. Matsu nodded brightly, her pigtails flopping behind her as she did so.

"Shopping race!" the hacker confirmed, though her smile grew a bit more. "Though since it was so late at night, and none of the hardware stores were open, it might be better to say 'illegal construction site scavenger hunt'."

"Oh," Miya sighed, one hand cradling her cheeks as she gave a disappointed look at the two newcomers. "To see the number of criminals in Izumo House growing. First perverted hacker women, then playboy assassins, now even streaker thieves! What would my husband say if he could see such a thing?"

"Playboy assassins?" I muttered, wondering just how I had come to have such an undignified title. That was a little harsh, even for Miya's teasing.

"Streaker?" Musubi repeated, putting one hand to her cheek in confusion as she repeated the unfamiliar word.

"Landlady!" Tsukiumi on the other hand seemed to understand what it was Miya was implying, and flushed as she protested the title.

"Um," Uzume chimed in, interrupting the lighthearted atmosphere that was starting to develop. She hefted her sleeping Ashikabi in her arms, drawing attention to the fact that there was still a sick person in need of treatment present. "Not to be impatient or anything, but can we focus on the important things first?"

"Right," I nodded, agreeing with the Veiled Sekirei. Then I paused, realizing that there might have been another hole in my planning. It looked like the success of the extraction was being counterbalanced by the numerous oversights in the rest of the operation. That strangely made me feel better about the ease with which we pulled it off.

I don't think it counts as paranoia when vast amounts of personal experience and empirical evidence supports my belief that if anything can go wrong it probably will.

"Asama-san," I began politely, and in response Miya's eyes instantly narrowed as she took in my tone. It looked like she was beginning to know me a little too well, either that or I still wasn't that good at concealing my nervousness. "You know how I already promised to repair the dining room, right? So it doesn't matter if I have to repair it a bit more than I do right now, right?"

"Emiya-kun," Miya said, darkness beginning to grow ominously behind her as she read my train of thought. "I hope you aren't planning on doing something prohibited, are you?"

I cleared my throat, glancing away awkwardly as I did so. "It's for a good cause?" I pointed out hopefully, and the darkness behind the landlady only grew further as I dodged her question.

*Scene Break*

"Oi," Homura interrupted himself with a yawn so wide that he had to shut his eyes from the force of it. When he finally finished he rubbed at his face sleepily, shutting the door behind him as he entered the dining room. "Is Shirou back yet? I have a few things I want to talk to him about… good god!"

"Good morning, Homura," I greeted him, pausing in my work as I wiped a bit of chalk dust off my face. Homura stared at me, then down to what I was working on, his eyes wide as he took in the sight before him.

"What are you doing to the living room?" he demanded in an incredulous voice. "What do you think Miya is going to do when she finds out about this?"

"She already told me," I shuddered, glancing over to where the aforementioned landlady was standing in the frame that divided the living room from the kitchen, a dark shadow still hanging over her as she glared at me. "In great detail," I added, another shudder going through my body as I did so.

"And she still let you do it?" Homura asked, morbid curiosity in his voice as he glanced around the room, taking in the rest of the details he apparently missed in his shock.

"I pulled up the tatami mats first," I pointed out, returning to my work as I did so. "I would have had to do that anyway when I started fixing the walls. And I'll be able to sand the paint off later, once I'm finished."

"Just what are you doing?" Homura demanded, before he paused. His head cocked to the side as his eyes narrowed in inadvertent curiosity. "And why are you doing it in the dining room?"

"I'm constructing a magic circle in order to help with healing Uzume's Ashikabi," I explained, carefully adding another element to the circle in chalk before checking back to the compass I was using to orient the elements of the circle. "And the reason I'm doing this here is because there isn't the space for it anywhere else, not now that my workshop has been destroyed."

For a moment, Homura just stared at me blankly, before seemingly inadvertently turning his head to take in the details of my construct. The rest of the room also seemed to be interested in my ongoings, and with Homura here now the whole of Izumo had turned up to watch me prepare my spellcraft.

Tsukiumi was frowning where she was kneeling at the edge of the room, as though trying to somehow piece together the intent of the circle I was inscribing with chalk and then tracing over with paint. Beside her, Musubi just looked curious, head cocked to the side as she watched nonjudgmentally. On the opposite side of the room both Akitsu and Kazehana had taken their own seats, the snow woman kneeling quietly and staring more at me then at the circle while the Wind Sekirei had brought forth a bottle of sake which she was sipping directly from. Matsu had set up shop on one of the free walls between where the other four had seated themselves, and the hacker was frequently bringing up her doohickey to tap away at it quickly as she glanced between it and the circle. Judging from the way her lips pursed up, the inquisitive Sekirei was actually trying to make sense of the unfamiliar shapes and designs I had been painting onto the dining room floor. Uzume had chosen the wall opposite Matsu in order to rest against, and though Chiho was still asleep Miya had provided some blankets and a pillow so the sick girl could rest more comfortably. The only one left was Kuu-chan, and she was currently…

"Akitsu, she's trying again," I pointed out, and the snow woman reached out with her usual deliberateness to put her arm around Kuu's waist and pull her away from the open paint can. The young girl pouted, childishly upset over once more being denied the opportunity to engage in the god given right of children to make absolute messes out of themselves when in the proximity of something which would take forever to wash off.

"Fuugh!" Kuu grunted, sticking her tongue out at Akitsu as the snow woman impassively set the younger girl in her lap. Kuu struggled for a moment before discovering that the older Sekirei, while being gentle, was still not going to let her up. The Green Girl folded her arms and began to pout. I don't know why, considering she had already gotten into the paint three times by this point and had several childish hand sized prints on her dress already.

"You can't play with that, Kuu-chan," I reminded her once more, before pulling the paint can closer so that I could trace another set of chalk that I had deemed properly formed. "This paint has lead in it, so it's not a toy for kids."

"Lead paint?" Homura repeated, glancing at the can in surprise. "Isn't that stuff supposed to be illegal these days? Something about the paint chips being poisonous? Where on earth did you even find the stuff?"

"There's always someone out there willing to ignore the law if it means they can't save a few yen," I pointed out cynically. "The trick is just figuring out where they're hiding their secrets."

"Matsu managed to find some in a shipyard," the hacker added, glancing up at Homura as though just noticing he arrived.

"And if it hadn't been so far away, then I would have run that race," Tsukiumi added, folding her arms as she scowled. Musubi grinned, puffing out her chest.

"But you still lost," she pointed out, causing Tsukiumi's scowl to grow. "And a loss is a loss!"

"All that aside, why are you using lead paint in the first place?" Homura demanded, absently scratching at his chest before letting his arms drop again.

"Well, certain heavy metals and elements are more conducive to prana," I explained holding a thumb up to judge the size of a loop I was painting. It looked like it was the right size, and this was one of the circles I was familiar with, so I judged it complete and turned to the next portion. "Magecraft can be affected by a lot of things if you're not careful."

"Shirou-tan also added more lead shavings, some silver shavings, and a bit of chalk to the paint as well," Matsu elaborated, eyebrows knitting as she casually caught the fire user up on what the rest have been watching for a while. Homura scowled at the list.

"What, that's it?" he muttered, folding his arms as he leaned against the door frame. It didn't look like he was going to come any further into the room, mostly due to the fact that there wasn't much footing left untouched by the wide circle. "Aren't you magi supposed to use the blood of virgins or something?"

"Not virgins," Matsu corrected absently, "but Shirou-tan did put some of his own in as well."

"I was being sarcastic!" Homura growled out, his hand coming up to palm his forehead in frustration. "Do you all wait till I'm asleep before doing this kind of thing, just so you can screw with me afterwards?" he complained to the room at large, before sliding his palm down his face. "And what does this thing even do, anyway?"

"No," Matsu chirped, sparing a moment to grin at the frustrated fire user as she answered his first question. "That's just the way it seems to work out!"

"And as for what this does," I picked up the explanation. "It's meant to help isolate the center of the circle from ambient mana so that magecraft performed in the middle isn't affected by the environment."

"Oh, so that's what it does," Homura said flatly. If I were to judge, I'd say my explanation didn't rate very highly on a scale of usefulness in his book. He paused, and then his eyes narrowed as he gave the circle another, more cautious look. "Shirou," he began slowly as his body tensed. "You know, you used to come back from that shed of yours covered in soot pretty often."

"Yeah?" I prompted him, giving him a confused look. "So?"

"How likely is it that this is going to somehow explode or catch fire?" he elaborated, annoyance that I hadn't been able to interpret his leading question obvious. The rest of the room stirred briefly as the fire user brought up something that most of them apparently hadn't considered yet. Miya's scowl grew, and the air behind her darkened even further.

"There is a chance so close to being zero that we're more likely to be spontaneously hit by lightning then for this circle to combust," I assured him, turning back to the circle. "This circle is so simple that I'd have to physically work at screwing it up that badly."

"It doesn't look that simple," Matsu noted, studying the numerous symbols that she still hadn't managed to identify yet.

"This is one of the most basic of circles, the kind of thing that most beginner apprentices or first generation magi would use," I explained, focusing more on my work then on the conversation. "It's an aspect of Formalcraft, the safest and easiest style of magecraft in existence."

"'Formalcraft'?" Matsu perked up, her curiosity being refocused away from studying the circle as she focused on a new unfamiliar topic. "'Style of magecraft'?"

"There are a lot of different ways to use magecraft," I explained, idly answering her question. "Some of the styles focus on rituals, like Formalcraft, and others use physical interaction, like Runes. Others require just an aria, like Spiritual Evocation."

"So do you know a lot of different types?" Homura took his turn to speak up, and judging from his tone it looked like his curiosity was starting to get the better of his earlier irritability. In response, I just shook my head.

"No," I admitted. "I studied a bit of a few different types, but I never really had much talent for them. I can use some Formalcraft, but since it takes so long to set up it's mostly useless to me. I can use some of the physical Spiritual Evocation type spells and some Runes, but Evocation is limited to my own version of Gradient Air, and my Runes are mostly good for bounded fields and wards."

"You're doing that thing again, Shirou," Homura pointed out, his voice aggrieved, and I glanced back at him, finally becoming a bit concerned by the normally even tempered Sekirei's aggressive mood. "That thing where you casually mention stuff that we have no way of knowing anything about, and then don't bother to explain them at all."

"Hmm," Matsu nodded at the fire user's words, though she didn't seem as annoyed as he did by them as he did. "Shirou-tan wasn't lying when he said that there were a lot of things he would have to catch us up on." Despite the fact that she wasn't receiving the answers she probably wanted, she began to grin deviously. "That gives Matsu an idea about what she wants to do on Friday!"

"All that aside, it still doesn't answer the question of just why you're taking up the entire dining room for this," Uzume chimed in, and though she sounded like she wasn't upset, she did sound like she was impatient. "When you were fixing Miya, all you did was just pull out your Ava-thingie and slap it on her chest. Why are you even bothering to do all this?" she nodded her head at the circle that I had spent a few hours constructing. One hand came down to gently stroke her sleeping Ashikabi's hair as she spared her a tender look. "I thought we'd be helping Chiho already."

"There wasn't much time for anything like this with Miya," I pointed out, turning back to focus on my work. The final section to the circle was almost completed, and I would be finished soon enough. "Back then the only option was to slapdash everything together and hope for the best. Now though, now we have the time to make sure this is done right, and I want to make sure that absolutely nothing can go wrong."

"Well, I can't argue with that," Uzume muttered, and though she still sounded impatient she sounded like she was willing to deal with a bit more of a wait if it meant the safety of Chiho. I gave her what I meant to be a reassuring smile, even as I sat back on my heels, looking over the circle. With a final nod, I decided it was good enough. The paint was still wet, but as long as no one scuffed it then it should be fine.

"Well," I announced. "As long as you're careful, you can bring Hidaka-san in. Just take care not to mess up the circle."

"Finally," Uzume muttered, nearly launching herself to her feet before stumbling briefly at the sudden movement. Carefully, the Veiled Sekirei put her arms on her Ashikabi and lifted her blankets and all to carry her in to the center of the mystic circle. I shifted, crawling on my knees in order to give her the space she needed to put her Ashikabi down. "Now what?" she demanded, plopping down next to her Ashikabi and opposite me.

I turned up my nose, closing my eyes as I tried to scent the power in the air. The circle was working, and it felt a little unusual to see my flock all gathered around and not be able to sense them. The only thing I could in this circle was Uzume, and I decided that shouldn't interfere. If it did, I'd just have to ask her to step out of the circle so I could focus.

"Just a second," I told her, bringing my hand up so I could look at it briefly before closing my eyes once more. In the back of my mind, a hammer was slowly being brought back as I concentrated.

"Well," Uzume spoke up, impatience back in her tone. "What are you doing? Aren't you just gonna pop that thing out already?" I grimaced, nearly losing my concentration at her sudden interruption.

"Just be quiet a second," I told her, grimacing as I put the fingers of my hand against my chest, flexing them slightly and feeling as they dug into the muscles of my pectorals. "I've only done this once before, and I got to concentrate to make sure I get it right."

"You didn't take this long before," Uzume muttered petulantly, and I felt a brief surge of annoyance at her insistence on interrupting my concentration. I let it pass though. She was worried, and I could understand that.

"That's because before I was just using a copy," I explained for her, and then I flexed my fingers again. I was about ready to begin. "This time, I'm going to use the real thing."

I clenched my hand, dragging my nails against my shirt and feeling them scratch my chest lightly. Deep within me I could feel… something beginning to stir.

I was never quite certain just how it was that Avalon came to be implanted in me. I mean, I had a good guess about when it happened, and who had done it. The one who had the scabbard before it had come to me had been my father, Kiritsugu Emiya. He was the only one who could have given it to me. The most likely time had been once he had found me in the inferno that had once been Fuyuki city. I remembered the state I had been in towards the end, and though I was young enough at the time to not question it I had recovered quickly, far too quickly, in the days afterwards.

More than that though, I was never quite certain HOW Avalon came to be in me. I mean, it wasn't like I had been opened and the scabbard fit into my insides somehow. It was too implausible to even consider physically implanting something like the sheath into a human, much a less a boy of the size I had been when it had been grafted to me. I wasn't certain if it was some esoteric use of magecraft, or maybe a function of Avalon dependent on its status as either a conceptual weapon or a Noble Phantasm, but the end result was that objects physical traits seemed to be a bit more malleable than should be expected. Whatever the case, one of the trickiest aspects of figuring out my strange healing abilities back when Rin and I had been trying to puzzle it out was figuring out how to do what I was about to.

Slowly, I began to withdraw the scabbard from my body. I could feel it, as though a thousand grains of sands were being shepherded along by another thousand ants as they trouped through the veins and organs of my body. It was as though I was being passed through a sieve of some sort, the alien particles that had inundated my body for so long being sifted out of me.

It didn't hurt, but it didn't feel very good either. By the time it was done I was a bit short on breath, and felt as though I had just woken up in a hotel bathroom covered in ice with a new scar and a note which told me to get to a hospital immediately. It was as though an organ I never knew I had was missing, and its loss had caused the rest of my insides to have shifted in an uncomfortable and noticeable way.

And in my hand, I could feel the physical weight of Avalon as for the second time in years the conceptual weapon existed in a place other than my body.

"Oh!" Kuu's voice reminded me that for all my discomfort I still had an audience. I opened my eyes in time to catch the young Sekirei as she began to clap happily at the show, no longer resisting her confinement to Akitsu's lap.

"Okay," Uzume acknowledged, head cocked to the side and a look that said she was impressed despite herself. "That was a bit different from the other times, but it was kinda cool anyway."

"That's really it, isn't it?" Homura broke in as well, his voice quiet and lacking his earlier antagonism. He was studying the scabbard like a hawk, his eyes narrow and his body tensed as he took in every gleaming detail of its blue and gold frame. "That's really the sheath of King Arthur's Excalibur."

The first time the fire user had seen Avalon he hadn't had any idea what it was, just that it was there, it was impressive looking, and it was keeping Miya from bleeding out all over the dining room floor. This time, now that he had been told just what the object really was it seemed that he was treating the sight before him with a bit more decorum.

He seemed to be the only one though.

"Shiny!" Musubi proclaimed, joining in with Kuu's clapping as she lent her efforts to the applause. "Can you do any other tricks, Shirou-san?"

"For my next one," I told her dryly, moving closer to the sleeping Chiho, "I'll make it disappear."

Uzume tensed slightly as I positioned Avalon so that its tip rested on her sleeping Ashikabi's chest, the scabbard standing straight up in the air as I once more prepared my magecraft. This time, I kept my eyes opened so I could judge whether the implantation was going properly and was treated to the sight that had apparently pleased Kuu and Musubi enough to warrant applause as I began to push the scabbard downwards into the sick girl's body.

From a distance it would appear as though Avalon was simply disappearing in a golden light which originated from the area right above Chiho's skin. Up close, I could make out the details of the mystery: Avalon was actually dissolving, breaking up into an infinite number of miniscule pieces at the point where it made contact with the other's body, the pieces glowing golden for a moment before they dissolved, sinking into Chiho's form like water being absorbed into a sponge.

It was slow going, the act stretching on for nearly a minute and a half before it was completed. Chiho shifted once during the process, some of the discomfort that I had noted myself apparently making itself known even in her sleep. At her side, Uzume fidgeted, seemed about to try and stop me, before she bit her lips and took her Ashikabi's hand in her own. Chiho settled almost immediately afterwards.

Finally, it was done. My hand rested lightly against Chiho's chest directly above where the sword had vanished into. Closing my eyes, I tried my best to sense the scabbard's presence. I grimaced, not able to detect it at all. That should be natural. Not even Saber or Rin had been able to tell that I had carried the conceptual weapon until we had been together for nearly a year, and even then it had taken some embarrassing experiments to identify it. Hesitantly, I began to feed od into Chiho, and instantly I felt as her body accepted it, the power disappearing immediately from my senses as I did so.

I relaxed. Good. If Avalon hadn't been able to receive my odic power, then it would have just lingered to my senses. That it was disappearing meant that it was still being accepted, and if it was being accepted it meant it was being used.

"Now what do we do?" Uzume asked, her voice breaking into the silence that had settled on the room after witnessing something so alien to common sense as a sheath being drawn from one person and then dissolved in the next.

"It's working," I told her, and she relaxed. "Now we just have to wait while it heals her."

*Scene Break*

Rituals. There are a lot of different types of rituals. A ritual could be something as simple as washing your hands before you eat or brushing your teeth before your bedtime. So long as it's something done regularly in a specific order to accomplish a specific task, then just about everything could be considered a ritual.

Magecraft rituals were much the same, in a way. There was a great deal of variety found classified under the rather general term. Many rituals could and would be tailored in order to better suit the needs of the individual magus. Even an Aria, an incantation, could be considered a ritual, and every magi had their own Aria even if they were performing the same miracle. If there were a thousand mysteries, then there might be ten thousand Arias.

This ritual, however simple in execution, could probably be considered a rather high end one by any other magi. Even if it was a bit of a cheat that I just happened to have a Noble Phantasm capable of performing the heavy work for me, I would have still been able to accomplish the same thing even if I didn't have Avalon anymore. It would take a long longer, and be a great deal more complicated, but I would have been able to push through.

If I had just stuck to a copy of Avalon, I wasn't actually certain whether or not I would have been able to implant it. I'd never tried to make a Traced weapon undergo a physical change as drastic as being dissolved like this. I was only just barely starting to get used to that trick that Archer used to use where he'd reshape his swords into arrows. So if I didn't use the original Avalon, then I would have had to settle with just tracing the scabbard and letting it rest on the sleeping Chiho's chest like I had with Miya. However, I had no idea whether or not that would have affected the effectiveness of the healing.

And since I was going to do this, I was going to make sure I did it right.

Even disregarding the tools I was using, this mystery was quite possible one of the most powerful and rare types of magecraft that the majority of magi would ever dream of attempting. There were plenty of ways to treat an injury for magi. They might just sever the body part needing treatment and just craft a new one to graft on. They might surgically excise the damage and then replace the lost tissue with ether or some other substitute. They could go through and target the damage and remove it, and let the body take care of the healing afterwards.

Most methods a magus might use amounted to nothing more than removal and replacement. But this? This was unreal. This wasn't replacing, this was healing. This was nearly regeneration for that matter.

Avalon at its height allowed Saber to live through mortal wounds so terrible that they would kill any other recipient out of hand, and they let her recover from them without even a scar. The Everdistant Utopia was such a powerful healing artifact that it could even stop the progression of time, halting even the aging process.

The only thing that even came close to this kind of power that I knew of was the deathlessness of a Dead Apostle, or perhaps the recovery powers of the Shinso. If any other magus were to attempt a ritual to the same effect as this one, it would most likely involve research from either of those two species, and if anyone ever found out they'd be slapped with a Sealing Designation and removed from the world with haste. Research into the Dead Apostles was one of the most common reasons for Sealing, seeing how inherently dangerous the results could be.

However, even as I was dabbling with powers that would turn many other magi green with envy, there was one inescapable fact that I couldn't quite avoid. Musubi was the first one to voice it.

"This is kind of boring," Musubi noted doubtfully, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly as she admitted to not being nearly as interested with watching me sit in a circle of paint with my hand on the sleeping Chiho without doing anything else flashy as she felt she should be.

"Musubi," Tsukiumi scolded, turning to give the shrine girl a chiding glare, despite the fact that she had been suppressing a yawn only moments ago. "That's no way to act while supporting our husband while he's working hard." While her words started strong, by the time she reached the 'working hard' bit even she sounded a bit doubtful.

"No," I corrected Tsukiumi, suppressing a yawn as I did so. "Musubi is right. This is pretty boring." The only one who seemed even the least bit excited at the moment was Matsu, and judging from the way she was typing away at the doohickey I think she had just refocused her effort on trying to document some of the symbols I used.

"Boring or not," Uzume cut in, alternating looks between myself and Chiho, "Is it working?" She still seemed apprehensive over the safety of her Ashikabi, but after nearly an hour and a half of no further development past the implantation of Avalon, even she was starting to look a little distracted.

"It's definitely working," I assured her, taking another moment to concentrate on the flow of the od in the circle. So far Avalon was still receiving my od in a steady stream. I'd already experimented with trying to feed it more, but just like with Miya there seemed to be a limit of how much it would receive before it started bleeding out an ineffective trickle into its new host. "It's a bit slow, but there's probably already been some good progress by now."

"How can you tell?" Uzume demanded, looking down at Chiho as though to try and find some change in condition on her Ashikabi. "She doesn't look any better yet…"

"That's what the circle is for," I told her. "Inside here there's virtually no mana pollution. It makes it easier for me to judge the show of prana. Trust me. It's working." My eyes knit as I too gave Chiho a studying glance. Though she didn't appear overly so, she was a sickly looking girl. Her limbs were rather thin, no doubt a result of her long hospitalization, and her skin was slightly pale as well. "It's just a matter of where it's working," I added thoughtfully. "We should probably see some visible results eventually."

"What do you mean by 'where it's working', Shirou-tan?" Matsu chose this moment to interrupt. The hacker glanced up from her screen as the conversation apparently veered into something she felt noteworthy. With a shrug, I decided to explain. If nothing else it would help set Uzume at ease, and quite frankly, a little conversation would help pass the time a little quicker.

I was going to be here for a while, after all.

"I told you before that Avalon was meant only for Saber," I reminded the hacker of the conversation from the night before. "I also said that even if I can use it, I can't use it as well as she could. Even if I can use it to recover from mortal wounds, Avalon is, well, it's a bit finicky."

"Finicky like how?" the hacker prompted, curiosity in her eyes as she pressed me for details.

"Well, for one thing I can only use it to heal one injury at a time," I revealed shrugging as I let my flock know some of my limitations when it came to my abilities with the scabbard. "And I can't really select which wound it focuses on either. It just happens at random."

"That doesn't sound very safe," Matsu noted, her eyes crinkling as she considered the ramifications of my limitations. "So if you were to have a serious injury and a not serious injury, it might start healing the unimportant one first? What happens to the serious injury then?"

"It's left untreated until it gets its turn," I explained. Matsu's lips twisted at my unscientific method of dealing with Avalon's quirks. Perhaps she was hoping that I had some sort of fall back procedure or other method of dealing with my injuries, but if she was then she was going to be disappointed. My standard procedure for injuries had two steps and that was about it.

The first step, do your best to avoid getting injured. It had taken me a lot longer than it should have to learn that one. The second step is to just ignore it until it goes away.

"So than what's going on right now?" Uzume prompted me, bringing my attention back to her Ashikabi.

"Right now Avalon is dealing with the accumulated damage of years of sickness," I explained to her, nodding at Chiho as I did so. "I only got a glance at her records, but there were a lot of conditions that had built up in her. It could be focusing on any one of them, and once its finished healing that completely it will just move on to the next one until it's done."

"Wait," Uzume broke in, startling as she gave me a wide eyed look of surprise. I paused, not understanding just why she seemed so shocked. "You mean it's not just curing her sickness, but it's actually fixing everything that's wrong with her at all?"

"Well, yeah," I nodded, realizing that I hadn't had a chance to explain the specifics to the Veiled Sekirei yet. "By the time this is done, she should be as healthy as if she never was sick in the first place."

"That's great!" Musubi cheered happily, reacting to the good news with her usual good nature. "Congratulations, Uzume-chan!"

Uzume didn't seem to know how to react to my pronouncement, a shiver going through her body as she digested the news. Finally, she seemed to come to a conclusion.

"Bro," she began fervently, "if you weren't surrounded by wet paint and in the middle of something important right now than I would probably hug you so hard that it would put you through a wall." She paused, giving me a crooked grin. "When this is over, if you're right, then I still might."

"Now see here, Uzume," Tsukiumi cut in, scowling at the proclamation. "There's no need for unnecessary familiarity between my husband and you!" She folded her arms in a huff. "Now that your Ashikabi is recovering, there's no reason for you to be close to Shirou."

"Heheh!" Uzume gave her signature cackle, finally taking her eyes off of her Ashikabi so she could grin at the indignant water user. "Don't worry. After the thank you hug to Shirou you're going to have to pry me off of Chiho with a crowbar!"

"Oh that's so nice!" Kazehana giggled as Uzume revealed her immediate plans for the future. "So romantic!"

"While it is good that your Ashikabi is getting help," Miya added in, finally seeming to put aside her annoyance at my desecration of the dining room floor, "I hope you're not planning on doing anything indecent, Uzume-chan."

"All night and every night if I can get away with it," Uzume shamelessly confessed, apparently still riding the high of relief or she probably never would have said something so obvious in Miya's presence. When the dark cloud began to reform around Miya's head Uzume seemed to remember who she was talking to. "Outside of Izumo, I mean! We'll use a love motel, I swear!"

Miya continued to glower for a few more moments, drawing a few small drops of sweat from her nervous prey, before she finally relented. It looked like she was willing to let the good news overshadow her usual taking to task of unruly behavior in her home. Uzume sighed in relief, loosening the tightened grip she had unconsciously given her Ashikabi's hand.

"So how long is all this going to take, anyway?" It was Homura who spoke up then, the flame user still perched by the doorway where he had first paused after entering. He was scowling slightly, but it looked like he had lost some of his bad mood from earlier as he too was affected by the burgeoning atmosphere of excitement.

"I'm not sure how long it will take on its own," I admitted, wondering if I should try Structural Analysis on the sleeping Ashikabi. The diagnostic spell was meant for inanimate objects, and the few times I had ever tried it on something living I had gotten back nothing but the equivalent of magical static to my senses. Still, maybe if I were to compare static over the course of time I might be able to get something out of the spell. "But I plan on keeping this up for at least twenty four hours the first time."

"Will it really take that long?" Matsu once more focused in on the specifics of my abilities, sounding as though she was considering something in relation to them. Then she paused, glancing up at me again. "The first time?" she repeated, catching the last part of my sentence as well.

"How fast it takes depends on a lot of factors," I explained. "The longest it ever took me to heal was around eight hours, but that was back when Saber was around. If she was nearby Avalon would be more efficient. Of course, I did have a lot of injuries that time as well, so there's no way of knowing just how much time it would have taken without her around. But that was also when I wasn't as efficient with Avalon as I am now too…"

Matsu nodded slowly, looking sympathetic as I trailed off. "Matsu guesses this is a bit of an experiment, isn't it?" she colluded with me, shaking her head as she did so. I nodded, happy that someone understood just how little information I had to work with here. "Is that why Shirou wants to do this again as well?"

"Ideally I want at least three sessions," I confessed, Uzume perking as she paid close attention to my plans for continuing the treatment of her Ashikabi. "I want a few days between each one. It will help to check to see if there are any lingering side effects." I glanced at Uzume, and caught the way she started to take a breath to interrupt again and decided to save us both some time and just explain. "The problem is that Chiho isn't injured, but that she's sick. I know that Avalon can fix the damage to her body, but I'm not certain about how it will affect her sickness itself. Whatever she has, she caught it once before, so there's no guarantee that she won't catch it again once she's healed."

"Matsu isn't certain, but she doesn't think it will be a problem," the hacker cut in then, talking to both me and Uzume as she picked up on my train of thought. "When Matsu looked up Lupus she saw that it's very hard to catch. And even if Chiho-tan does get it again, when it's treated early it's not very dangerous."

"So there's a chance that Chiho will get sick again," Uzume summed up our concerns slowly, a small grimace forming as she did so. "But even if she gets sick, then she should be able to live with it just fine?"

"Especially if Shirou-tan's magic trick heals everything first," Matsu added for the Veiled Sekirei's benefit. "It took Chiho-tan fourteen years to get this bad, and according to her records the only reason it got so bad was because it took them a long time to identify what was wrong. If she gets checked regularly, then even if she gets sick again Chiho-tan should be able to get treatment just fine!"

Uzume spent a moment in consideration, the grimace still there, before she finally relaxed. "That's fine," she finally concluded, eyes turning back to her Ashikabi. "Even this much was more than I ever thought possible. If that's what happens after this, then we'll just deal with it then."

Even with the uncertain future before her, it looked as though Uzume wasn't regretting her choice to come to me for help. With resolution tempered by both hope and fear, Uzume turned back to her Ashikabi, reaching past my arm to gently brush her hair back from her forehead. Once again, like the night before, the sight of her obvious affection made me shift a little, a feeling of awkwardness forming in my stomach as I did so.

"Still," I was thankful for when Homura spoke up, drawing attention back to him and away from Uzume. He shifted slightly, idly reaching down to scratch at his side as he did so. "Your Thaumaturgy seems to be really useful stuff, Shirou." The fire user gave a small scowl for some reason, though I couldn't tell what it was that was still annoying him. "Going around and curing incurable diseases like this, it seems a little unfair that those magi don't try to help out more people in need."

"Well," I responded slowly, "that's because no magus worth their salt would ever bother to design a spell to cure a disease like this. It would be useless, in the end."

Homura's eyes narrowed slightly at my casual dismissal of his statement. "Useless? Why would it be useless? Just think of all the lives that could be saved it a mage were to just spend a little time putting together a spell or mystery or whatever it is you call it to just help people."

"Homura," I began, speaking pleadingly as once more the fire user's temper seemed to gain heat. "If it were that easy, then I would already be doing it. If I thought it would make a difference, then I would be spending every day in the hospital myself, helping everyone that I could. But for me, I just can't do it."

"Well why not?" Homura snapped, leaning forward aggressively as he did so.

"Homura-tan," Matsu interrupted, pursing her lips as she glanced at the fire user. She wasn't the only one in the room who seemed surprised by the other male's unusual temper. Homura shot her a quick glare, before even he realized that he was starting to be unusually angry. With a visible breath, Homura closed his eyes, and some of the tension left his body.

"For one thing, I would only be able to help one person at a time, maybe as many as three if I were to get a little creative about it," my voice was soft as I ran over the scenario in my head. Honestly, it wasn't the first time I had thought about doing just that. "But no matter how many people I saved, there would always just be more coming in, more getting hurt. It would come down to me having to choose which ones to help and which ones to ignore. There are just better ways that I could be out there saving others."

If I were to wait in a hospital then I might be able to save a person who might have been shot and mugged, or help the victims of a car crash recover. However, if I was out and about then maybe I could have stopped the mugging in the first place, or prevented the car crash from ever occurring. It was a tricky decision to make, but in the end, there were more chances for me to help others if I was in the world, not secluded from it.

It was hard, but it was the truth. Just like how sometimes love wasn't enough, in the end, you just can't save everyone.

"And even if I were to try, then eventually word would get out that there was a person with a mysterious power that could heal any wound," I continued my train of thought, staring down at the one I could save with unfocused eyes. "Somebody would take notice. Maybe some rich person would decide that there money should give them priority, or some politician who thinks that they're more important than the rest of the masses. Either way, eventually just working at a hospital would start to draw conflict. And if the word got out far enough, then eventually the Mage Association would hear of it, and if they were to get involved then probably more people than even I could heal would get injured when they came for me."

Doing something so conspicuous would definitely qualify for changing my status as a Sealing Designee from 'Hermit' to 'Philosopher'. It was dangerous enough with me just being passively hunted, but if the Association were to start searching for me aggressively, then things would only get worse.

"And even if someone else were to try and invent a mystery that could cure a disease, there's no guarantee it wouldt be effective for long," I continued, shaking my head slowly. "Don't forget, for all its power magecraft is not an infinite resource."

"You mean like the gold spell you were talking about, Shirou-tan," Matsu interpreted, understanding just what I was implying. "If someone were to invent a spell that could cure an illness, then the more times it was used then the less effective would be?"

"It's not an exact description and it's a lot more complicated then this, but if a spell would cure someone completely if used once, then if it was used twice it might just treat someone halfway," I elaborated, using a simplified example of the degeneration of mysteries. "If it was used three times, by thirds, if used four times, by quarters, and etcetera. It's not like there's just one instance of a disease or an injury at a time. There are millions of people getting sick and injured every day. Any treatment designed through magecraft would eventually be so diluted as to be completely useless."

"So what, all the powers of the universe, and they don't add up to a damn bit of good?" Homura snorted, before he paused. The fire user took another deep breath, and again I saw him visibly calm himself.

"Pretty much," I agreed, my own distaste for the inherent limitations of magic perhaps leaking through a bit. "When it comes down to it, Thaumaturgy isn't much good for making the world a better place."

I had a brief moment to wonder if maybe this was the reason magi so distained the use of magecraft for common tasks. After all, if a mystic washing machine like the one I had been tampering with were to be found in every household in Japan, then eventually it would reach the point where everyone would be wearing dirty clothes.

Musubi had been listening into most of this conversation with a curious expression on her face as it had slowly diverted further and further from just Chiho's treatment. Finally, the bear Sekirei spoke up, voicing her own concerns over the topic. "Does that mean that the more people who fight like you do, Shirou-san, the weaker you'll become?"

Somehow, I was unsurprised that part of the conversation which concerned Musubi the most related to combat in some way.

"Don't worry about me," I told her, my eyes refocusing as I gave the shrine girl a reassuring smile. "My magecraft will never be weakened like that."

"Oh?" It was Miya this time who rejoined the conversation. Though it looked like she had calmed down enough to ease up on the threat of her Hannya mask, her expression was still bordering on the disgruntled. "You sound rather certain about that, Emiya-kun. Are you perhaps being a little too confident in your abilities? Pride does come before the fall, you know."

Despite the slight annoyance in her tone which probably originated from me making a mess out of her beloved inn, I did note the way her hand strayed up in a move strangely reminiscent of Homura to trace her chest, no doubt tracing the new mark on her body, a seemingly unconscious move for the landlady. It looked like maybe she intended the warning as more than just a revenge shot for the paint.

"No," I shook my head, before hesitating briefly. It was a little unusual for me to say any more, the old lessons of Rin about the importance of secrecy for a magus clamoring in the back of my head, but these were my allies after all. I had already begun to reveal my secrets to them, so perhaps it would be for the best if I gave them a better idea of my potential. "I'm the only person in the world who can use my magecraft. There has never been anyone else, or will be anyone else, who will be able to do what I do."

"That sounds a bit like pride to my ears," Homura muttered refolding his arms as he slouched a bit further at the doorway.

"Does this have something to do with why Shirou-tan is a fugitive?" Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Matsu who managed to make the connection to my claim with what she knew of my past. "Having one of those 'Sealing Designations'?"

I nodded. "You only receive a Designation if you're doing something so dangerous that the Mage's Association can no longer over look you, or something so unusual that it might be impossible for anyone else to ever duplicate it. For me, it was mostly the latter. Like I said before, I'm probably only the seventh human in history to successfully create this skill."

"Just what is it that you did that is so special you have to get marked for study, anyway?" Homura demanded, giving me a suspicious look as he did so. "And didn't you just say that no one else could do it? Now you're saying that there were six others? Are you sure you have your facts straight?"

"It's called a Reality Marble," I began slowly, eying Homura with some concern as I did so. "And every Reality Marble is different. They're unique to whomever or whatever it is that develop them. Homura," I continued, a bit of worry in my voice as I focused on something besides my explanations. "Are you alright? You're being really cross for some reason."

Homura's lips twitched up as he glared at me for a moment, before he closed his eyes and took another visible breath. After a moment he seemed to calm, and when he opened his eyes again he looked faintly apologetic.

"Sorry," he muttered, grimacing as he did so. "For some reason I feel really tired, and I might have a fever or something. I think I might have come down with something somehow."

"A fever?" Matsu perked up, glancing over at her fellow Sekirei with a bit of concern of her own. "But Sekirei don't get sick very often."

I made sure to take a note of that particular tidbit. I hadn't been certain that Sekirei could even catch illnesses in the first place.

"Yeah, well I was always a bit unusual," Homura snorted, a reminder that the flame user had particular circumstances of his own to worry about. I gave him a searching glance of my own now, trying to determine if his present condition might be at all related to his, um, lingering progressive symptoms. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell anything from so simple a glance. I could tell that his chest was still filling out his shirt in a way that no man's should, but beyond that he looked mostly healthy. He didn't seem unusually flushed or pale, and if he really was running a fever he had no signs of sweat or discomfort.

"Oh my," Miya noted, and it seemed that she was a bit surprised herself by the fire user's confession. "Is everything alright, Homura-chan?"

"Hmm," Matsu added as well, rubbing her chin speculatively as she also contributed to Homura being the center of attention. "Perhaps Matsu should examine you, Homura-tan," she offered helpfully.

"No!" Homura instantly snapped, and here he did look a little pale. Perhaps without realizing it, he hastily crossed his arms over his chest in a way that looked defensive. A second later he seemed to realize what he was doing and rearranged his arms so they looked a little more casual. "I mean, no, but thank you," he repeated in a calmer tone. As though to get the attention off of him he turned back to me. "You said that these Reality Marbles are unique to 'whomever or whatever' develops them earlier," he pointed out, quoting my words back at me as he did so. "Does that mean that things besides humans can develop them?"

"Well, yeah," I nodded, letting him divert attention back to me. "Lots of species can develop them. It's just really, really rare for a human to do it."

"Species?" Musubi asked, head cocked to the side as she added to the conversation. "You mean like puppies or kitties?"

"Um, no," I told her, not sure why those were the first two species to pop into the shrine girl's mind, but finding myself a little curious as to exactly why they had. "Normally they show up in demons or elementals. Sometimes if a Dead Apostle lives long enough they might make one of their own, but that usually takes a few centuries at the least. The gods might have had them too, but they're long gone so there's no way of knowing nowadays."

For a moment, silence greeted my explanation. I realized that most of the room was staring at me, and even Uzume had dragged her attention from her recovering Ashikabi to give me a flat look.

"Wow," Matsu finally stated. "Shirou-tan just said something really outrageous, and he doesn't even realize it."

"Well there's a surprise," Homura snorted, his irritation returning again. "Demons and elementals? Gods?" He paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing in thought. "Back when you winged me you mentioned 'Apostles' before. Is that the same as these 'Dead Apostles'? Just what are those supposed to be?"

"Well, the Dead Apostles are the third generation existence removed from the Type-Moon's influence," I began slowly, already knowing that the bomb I was about to drop would be particularly devastating and trying to find the best way to word it diplomatically.

"Shirou, you're doing that thing again. Please stop that and just say it straight," Homura pointed out, tapping his foot impatiently. With a sigh, I surrendered to the inevitable.

"The Type-Moon is the classification for one of the other extra-terrestrial entities which already made contact with the Earth before you Sekirei arrived," I said plainly. "The Apostles are basically alien influenced vampires."

"Alien vampires?" Uzume repeated, a touch of humor in her tone. "Seriously?" she asked, obviously deciding that something so ludicrous had to be some kind of bad joke.

"Oh! More aliens!" Musubi cheered happily, instantly taking my words as truth while the rest of the room decided to treat them more dubiously. "Do you think that they might want to be our friends?"

"No," I said firmly. "They most certainly do not. So far, including the Sekirei, there have been three alien species that I know about. Only the Sekirei have had benevolent intentions towards humanity. The Type-Moon was eventually forced into hibernation, but when it was alive it definitely didn't like humans. The Dead Apostles, its legacy, have carried on its traditions."

"And just what traditions are those?" Uzume snorted. "Covering themselves in sparkles and seducing innocent school girls?" She grinned, though I didn't get the joke she was trying to make. "Alien vampires. Right."

"No," I corrected her, my eyes narrowed. "They periodically locate isolated human towns or cities, and then infect and kill every resident in it, regardless of age and gender. They make of game of being the most vicious they can while doing so. Then they brag about it to the other Dead Apostles, and try to outdo each other for being the cruelest."

"You really are being serious," Homura finally decided, shifting uncomfortably. "Is that why you threatened to kill me and every other Sekirei when we first met?" he asked, no doubt recalling my stated intention to do just that when I misinterpreted what he meant by 'genetic information'.

"Did you really do such a thing, Emiya-kun?" Miya asked, her attention focused on me as her eyes opened to her fully attentive position.

"Back then I didn't know what Sekirei were," I nodded my confirmation. "I've been on two Apostle Hunts back before I received my Sealing Designation. The first one that we managed to stop before it progressed too far. The second one…" I trailed off, remembering that particular instance. "We got there too late to stop it completely. It got ugly."

Ugly was one way to put it. There were times that I was glad I was already as distorted as I was. Facing things like a blood starved ghoul that had once been a six year old girl with her hair in pigtails, then having to impale it to the ground long enough for one of the Enforcer's I was working with to incinerate it were the kind of things that left memories that lingered. And that wasn't even the worst of what I saw during that hunt.

My somber tone seemed to affect the room at large. Miya was the only one who seemed capable of digesting that information immediately.

"You mentioned another type of alien earlier as well," the landlady noted, her hand drifting idly down to where her sword would normally be present in her hakama. It seemed that lavenderette was willing to take my words at face value for the moment. Even if I once had the potential to becoming an enemy of her species, the fact that I was living with and even helping them now made forgiving that time a simple enough thing. Instead, it looked like Miya had chosen to focus on expanding her knowledge of the world around her, now that she had discovered it wasn't quite as simple as she always assumed it was.

I also noted that despite the inherent disbelief that she had when I revealed myself as a magus she showed little signs of doubting me now that I was talking about other aliens. That seemed a little unfair to me.

"We don't know much about it," I shifted slightly, my mind drifting into battle mode as I did so as I recalled the relevant information. "Its appearance is completely inhuman, and it has made no effort to interact with the world at large. As near as the Association can tell, it seems to be in some kind of dormant state. It does react hostilely to any attempt at interaction, killing anything that gets too close to it. For the most part the area around it is kept quarantined. It's officially been designated as the 'ORT'."

"Well," Kazehana burst in, sounding a little too loud for the somber topics. I glanced over to find the wind Sekirei lounging about outrageously, pouring herself a cup of sake dramatically as she did so. "This is so disappointing! Here I thought that we would get to be special to Ashikabi-kun, but he's already met other aliens!" She paused, shifting slightly so she could strike a provocative pose as she winked at me. Slowly, she began to push the corner of her dress down off her shoulder, revealing more of her chest then was anywhere near appropriate. "At least we can know that the others are nowhere near as sexy as we are, right, Shirou-kun?"

"Kazehana," Miya began, giving her old companion a disapproving look. "Do we need to have another discussion about appropriate behavior?"

"Sorry, sorry," Kazehana flapped one hand dismissively, making no move to reposition her clothes while she did so. Instead, she just brought her saucer to her mouth to sip at it, grinning slyly. "At least we don't have to worry about other aliens trying to steal our man," she added, still talking with casual ease. "I'll be sure to keep him well satisfied, all by myself."

"Hmph," Tsukiumi apparently took offense to the fact that the newest addition to the flock was already planning on monopolizing my time. "That will not happen!" the water user declared, folding her arms again as she glared at the upstart newcomer. "You have to wait your turn until after I've had mine!"

"Musubi too!" the bear Sekirei chimed in, tossing her fists in the air exuberantly.

As the mood began to lighten, Kazehana caught my eye surreptitiously and gave me another sly wink. It was with less surprise then before that I realized that once more the older member of my flock had deliberately set about changing the mood through the use of outrageous behavior. It seemed that Kazehana had her own experience to draw on, just like she tended to comment on mine.

I gave her a small smile back, letting myself slip out of battle mode as I did so.

At the edge of the room where he was still perched, Homura snorted. He alone didn't seem to be affected by the lightening of the atmosphere.

"Alright, alien vampires aside," he broke back in, tone slightly heated. "What about the rest? Those demons and gods that you were talking about? You really can't expect us to believe that those kind of things are real?"

"Well, demons still exist," I admitted. "But they're nowhere near as common as they used to be. The gods on the other hand are long gone. Their time, what magi call 'The Age of the Gods', ended over a millennia ago."

"The Age of the Gods?" Matsu broke in, and I realized that at some point the hacker had scooted a bit closer to where I was still reclining in the middle of the circle. Her new position put her a bit away from where Tsukiumi and Musubi were both still reacting to Kazehana's shameless provocations. It appeared that Akitsu was being pulled into the spectacle as well, as Kazehana began to adjust the mostly unresponsive ice woman's clothes in ways which made them even more provocative. Rather than appear upset over the disregard for her personal space, Akitsu seemed mildly interested in how her outfit was being rearranged.

"You mean like what that madman Minaka is always talking about?" Homura growled, taking offense to the term. Rather than being put off by his tone, I found myself agreeing with it.

"If that idiot had any idea what he was talking about, he wouldn't use that phrase so lightly," I nodded, lips twisting up into a scowl of my own. My agreement seemed to surprise Homura, and his unreasonable irritation subsided a bit.

"And what do you mean by that, Emiya-kun?" I glanced to the side to find that Miya too had adjusted her position, finally leaving the doorway to the kitchen so she could stand closer to where this new conversation was developing. She was shooting an occasional disapproving glance towards where Kazehana was continuing to distract the rest of my flock, but for now it appeared she was more interested in what I had to say.

"The Age of the Gods was a different time," I spoke softly, partly due to the gravity of the topic and partly so that I wouldn't interrupt the growing frivolity on the other side of the room. It gave me a strange feeling of relief to see my Sekirei acting so relaxed, a reminder that for all the dangerous things out there, there were still places like this where people could act so innocently. "Back then there were more Phantasmal Species, creatures out of legends. Humanity was stronger, and more powerful. And the gods were real, and walked the earth as they willed." I shook my head. "It's better that that age is lost."

"You seem to hold a dislike for the gods," Miya noted, a bit of speculation in her tone. She gave me a small smile. "Though much is unknown to me, I could tell you a bit of some of them. When humanity first came across the other Sekirei, it wasn't too uncommon for them to be worshiped."

"The Sekirei only arrived a few centuries ago," I reminded her as she once more tried to insinuate that the source of so many legends that had been passed down through the ages had their origins in her species. "By the time you arrived most of the gods were already gone. If any still lingered, they were just shadows of their former power. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the Sekirei might have been mistaken for them back then, but even if they rode on the coattails, they weren't the actual gods."

"Well if the other Sekirei weren't the actual gods you're talking about, Shirou-tan," Matsu began, pursing her lips as she fiddled with her doohickey once more, "then what were they actually like?"

"I can't honestly say," I admitted, feeling a little sheepish as I shrugged. "The gods disappeared a long time ago, and when they were around they weren't exactly the type that would let themselves be studied. They were powerful though, capable of using sorceries long lost to the rest of the world." I scowled briefly, my mood shifting a bit. "And unfortunately, they were all jerks."

"Isn't that kind of sacrilegious or something, bro?" Uzume pointed out. The Veiled Sekirei was listening in to the conversation that had developed between Homura, Matsu, Miya, and I more due to her enforced proximity to her Ashikabi, but I had the impression that even if she had the option of leaving she wouldn't. Uzume had already proven herself to have the kind of mindset to deal with this kind of topic, so I didn't make any particular effort to exclude her.

"Maybe," I shrugged again, "but it was true. It was called 'The Age of Gods' because it was the time when the gods were the definitive powers on the earth. There wasn't much humanity could do to stop them. And the gods didn't exactly hold humanity's safety in high regard."

"I'd never heard it put that way before," Homura muttered, his eyes unfocused as he took in my words. "But it does kind of make sense."

It was a reminder that out of all the Sekirei I knew, Homura always seemed to be the one most knowledgeable on human mythology. It made me wonder just what it was he got up to in his spare time.

I was again greeted by the mental image of Homura's room being filled with stacks upon stacks of books, the fire user perched somewhere in the middle of them flipping through a selection of a dozen tomes simultaneously while puffing away at one of his cigarettes.

"Matsu doesn't understand," the hacker pointed out, puffing her cheeks as the conversation between Homura and I went right over her head. Miya didn't add anything herself, but judging from the way she had cocked her head to the side it looked like she was confused as well.

"Most of the legends from back then involve the gods having children with whoever they wanted, without any concern for whether or not their partners were married or not," Homura muttered, shifting as he did so. "And there are stories where gods would screw over a human just because they didn't like them, or because they wanted to help the one they did like."

"The gods did what the gods wanted to do, and humanity was the one who had to deal with the fallout," I summed up, shaking my head at the conclusion.

"So basically you're saying that the gods were to humans what MBI is to Sekirei," Uzume pointed out a bit dryly. I blinked, honestly never having made that connection before, but nodded slowly.

Yeah, that wasn't too bad a way to put it.

"Surely it can't be as bad as you seem to think," Miya protested, huffing slightly as she did so. "Legends are simply legends, and much of what might have been passed down was surely exaggerated."

It took me a second to figure out why she seemed to be taking so much offense to the direction the topic had turned before I remembered that she had once professed to being a goddess herself. I had to suppress a snort at the thought that she would have taken her self-styled title seriously enough to try and defend the other more literal gods from slander.

"Less than you might think," I told her. "Some of the stories from that time might seem outrageous now, but more of them are true then you realize."

"It hardly seems possible that many of the legends I have heard could be accomplished by just normal people," Miya pointed out. I blinked, not quite sure how to react to that statement.

On one hand, Miya did have a point. Most people just aren't capable of awesome feats of strength or power like the Heroes in legends. Then again, that was the point of the word 'Hero'. A Hero was someone who surpassed all human limitations, who managed to rise above all conflict, above all oppression, and be victorious regardless of the odds stacked against them. The very act of being a Hero, of having your name inscribed in stories which echoed through the ages was proof of having become something greater than the rest of humanity. It was rare, only happening once or twice in a generation, and had grown even rarer in recent times. There was nothing wrong with doubting that such an unusual event might not have been exaggerated.

On the other hand though, her doubt did have the feel of condescension that so many nonhuman entities had towards humanity as a whole. It annoyed me, even if only briefly, to have my species so casually dismissed even if Miya probably had a fairly good excuse for looking down on it.

She was standing at a higher level, so looking down was only natural.

"Miya," I began, "can I ask you a question?" When the landlady gave me a curious look, I continued. "Who was it that adjusted the original Sekirei?"

"Adjusted the originals?" Miya repeated, blinking in surprise at my seemingly random question.

"Isn't that why the Sekirei needed MBI in the first place?" I prompted her. "So they don't accidently kill their Ashikabi? Even when they are adjusted, sometimes accidents still happen?" Miya blinked, and I nodded towards Akitsu discreetly. Her eyes widened as she remembered my confession of how the one time I had been with a Sekirei the consummation had ended with broken ribs for me.

When I glanced over myself I discovered that at one point or another the playful fighting in that corner of the room had degenerated into some sort of contest to rearrange the ice woman's kimono in the most provocative ways possible. Even Kuu-chan seemed to be getting into it, tugging at the docile Akitsu's chains while giggling childishly. Akitsu, despite the way she was being played with seemed to be maintaining her habit of keeping silent watch over me, and when she saw my eyes land on her she once more seemed to preen herself, a small blush on her face as she did so. I turned away quickly myself, clearing my throat slightly as I fought my own blush.

"For the other Sekirei it was the authority holders who bore the Jinki who were able to adjust their Sekirei's power," Miya informed me, pursing her lips as she thought about my question. It looked like she was so focused on my line of inquiry that she hadn't even noted the descent into decadence occurring in the corner of the room.

"So back then there were only seven people capable of making sure that Sekirei didn't accidently damage their Ashikabi," I summed up for her. "So all one hundred and seven Sekirei from each ship, plus the others like you, they all ended up with the same Ashikabi?"

"Well, no," Miya admitted, still seemingly lost in thought. "The feathers of each ship would end up with a variety of different Ashikabi…"

"And what, the one with the Jinki would just happily adjust the other Ashikabi's Sekirei, despite the fact that they were often fighting for control of the Jinki itself?" I pointed out, and Miya's frown grew as I brought up a point she had probably not considered too closely herself in the past.

"Matsu see's Shirou-tan's point," the hacker interrupted, also looking contemplative as she noted what I was getting at. "But she doesn't see where he's going with it."

"I'm saying that back then, the humans probably didn't need their Sekirei to be adjusted," I summed up for them, "because back then, humanity was a lot stronger, strong enough to withstand their power, even if only in part."

"What do you mean?" Homura instantly demanded, his tone turning aggressive once more. I didn't call him out on his bad temper, choosing instead to focus on answering his question.

"Back then it was a different time," I explained quietly, recalling what I knew of the old days. "Back then, only one child in three survived past infancy. It was a custom for many cultures not to name a newborn until they were at least a year old so that if they did die it would be easier to mourn them. When people got sick, they were less likely to recover, and only the strongest actually survived to adult hood. People were tougher back then, they had to be, and were a lot stronger in many ways then people in modern times."

"That's a rather Darwinian way to look at things, Shirou-tan," Matsu pointed out, looking uncomfortable at the scenario I was presenting to her. Homura snorted.

"Darwinian? Hell, that's straight out Nietzschian," he muttered.

"I've never read Nietzsche," I admitted, though I knew enough about the philosopher to understand the fire user's reference. "But it was the truth. There are some who theorize that it's not just about genetics or survival of the fittest that, but that humanity is in a way like magecraft, that we're not an unlimited resource and that the more of us that exist the weaker we are in general. There's no way of knowing if that's true, but humanity has changed a lot since the Age of the Gods. The Unified Language has been lost for thousands of years, magecraft has degenerated to a shadow of what it used to be, there hasn't been a person capable of becoming a hero in centuries…"

I trailed off, and a brief silence settled over the five of us as they digested the newest secret I had shared with them.

"And you're just okay with that?" Homura finally demanded, and I noted the way his knuckles were white as they clenched onto his biceps. "Just okay with saying, hey, my species is getting weaker, but who cares?"

"If I cared about that kind of thing, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing right now," I told him sharply, nodding down at where my hand rested on Chiho. Realizing what I was implying, Uzume clutched at her Ashikabi's hand tighter, drawing it to rest against her chest.

In the old days, this gentle girl would already be dead, a victim of the illness and weakness that had beset her throughout her life. Uzume would either never have met her, or would have already been terminated when her Ashikabi died after having winged her.

There was no way that I would ever consider that to be the best answer.

Never.

"Even if humanity is weaker these days, it's happier," I continued my explanation. "More people are living longer, and having happier lives. More people are saved, and able to enjoy themselves. I can't ever think that this is a bad thing."

"Damn straight, bro," Uzume swore, her tone fervent as she agreed with me. Homura seemed to realize that he had just ventured into dangerous ground, and once more he seemed to make a visible effort to compose himself. It took longer this time then it had earlier.

"Still," Miya decided to interject at this point. The landlady had a somber look of her own on, her eyes slightly unfocused. It appeared that even she had never really thought of a lot of these points, though it was most likely that she was more focused on the revelation that humanity was once more than it was now. She was most likely trying to recall what she could of the memories she had shared with the other seven whom had been like her so she could compare what she knew from then to what I had told her now. "You seem to be very educated on these matters, Emiya-kun," she noted, her tone distant. "Do you have any basis for your claims?"

"Yeah," I nodded, and Miya blinked. The last time she had asked me for proof I hadn't been able to produce any. It was obvious she had thought this would be the case again. "I've met people from those times."

"Met them…" Miya began, her eyes focusing on me as she tried to puzzle out what I was implying.

"The Grail War," Matsu once more proved to be the fastest one to make the connection. Homura's eyes shot open as he understood what Matsu was pointing out. "Those Heroic Spirits you mentioned."

"Heroic Spirits like King Arthur," Homura added, almost growling as he did so. "King Arthur, whom you were having sex with."

"Well, she was the only one I did that with," I pointed out, a little uncomfortable by the fire user's fixation on my relationship with my former Servant. "But there were seven others that I absolutely did nothing of the sort with."

"Seven other legendary heroes," Homura continued, apparently not having heard my defense. For a moment, I was worried that Homura might descend even further into his inexplicable annoyance as he paused for a moment, tension seeping into his body. However, inexplicably, the tension seemed to vanish completely.

"Who were they?" he finally asked me, his temper gone and a strangely plaintive tone in his voice. It seemed as though his curiosity, his desire to know more about the actual legends he had most likely read about actually managed to dissuade him from his irritation.

"Well, we never actually managed to figure out who the Rider was," I admitted, scratching my cheek idly as I recalled each of the legends that I had met during those intense two weeks. "She was simply killed before we could get enough information to guess who she was."

"The Rider?" Matsu interjected, once more focusing on specific pieces of information that she was curious about.

"I told you that each of the Spirits were summoned into one of seven archetypes," I reminded the hacker. "The Rider was the title for one of those classes."

"Wait," Homura interjected, holding up one hand. "You said there were seven of these classes, but that there were eight spirits."

"One of the original Servants from the Fourth war managed to survive," I explained, eyes narrowed as I recalled the anomalous eighth Servant of the Fifth Grail War. "He decided to use the Fifth war as a second chance to get the Grail."

"Well, who was it? The one who survived?" Homura demanded, looking impatient despite the fact that his own interruption was the source of the delay.

"Gilgamesh," I told him bluntly.

It actually took him a second to process the thought. For a moment he just looked confused, still leaning forward impatiently as though he didn't quite comprehend what I had said. Then his arms dropped to the side as they apparently lost all tension in shock, and he wobbled slightly as his knees shook.

"Gilgamesh," he repeated flatly. "As in, 'Gilgamesh of Uruk'? From 'The Epic of Gilgamesh'?"

"That's the one," I nodded. I knew it was uncharitable, but I actually felt a little satisfaction at having apparently knocked the wind out of the fire user's sails with that declaration. He had been rather harsh with me for the entire conversation, and even if he wasn't feeling very good by his own admission it was still a little annoying for me to be constantly targeted by unwarranted aggression.

"Gilgamesh?" Uzume repeated, apparently not having recognized the name. Matsu also seemed confused, though she quickly turned to her tablet in order to no doubt look up the name on her own.

"Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes," I elaborated. "The oldest story in human history, originally recorded in cuneiform over six thousand years ago, the very first legend."

"Do you enjoy doing this to me, Shirou?" Homura asked plaintively, his expression wounded as he gave me a lost look. "Do you get pleasure from destroying my preconceptions? What's next, Hercules or something?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but then hesitated. Homura had already admitted to not feeling well, and with his newly paled expression it really looked as though he might be ill. I wasn't certain whether or not he could take another shock like that.

Unfortunately, Homura caught my pause and seemed to interpret it correctly.

"Oh come on!" he snapped, still pale but now scowling furiously at me once more.

"It was a contest for a magical device supposedly capable of granting any wish," I pointed out, starting to feel bad about my earlier enjoyment over his shock. "It's only natural that the participants would go out of their way to find the strongest Heroic Spirits they could to increase their chances."

"Even then there has to be limits," Homura snapped, raking a hand through his hair as he glared at me. "Shirou, if you have any other drastic revelations like that, then feel free not to share them for now. I don't think I can take much more."

"Noted," I told him, agreeing with his plea for ignorance in the face of world shaking shocks. For a second Homura studied me, probably trying to decide if I was being honest or not, before he finally re-crossed his arms.

"Good," he muttered. "Now, who were the other ones?" Despite the perception shattering revelations of the first two, it seemed that Homura's curiosity over just which legends I had met first hand was enough for him to press on, even with his ill health.

I decided to just list the rest out, and hope that with those two names already on the table the others wouldn't be nearly as disconcerting to the fire user.

"Medea of Colchis, the Witch of Betrayal. Cu Cuhlainn, the Hound of Ireland. Sasaki Kojirou, the rival of Musashi," I informed him, and with each name his fingers tightened even further around his biceps.

However, when I got to the last Servant of the Grail War, I hesitated. Homura, whom had been watching me like a hawk, seemed to catch on immediately.

"Well?" he demanded, his voice once more impatient.

"You just told me not to share anything too drastic," I reminded him, and he paused, eyes narrowing.

"And just what could be more drastic then both Gilgamesh and Hercules?" he demanded, and I glanced to the side awkwardly.

The final Servant of the Grail War had been Rin's Archer. And considering the true identify of Archer…

"There seriously was another hero so outrageous that you don't think I can handle it?" Homura noted, once more starting to go a bit limp in the knees. When I nodded, he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Finally, after a moments tension he pushed himself up and off the door frame he had been leaning on. "I'm going back to bed," he announced, one hand coming up to cradle his temple as he did so. "Hopefully, when I wake up things will make sense again."

The four of us watched as Homura stomped away, presumably heading back to his room to follow through with his stated plans. An awkward silence settled on the group as a whole. For various reasons, it didn't seem like anyone else felt like continuing the conversation. Miya had most of her attention focused on the ground, her eyes unfocused as she probably returned to considering the information I had pointed out to her earlier about humanity's past. Matsu was too busy typing away at her tablet, her tongue peeking out from between her lips as she concentrated on probably any number of things that had been discussed that were of interest to her.

Uzume and I shared a brief, uncomfortable glance, before I looked over to where the rest of the flock had apparently managed to miss the confrontation between Homura and I completely. I quickly glanced away when I saw that the impromptu makeover session had spread onward to Tsukiumi, who was flushed with what could be either anger or embarrassment as Musubi laughingly tugged at the fasteners of her long coat.

Finally, Uzume shrugged.

"So," she began awkwardly. "Want me to turn on the TV then?"

"Yes," I nodded, happy for the distraction.

*Scene Break*

For twenty four hours, I planned on manipulating an ancient artifact that was both a Conceptual Weapon and a Noble Phantasm to heal a girl of an incurable disease and the ravages it had inflicted on her body through the very manipulation of reality itself.

When put that way, it sounded very dramatic. However, when it came right down to it, Musubi was right when she had summed it up as 'boring'.

For all the import of what I was attempting, I was in effect doing nothing more than sitting still for an entire day while utilizing what settled at being only trace amounts of my odic power. Just like with Miya, once Avalon reached the limit of its ability to absorb my power it only required a faint trickle to resupply the energy it was leaking out into Chiho, and thus the strain on my circuits was rather negligible. I could still feel my power coursing through me, but it was in no way strenuous besides the concentration necessary to continue the flow.

It only took an hour before the rest of Izumo House decided that nothing exciting was going to happen. Freshly chastised for their descent into indecency earlier, Miya eventually set everyone else about on their daily chores, Tsukiumi grumbling briefly about being selected for cleaning the bath yet again.

It was three hours after I had begun the process that I eventually decided to take a ten minute break to stretch my legs and visit the restroom. Uzume protested briefly at the interruption, but ended up performing the same tasks herself before I resumed the ritual and Uzume continued her vigil.

It was five hours into the treatment that I decided all daytime television was worthless, and began to work on theoretical methods to hunt down and assassinate the ones responsible for the mindless drivel, purely as a mental exorcise. Uzume took it on herself to explain the intricate plot points of her favorite soap operas, and I felt a small part of me die inside.

Seven hours into it, my flock reassembled en masse for dinner, though most of them ate in the kitchen seeing as the dining room was still mostly covered in paint which I had literally watched dry at one point. Homura never showed up, so I assumed he was either still sleeping or maybe sulking in his room.

Twelve hours after I had started, Matsu, Musubi, Tsukiumi, Kazehana, and Kuu, whom had started a spirited game of Uno with Akitsu at one point decided to go to bed. Earlier on in the game Kazehana had teasingly suggested the loser should have to strip, and though Miya had vetoed that idea out of hand the theoretical order in which they all would have been reduced to nudity was Akitsu, Tsukiumi, Kazehana, and then Matsu. Kuu would have not lost a single stitch of her clothes.

It was fifteen hours into the process when something finally changed. I blinked sleepily, staring at the cup of coffee that Matsu had left for me earlier, as well as a stack of more of those energy drinks she had supplied me with sympathetically, when I realized something was different.

The flow of od I had been supplying to Avalon had ceased being received.

For a moment I felt a thrill of panic as I hastily checked on Chiho's status. What I found was that at some point during the mind numbingly tedious hours her complexion had reddened, the pallor of long sickness disappearing completely. Her cheeks seemed fuller now, and her limbs less thin.

It actually took my tired mind a second to realize that the most likely reason Avalon wasn't taking any more od was because it didn't need it anymore. Chiho was probably completely healed by this point.

"Uzume," I began excitedly, all thoughts of sleep disappearing as I turned to point out the success of the ritual to the Sekirei before I paused. I hadn't even noticed, but sometime earlier it appeared that Uzume had curled up beside her Ashikabi, still cradling her hand to her chest, and was now sleeping alongside her. Their faces were inches apart, their hair intermixing into a web around their heads, probably so that the last thing Uzume would see before she slept and the first thing she'd see when she woke up was her Chiho.

For some reason, this time there was no discomfort at seeing the two of them interact so intimately. Instead, I couldn't help but feel that this was just too natural, too right, for me to be uncomfortable at witnessing.

"Congratulations, Uzume," I said softly, deciding not to wake the two. I started when a second voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Ah," the sound from the corner caused me to turn quickly to find that Akitsu was apparently still in the room. The snow woman was kneeling like a statue, so unmoving that I hadn't even noticed that she was still here. "Congratulations," she offered a moment later.

"Akitsu," I began, studying my first Sekirei in surprise. "Why are you still up?" The snow woman looked exhausted, which was no surprise really. She had been up just probably as long as I have. In fact, since I had managed to get a nap in the bath the day before she had probably been up even longer. Though she was still kneeling in an attentive position, even as I watched her head began to sleepily nod before she seemed to catch herself and forced her head back up.

"Ah," Akitsu once more gave her customary pause before she finally nodded slowly, this move deliberate rather than inadvertent. "It's Wednesday," she concluded.

"Wednesday…?" I repeated, my own exhaustion forcing me to take a second to recall the significance of that particular day. "Oh yeah," I nodded. "It's your turn to sleep with me." Akitsu glanced down, another of her shy blushes starting to form even as she did so. "Well," I began, rubbing my head awkwardly as I did so. "I'm going to be up all night, so if you want to go ahead, then that's fine."

When Akitsu didn't move, and instead just fidgeted once, rattling her chain, I finally sighed. "Come here," I invited her, patting my lap as I sat back, stretching my legs as I did so.

Akitsu instantly shifted forward, not even bothering to rise properly as she crawled at a slow pace until she reached my side. The scent of wintergreen and ice that followed her was a shock to my senses as she entered the enclosed space of the circle. Without another word, she lay down much like Uzume had, putting her head down on my lap like I had invited.

"Comfortable?" I asked her, and her blush grew slightly as she nodded slowly. I let my free hand come down to rest in her hair, and her lips quirked slightly into a small smile before she closed her eyes. I don't think she lasted two minutes before she was as asleep as everyone else in the room but me.

With a sigh, I turned back to my coffee. I took one of the energy drinks Matsu had provided me with, cracked it open and poured it into the other caffeinated beverage. Even if it did nothing more than add a bad taste to it, that should be enough to keep me up a bit longer.

"Just nine hours left," I muttered to myself, before going back to checking to see if late night television was as bad as daytime television. "Just nine more."


	32. Thirty Second Wing

In Flight: Thirty Second Wing

_Author's notes: Another bit of a delay here, but I have a variety of very good excuses, excuses which if any of you read would instantly excuse any delay in story in your minds, though I shall conveniently forget to share those excuses at this point._

_Anyway._

_Here's chapter 32. Been a bit since chapter 31 was finished, and most of the reviews about that have trailed off to questions for when this chapter would come out, so I decided to go ahead and skip the 'answer review' section of my notes and instead get on to the section where I discuss the new chapter instead._

_As usual, beware of spoilers_

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_There is a lot going on in this chapter, so much so that it seems a bit weird after so many chapters of endless dialogue and obscure lore. All of the plot points introduced in this chapter were planned, though having so many of them in succession might be the result of bad pacing on my part, something I'll have to work on more later._

_First part I want to talk about, is what amounts to the conclusion of the Uzume arc. I tried to give it a natural feeling end, and there isn't much to really add here besides the fact that its more or less over._

_Second, and more controversial I think, is Musubi and Shirou doing the nasty. For those unfamiliar with cannon Sekirei, the dream that Shirou has is cannon, though the circumstances are different in that it took Miya using the Jinki to start them instead of Shirou naturally recalling it on his own. As for that segueing into Shirou and Musubi having sex, it was meant to be a bit sudden. Much like the way the Fraga attacked came without any warning, I wanted to portray that sometimes unexpected things happen, even if its just something like morning sex. I tried to foreshadow it a bit with the scene where Musubi snuck into Shirou's bath as a way of showing that Musubi wasn't always the best at identifying just when she shouldn't be joining Shirou unannounced, but for the most part it was a way of showing that for all his planning, Shirou can't fend off his girls forever._

_As for Musubi's reaction to the session, I wanted to use it to more clearly express just how off Musubi is in my opinion, and point out just because sex happens doesn't mean that bad sex doesn't happen sometimes too. Actually, I think the most interesting part of the scene is the way Shirou doesn't even notice that his own approach to sex is also a little disturbing. It's not normal to have that kind of control, after all. That, and it gave me a chance to hook in the Yume aspect as well._

_Yume. Now there's something interesting. According to the Nasuverse rules, an 'Apparition' is a lingering memory which can only possess someone if they have an insufficiently strong ego. Also, take note of the fact that in Nasuverse rules, according to the Heaven's Feel end of F/sn, once a soul possesses an object, Shirou and the doll body for example, the soul reshapes the possessed object into a duplicate of the soul's original form._

_Has anyone else noted how Musubi looks disturbingly like Yume, or the way Musubi is so strongly shaped by the opinions of others almost to the point of having no personality of her own?_

_Just something I noted a few times in the past. How this will develop in the future will have to remain a secret for now, seeing as it is plot relevant._

_The final aspect that I wanted to bring up is naturally Homura. I've mentioned in the past just how annoying I felt the disregard for Homura's reaction to his changes was. Once more, I wanted to try and portray an genuine reaction to Homura's transgender progression, while taking in to account the nature of Sekirei as a species as well. It lead to an interesting study. On one hand, Homura is being altered so fully that his very personality is being readjusted, and he knows it. On the other hand, that is almost exactly what his species goes through the moment they get winged. Is it wrong for him to be adjusting or wrong for him to be upset over the changes? I was aiming for a bit of 'blue and orange' vs 'black and white' mentality, the difference between Shirou's human perception of the situation and Homura's alien interpretation._

_Oh, yeah, and the little bit about Robert Jordon isn't really anything serious, just something trying to show that yes, Homura really is that much of a book worm, but if anyone can identify what I was referring to, you get a cookie._

_*End of Spoilers*_

_I'm hoping to get 33 out in a reasonable amount of time, but for now I'm going to go ahead and start up the 32 thread on the forums for anyone who wants to discuss a particular scene. If anyone just wants to leave a comment, feel free to use a review._

_And as always, enjoy._

_*Story Start*_

"Oh," Miya blinked as she entered the dining room, her eyes slowly tracking down to the scene before her. "Oh my. Emiya-kun, have you really been up all night?"

"Oh," I blearily muttered, realizing a second later that I was echoing the landlady's original exclamation and somehow finding the fact amusing. "Good morning, Miya."

For a second, Miya gave me a patient look, and then she cocked her head to the side. "And my question, Emiya-kun," she reminded me gently.

I blinked again, before I remembered that yes, there had been a question in there at one point or another. "Well, yeah," I confirmed. "I did say that was the plan."

"Oh my," Miya sighed, one hand coming up to rest on her cheek as she did so. Slowly, she began to pick her way over the circle, taking care not to step on any of the white symbols despite the fact that they had dried ages ago. "Is it really taking this long for your," she hesitated for a moment before finally allowing, "magic to work?"

"No," I shook my head, turning my attention back to my original task. "It finished about seven hours ago. I just wanted to wait the entire time just to make sure that nothing went wrong."

"I see," Miya nodded slowly, looking doubtful as she finally entered the center of the circle. The shock of the scent of blood nearly made me jerk, but thankfully I managed to control myself. "And during that time I see you were quite busy."

"Well, I managed to find ways to stay awake," I professed, resisting the urge to shift restlessly. Akitsu's head was warm, and at some point she had curled up so she could cuddle with the rest of my leg as well. However, after having held still for the last seven hours my leg had long since passed the point of having gone numb. The pins and needles when the snow woman finally moved would no doubt be quite spectacular.

"By building a pyramid of empty bottles?" Miya noted, reaching out to gently remove the final piece I needed to complete my reconstruction of the ancient landmarks.

"There was an episode on the history channel about their construction," I confessed, frowning as she removed the final drained bottle which would have been the pinnacle of the fourteen layered construction which I had been laboring on for the last few hours. "I originally tried to do it only using the original construction methods, but since I could only use one hand," I trailed off, indicating to where my other hand was still resting on Chiho's upper chest.

"Which would explain why you are surrounded by tiny cylinders and scaffolds," Miya allowed, taking a moment to give my construction a measuring look. "Though it would not explain how you managed to locate them without moving, nor how you managed to build such an elaborate construction site without any materials." I glanced at the tiny framework which surrounded the pile of empty bottles, and then shrugged briefly. "Emiya-kun," she continued, a touch of concern in her tone. "Did you really drink that many of those?"

"Well, no," I admitted, shuddering at the thought. Regardless of their small size, they really did have a kick to them. "Just a few. The rest I recreated so I'd have enough building materials."

"Recreated?" Miya prompted me, raising one eyebrow as she did so.

"Magic," I nodded sagely, and Miya sighed. Almost despite herself it seemed, her lips began to quirk in a small smile.

"And was it necessary to construct it over Uzume's sleeping body?" she asked, shaking her head in amusement as she took in the sight of Uzume's belly being the foundation of what could dubiously be called a mystic recreation of a famous landmark.

"Not necessary," I admitted, feeling a bit sheepish at having my efforts pointed out by another. "But part of the experiment was to see if I could do it without waking her up…" I trailed off, sighing as I did so. "It gets boring, late at night," I confessed.

"I'm sure," Miya continued to smile as she shook her head. I began to feel rather like a small child who had done something foolish being laughed at secretly by their caretaker. Still smiling, Miya carefully placed the last energy drink bottle at the peak of the pyramid stretched across a snoring Uzume's prone body. "There," she told me, giving me a brief and solemn nod which confirmed that yes, I was being mocked.

"Thank you," I told her with as much dignity as I could manage, before I had to suppress a yawn.

"Good job," I nearly jumped when Akitsu congratulated me as well. With a start, I looked down to confirm whether or not the snow woman was awake and discovered that at some point or another she had indeed opened her eyes so she could look up at me from my lap.

"How long have you been up?" I blinked, wondering at what point she had been roused.

"Ah," Akitsu began slowly, glancing away as she appeared to try contemplate the question. "An hour," she finally admitted.

"That long?" I frowned. It wasn't like Akitsu to spend that long just lying in bed. "Why didn't you move?" I asked her.

"Warm," was the only response she gave before her eyes closed again and she shifted slightly, pressing herself against me more firmly. With a sigh, I let the topic drop, moving my free hand to rest in her hair as I did so.

It wasn't like I would have got much conversation out of her anyway.

"All this aside," Miya drew my attention back to where she was still watching the scene with an air of amusement. Her smile had faded as she turned her own attention towards Chiho. From the way her eyebrows quirked it looked like Miya had also managed to detect the change in the sleeping Ashikabi's physical condition. "Has your efforts been successful?"

"As best I can tell now, yes," I nodded, shaking my head once to force myself back into a more serious frame of mind. My eyes narrowed as I reviewed the information that I had once more. "As near as I can tell, Hidaka-san is completely recovered. I still want to have those other sessions, and I'd recommend going to a doctor to get tests run, but as it is, she should be fine."

"That's good to hear," Miya nodded, her smile fading from amused to simply gentle. She paused for a moment, before rising back to her feet. "Emiya-kun," she began, her tone more serious. "Thank you for looking after Uzume's Ashikabi."

"I'm glad to help," I told her, giving her a tired smile as I did so. It was at times like this that I really could see Miya as being some sort of leader for the rest of her species, her 'feathers' as she called them. It was a feeling which was somewhere between maternal and sisterly, a kind of gentle protectiveness which seemed to be extended to those who live in Izumo House.

"Well, keep up the good work," Miya told me, before her smile grew slightly. "I'll just go get started on breakfast, since you still have work to do."

"I don't suppose you need any help?" I asked her, not sure if I was completely able to suppress the ping of worry that came at the thought of Miya in my kitchen. Her smile turned slightly mischievous, and I wondered if maybe that was the exact reason she had brought it up in the first place.

"Oh, it's no problem," she assured me, beaming a closed eye smile at me. "After all, you still have even more work to do!"

When she pointed deliberately at the still gaping hole in the wall, I had to suppress a sigh as I figured that was a pretty good sign that yes, she was doing this on purpose.

The subtle overtones of our conversation were interrupted when Uzume snorted, and half sat up. I grimaced as the long hours of construction proved useless and an ancient landmark created of multicolored plastic bottles went tumbling down.

"Breakfast?" Uzume muttered, glancing to the side and checking on Chiho before the Veiled Sekirei even fully woke up. Almost instantly a smile began to grow on her face, even as she wiped sleepily at her eyes. "Did someone mention breakfast?" The tomboy began to perk up at the thought of food, before she paused, frowning as she glanced down. "And why am I covered in bottles?"

*Scene Break*

I released a sigh as the last traces of Avalon disappeared from the material world, the golden particles sinking through my shirt and seeping into my skin. Despite how utterly bizarre and distinctly uncomfortable it felt, I couldn't help but feel relieved to once more have that undetectable yet strangely unmistakable feel of the scabbard residing within me once more. I even considered giving the traditional set phrase, 'Welcome back' a try at its return before deciding that talking to an inanimate object was probably pointless.

"You know, I can't help but wonder just what that feels like," Uzume commented, glancing away from her Ashikabi briefly as I shifted unconsciously at the return of Avalon. "But then I think about how it looks, and that curiosity is kinda cut off by the weirdness of it."

"It feels kind of like having your second liver or third arm reattached," I supplied for her, suppressing a yawn as I did so. Uzume blinked, and gave me a strange look.

"Because those second livers and third arms are always so noticeable when you don't have them," she muttered, before once more focusing on the sleeping Chiho. "So," she began, trailing off hesitantly as she brushed some of her Ashikabi's hair back. "So it's finished then?"

"Yes," I nodded, giving her what I hoped was an assured smile before glancing around the room. After the last two hours of my vigil had been finished, we had decided to bring Chiho back up to Uzume's room to wake her up, partly so she could be somewhere comfortable and partly so that we could put the tatami mats back down and cover the circle I had transcribed in the living room. It would be awkward enough trying to explain away just how I had managed to cure the other girl without having to add 'magic' to the explanation.

That led to the current situation, with the only ones present besides Chiho, Uzume, and me being Miya and my usual shadow in Akitsu. The rest of my flock had wanted to be present as well, but the landlady had agreed with me in limiting the initial number people present in order not to overwhelm the recently sick girl.

That would probably happen eventually, one way or another. I think Matsu and Kazehana were already planning a 'Congratulations on recovering from a lethal incurable illness' party, since their original 'Love-love Chiho and Uzume' party had been vetoed out of hand by Miya, myself, and surprisingly Uzume as well. For a girl like Chiho, who had spent most of her life in the quiet and somberness of hospitals I could only hope that partying with my flock wouldn't be too much for the fragile girl.

"So if it's done," Uzume brought me back from my wandering thoughts, giving me a pointed look as she did so. She was currently kneeling beside her Ashikabi, Chiho peacefully tucked into her bed and sleeping quietly as Uzume gently stroked her hair absentmindedly, "why isn't she waking up?"

"Oh yeah," I nodded, recalling one of the many supposedly impossible things I had accomplished two days ago. It only took me three steps to cross the room and place my hand on the sleeping girl's forehead. There, the prana from my hypnotism was still lingering. It was much weaker, and probably wouldn't last much longer, but with a simple surge of my own power I disrupted the declining construct with little effort. "There."

"She's still not waking up," Uzume declared after studying her Ashikabi frantically. "Are you sure that nothing went…"

"Oh just kiss her already," I told her childishly, sleepily growing annoyed at her constant worrying. "Isn't that the way they do it in stories?"

I wasn't certain if Uzume thought I was being serious about a kiss being the necessary stimulus to awaken her sleeping princess or if even she had realized that her anxiousness was starting to be ridiculous. Whatever the case, she blushed briefly, glancing guiltily at Chiho's relaxed face, before with surprising slowness she moved to do just what I had suggested.

"A kiss?" Miya asked me softly, giving me an amused look at my apparent romanticism. In response I shrugged.

"Either that or a bucket of cold water," I offered an alternative and Miya looked like she was briefly smothering a giggle before she managed to regain control of herself and put on a disappointed expression. Any further comments were cut short by a new voice joining in.

"Uzume-chan?" Chiho murmured, her eyes fluttering open briefly, and then widening completely in surprise as she found herself face to face with a pursed-lip Uzume about to steal her lips away. "Uzume-chan!" the shy girl repeated, instinctively tugging her blanket up to cover her face like she had two nights ago. In almost the same moment she caught sight of Miya, Akitsu, and me, and the blanket rose again even more. "There are people watching!"

"Damnit," Uzume cursed softly and flushed, turning to give me a brief glare as though I had somehow planned for this to unfold the way it did.

"Next time move faster," I recommended to her, and Chiho's eyes widened as she apparently remembered just who I was.

"Shirou-san?" she murmured, blinking as she identified me from her memories. Briefly her eyes turned to take in the room she found herself, and I think she was surprised when she saw that it was such a casual looking room and not the type you'd normally find in a hospital. "Is it almost time to do the procedure?" Chiho continued, her confusion evident.

"Nope," I told her bluntly, giving her a tired smile. "It's already finished. Congratulations. So far it looks like a complete success."

"Eh?" Chiho made a surprised noise, apparently not having expected to be greeted by that particular comment. "Eh!" she squeaked again, before the blanket finally began to lower as she looked down at herself in bewilderment. "But, then," she stumbled, trying to find a question she could focus on. "How long have I been asleep?" she finally settled on, no doubt assuming that the promised procedure must have been quiet time consuming.

"A little over a day," I told her, shrugging as I did so. "You should be feeling much better now."

"Much better…" Chiho trailed off, before a look of consternation briefly appeared on her face. Slowly, she glanced downwards, the blanket lowering as she caught sight of her arms and turned to look at them in surprise. "It… it doesn't hurt anymore?" she asked, though I had no idea just what she was talking about in particular. Lupus apparently had a number of different symptoms which could cause discomfort or pain, and as advanced as Chiho had been she must have been feeling several of them before we had helped her.

Uzume's mouth clenched at the way Chiho casually mentioned her previous pains' absence. I could hazard a guess that Chiho most likely hadn't been to forthright with what she had been going through in the past.

"You better get used to it," I assured the still confused girl. "It can be a bit weird right after you recover from something serious like that, but you'll adjust soon."

"Emiya-san," Miya began, giving me an odd look at my flippant statements. Uzume give me a small glare as well, though Chiho seemed more concerned with running her hands over her elbows, and then down to her knees as she felt various joints carefully.

"Jeez, bro," Uzume scolded me, rolling her eyes. "Anyone ever tell you you need to work on your bedside manners?"

"Sorry," I sighed, brushing a hand over my forehead and through my hair. They were right. This really wasn't the most thoughtful way to be handling the situation. "I should be in a bed right now," I muttered more to myself than to anyone else, "not beside one."

Honestly, at this point I wasn't certain just how I was still conscious. After nearly forty eight hours of being awake, many of those hours being spent tense or engaged in difficult conversations, some of them having been spent in vigorous physical activity, and a whole lot of them with me under the constant minor strain of my circuits being active, I think I was well and truly tuckered out.

"Am…" Chiho began, finally completing her self-examination and apparently unable to believe what she had found, "am I really cured?"

It was a far cry from the girl two nights ago who had apparently only agreed to go with a complete stranger in order to try and protect her dearest friend. It occurred to me that Chiho had never really thought that whatever treatment I was offering her would really work. That she had already grown so used to her life in the sickbed that even the thought of actually being freed from her body's malady was inconceivable to her.

Maybe it was because I was tired, but the honest shock in her eyes reminded me much of a boy who many years ago had gazed into the face of a complete stranger who had risked his life in an inferno to find the child who had already given up all hope…

Despite my tiredness, I smiled, and I wondered if it looked to Chiho as Kiritsugu had looked to me.

"You've been saved," I told her, not meaning to use that particular phrase, though no one in the room seemed to notice it either. Once more I crossed the room, and though Chiho did shrink a bit, it looked like she couldn't quite look away from me either. I held my hand out to her, palm up in invitation. "Come on," I told her gently. "Try walking."

Hesitantly, as though she thought she was in a dream of some sort, Chiho took my hand. She stumbled briefly when I pulled her up, an instinctive cringe on her face as though she was anticipating the pain she had mentioned earlier, and then her eyes widened. She stumbled briefly as she looked down at her legs, probably unused to being on two feet very much, and then her eyes met mine again.

"I," Chiho swallowed, "I'm cured?" Her tone was so disbelieving that I couldn't help but smile at her again.

"Congratulations," I told her once more. As though she still thought she was in a dream, she turned to look at Uzume for confirmation.

"Chiho," Uzume choked out, her hands wringing in front of her chest. The Veiled Sekirei was slumped, as though the sight of this long thought impossible dream had sapped all her strength. "Chiho," she said again, before frantically scrubbing at her moist eyes.

"Uzume-chan," Chiho began, swallowing, "you shouldn't be crying like that…"

That was as far as the previously sick girl got before Uzume finished wiping her eyes and beamed a smile that was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds at her Ashikabi.

"Chiho!" Uzume shouted happily, and as monumental as Chiho's efforts to get out of bed had been, they were quickly unmade as Uzume threw herself into a tackle which put Chiho right back down on the mattress. "Chiho!" she cheered again, wrapping her arms and legs around the startled girl like an octopus as the Sekirei used all her limbs to hug her Ashikabi.

"Eh!" Chiho eeped cutely, her earlier disbelief being replaced with panic as she found herself pinned to the bed by exuberant crying female. "Uzume-chan!" Chiho sounded like she wasn't sure if she should be reassuring her Sekirei or scolding her for forgetting that there were people present once more.

I felt like I should be taking the opportunity to explain to Chiho a bit about her recovery, about the chance of relapse and the further planned treatments, but when faced with the sight before me, I decided it could wait.

Instead, I just shook my head. "Well," I said firmly, not surprised when I was ignored by both the bawling Uzume and the embarrassed Chiho, "I'm going to bed now. Good night."

Miya gave me a small smile, and though what was going on in front of her was usually the kind of thing that she tried to discourage it seemed that this time she was willing to make an exception as she made no effort to break the two up for now. Akitsu for once didn't seem to have all her attention locked on me, and even the ice woman seemed affected by the reunion between Sekirei and Ashikabi.

It was because of that disregard that I was a bit surprised when I was stopped before I could make it out the door.

"Shirou," Uzume's voice caught my ear, and I half turned to look at the speaker, wondering why she was taking time away from her happy love-love time with a brightly flushed Chiho in order to talk to me of all people. "Bro, you," she began, and seemed to run out of words as she just gave me a watery grin. Finally, she seemed to come to a conclusion and disentangled herself from Chiho, putting her arms and legs underneath her in a pose which looked vaguely like a cat right before it was about to pounce…

"Hey!" I began, suddenly realizing just what it was that Uzume was planning and starting to back away slowly. Too slowly it seemed as Uzume finished readying herself and then launched herself directly at me in a tackle move reminiscent of Yukari when I answered the door.

"Bro!" Uzume once more shouted her war cry, and just as she promised she hugged me hard enough to put me through a wall. Well, the door anyway. With the full force of her Sekirei power behind her tackle, she even managed to do what my sister never could and full out swept me off my feet.

"Urk!" was all I could get out as my unreinforced ribs took the brunt of Uzume's embrace. "Oof!" I got out as my back impacted the door, forcing it open into a wild swing. "Ugh!" I finished as I finally met the ground in the hallway with the same area.

That was going to bruise, I groggily decided.

"Uzume!" the shout came from multiple directions, and I realized that most of my flock had already gathered outside Uzume's door, no doubt in preparation of introducing themselves at the first chance. Tsukiumi seemed appalled, her outrage obvious as she took in the sight of her Ashikabi being embraced by a foreign Sekirei. Kazehana seemed more amused than anything else, grinning at the two of us somewhat proudly. Matsu, well, I couldn't hear her old man laugh, what with my head still ringing, but I could see the glint of her glasses, and I could already guess her train of thought.

"Get off him right now…" Tsukiumi began, her hair starting to whip around her as was the norm before she was silenced with a squawk as Uzume grabbed both sides of my head with her hands, and dragged me up to give me a sloppy kiss, right on the lips. It wasn't sensual in any way, more of a firm pressing followed by a comically loud 'smack' noise as she separated, a celebration and not a seduction, but it was still a kiss and even I found myself frozen by its unexpectedness.

"Bro," Uzume told me seriously, eyes still wet and a grin so wide it threatened to split her face in half, "if you were a girl, then I would do you so hard right now!"

"Oooh!" Matsu perked up, seeming instantly more interested then she had been only moments ago. This time, I could make out her customary, 'Fuhuhuhu!'

"Uh," I managed, feeling much like Chiho must have moments ago as I tried to make sense of this impossible scenario. "Thanks?" I finally settled on, not sure if it was a question or not.

"No prob, bro," Uzume told me, and then without another word separated from me, turning on all fours so she could gather speed as she charged back into her room. "Chiho!" her war cry echoed once more, followed by an even louder, 'Eh!' as Chiho seemed to realize what was about to happen again too late.

"Uzume!" Tsukiumi shouted, already storming after my impromptu molester, hair still writhing around her as she departed the hallway for the room. "Get back here right now!"

"Oh! Kuu-chan wants to play too!" Kuu also scrambled in, perhaps thinking that the way Chiho and Uzume were no doubt rolling around on the bed was some new form of wrestling to engage in. Kazehana seemed torn between checking to see if I was alright and witnessing the joyous reunion between two lovers, and in the end it looked like her romantic side won out as she took headed into the increasingly crowded room, though she did give me a sly wink before doing so.

As the hallway became increasingly empty, I found myself unable to do anything besides lay where I had fallen, still trying to come to terms with what had just happened.

Finally, it seemed that only Matsu and Akitsu remained, and after what was an inordinately long time, it was the hacker who finally asked me, "Shirou-tan, are you alright?"

"Huh," was all I could think to say. "Matsu, take note of this: previously bonded Sekirei do not in fact exchange prana with others after they bonded."

I had always wondered about that, and it looked like Uzume's exuberance had finally given me the answer. Matsu didn't seem quite certain what I was talking about, blinking down at me in owlish confusion.

"Is that important, Shirou-tan?" she finally asked, cocking her head to the side as the sounds from the bedroom continued to escalate, this time with Musubi declaring something about love that my sleep deprived mind couldn't quite keep up with.

"I don't know," I decided, pushing myself up onto my elbows. "But I'll think about it after I've gotten some sleep."

"Good work, Shirou-tan," Matsu smiled at me, using the customary 'otsukare-sama' given at the end of a long day's work.

"Yeah," I grunted back, ignoring the customary response in favor of a simple nod. "Now, good night."

*Scene Break*

Perhaps it was because I had been so tired, but it actually took me a few minutes to realize that I was dreaming.

It was such an odd dream, that perhaps I could be excused for my confusion.

In my dream, I was laying in tall grass, shielding my gaze from the bright sun up ahead. In the distance, I could hear people calling for me, demanding that I show myself. Somehow, I knew that they were calling for me, even though the name they shouted was different from my own.

"Did you find them?" one of the searchers demanded, and though she reminded me strongly of Tsukiumi, the tone was just a little off, the pitch a bit high for my tsundere Sekirei.

"She's good at hide and seek," another voice, one that was reminiscent of Kuu-chan, though strangely older. "We're never going to find them without the activation light…"

"Mou!" and now Kazehana had a double of her own. "I wanted to make love too!"

Make love, I hazily focused on that word? Wait, was this one of THOSE dreams or something? I thought I had finished with those after puberty finished…

"It's cheating," not-Tsukiumi declared, sounding upset. "You hear that! This is cheating!"

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" the voice that greeted my dream ears this time was my own, and yet not at the same time. Just like the others were apparently different, so too was I.

"Shh," a voice by my ear whispered as Musubi also joined the doppelgangers.

"I'll remember this!" not-Tsukiumi shouted, though it sounded further away than it had been.

"Are they gone?" not-me finally whispered, sounding equal parts amused as it did regretful. Not-Musubi grinned at me, standing up as she did so she could stretch.

That was the part in my dream where I realized not-Musubi was completely naked. Sleepily, I realized that not-me was as well.

"Now I've got an advantage over the others," not-Musubi declared, sticking her tongue out at me playfully as she did so.

"Put on some clothes," not-me and real me were in agreement with this demand at least.

"Mmm," was all not-Musubi would say, before she collapsed back on me, her naked body wrapping around me. Her lips closed in on mine, and the light of her crest activating filled my peripheral vision.

"I will protect you, Ashikabi-sama," not-Musubi declared brightly, before her arms wrapped around my neck. "Forever and ever."

As not-me responded to not-Musubi's advances, I realized with embarrassment that yes, it was going to be one of THOSE dreams apparently. Dreamily, I wondered if I would be able to get my sheets to the laundry in time for my housemates not to find out about them.

But then the dream started to get steamy, and despite myself, I let myself fall into the fantasy. Nothing I could do seemed like it would change it anyway, so might as well enjoy it.

*Scene Break*

The dream itself turned hazy at that point, though it seemed my mind was stuck on the theme because it did continue much in the same vein. Perhaps it was simply a consequence of having spent so much time surrounded by so many beautiful women, or Sekirei I suppose the better term would be. Maybe it was just that I was so tired that my usual worries were being overshadowed by my base biology.

Maybe I was just a guy, and sometimes this kind of thing happened. We were hardwired for it, in the end.

Whatever the case it was most likely because I was so tired that when the dream began to change, growing sharper and sharper as it progressed, that I didn't even notice the gradual shift.

It wasn't until the warm figure in my arms moaned, "Shirou-sama," and not the other name that my dream self had that I realized that I was actually, in fact, no longer asleep.

"Musubi?" I muttered blearily, having trouble coping with the fact the scene as alertness began to return to me. I glanced around to realize that yes, this was my room and not an open field, that the sun was low on the horizon forming shadows rather than high in the sky, and that the woman in my arms was indeed one of my real Sekirei and not a dreamlike facsimile.

"Yes, Shirou-sama?" Musubi moaned, her face beading with sweat and her eyes fluttering as she responded to my voice.

"What are we…" I began to ask the obvious question, before the rest of my body's sensations cleared the haze of sleep and I looked down hurriedly to confirm what it was telling me.

Yes, I realized distractedly, it looks like we really were having sex at the moment.

"How did this…" I began, still too befuddled by my earlier sleep to act with what was most likely the appropriate amount of shock at this completely unexpected state of being.

"Miya-san asked me to see if Shirou-sama wanted to get up for supper," Musubi supplied, her tone a bit breathy and I realized despite my shock I was still apparently moving by instinct. "But when Musubi came to wake you up, you grabbed me and pulled me in," Musubi informed me cheerfully, not sounding at all upset over this turn of events.

"I did?" I had to ask, having a brief moment where I wondered if maybe I should stop, my body not bothering to halt even as I considered. It wasn't like this was the first time this kind of thing had happened. Sometimes back when Rin would have gotten up and it was just Saber and I, one or the other of us would sleepily grab on to the other, and this kind of thing would sometimes come about. Other times Rin would just go ahead and get started with either of us, mostly because she knew that by the time the sleeping partner actually woke up they'd be to ready go to actually stop.

Rin was kind of manipulative like that sometimes.

"Musubi was really surprised!" Musubi added, still sounding far too cheerful over my apparent sleep seduction. She let loose a breathy sigh which wasn't quite a moan, and I instinctively made a note of what had provoked it. "Are we going to keep going?" she asked, sounding disappointed over the thought of us stopping half way through.

"We should," I began, chalking up the reasons why this was an incredibly bad idea in my head. It was kind of hard to come up with any at the moment though. "If Miya finds out…" Needless to say, death would be the most preferable outcome. And if Miya had been the one to send Musubi up, then the chance of her checking on us became even greater than it normally was.

However…

I trailed off, looking down at the sight of the beautiful woman in my arms. She was still mostly clothed, with her top tugged open at the front to give my wandering hands access to her chest, and her skirt and panties bunched to the side of where we were connected. Musubi was warm, and soft, and she smelled divine, and the feel of her against me…

"Screw it," I finally decided, knowing that I would probably regret this later, but not quite able to stop myself anyway.

I was a guy, after all, and even if I had more self-control that some of my gender, there were some things that even I literally could not resist.

"Yeah!" Musubi cheered happily, wrapping her arms around me as she pulled me closer.

*Scene Break*

Musubi would be the fourth woman that I ever was with, though somewhat ironically only Rin ever actually counted as a genuine woman. I had a great deal of experience with two of those partners, and the third had gone pretty much in the same route, albeit with unexpected rib crushing occurring part way through accompanied by the growth of new limbs at the end. I had expected being with Musubi would be much the same, though with wing growing as well towards the end.

It started out in the usual way, with the customary divesting of garments, followed by getting comfortably situated for improved performance, and other minor details. However, it wasn't until about halfway through, that I realized being with Musubi was actually a great deal different from what I was accustomed to.

Honestly, it was actually very disturbing.

It took me a bit before I realized that something was wrong. Musubi was enjoying herself, I could tell, but the thing was she was enjoying herself far too much.

No matter where or how I touched her, it was as though every contact only heightened her pleasure. She responded in the normal way to that sensation, climaxing when it reached an appropriate threshold, but even when I tried to ease up on her, to try and let her come down a bit, she still continued to apparently feel nothing but ecstasy from my actions. She had already had enough orgasms to break any record I might have had with my other partners. It was as though every inch of her was somehow an erogenous zone.

And throughout it all, her expression never changed from the same hazy eyed look she had when I had first woken up.

There should have been something, some indicator that about what she was going through physically, but Musubi's features just continued to remain unchanged, even though the rest of her body was reacting appropriately.

It was then I think, that I finally realized how dead on I had been after Karasuba had visited and Musubi and I had our moonlight talk.

There was something wrong with this creature in my arms.

It wasn't that she was just unnaturally sensitive or anything like that. It wasn't my touches that were bringing out this reaction, I realized, but rather that it was ME that was doing the touching. Musubi had already told me she loved me, and I knew her species bonded strongly with their Ashikabi, but none of the others had this kind of reaction, at least I hoped they didn't.

It was just that Musubi loved me so much, was so totally consumed by the emotion, that just the act of being with me regardless of whatever I did was enough to apparently satisfy her.

Moreover, the way her expression never changed, I had a hazy moment of something resembling terror as I contemplated maybe Musubi felt like this ALL THE TIME.

Was this what it had been like for Rin that day in the Einzbern castle, when she had truly realized how twisted I was? If so, then I felt like I should apologize for the flippant way I had dismissed her worries.

Realizing just how messed up someone you care about was really was one of the harshest things I'd ever experienced.

Musubi truly was every bit as distorted as I was.

The realization of what was going on with the woman beneath me was almost enough to make me lose my own arousal, but the self-control of a magus proved enough for me to continue on with the session. Still, I decided to hurry up and end it sooner than I normally would. I was beginning to get a bit worried that the continued state of arousal might be unhealthy for Musubi. It was because of that that, the next time the shrine girl climaxed I allowed myself to do the same, habitually flooding my partner with od as I did so…

The scent of power, scorching to my metaphysical nostrils like the Sahara in mid-summer at noon, flooded through me. It was joined by a scorching heat in my lower abdomen, not in the way some people describe arousal as a heat, but a genuine physical sensation which was nearly potent enough to burn against my unprotected flesh. From the corner of my eye, a sudden illumination appeared in the same place, causing me to glance down as surprise froze the rest of me.

There, directly on Musubi's stomach was a glowing Sekirei crest, unnaturally large and in the completely wrong position in comparison to a normal crest. The heat was illuminating it from the inside out, like a paper screen backlit by a glowing fire, before it started to blacken, fading away as it did so.

Beneath the disappearing crest, the numbers zero eight were still clearly visible, also illuminated though without the heat of the vanished crest.

My mind not being able to properly attribute these factors, the suddenness too abrupt a change from what had been happening only moments ago, I looked up to see if Musubi might know what was going on, and discovered that Musubi wasn't there anymore. It looked like Musubi, but it was wrong, the expression different, the eyes too alert to be equated with the hazy look the face had previously been wearing and the posture of her neck and body to rigid and prepared for someone that had been lost in abandon so recently.

I swallowed, my thoughts frantically settling on an identification as enough cues and hazy memories of previous encounters came to the forefront of my mind:

Number zero eight, the second scrapped number, the Sekirei of Destiny.

Yume.

*Scene Break*

For several long moments, I couldn't do anything but stare at the face only a few inches from mine. Haphazardly, my mind took stock of the situation. I was currently in the presence of an alien creature with which I had only had minimal contact with before, that had been responsible for saving Musubi by sacrificing her very own Sekirei tama, or core, whatever that was, that apparently could possess the innocent shrine girl through some unknown mechanism, and the creature had been noted in the past to be either on par or superior in fighting power to even Karasuba.

And, I noted a bit hysterically, I was currently mid coitus with the creature.

Belatedly, I tried to pull away, to get some distance between me and Yume, but I found the effort useless as the same arms which had been wrapped around me in passion earlier simply held me gently but firmly, trapping me inescapably in the same position we were locked in.

"Mmm," Yume hummed softly, though the noise seemed loud enough to even drown out the pounding of the blood in my ears. "Here, love is overflowing," the former head of the Disciplinary squad murmured, shifting against me as she did so.

Yeah, I couldn't help but think, the edges of hysteria still nipping at my reason, that's not all that's overflowing at this point. The movement of the other Sekirei was enough to painfully remind me of just where we were touching.

"Strong feelings of protection and love," Yume continued, meeting my wide eyed gaze directly. "That spirit has awakened me," she told me, before her hands shifted, reaching up to cradle the back of my head and pulling me down slightly awkwardly until I was pressed against her breasts.

Maybe if I stayed very still, she might forget about me? I wondered briefly.

"That spirit, pouring into me, so gentle yet firm, so sad yet resolute," Yume trailed off, and even in my hysteria I purposefully kept myself from thinking about just what had been pouring into her seconds ago. "Musubi has married a good person," the Sekirei of Destiny concluded, still cradling me against her.

"Number zero eight, Yume," I finally regained my voice, trying to force myself back into some semblance of calm despite the unreal situation. "I didn't expect to meet you here," I lamely added, not having expected to meet her ever really. "Or for the meeting to occur in such a situation."

"Mm," Yume released her hold on my head slightly, and I was thankful that my neck hadn't been painfully rearranged as I was able to straighten up again. She still held me tightly along my back, preventing any further escape, so I grit my teeth and tried to handle myself in a fashion which wouldn't cause me to spontaneously become pancaked by that same grip.

Thankfully, Yume didn't seem inclined to kill me for what must amount to a spontaneous coupling in her point of view. In fact, I noted as I started to recover from the shock, Yume didn't seem surprised at all. She looked like she was perfectly aware of what our situation was, and either found it enjoyable or simply not significant enough to warrant attention, much less punishment.

"It seems that Musubi has had a virtuous wedding," Yume seemed to come to some conclusion, a small smile starting to form before she cut if off just as quickly. "Though I wonder…"

With a sudden move, Yume finally took some action besides just holding me down. With a quick tug, she pulled me sideways, and I suppressed a startled yelp as she rolled the two of us over until she was on top. I couldn't help but have a moment to note that for some reason the other Sekirei had perhaps inappropriately kept us still joined together.

"If I had continued on," Yume's voice also changed as she sat up on me, staring down at me with a strange expression on her face. "Would we have met as I was? Could it have been me who received your love, just as my older sister did?"

"Older sister?" I repeated, before it struck me like a flash. "Akitsu."

It was then I could identify the expression on the Sekirei's face: grief.

This was Yume another of the scrapped numbers, a Sekirei that had thought she would never be able to bond with anyone, who could never have an Ashikabi. She had been strong, so strong that even Karasuba hadn't been able to match her, and if my suspicion of what the scrapped really were was true then it had been that strength which had led MBI to circumventing her ability to be winged. I had seen just what the loss had done to Akitsu in the past, so it wasn't impossible that Yume too had undergone that same hopeless depression.

Until she had met Musubi.

'Recovery only possible due to sacrifice of zero eight's own core'. Those were the only words I had managed to find to describe Yume's fate. I still wasn't certain what they meant, but I could still make guesses. Had Yume somehow gave her life so that Musubi could survive? Had it been her fate as a scrapped which had driven her to the act? Had she thought that some part of her would live on in Musubi, and that through the child she had rescued she might be able to experience having an Ashikabi too?

If so, then had she been right?

"What are you?" I demanded, a new feeling starting to eclipse the shock and embarrassment of suddenly discovering myself to be having sex with a complete stranger: anger. "Some sort of wraith or an apparition?" My eyes narrowed, and my hands clenched. Inside my mind, the hammer of a gun cocked as I felt myself growing angrier. "What have you done to Musubi!" I demanded, a thread of rage pulsing in me as I began calling swords to mind. "If you damaged her in any way…"

Despite my suddenly threatening demeanor, Yume seemed to pay no attention to my words. Instead, she simply shuddered, the grief vanishing from her face as she leaned back, supporting herself with her hands on my chest.

"Such love," Yume whispered, eyes opening slowly as she looked down at me. "Musubi was lucky to have found you." With a small smile, Yume continued. "Number zero eight, Yume, the Sekirei of Destiny, blesses this union." She leaned forward, and in a move so unexpected that I didn't even try to stop it she kissed me, sipping at my od as she did so. "Forever and ever."

At some point earlier in our coupling, Musubi had already activated her crest, her phantasmal wings making their appearance before disappearing throughout the rest of the encounter. However, now, a new set of wings erupted from the body currently being inhabited by a dead Sekirei. Normally, Musubi's wings were limbs of purest white, with light like feathers streaming behind her. The wings which emerged now were still white, but the shape was different and they glowed far brighter than the bear Sekirei's normal wings did, a subtle reminder that the thing kissing me was not Musubi, but was instead what could be some sort of lingering spirit merely inhabiting the shrine girl's body.

Desperately, I reached up to try and push the figure on top of me away, but even as I put my hand to her chest to start shoving the scent of heat in the air dispersed, the wings vanishing as well as quickly as they came. I hesitated, the familiar scent of Musubi's power returning to my senses…

Only not quite. The ursine feel was still there, but deep within it, nearly masked by it, the scent of a desert storm remained. It was nearly overpowered by Musubi's natural strength, but still it lingered.

"Shirou-sama?" the speaker this time was definitely Musubi, the somewhat airheaded Sekirei giving me a curious look as though wondering what was going on. She put one finger up to her mouth as she cocked her head, looking down at me. "What just happened?" she asked, sounding curious as she did so. She gave no indication that she had any memory of the last few minutes, though she didn't even seem disturbed by the missing time. Instead, the shrine girl just looked at me, expecting me to answer her question.

"Musubi?" I asked, desperate relief already filling me as whatever spell she had been under seemed to vanish, all traces of Yume disappearing from her body except for that lingering aftertaste to her power. It reminded me vaguely of the way Miya held two scents as well, though it was still disturbing to me that such a change had occurred right in front of me.

"What is it, Shirou-sama?" Musubi asked, blinking in surprise at my tone. She glanced down, head still cocked to the side, and then smiled brightly. "Oh!" she chirped. "Did you want to keep going, Shirou-sama?"

"Keep going?" I repeated, before realizing that in my attempt to pry Yume off I had placed both my hands on the body still on top of me before I had stopped, leaving me cupping both of Musubi's generous breasts.

That reminded me of just what we had been doing right before the whole unnerving encounter had begun, and in turn reminded me of the discovery of Musubi's unusual response to our activities. That added on to having just watched the shrine girl get possessed by her dead savior was more than enough to turn me off to any further time together. However, just as I began to pull away from Musubi and make an excuse for the two of us to stop, a new voice interrupted, causing both Musubi and I to freeze completely.

"Keep going?" the voice repeated, and I swallowed at the tone. Unable to help myself, I glanced to the door to my room to discover it had been opened a crack, just enough for the fingers of a hand to have snaked through, and an eye to be seen besides them. It was just an eye, I noted dimly, as the rest of the space had apparently been consumed by a darkness so thick that it ate the very light that touched it. I also noted how the darkness seemed to have spread through the entire crack of the door, and that thousands of other eyes, some slit like animals and others bearing other inhuman qualities, were watching us.

"Uh," I began, swallowing once more. "Asama-sama," I began, hoping against hope that maybe I was mistaken and some sort of genuine demon had actually appeared to try and consume my soul rather than the landlady. "Uh, it isn't what you think?" I tried, before realizing just how we must look to the casual observer.

Musubi was still seated on top of me, and the blankets we had used had slid off of her when Yume had taken that position. I was relieved that they had fallen so that they most likely concealed where we were still joined to anyone who might look at us from the doorway, but with my hands on Musubi's chest, and both our bodies slick with sweat and flushed with exertion, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out what the two of us had been up to.

"E-mi-ya-ku-n," Miya continued, pronouncing each syllable of my name slowly and with pauses between them as she started to open the door slowly, displaying an eerie smile on the landlady's face as she warmed up to the impending lecture that could very well kill me. "If it's not what it looks like," she continued, the eerie smile widening, "then just what is it? Please, I invite you to try and explain it."

I swallowed, watching as more and more of those eyes appeared, the door opening allowing me to catch the hannya masks that they belonged to. Above me, Musubi eeped as well, shrinking down as though to try take some comfort from me. Well. It had been a nice life. I was most likely…

"Shirou Emiya, you are a dead man!"

I paused, as did Miya as her mask technique vanished in surprise. My eyes met the landlady's, surprise and confusion in both our expression as we realized neither one of us had made the declaration. The shout was accompanied soon after by the sound of a door being slammed, followed by the immediate trumping of feet on the stairs. Miya glanced down the hallway, the lavenderette looking with surprise at the newcomer as they approached.

"Homura-san," Miya began, eyes narrowing in confusion. "What on earth are you…" That was as far as she got before Homura appeared in the doorway, literally shoving Miya to the side as he grabbed the sliding door and slammed it open. "Homura-san!" Miya yelped, surprise at the assault so great that she actually stumbled as she was forced away.

"Homura?" I repeated, feeling more and more confused by the second as I took in the sight of the fire user. He did not look at all like his usual composed self. His face was red, and he was panting with what I could easily identify as barely constrained rage. His top was hastily buttoned, the unevenness at the top and bottom showed that he had misaligned the buttons when putting his shirt on, and the belt on his pants was actually undone, hanging loose at the front. Whatever had happened had apparently driven the usually composed former host to seek me out with such haste that he hadn't even properly dressed before charging up here.

"You," Homura growled, glaring at me with such rage that I felt the temperature of the room actually rise in response to his presence. He didn't even seem to notice the state that Musubi and I were in, or even that Musubi was present at all. He gritted his teeth, glaring at me, a shaky hand coming up to point at me as he seemed to lose the ability to speak coherently. "You!"

"Homura," Musubi began, the naked Sekirei giving the fire user a confused look. "What are you… eep!"

Musubi couldn't get any more out as Homura stomped into the room, and in a move that was nearly identical to what he had done to Miya simply shoved the shrine girl to the side, finally separating the two of us. Musubi hit the ground a little hard, landing square on her butt as tumbled to the side.

"Owie!" the shrine girl moaned, rubbing at her bottom as she did so. Homura didn't even seem to care, instead leaning forward so that he could crouch over me, one hand dropping to support himself on the floor, the other coming up to cup at empty air. I felt a moment of helpless confusion, the actions of the fire user so unusual that I literally could not figure out what was going on.

Then, the scent of brimstone filled the air as his empty hand filled with flame, white hot and intense. I fell back frantically, confusion warring with the warning instincts going off in my head as I took in the wild look in Homura's eyes and realized that yes, he really was about to attack me!

"You…" Homura growled one more time, his lit hand actually shaking as he prepared to incinerate me, my mind raced as I tried to think up some sort of defensive measure, flicking between swords trying to find one that could help me, but swords were meant for offense, not defense, and I didn't want to hurt Homura, not when I still had no idea what this was about.

Luckily, even as the fire user seemed to struggle with himself, the fire in his hand was abruptly put out. A sheet of water so thick that it felt like we'd been doused by an enormous bucket splashed down on us, the weight of the water causing Homura to buckle slightly and pushing me flat onto the floor for a moment. By the time the water finished and I had blinked my eyes clear of a few stray droplets, it was to discover that not only had the two of us been completely soaked, but Homura's outstretched hand was also firmly encased in a thick block of ice.

"Homura!" Tsukiumi screeched from where she was standing in the doorway, glaring at her rival. "What do you think… you're… doing…?" Despite her rage, she began to trail off, and the flush of anger on her cheeks began to grow. It only took me a second to figure out why.

After all, both Musubi and I were still naked, it must be pretty obvious just what we had been doing earlier, and now Homura was crouched over me, straddling me in a position which could quite possibly be considered erotic if it wasn't for the fact that he had just nearly tried to kill me.

At least the sheet had been pushed forward, covering my groin and preserving SOME illusion of modesty to the onlookers.

"You will stop, or I will kill you," Akitsu, the other one responsible for interrupting the attempted homicide, was not as easily distracted as the water user. She spoke slowly and softly, but without her usual hesitance. The snow woman was also in the doorway, both her hands down at her side, her head ducked slightly, and her eyes narrowed. With creeping hoarfrost already beginning to form along the hallway it was quite obvious to me that Akitsu was not exaggerating her claim in the least.

She'd done it for me before, after all.

As close as it was, it was easy for me to make out the various expressions that flashed through Homura's face after our sudden impromptu bath. The anger lingered for a moment, followed by a flash of confusion. His eyes darted to his hand, as though only just now realizing it was raised, and he flinched briefly. Finally he closed his eyes, and his lips twitched. He began to laugh a moment later, though it sounded like there was precious little humor in it.

"Haha," as he continued his sardonic chuckle, the ice on his hand began to thaw, streams of water running down his arm as his power countered the element confining it. It only took a moment before he flexed, clenching a fist which caused the ice to shatter. Sagging, he ran his once more free hand through his wet hair, still laughing. "I guess I needed a good dousing. Literally."

"Homura-san," Miya had recovered herself by this point, and I didn't know if I should be happy or even more worried that at some point she produced her sheathed sword, and was holding it in a fashion where it would be easy to draw. She had plenty of reason to be mad at me, as well, and even if Homura had managed to distract her, there was still a good chance that she had just put the grievance with me aside for the moment and would pick it right back up once proper explanations were made. "Explain yourself," she ordered, eyes narrowed in intensity rather than her usual crinkled expression.

Homura finally trailed off in his helpless laughter, and glanced up through wet bangs to meet my eyes. "It's gone," he told me, not bothering to add anything else.

"It's gone?" I repeated, unable to suppress a surge of consternation at the insufficient explanation. "What's gone?" I demanded, trying to think of what could possibly be important enough to the fire user that its absence would drive him to quite nearly kill me! Moreover, why it was that he seemed to think I was implicit in its disappearance!

"It," Homura simply repeated, giving the word an excessive emphasis, as though that would make things clearer to me.

"Just what is…" I began, this time it being my turn to rake my hands through my hair in impatience as I tried to get the reticent Sekirei to elaborate, when we were interrupted, yet again.

"Oh my!" and this time the newcomer did not seem to have the experience with situations like this that most of the rest of Izumo House had developed over time and seemed genuinely mortified at what she had stumbled on to. "She's so forward!" Chiho gasped, the young brunette flushing to the very roots of her hair as the sheltered girl stared from the now rather crowded doorway.

Uzume, who was leaning over her shorter Ashikabi, whistled in appreciation. "Damn, bro," even she sounded impressed. "When you get to work, you really get to work, don'tcha!" Her eyes narrowed mischievously as she leaned forward, the difference in height enough to press her chest against the back of her Ashikabi's head, something which Chiho apparently didn't even notice as she continued to stare with wide eyes at the scene. "But I thought you two weren't like that, eh?" there was definite teasing in Uzume's tone.

Right. Still naked, with a naked woman, and with a man crouched over me. And we were both soaking wet at that now. And half of Izumo seemed to have turned up so they could watch.

Still not quite at my most awkward day, but this was definitely getting there now.

"We're not," I instantly defended Homura and I, before I realized a second later that unlike usual it had only been me who had chimed in with the customary response to those kinds of implications. "Homura?" I asked, giving the fire user a confused look. Instead of responding, all Homura did close his eyes and sigh, blowing one of his wet bangs out of his eye as he did so.

"Are all of Emiya-sensei's Sekirei so forward?" Chiho whispered to Uzume, giving her Sekirei a red faced look of curiosity. I blinked, catching, catching Chiho's unusual choice of suffix for my name distractedly, before deciding to focus on the formerly berserk fire user and the sword wielding landlady for the moment. Uzume grinned, apparently not taking in the choice of title and instead draping her arms over Chiho's shoulders as she did so.

"Pretty much," the Veiled Sekirei affirmed, nodding firmly as she grinned at my hardships. "Though it being Musubi this time," Uzume shook her head with mock condemnation. "Never saw that one coming. Always thought it'd be the Nee-chan that managed it." Uzume casually announced her suspected order of my 'conquests' and under other circumstances I would have agreed with her that Kazehana had seemed the most likely one to manage to overcome the damper that being in Izumo House had on consummation.

Chiho seemed to take Uzume's words seriously, giving a quick look back at the tableu before her before she blushed even brighter and pointedly looked away. "What about the other one? Is she usually like this?" she asked, and Uzume paused, blinking slightly, before she grinned.

"Heheh!" she gave her usual chuckle. "Sorry Chiho-chan, but Homura over there is a guy!" She seemed to delight in breaking the news to her Ashikabi, and I got the impression that Uzume might think that a flustered Chiho was particularly adorable.

"A guy?" Chiho seemed confused by the revelation of Homura's gender. "But then why does she, uh, he have…" Chiho trailed off, one of her hands coming up in what was probably an unconscious gesture to indicate her chest.

"Have what?" Uzume repeated, giving Chiho a confused glance before turning to Homura again. "Why does he have… Holy crap!" Uzume cut herself off, bleating in surprise as she gaped at the fire user. "Homura! You have boobs!"

"Oh?" Miya chimed in, and her eyes widened fractionally as she relaxed her grip on her sword, also apparently focusing in on what Chiho had pointed out. Maybe it was because the new Ashikabi hadn't had any preconceived notions of the fire user, or maybe she just hadn't been here through the gradual progression, but it seemed that none of the rest of the house had noticed the changes which Homura had been enduring silently.

Maybe they could only notice it once it was pointed out to them, or maybe it was because with his white button down was soaking wet, but in his present state, Homura's shirt being buttoned wrong and sticking to him while approaching transparency due to its color, the new additions to the former host's chest were far too obvious to be able to ignore.

To the side, I think I heard Tsukiumi let loose a strangled noise, but it was lost in something much more important that had just occurred to me. It might be because Homura's chest had once more been pointed out to me, just along with the rest of the room, but suddenly I had an epiphany.

Just what was 'it', that once missing, would be enough to drive nearly any man into a killing rage?

"Homura," I began in a low intense voice. The fire user glanced up at me, apathy mixing with curiosity at the change in my tone. "When you say it is gone, do you mean, you know," I trailed off, swallowing hard as I did so before forcing myself to continue, emphasizing my next word, "it?"

"Yeah," Homura grimaced, before sagging even more as the fight left him completely. "It."

"Oh," I said dumbly, swallowing again. "Oh," I repeated. I felt a wave of nausea sweep over me. "I think I'm going to be sick," I finally concluded.

Homura snorted again, finding my confession to probably be grimly humerous. "Imagine how I feel," he told me.

Helplessly, I couldn't help but glance down. Though Homura had originally been straddling me with some space between us, as the fight had drained out of him, he had eventually come to be effectively sitting against me in a position which inappropriately resembled the one that Yume had forced me into only minutes ago, effectively crotch to crotch. With me covered by nothing but a sheet, a wet sheet at that, the position should have been very, very uncomfortable due to the close proximity of two places that heterosexual males did not feel comfortable touching.

However, with both our clothing soaked and sticking to us, it was easy to tell that Homura no longer had the equipment to qualify as a male at all.

I was definitely feeling sick at this point, a wave of vertigo sweeping over me as I realized that whatever process Homura had started undergoing since I winged him had apparently run its course.

Homura followed my gaze, and seemed to realize just how suggestive our position was, of what was pressing against what, and his, er, her eyes widened and face went white. A shudder went through his, no, her, god that felt wrong to try and conceptualize, and finally Homura stood quickly, before quite literally launching himself, herself, through the window of my room, shattering the glass like some sort of action hero as Homura chose what was quite possibly the only course which could preserve both of our sanities and fled into the night.

"Homura-san!" Miya yelled, her consternated voice nearly drowning out the sound of shattering glass as Miya watched as the fire user for no apparent reason she could determine ran like the hounds of hell were on their heal. With unusually obvious frustration, the landlady apparently lost all patience with the way things were going, and turned to glare at me, a strange absence of hannya masks around her a mark of just how flat footed she had been caught by what had just occurred. "Emiya-kun!" she demanded, glaring at me while lifting to point with her still sheathed sword. "Just what is going on here!"

Just what is going on? I had just had an erotic dream, which had progressed into me having an actual erotic encounter, which had then changed into me being visited by a possessing spirit of some sort, which had finally turned into a confirmation with my first and newly gender reassigned Sekirei, and now I was naked, surrounded by all my housemates, and left to try and explain things to another angry alien creature with a sword.

"I am never having sex again," I decided, not quite sure if I was being serious or not, but definitely considering celibacy in a positive light at this point.

The twin cries of 'No!' which echoed from down the hallway where apparently both Kazehana and Matsu had been listening in on this encounter from the hacker's room, most likely the ENTIRE encounter for that matter, reacted to my declaration only served to reinforce taking my decision seriously. Akitsu blinked, and the normally inexpressive snow woman somehow managed to portray a certain amount of dread, while Tsukiumi, still red-faced and frozen over both my relations with Musubi and the new information concerning Homura, finally couldn't handle any more and fainted dead away.

*Scene Break*

"Oi," Homura began, his voice coming from behind me. "Think we can talk for a minute?" His voice started strong, but even for so short a sentence it still managed to trail off into something hesitant by the end of his question.

Her voice I meant. No, that didn't feel right, even knowing what I did.

"Yeah," I nodded, steeling myself for what was to come. I had no illusions about how this conversation was going to go, and considering what I had inadvertently inflicted on the fire user, I was ready to face what Homura no doubt had to say to me.

Behind me slightly, I heard Akitsu rustle, the clink of chains letting me know that the attentive snow woman was definitely paying attention, and that she most likely had not forgotten about the scene from earlier. I considered issuing a preemptive command to the snow woman to keep her from lashing out at the former host, but decided to stay silent for now.

Instead, I turned away from the plank I was nailing up in the dining room, facing the doorway where Homura's voice had come from.

The flame user was still in the outfit that he had been wearing earlier, though at some point he had fixed the buttons on his shirt and finished clinching his belt. Judging from his position, he most likely had returned home only recently, and since he still hadn't changed his outfit he must have sought me out immediately after he returned.

She returned.

Gods, this was awkward.

Despite my willingness to proceed with this encounter, Homura hesitated, glancing around the room as though unsure of where or how to start. Finally, Homura looked at where I was diligently attending to the hole in the dining room that had been untouched for the last few days, latching on to my repairs as a way to start the conversation.

"So," Homura began, nodding at where I had managed to make some good headway into closing off the inside of the house from the outside of the house. "Kind of late to be working at this kind of thing, isn't it?"

"Well," I began, not quite sure why Homura was being so reluctant. If it had been me in his situation, I wouldn't be hesitating to lay into the one responsible. They'd better have a damn good reason, if I was hypothetically put in a situation where my gender was realigned against my wishes, for doing something like that. Something like saving my life with the Heaven's Feel after having stopped an evil god from emerging into the world, or something like that. Anything less, and, well, I have a lot of swords, and I know how to use them all.

"After you left, things were kind of awkward for a bit," I continued, and Homura gave a little wince of his own as he seemed to recall the state I had been in before and after our confrontation started. "Miya was understandably upset about certain things, and decided to give out appropriate punishments via her status as the landlady."

I gestured at the wall that I was fixing, despite the fact that it was so late at night. It was nearly midnight now, and the only thing I had to work with was the lights of the dining room. It was enough to work with, barely, but it still wasn't ideal conditions for late night repairing. Still, Miya had been quite adamant about me getting some work done today, and all things considered it was probably a good idea to wordlessly accept my fate.

Homura nodded, wincing again as he understood my unspoken gesture. "It seems a little unfair to punish just you," he mentioned. She. She mentioned. "I suppose I should apologize for leaving like I did."

"It's fine," I instantly forgave Homura, it being my turn to grimace. "All things considered…" Homura's eyes shifted, and I found myself rushing to change the subject. "It's still probably lighter than what Musubi got," I added. When Homura glanced up, I nodded with my head in the direction of the empty lot that had once held my workshop. Even with the background noise, the sound of wood striking flesh was still audible. "Miya decided that since Musubi apparently had too much free time, that sparring would be a good way to keep her busy. They've been out it for hours."

As though to punctuate my words a loud crashing joined in the clamor of their combat. I winced in sympathy. Miya was apparently holding a lot less back in this spar than she usually did in their morning fights. Homura winced in sympathy along with me.

"I can only imagine what the mask must have been like," he commiserated, and I brought my hand up to rub my chin in contemplation.

"Actually, she didn't use that at all," I admitted, my own confusion over Miya's choice to skip over her usual disciplinary means probably obvious. "Maybe she thought I'd been getting too much of a show lately."

"I never thought I'd agree with Uzume, but sometimes you really do serve as good Miya deterrent," Homura chuckled lightly. The fire user glanced upwards, towards the source of the background noise that was obvious even a floor down. "And that is?"

"Just because Musubi and me are in trouble, it doesn't change the fact that the others still want to celebrate Chiho's recovery," I explained, listening to the sound of ever increasing revelry from above. "They wanted to throw the party in here," I nodded at the dining room I was still in the process of fixing, "but Miya didn't want me distracted so they moved it up to Uzume's room."

"They're going to be at it for hours," Homura muttered, a note of complaint in the fire user's voice. "And by the time it's done at least half of them will be in just their panties or completely naked." Homura shook his head ruefully. Her head. Her head ruefully.

The constant need to adjust pronouns in my head brought my mind back to more important matters than the usual household shenanigans.

"Homura," I began, and the bitter remorse in my voice seemed to draw the fire user's attention back to the elephant in the room we were both ignoring. "I…" I began, and trailed off, having no idea what I wanted to say. 'Sorry' just didn't seem to cut it right now.

"Shirou," Homura began, scrubbing a hand through hair as his eyes closed, a grimace of his own appearing. "Look," he began before trailing off as well. Finally, he shook his head, causing his ruffled hair to tumble wildly around his forehead before he shoved one hand into a pocket, yanking out a new box of cigarettes. "Can we sit for a second?" he asked, already breaking the cellophane packaging so he could reach the drugged sticks inside.

"Yeah," I nodded, abandoning the hammer I had been employing to the side. The hole in the wall was still wide enough for both of us to fit in with plenty of room between the two of us. I was thankful for that. I didn't know how Homura would react if we were too close at the moment. I didn't know how I'd react for that matter.

The former host nodded, crossing the room so he could claim his own side of the wreckage, and once he had I moved to take the other side. Behind us I heard Akitsu as she adjusted herself, though she abstained from her usual position behind me and to my left so she could instead sit directly behind Homura her attention locked on the fire user with deliberate intensity.

It definitely looked like the snow woman was holding a bit of a grudge.

Even after Homura and I had settled, it was still several minutes before either of us said anything. Homura seemed to occupy the time by chain-smoking, bringing fresh cigarette after fresh cigarette to be lit from the butt of the last. I found myself listening in to the sounds of the rest of Izumo House partying upstairs, ignorant of the confrontation going on beneath them, and the sounds of combat next store. Numerous echoing crashes from where Miya was apparently venting her frustration at the events of the day on a not so innocent in this case Musubi happened with regular frequency.

Finally, it was me who broke the silence, unable to bear it any longer. "You must hate me," I muttered, the self-loathing I felt for inflicting this kind of thing on a friend and comrade twisting in my gut like a knife of shame.

Homura glanced at me at that, before quickly looking away, cheeks red as he quickly fumbled a new cigarette out of the package. She.

"I don't," Homura told me, mumbling quietly as she lit the new stick. I shook my head, not able to believe her assertion, and she repeated them. "I don't hate you, Shirou," Homura repeated, brushing a hand through hair once more. "I'm not even angry," she added, snorting cynically as she did so. "Not really."

"That's not the way you seemed earlier," I pointed out, not believing his declaration and remembering the fire that Homura had nearly brought down on me earlier. Homura scowled at my words, lips twisting in a grimace as he puffed hard on one of the cigarettes.

"Well that was right after I woke up and found that the feminization was complete," Homura admitted, still scowling at the moment. I had to suppress a wince as I imagined waking up one day and finding that my gender had apparently switched over night. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen Homura nearly all of yesterday, the last time I recalled seeing him was right when I was beginning Chiho's treatment and the fire user had stormed out in a fit of irritability. He must have gone to sleep then, and judging from the timing of his earlier shout he had probably been out for nearly a day and a half. That must have been his body shutting down for the final changes.

"The funny part," Homura scowled, not looking at all amused as the fire user threw the still lit and mostly unsmoked cigarette away, before almost reflectively pulling out another one, "is that I'm not even angry that I'm not angry. I am," Homura emphasized 'am' fiercely, the fire user's scowl widening at the word, "angry that I'm not angry that I'm not angry!"

I was silent, trying to figure out the somewhat labyrinthine logic of Homura's rage, but the fire user didn't seem to notice, continuing quickly as he used his finger snap fire technique to once more continue his smoking. Her smoking.

"Do you know," Homura continued, his grimace diminishing as the fire user's voice softened. "That I used to be jealous of the scrapped numbers?"

Behind Homura, Akitsu shifted, and from the corner of my eye when I glanced at Homura I could make out the faintest narrowing of her eyes as the snow woman apparently took offense at Homura's brazen statement.

"I was one of the first Sekirei released," Homura continued, eyes unfocused as the fire user stared at something only he, she, could see. "The doctors at MBI had warned me that I was unusual, Takehito himself had told me that I might never be able to find an Ashikabi. But when I was first released, I didn't believe them. I was so sure that I would be able to find my destined one!

"But no matter how hard I looked, I never felt a reaction," Homura confessed, even the scowl disappearing to be replaced by a tired look. "It usually doesn't take long for a Sekirei to find their Ashikabi: a few weeks, a month at tops. Most of the time all they'd have to do is walk down enough busy streets before they found someone they could react to. But after weeks, and months, and then more months passed, I never found anyone. I even started working as a host, trying to expose myself to as many people as possible as I actively hunted for an Ashikabi, but even with that I was out for years," Homura spoke the time he had searched like the words were a curse, "and I still hadn't found anyone!"

Homura's hands clenched at the memories of his trials, of his apparently useless quest to find a mate for himself. The cigarette in the fire user's hands crumbled, and he glanced down, apparently only noticing when the cherry at the end met his flesh. Her flesh. She brushed it off easily, apparently able to ignore her element with ease. Instead, she pulled out a new one, instead, throwing the broken one aside without a second thought.

"I began to think that I really wasn't ever going to find an Ashikabi," Homura continued, picking up right where she had left off, sighing as she did so. "I started to think that there had to be something wrong with me, that there really wasn't anyone out there who could be my Ashikabi. It was why I decided to protect, the unwinged Sekirei, hoping that by helping them maybe I could forget that I still hadn't reacted to anyone. But it was even worse, watching everyone else get their Ashikabi, even as I was still alone." Homura gave a cynical snort. "That's why I started to envy the scrapped numbers. At least they had a reason they couldn't have an Ashikabi, because they winged themselves. Me? There was just something wrong with me, that I couldn't do the same."

"Homura," I muttered, honestly shocked by the fire user's confession. I swallowed, and tried to wrap my mind around what he was telling me. Always looking, always failing, desperately trying to find his fated one, and always coming up short. I had seen what could await at the end of that kind of path, and I shivered slightly at the memory of white hair, red clothes, and a desperate self-loathing so great that it would drive someone even to try and kill their younger selves in order to cause a paradox strong enough to unmake even a Counter Guardian.

Archer was what could happen at the end of a life of endless failure.

In a way, his confession made sense. Was it better to be a scrapped, and know that you would never be able to find an Ashikabi, or to be able to be winged and just never find the one who could complete you?

Akitsu shifted again, and this time her expression seemed more contemplative as she listened to the story that Homura was weaving. It looked like the same question might have occurred to her, and even with her own history as a scrapped she was finding it hard to hear.

"And then I met you, Shirou," Homura continued, giving me a crooked half smile as he glanced over briefly to see that I was watching him intensely as he continued his story. Her story. Homura glanced away, apparently not able to meet my eyes. "I remember reading a story once," the fire user continued. "It was about a girl whose parents arranged a marriage for her to a local fisherman. The girl was so angry at having a marriage arranged for her that she decided to make her new husband's life a living hell. The fisher man was kind, and gentle, and loving, but the girl was nothing but cruel to him anyway.

"Finally, there came a day when a storm caught the fisherman at sea, and he died, and the girl realized that even if she hadn't had a choice in the marriage, that her husband had been a good man, and that she had grown to love him. But by then it was too late, and she spent the rest of her life a widow, mourning what could have been." Homura sighed. "The morale of the story was that sometimes, just because you don't have a choice in something doesn't mean that it's the wrong path, or that you can't be happy."

"I've never heard that story before," I admitted, thinking about what Homura had said, trying to equate it to out strange situation. "Aesop?" I asked, trying to determine where the parable had come from.

"Robert Jordon," Homura corrected, and when I gave the fire user a confused look he just shrugged, looking embarrassed about something. "The point is, that even though I was nervous when I reacted to you, you ended up being a good Ashikabi," Homura bulled on, dismissing my confusion as he continued with his monologue. "You went out of your way to help me, to help other Ashikabi. You never winged anyone by force, and always did your best to support your Sekirei. You might have a few issues of your own," Homura scowled at me briefly, "but that doesn't stop you from doing your best. That's why even though something like this happened," Homura briefly gestured down at herself, scowl still present, "I can at least deal with it.

"This isn't anything like I expected having an Ashikabi would be like. But then again, I had started to believe that I'd just never have an Ashikabi, period." Homura pulled his legs up, her legs up, to her chest, wrapping her arms around them as she idly cradled her still lit cigarette. It was a feminine looking move, and it brought to mind that it hadn't just been Homura's body that had been changing, but even her mindset and mannerisms.

Despite what Homura was saying, I grimaced again, looking away as I did so. Homura seemed to understand my discomfort.

"And that's part of what I'm mad about," Homura admitted. "I'm not mad that I can't use the men's room anymore, or that I'm not upset over what I've become. But what I am mad about is wondering just how much of my acceptance is actually me, and not something that feminization might have changed in me." Again, Homura seemed to take her anger out on the cigarette, tossing it away violently as she straightened herself with a scowl, deliberately assuming a sprawled open legged and masculine position as she did so. "The hardest part is wondering if I really am accepting this, or if I'm being made to accept it."

For a moment Homura seemed to tighten as the anger she had displayed earlier returned, but it only lasted for a moment before she sagged again.

"And in the end, I can't even be angry about that for long either," Homura confessed, and I gave her a hard look, trying to decide just how much I could believe her words now. Her anger over the changes to her psyche seemed just. She SHOULD be mad about this, and the fact that she wasn't just made my stomach tighten even more. The thought that it was my fault that her entire personality was being overwritten was just…

Homura gave me another quick look, and I realized I was clenching my teeth hard enough for them to grind audibly. It was my turn to glare into the night, fists clenched.

"This is wrong," I muttered, not able to find any other way to express the unfairness of the situation.

"Heh," Homura studied my anger for a moment, and then she started to smile slightly, small but genuine. "I think the fact that your more mad about this than me is a relief," she confessed, scrubbing a hand through her hair again as she kept looking at me. "But I don't like the idea of you beating yourself up over this. It looks like you're forgetting something important."

"And what could I be forgetting that could make this," I waved a hand between the two of us angrily, trying to summarize our bizarre circumstances with just a gesture, "possibly be alright?"

"That I'm a Sekirei," Homura told me bluntly. "This is what we do: find our Ashikabi and bind ourselves to them. In the end, even I'm a bit upset now, how can I be mad about doing what I always wanted to do?"

Her words were like a bolt through me, something which electrified my thoughts. In a way, the logic was insidious. It was what Sekirei did, after all. As a species, they seemed at times hopelessly submissive in my opinion. It was like Matsu had pointed out, so long ago in her cramped room: they were Sekirei, and I was their Ashikabi, and they loved me. Terrifying, blindly devoted love, the types of which a human might never be able to understand completely. Just because Homura had been male and there had been extended circumstances about him it didn't change the fact that I was still his chosen Ashikabi.

Not Human. Somehow, I kept forgetting that at times, and whenever I did something like this would pop up, nearly blindsiding me in my complacency.

"It's still not right," I folded my arms stubbornly, still glaring out into the darkness. "This feels wrong, like I'm making you go against your will. It feels as though I winged you against your will, almost." I tried to put into words just how disturbing this all was, and that was the best way I could think of which might express my unease to a member of the alien species.

"You're telling me," Homura muttered, some of her extended discontent leaking into her voice. It looked like even through the changes to her psyche, there was still some resentment lingering, and that at least put me at ease. If Homura had gone from being involuntarily changed from male to female and didn't have some resentment, I don't think I'd ever be able to trust any expression of affection from her again. Not without the doubt that the person talking to me had effectively been brainwashed into her feelings. "Shirou, can you make me another promise?"

"What is it?" I turned to look at the fire user out of the corner of my eye, remembering the way she, he then, had had conditions upon her winging. Homura also seemed to be having trouble looking at me directly.

"Could you promise not to give me any orders? Not for a long while, anyway," the fire user shook her head, the grimace returning. "I'm already having trouble dealing with some of the changes," she grimaced, reaching down and hefting one of her breasts with distain as she glanced at the weight. It was a move that reminded me of someone having picked up a piece of rotten fruit and was trying to determine where to throw it away, not like the way some of the others in my flock would preen through the same action. "And even with all this, I'm still a bit unusual from the others. If you were to give me an order, I don't think I'd be able to resist it, no matter what it is."

And that sent another chill through my spine. It was one of the reasons that Homura had been so leery of having me as an Ashikabi in the first place. Hell, it was probably the reason he was a she now at all. The idea that in her new altered state any order I gave would almost instantly be obeyed was even more sobering. As a female, the number of orders I could give that Homura was no doubt worried about only increased drastically.

I shuddered, not liking the thought of having such absolute power over someone as I apparently now had over the fire user. At least with Servants there had only been three absolute orders allowable. This… this was just frightening on a personal level.

"I promise," I swore firmly, and Homura took in both my words and the physical response to her request intently, before relaxing visibly.

"I'm glad that I have you as an Ashikabi," Homura told me, before flicking away her cigarette and this time not reaching for a new one. "I know you're honest, at least." She sighed, and then gave me another crooked smile. "I can't even consider what might have happened if something like this had happened with someone else as my Ashikabi."

Strangely, her words were enough to give me some relief as well. In a way, she was right. Even if it had been someone else that she had been winged too, there was no guarantee that this exact situation might not have occurred as well. Or that any other Ashikabi would be as determined not to take advantage of her situation.

Maybe if I thought of this whole mess as me saving Homura from being taken advantage of by a different unscrupulous Ashikabi, I might be able to deal with it easier. It was a cold comfort, but at this point it was probably the only comfort I was going to get.

"I suppose we better get upstairs so that we can explain this to the others," I finally settled on, pushing myself upwards so I could regain my footing. Homura gave me an idle look, before doing the same.

"I'm sorry about running off like that earlier," she confessed, giving me an apologetic look as she did so. Her expression turned curious. "How did you manage to explain this to the others?"

"I told them that what happened was private and that I wouldn't say a word about it until I was certain you were alright with me doing so," I informed Homura. Miya hadn't taken that particularly well either, but I had been adamant, and was convinced that even in the face of mass hannya-ing I would remain firm. It hadn't felt right to betray Homura's trust like that. In the end, I was glad that we were able to have this conversation before the rest of Izumo House got involved.

In response to my protection of her privacy, Homura grimaced, a rueful look appearing on her face. "I was kind of hoping that you had already told them by now," she muttered, scowling. "I have no idea how to go about explaining this."

"Well," I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. "Neither did I. I was kind of hoping you'd know how to break the news to them."

Homura sighed at my confession, but seemed unable to argue with it. "There's no way that Kazehana is going to let this go," she muttered, palming her hand. "And I don't know if I can hold my sake well enough now to keep up with her if she drags me out to drink."

I gave Homura an odd glance, surprised at the fact that she had chosen Kazehana to focus on. "I'm more worried about Tsukiumi," I pointed out. "You two were already rivals, after all, and now that this has happened…" A mortified expression appeared on her face as Homura realized that no amount of denying would likely convince the water user that no, Homura wasn't going to be her rival in love anytime soon. "Not to mention what Matsu is going to do when she finds out…"

This time, Homura really did freeze, as she realized what I was getting at. If I were to hazard a guess, I think that she had panicked blocked the thought of the lecherous hacker completely from her mind. With a quick move, her hands snaked out to grab my shirt, pulling me down so she could give me a serious look. It was a start to realize that Homura had apparently lost a few inches as well as my back protested the treatment.

"Shirou," Homura told me firmly, "you will be standing between me and that lascivious witch at all times. If it looks like she's about to try something, I will physically throw you at her to save myself."

"Noted," I told her, understanding completely her unease. It probably would be the only way to stop Matsu's at times over the top excesses. Homura took a second to see if I was being serious, and finally nodded with a sigh.

"Well," she began not looking like she was not anticipating this at all. "Let's get this over wi…"

It was mid-sentence in Homura's grim acceptance of the inevitable that a brilliant light flashed through the night, followed swiftly by an explosion which tore part of the fence between Izumo and the vacant lot apart with such force and heat that even the splinters evaporated.

I was moving before the thunder of the assault had even finished dying out. One second I had been preparing to deal with yet another awkward conversation, and the next my mind was locked in combat mode, Kanshou and Bakuya already forming as I streaked towards the lot. Behind me on my left and on my right Akitsu and Homura had already assumed flanking positions, wordlessly falling into step with me in non-verbalized moment of synchronicity that I was already accustomed too.

What was happening? My mind raced as I prepared myself, already slipping into combat mode. Another attack? Had the Fraga had companions that were finally making a move? If so, then why hadn't I noticed them coming? The wards were still up, and any Enforcer or Freelancer should have been picked up by them in time to give me some warning. Was it another Sekirei? But there was no sense of power in the air besides the normal residents of Izumo.

With blades drawn, I prepared myself for whatever scene I might stumble on in the vacant lot. With Miya there, I doubted that there would be much danger, not unless whoever was attacking had another over specialized counter attack technique, but even so…

My thoughts trailed off as I cleared the smoking fence, and found a scene completely different from what I had been anticipating. There was no enemy present, be they magus or Sekirei. I stumbled to a halt, and behind me Akitsu and Homura did the same. The only ones here were Musubi, who had an extended fist in front of her that she was staring at curiously, and Miya, who was…

"Asama-san," I began, still trying to identify any attackers even as I couldn't help but keep one eye on the landlady in surprise. "Are you alright?"

Miya didn't say anything, though from her unusual position it seemed that something had definitely happened here. The usually composed landlady was flat on her butt on the ground, sprawled over as though she had been knocked down by some great force, sheathed sword clenched in her hand as she gave a confused and surprised look of shock at Musubi. Even more surprising was the state of her hair. It had been blown back, as though by some great wind, and even more unusual was the way it was somehow maintaining that position, crinkles of what looked like a static charge keeping her long lavender mane floating about her head like some sort of enormous light purple afro.

"Goodness," Miya finally got out, still sitting on the ground as she regained her voice, still looking more out of her depths than I could recall the unflappable alien ever being before. "What on earth was that?"

"I don't know," Musubi declared, sounding entirely too cheerful for the mysterious scene. Despite the fact that she must be exhausted after both our first coupling, followed by her strange possession, and also after having been sparring with Miya for several hours, the shrine girl seemed no different from her usual perky self. She continued to give her fist a curious look, even as she withdrew it so she could study it more curiously.

"Miya," I tried again, looking down at the still flustered landlady. If I wasn't firmly in combat mode, the sight of her hair poofing like was did might have been humorous, and if there wasn't any danger present, then I might take a moment to comment on it, but for now there were priorities. "What happened?"

"Ah," Miya began, before blinking and looking at me, still surprised. My presence seemed to help shake her out of her shock, and she quickly righted herself, brushing at the bottom of her hakama skirt quickly as she did so. She didn't seem to notice the state of her hair, right away though, the lavender cloud stretching behind her ridiculously. "I'm not certain," the landlady quickly added, making headway into recovering her composure. "We were simply sparring, when quite suddenly Musubi-chan…"

Miya was interrupted when Musubi apparently decided to perform some sort of experiment. With a loud 'Kya', the bear Sekirei turned and punched again, aiming at one of the piles of rubble that I hadn't had a chance to sort out yet. It was my turn to yelp in surprise as the blow which shouldn't have connected to anything flashed, the same illumination as before gathering swiftly around her fist before launching from Musubi's strike, streaking through the air to impact with the rubble in another thunderous detonation.

"What the hell?" Homura swore, covering her face with her arm as several smaller pieces or rubble began to fall, littering the empty lot as it did so. "Since when could Musubi do something like that?" she demanded incredulously, turning to give me a suspicious glare. I think that all the times that Homura had been away during dramatic revelations had led her to believe I might already be aware of this development, but in this case I was just as lost as she was.

"That's…" I began, also experiencing confusion over the quite unexpected ability that Musubi seemed to have spontaneously developed. Musubi was still looking curiously at the devastation she had wrought, but the sound of my voice seemed to interrupt her contemplation. Turning, she brightened when she identified my presence.

"Oh! Shirou-sama," Musubi waved happily, beaming at me. "Look what I can do! It's just like Yume-san!"

Musubi didn't seem to notice the way the name of the dead number zero eight made me freeze, instead turning to once again launch blinding devastation at another innocent collection of damaged shed. The scent of Yume's didn't change, still lingering faintly in the background despite the fact that Musubi was now apparently able to launch brilliant balls of plasma at will.

What had Yume done? Was this what she meant when she claimed she'd 'bless our union'? Was whatever the number zero eight had become really gone, or was it still in Musubi, even now?

"Never having sex again," I muttered once more to myself, not actually sure if the act had been the cause of this, but deciding I needed something to blame anyway. "Never, ever again."


	33. Thirty Third Wing

In Flight: Thirty Third Wing

_Author's notes: Much faster update than the last few chapters have managed. Sure that will be a pleasant surprise to all of you. If any of you are hoping for an even quicker update, good news bad news. Good news, I'm going in for a minor surgery, nothing to worry about but still something that needs to be done, and the end result of that is me having to take two weeks off of work and not being allowed to do anything strenuous._

_Since typing isn't strenuous, guess what I'm planning on doing a lot of in about a week?_

_Bad news is that immediately afterwards, I start looking for a better job than this crappy one I've been stuck with, and that might have a negative influence on my writing speed. Best cross your fingers and hope.  
_

_With that little gem, on to the review section of the author's notes. I'm happy to receive a lot of positive response from the resolution of Homura's gender switch. I mentioned before that I always wanted to handle his, now her, dilemma in a calm and mature fashion, something more than just, hey, we need another chick for the main character! Bamf! Now go and feed the harem! I'm glad that so many people seem to feel that I managed to not screw that one up._

_Also, a lot of people seemed to really like Shirou's little threat of celibacy. Since last chapter was meant mostly to serve as a resolution to the Uzume and Homura subplots, I'm glad people enjoyed it. _

_Now, on to the spoiler section._

_*Spoiler Alert!*_

_First off, let me announce with joy that the last great info drop of In Flight is officially over. There were certain elements of the nasuverse I needed to introduce, and once more Matsu and her room come in to play. I could have glossed over a lot of this, I think, and most of the type-lunatics would know instantly when the plot development where the info is relevant comes up later, but I started out with IF trying to make sure that all readers could enjoy it, not just those that bought the manual. Hence, another long winded explanation. I tried to keep it interesting enough and not go over board, but unfortunately it was necessary so here it is._

_Also, if anyone wants to find more about the CF and the CG's, I recomend the Kara no Kyoukai movie 'Spiral Paradox'. I want to say its my favorite in the series, but the entire series is just so damn good that I can't really do that. Go forth and watch!_

_The second element I need to call attention to is Shirou. More than just an info dump, this chapter was meant for him. Him, and his flock. Leave it to Matsu to kick over a rock to see what is underneath only to discover the nest of angry hornets._

_This chapter is meant to be the one where Shirou's Sekirei realize, even if its only one of them, just how much is wrong with their Ashikabi. They might have suspected before, might have had hints, but no one has ever put together just how deep the problem really is until now. I've mentioned before that Shirou is genuinely screwed up, and now Matsu realizes just how screwed up he really is._

_On a side note, just going back and researching some of this chapter kept hammering into my head just how much of a hypocrite Shirou really is, even in cannon. He constantly says he wants to save everyone, but he is always so willing to turn to killing. Like in the scene where Medea kidnaps him Archer advocates letting her live, and it's Shirou who insists that they kill the witch then and there. If he was serious about his dream to save everyone, that's not quite the reaction you're supposed to have. _

_Anyway. _

_As you might guess from the ending of 33, the next chapter moves on to actual plot development, and will most likely involve actual combat, so if you've been getting as sick of reading all this drama and info dumping as __I have been getting of writing it, relax. It's coming soon._

_*End Spoilers*_

_Now, on to the chapter. A thread is going to be put up in the forums, 'The Mechanics of In Flight' for those who don't know, so any questions or concerns can be directed there. If you just want to leave a review, go right ahead and do so._

_And as always, dear readers, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"No, Matsu, I wasn't really being serious," I sighed, reclining backwards a bit on the pillow that the hacker had provided for me at the beginning of our date.

"Good," Matsu nodded, looking vaguely relieved, despite the fact that I was pretty sure she already knew I hadn't meant my declaration yesterday. The other redhead took a moment to slurp a bit of the Chinese takeout she was cradling in the pit of one arm, even as the arm's hand continued to click away on a nearby keyboard. She took a moment to finish the morsel, idly wiping her lips with the back of her hand when she finished before giving me one more cautious look. "Because if Shirou-tan was serious, that Matsu still has her back up plan…"

"Which absolutely won't be necessary," I hastily assured her, having already been informed that if I really was going to take up an oath of celibacy then Matsu wouldn't be above placing speakers in my room, waiting until I was asleep, and then broadcasting subliminal messages in order to weaken my resolve.

Actually, now that I think about it, it might be time to give my room a quick check just to see if said audio devices maybe weren't already installed…

"Still," Matsu giggled childishly, taking a sip of the wine that she had poured earlier. "Matsu is proud of Shirou-tan's progress! Just a few months ago, he wouldn't even watch porn, and now he's watching it with Matsu when all Matsu wanted was a quiet study date!"

"Matsu," I sighed, rubbing my head. "We're not watching porn."

I think I had been as surprised as the rest of the house when Matsu had announced that she was exercising her Friday prerogative to kidnap me away from the dinner table so that I could eat with her up in her room, just the two of us. I was even more surprised when she revealed that her grand plan for trying to date me like a human was for the two of us to have a 'working dinner', where just the two of us could cover some of the issues that needed to be addressed in a relaxed atmosphere.

Matsu had apparently put some effort into coming up with this, even going so far as to avoid the meal that Miya had cooked and order take out. I was a bit unsurprised by the bottle of wine that she had produced, but so far it looked like Matsu wasn't trying to make me drunk and was only drinking enough to relax herself. All said and done, we'd been at it for about an hour and despite my initial wariness I was actually starting to relax a bit, not just from my justifiable caution of being alone with the perverted hacker, but from some of the other things which had been stressing me for the last few days.

"Porn is when two people get naked and do naughty things to each other," Matsu reminded me, grinning as she did so. "And that is precisely what this is!" She tsked, shaking her head with dramatic sorrow. "And it's porn of yourself too! To think that Shirou-tan would expose innocent Matsu to something so depraved!"

"Matsu," I sighed, but decided to let the off colored teasing slide. Really. Innocent Matsu? Who would ever believe something like that? "You know why I'm doing this," I reminded her, and despite the light hearted air that the hacker had been trying to cultivate her expression slipped into something a bit more serious. With a small sigh, she tugged her glasses off, apparently done with the teasing and ready to be a bit more serious.

"Yes, Ashikabi-sama," she noted, dropping her normal speech patterns as she turned back to the screen we were watching. "I do." As though to emphasize her understanding, she unmuted the screen, un-pausing it so we could watch the entire scene.

"Number zero eight, Yume, the Sekirei of Destiny, blesses this union," the possessed Sekirei perched atop me in mid coitus announced on the screen, "Forever and ever."

"Right there," I pointed at the screen as Yume leaned forward to kiss me. "What is going on here?" It was a little disturbing to realize that Matsu really had cameras up all over the house, and even more disturbing to realize that she had literally recorded me having sex, but I was willing to look past that for now to focus on more important issues. Namely, just what the hell had happened yesterday. "Is that really a winging for Yume, or is it just Musubi receiving a Norito while being influenced?"

"I'm not certain," Matsu frowned, gnawing briefly on her lips as her fingers fluttered over various keyboards. On screens next to the one displaying Yume and I, various scrolling screens of data began to cycle at accelerated rates. I couldn't make heads or tails of them, not just because they were moving so fast but because I had no way of understanding what the data measured or meant, but Matsu's eyes started to flutter, a rapid series of near blinks which she tended to do whenever she was using her powers. "I'm sorry, but I've never even heard of something like this."

"Have you made any progress with the MBI databases?" I asked, watching as the screen showed Miya just as she interrupted the again Musubi and me, only for the screen to blank out, returning to an earlier point where Yume first began to speak. Matsu had already sectioned this particular time frame off, and had set it up to repeat while we tried to figure out what had happened. She even had several different perspectives of the event so we could focus on different angles in the hopes of finding something we missed earlier.

And the fact that so many of those perspectives existed, and the implication that Matsu had so many cameras in my room didn't even disturb me. Even when I took into account that they all seemed to focus directly on my bed.

Really. It didn't disturb me in the least.

"No," Matsu answered my earlier question, a small frown appearing on her face. "It's just like before: whatever information they have on the scrap numbers doesn't exist on the normal MBI database, not even the encrypted ones. There must be another database present somewhere, one which is suitably shielded. I'm sorry, Ashikabi-sama. I just can't find it." Matsu's frown let me know how much she disliked having to tell me that, and I sighed, grabbing another box of Chinese food.

"It's fine," I assured her, though my eyebrows were narrowed as I tried to dispassionately watch the screen showing me and Musubi in mid-congress, searching to find anything that I could possibly use. "But what is important is how MBI is managing to conceal information from you." The fact that MBI somehow had managed to evade even the skills of the Sekirei of Wisdom was a disquieting fact.

"It's not too unsurprising, Ashikabi-sama," Matsu reminded me, still in her serious mode. "I did work for MBI in the S-Guard," she used the older term for the unit now known as the Disciplinary Squad, back when it consisted of the first five awakened Sekirei, "so MBI is aware of my abilities. It wouldn't be unsurprising to say that much of what I have uncovered so far was not so much discovered as revealed to her on purpose."

"And that is even more disturbing," I muttered, grimacing at the thought that MBI has control over the information that we had taken from them.

Actually, all things considered, I actually felt a sliver of relief over that possibility too. Control of information was paramount for encounters like the Grail War, or the Sekirei Plan. The fact that MBI had deliberately left blanks in their database most likely indicated that they tactically acknowledged the use of hacking as an option in the Plan, but had limits to how much they were willing to allow the participants to use. Much of the Plan was treated like a game, after all, and the blank spots might indicate that MBI was willing to allow information gathering as a viable tactic for this game, but only insofar as it would be relevant to the Plan itself.

Then again, it could mean other things as well. Perhaps MBI had simply created a falsified database, one designed to feed hackers like Matsu or Kochou with wrong information, and they simply hadn't thought that subjects like scrapped numbers or terminated second generation Disciplinary Squad members was worth creating false information over.

Either way, it was an indication that any information we received from MBI's database was no longer reliable. The chance that it might be a red herring was just too great at this point. But at least this revelation had come now, rather than sometime in the future during an operation depending on MBI's data when things could go much worse.

"Is there some way for you to find the database?" I asked Matsu, switching my attention to her from the screen. "Maybe a Norito…?"

Surprisingly, I was cut off as the other red head began shaking her head immediately. It was a bit of a surprise to see the hacker willingly pass up a chance to kiss me, after all.

"It most likely wouldn't work," Matsu explained, closing her eyes in regret. "My powers are based on electromagnetic waves, and if MBI wanted to protect themselves from me then they would only need to find a location suitably shielded." Her lips pursed as she considered the scenario before she added on, "perhaps if I was physically close to the mainframes I might be able to do something, but even then if the shielding was significant enough it would have to be breached first."

I frowned, but surrendered the point. Matsu would know her own abilities best, after all. Still, the revelation about the nature of her powers was a bit of a surprise to me. I had never really thought too hard on just how Matsu managed to do what she did, but I suppose it had to have some sort of logical meaning to it. I guess I had always kind of attributed it to some mystic aspect, but then again I would have no idea what style of magecraft would be used to interact with modern electronics as easily as the hacker did.

"That aside," Matsu continued, settling back a bit on one of her cushions to sip at her wine. It was an unusually relaxed stance for her to take when she wasn't wearing her glasses or engaging in her usual childish antics. She gave me a curious look, an unusual expression in her serious persona, before continuing. "How about on your side of things, Shirou?" She nodded at the screen still repeating the few minutes where Yume had made her presence known. "Do you have any insight into this?"

"Well," I began slowly, knowing exactly what she meant when she said 'your side of things'. One of the other reasons that Matsu had set up this little indoor date was to satisfy her own curiosity, after all. And there was one very important thing that Matsu was curious about:

Magecraft.

"I can think of a few phenomenons which might explain something like this," I continued, nodding at our topic. "Mostly spiritual in nature."

"Spiritual?" it was Matsu's turn to purse her lips as she considered my words. Her eyes widened briefly as she apparently realized what I was saying. "As in ghosts?"

"There are several types of ghosts," I nodded at her guess. It was always somewhat surprising just how smart Matsu really was, and how those brains could lead to some incredible insights. "Technically, Heroic Spirits like in the Grail War count, but those are so rare that they can be ruled out."

Heroic Spirits could manifest outside of large scale engineered events like the Grail War, but usually as natural phenomenon. There were some cases of possession from Heroic Spirits, but those were usually only in relation to events which had some personal significance to their legend, like maybe a warrior fighting for a cause that the Heroic Spirit found sympathetic. Even then, those kinds of possessions were rare, and I doubted Yume could even qualify as a Heroic Spirit. Her legend just wasn't great enough for her to qualify for ascending to the Throne of Heroes, and I wasn't even certain that Sekirei could become Heroic Spirits. That meant most likely…

"It could have been a wraith," I continued, Matsu cocking her head to the side before tugging her keyboard closer as she began to continue the notes she had started earlier on Magecraft. "Those are lingering souls, but souls degenerate over time, and this Yume didn't seem like she had suffered any damage. An apparition is just the lingering memory that remains after death, and they're usually more like their original lives, but those generally don't last too long. For an apparition to have survived for years like this…"

I bit my lip, not wanting to say it out loud, or even sure if my logic was correct for that matter. I don't usually have much to do with ghosts or spirits, outside of an exorcism or two I had performed. But the only time an apparition could really linger is if they managed to possess someone, and they couldn't possess anyone with a strong will.

The underlying factor in this case was Musubi. I already knew she was distorted, and I knew what that meant. The question was, was her distortion enough to allow Yume to find purchase in her? Heck, all of this reasoning was based on human spirits, and human bodies. Did Sekirei even have souls or were capable of generating apparitions? The only report we had found about Yume's death spoke of the sacrifice of her core. Was that somehow relevant to this?

"I just don't know," I finally concluded, gritting my teeth a little at the confession. "Everything I know is based around humanity…"

"And Sekirei are not human," Matsu concluded, sipping her wine with a resigned expression. "So then, what will we do, Shirou?"

"What can I do?" I asked, feeling a bit of frustration rearing its head before I took a breath and forced myself to relax. Matsu noticed my small display of temper, but let it slide with a sympathetic look. "Maybe if I had access to some of the Mage Associations' resources, or even any other magi's research, maybe I could come up with a conclusion but as it is now I just don't know. There are a couple of things I could try, but they're all pretty extreme and if I could end up just making things worse."

"So in the end we treat this like we did Homura's case?" Matsu proposed. With a sigh I nodded, and Matsu nodded in return. "Then wait and hope it gets better on its own for now it is," she concluded.

It seemed like a callous decision to make. Hell, it WAS a callous decision to make. The problem was, just like I had said earlier, what can I do? Right now the Yume and Musubi problem was a problem, yes, but they weren't the only problem I had to deal with. I still had to locate and secure at least one more Jinki, preferably three though only one was absolutely necessary. Once I had the Jinki, I had to deal with my inability to be in visual range of the artifacts so that I could at least function while around them. Then I had to secure the necessary resources and supplies to escape Shin Tokyo, and most likely all of Japan, while simultaneously avoiding the Mage Association as well as MBI. I also had to determine a way to either safely hide the Jinki from MBI that wouldn't draw the Association's eyes to the artifacts, a possibility that left me shivering, or safely destroy the things in a way which wouldn't inadvertently trigger the very genocide that I was trying to avert.

It was cold, and it sent a small dagger through my heart, but this was the Path of the Shura, in the end. To measure the lives around me and determine the path which would allow the most to survive. I cared deeply for Musubi, but when weighed against the lives of potentially thousands, the many simply had priority over the few.

"Whatever happened, at least Musubi seems stable," Matsu continued, as though she had picked up on the dark turn my thoughts had taken. "We should be able to wait for now."

"Yeah, and I bet Hidaka-san thought the same thing when she first got sick, and look what happened to her," I pointed out, referring to the way the formerly sick girl's illness took so long to develop into a dangerous condition. Despite my still grim mood, Matsu's smile widened.

"Yes," she nodded, a sly tone in her voice, "in the end she made a complete recovery. Isn't that right, Emiya-sensei?"

"That doesn't count," I sighed, rubbing my forehead slightly as I tried and failed to suppress a blush. "And don't call me that," I added, chiding the hacker with a wry tone. "It's bad enough that I can't convince her to refer to me by my first name, much less that ridiculous title."

"But Emiya-sensei," Matsu protested innocently. "Someone in the medical field should be treated with the appropriate respect, remember?"

I sighed again, and got the distinct impression that I was pouting at the hacker's teasing. To cover it up, I took another sip of wine.

Yume wasn't the only thing we had talked about so far tonight. Honestly, considering the specifics of what Homura had undergone, his, now her circumstances had naturally been the first thing Matsu had brought up earlier. The nature of the conversation had been such that I had quickly changed the subject, but it had come up anyway. Besides that, Chiho had also been mentioned at some point.

I wasn't quite certain why, but I suppose it made sense in a twisted way, but somehow Chiho had come to the conclusion that I was some sort of doctor or something similar. I suppose the fact that I had admitted to being the one to have performed the 'procedure' that cured her might have helped with that, but still, I was in no way a trained medical professional. In the first place, I was far too young to have successfully graduated in that kind of profession. And for another thing, I kind of specialized, putting it bluntly, in hurting things rather than healing them. I was more like an anti-doctor than anything else.

Still, that didn't change the fact that even though it had only been about a day since Chiho had recovered, every single time we had interacted since then the younger girl had made sure to use the professional suffix of '-sensei' used for addressing doctors.

I was somewhat hoping it was a trend which would go away soon. Chiho had been rather busy for the last day or so. Uzume had been inseparable from her recovered Ashikabi, but there were still a number of things that the human had to do. Things like contacting her relatives, whom I wasn't even aware she still had, and replacing her wardrobe as well. I think the girl was just so overwhelmed with life outside of the hospital that she was in shock.

Hopefully once that shock wore off she would stop with the ridiculous title.

"Still, gossip wasn't the only reason I wanted you up here with me, Shirou," Matsu continued, still looking amused at my expense. I briefly wondered if this was going to be a lead up to some sort of seduction attempt from the lounging hacker, but instead she remained relaxed rather than becoming provocative. I felt my curiosity pique.

"So?" I prompted, wondering what Matsu was leading to.

"I was hoping that you might take the time to explain things a bit more to me about magecraft," Matsu explained, and I blinked not having expected that particular topic. "For so long it's always been you learning about us Sekirei," the hacker continued leaning forward a bit as she earnestly continued explaining her intentions for inviting me up to her room. "It only seems fair that it be my turn to attempt to do the same. If things really are so different for a magus, then maybe if I knew more about it, then I would be able to help you out with magi things!"

I was caught off guard by the sudden request, partly because I hadn't expected it, and partly because at no point in the speech had Matsu messed up any of the technical terms for magus related subjects. When she had mentioned that she had been curious about magecraft, I thought she had only meant it in a general sort of way, not in anything so specific like this.

I suppose it made sense, in a way, that the hacker would want this sort of thing. She had earlier made the resolution to try and meet me half way when it came to our different issues, and had been the only one among my Sekirei to even realize the massive gap between my profession and their species.

Then, my eyes narrowed as I realized something else.

"So," I began dryly. "In other words you want me to teach you, right?" Matsu nodded, her grin turning mischievous. "And since I'm going to be teaching you, that would make me your 'teacher' right?"

"Absolutely, Emiya-sensei!" Matsu chirped, referring to the other profession that used the '-sensei' suffix. I began to suspect that she might even try to get me to write the lessons down, seeing as authors were the final users of that particular title.

I sighed again, but even I couldn't resist the small smile that was forming. Still, all silliness aside, I was seriously considering the ramification of educating Matsu into the world of magecraft. It wouldn't technically speaking be illegal. She could probably pass as a mystic species, and even if she wasn't technically one she also could probably pass as a familiar as well. It wasn't against the rules of the Mage Association to reveal the secrets of Thaumaturgy to something that fell under both of those qualifications.

Not that I really had to worry about the Mage Associations approval, considering I was already on the run from them.

Besides that, there was one other reason that allowing Matsu to get further involved in Thaumaturgy was appealing to me.

To put it bluntly, as much as it might be embarrassing to admit, Matsu was a lot smarter than me.

The simple fact of the matter was, I'm just not good at conventional magecraft. I might have improved a lot since the Grail War, but that didn't change the fact that most of the improvement came at the expense of long hours of hair pulling on Rin's part. Right now, with so many different mysteries surrounding me like the nature of the Jinki and Yume's possession I doubted my fundamental ability to unravel them on my own. Even steering away from events focused around the Sekirei Plan, there were still more conventional magecraft problems that I hadn't had the time to begin researching on even if I knew where to start: I still had a bit of hope in unraveling the augmentation spells that the Fraga had used against me, and there was the rather disturbing ease with which I had performed magecraft which had been previously impossible to me when I had hypnotized Chiho a few days ago.

Basically, I was being overwhelmed, and I wasn't so proud that I wouldn't ask for help if I needed it. Matsu had already proven how smart she was, and her ability to research, identify, and correlate data was the very center of her own power. It would take me some time to build up her knowledge of the basics, but once she knew enough to begin working with…

Matsu had always held the most value strategically speaking in research. If that vast mind was turned to problems centered on Thaumaturgy, then my abilities as a Magus Killer would only rise as well.

"Alright," I capitulated to the patiently waiting Matsu. "Where do you want to start?"

Matsu's smile grew even wider.

*Scene Break*

"So magecraft is the utilization defined Thaumaturgical Theories which use pre-established systems that have been engraved on the world, which are enacted through the use of Aria in accordance with the magi's will and empowered through their oddic prana?" Matsu repeated dutifully, having flopped down on a set of her cushions so she could more easily toy with her glass of wine.

"Well, that's the basics of it," I added. At some point in the long conversation I too had assumed a prone position, my own glass of wine held close so I could sip it easily. Nearby, the bottle was quickly approaching empty. Actually, the first bottle had already been emptied completely, and Matsu had perhaps unsurprisingly been prepared with a second bottle as well.

So far, despite Matsu's brief summation, the conversation had been anything but short. Matsu had proven insatiable, and would often interrupt my lesson to leap on specific points which she wanted clarified.

So far, despite the somewhat meandering nature of Matsu's introduction to the world of magecraft, the lesson had proven to be rather fun, actually. The conversation had been lively, darting from topic to topic and with impromptu demonstrations and wildly improbable scenarios being proposed for the purpose of clarification.

"Maybe I should just take a page from Musubi's book and just admit I have no idea what you're talking about," Matsu murmured, grinning ruefully as she glanced up at me. "There's just so much to take in at once."

"Well, that's one of the reasons I've been wary of talking too much about it," I admitted, shrugging as I did so. For all the talking I had been doing, I found that I still hadn't grown bored or tired of the conversation.

I think the reason for that might be that this was the longest amount of time that I had ever seen Matsu without her glasses on. Matsu with her glasses tended to be playful, and degenerate into actions which strayed well over the line of sexual harassment. Conversely, Matsu without her glasses was focused, yet witty as well. Glassesless-Matsu was proving to be a mature and interesting person which seemed completely different from Glasses-Matsu. In a way, it almost felt like I was dealing with someone else entirely.

That isn't to say that I hadn't grown to enjoy spending time with Glasses-Matsu. For all her quirks, I had come to somewhat enjoy Matsu's cheerful albeit perverse persona. But Glassesless-Matsu's maturity was a bit easier to deal with in long doses.

"Maybe…" I hummed to myself, trying to find an easier analogy for explaining the nature of magecraft. As my eyes wandered briefly over the room, I found myself having an epiphany of sorts. "Think of it this way," I began, straightening a bit as I tried to find a way to explain my new approach to the hacker. "The world is a giant computer."

"Oh!" Matsu grinned, before pouring me some more wine. "This sounds much simpler. Go on ahead, Shirou." She rolled over onto her side, for once not seeming to use the motion as some seduction ploy.

"Right, the world is a computer, and magecraft is like executing a program." Matsu's endless lessons seemed a bit blurry at the moment, and I wondered just how much wine I had drunk. Actually, how long had these lessons been going on?

Bah. This was Matsu's date, after all. I shouldn't ruin it with small things like that.

"Thaumaturgical Theory is like the guts of the program itself," I waved briefly at one of the nearby screens with my cup for dramatic emphasis. "All the prompts and files which determine just what the program does. The Aria is like the execute file, the piece of the programming which actually causes it to launch."

"Well, that makes it so much simpler," Matsu nodded, and I nodded as the metaphor apparently struck home for the Sekirei. She paused for a moment, before pointing out one of the holes in the example that I had successfully ignored up to this point. "So then how does a magus' prana fit into this? And if it was just as simple as saying a few words, then wouldn't everyone be able to use magecraft?"

"Prana," I trailed off, trying to figure out how to work that in to a computer version of magecraft. "I suppose prana would be like processing power, maybe." I pursed my lips as I tried to work in that little bit. "If the magus doesn't have enough prana, or processing power, than they just can't use a program, no matter how hard they try. Actually, this is one of those parts where it's dangerous to the magus. If they attempt magecraft beyond their level, than they risk killing themselves."

"Kind of like if a user tries to install a program their computer can't handle they risk overheating their hardware?" Matsu interjected, and though I wasn't certain that was completely accurate, I decided to go with it.

"Like that," I nodded. "As for actually casting magecraft, that's kind of like having a program locked with a security code. Before a magus can use Thaumaturgy, they have to hypnotize themselves into believing that whatever they're about to do is possible. The more unusual the spell they're about to use, the more they have to force themselves to believe." I took another sip of my wine. "Even if they have enough prana, if they can't convince themselves that what they're trying to do can actually happen, than it just won't happen."

"Hypnosis?" Matsu repeated, parroting both my words and my movements as she sipped her wine too. "Is that all it takes?"

"Well, it's very important. That's part of what an Aria is for," I continued. "The words are used by the magus in order to convince themselves. That's why even if two magi are trying to use the same spell they might have completely different Aria. Also, sometimes a magus' Aria will change as they manage to find new ways to phrase the Aria that are more effective for convincing themselves."

"Hmmm," the hacker stroked her chin, and I got the impression that she was definitely starting to understand the lecture more fully. "And hypnosis itself is a type of magecraft as well? Uzume said something about you using it on Chiho-chan."

"Well, theoretically. I'm not that good at hypnosis," I corrected, before I paused, then let out a sigh. "Well, I wasn't. For some reason when I tried to use it on Hidaka-san, it actually worked. That never happened before."

"Wait, if it's just a matter of having the power and the mindset, than why wouldn't you be any good at it, Shirou-san?" Matsu queried, giving me a curious look. I shrugged in response.

"Why are some artists better at painting than sculpting?" I asked back, answering a question with a question. "Every individual has their own strengths and weakness, aspects of their personality which make them good at one thing but bad at another. For me, most conventional magecraft has always been beyond me. I've only ever been good at a few specific fields."

"Then why were you able to do it now?" Matsu asked, and judging from the set of her eyes it looked like she was getting intrigued by this strange occurrence too.

"That's another thing I have no idea about," I admitted. "Maybe if I had been practicing more, or if I had been putting some effort into my studies I might have been able to improve normally. But with the Sekirei Plan going on, and the fact that most of my research has been going towards other things, I have no idea why I would suddenly get so good at a previously impossible discipline." I grimaced, and my eyes lowered. "Actually," I confessed, "it's kind of worrying. People just don't spontaneously improve like that. There must be some reason for it, and the fact that I don't know it is kind of scary."

"Hmmm," Matsu hummed, and I looked up as she put one of her hands on mine to meet her reassuring gaze. "Well, if it helps, I think I might have an answer," she supplied slowly. I blinked, a little shocked by her announcement. I had thought that having Matsu onside with the magecraft aspect of things might help me get results, but for that gambit to pay off so soon?

"Well," it was my turn to give Matsu my undivided attention as I prompted her to continue. "Go on."

"If Shirou hasn't been making any particular effort to improve, than the only thing different between before and now is us," Matsu gestured at herself, "your Sekirei."

"What do you mean?" I cocked my head to the side, trying to understand how our contract, especially if it was meant as a marriage contract, would translate to me suddenly being able to hypnotize people.

"Well, all Sekirei are a little psychic," Matsu flopped back as she raised her glass to swirl the bit of wine left. "It's how we find our Ashikabi, after all. But after we find our Ashikabi, we're still psychic. I can't remember if anyone ever told you," she paused, giving me a curious and somewhat apologetic look as though only just realizing an oversight she hadn't considered, "but did anyone mention that the more Sekirei you wing, the stronger you become as an Ashikabi?"

"I think so," I muttered, trying to recall where I had heard that before. It was right after I had winged Homura, I believe, when I first called him to ask him about why Musubi was reacting to me. Matsu nodded, happy that I already knew what she was talking about.

"Well, that's because once a Sekirei is winged, their psychic power attunes with their Ashikabi," Matsu continued. "It's kind of like how sometimes computers in a network will donate processing power to a task being run on another computer on the network, like how normal people can hook up their computers to the SETI project to help look for aliens!" Matsu didn't even seem to realize how ironic her statement was as she used that particular example, growing more animated as she continued her explanation. "The more Sekirei an Ashikabi has, the more monitors the Ashikabi has, as the main computer in the network, and the greater its processing power. In return, when a Sekirei joins the network, they also get some of the feedback. It helps the Sekirei of the same Ashikabi act together, even if they're completely different from the other Sekirei before they get winged."

"That…" I trailed off, trying to wrap my mind around the idea Matsu was presenting. "That actually makes a lot of sense." I finally concluded.

My mind flashed back to a dozen different instances where my flock seemed to anticipate my movements or the movements of one of the other members of the flock without even seeming to realize it. All the times when Homura and I would answer in complete unison, or the times when one of my Sekirei would fall into step with each other, reacting as a single unit without any practice. Even the times when two different members of my flock would seem to unite in a single purpose without even realizing it, like when Tsukiumi and Musubi would inexplicably and suddenly agree to something without any previous warning, or when more recently Akitsu and Kazehana would do the same.

"Since magecraft depends on hypnotism," Matsu continued, picking up speed as she started justifying her theory, "then us Sekirei are most likely reinforcing Shirou-san's perception of the programs he's trying to execute," Matsu was a hacker, so it was no surprise to me when she started to slip into terminology she was more familiar with, "then it's like your security clearance being raised by a lot!" Matsu paused, apparently contemplating something specific. "Actually," she added, sounding bemused, "it's most likely because of Kusano that this is happening."

"Kuu-chan?" I asked, surprised by the hacker singling out the little girl as a specific cause. I knew Kuu was one of the Sekirei, but she so seldom actually used her powers that it was easy to overlook her alienness. Matsu nodded.

"Kuu-chan in particular is very strong psychically," Matsu elaborated. "In fact, she's probably the strongest of Sekirei, even more than me, in that way. If she was added on to your network…"

"I see," I murmured, and despite the improbability of it, it did make sense. Out of all the Sekirei, Kuu was the only one who had actively sought me out, after all. Even though I had never met her face to face, she had called to me when she was in trouble from across half the city, and the call had been strong enough for me to actually have visions, maybe even a technical seizure when it happened. If what Matsu was saying was true, then the innocent little sprite's power must be on another level than the rest of her species.

"Do you think being psychic might be the reason that Miya always seems to know when something is going on in Izumo?" I found myself asking, curiosity overcoming me as my mind wandered to the ramifications of this new revelation. Matsu gave me a dry look.

"Do you think magecraft might be how she makes those hannyas come out?" she countered, and I shook my head sternly.

"Magecraft can only enact natural phenomenon," I told her primly. "And there is nothing natural about those things!"

"Oh?" Matsu gave me a dry look. "Then how is it Shirou can do the same?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I assured her with great dignity. Matsu sighed, but it looked like when she brought her wine glass up she was doing so to disguise a smile at my denial.

"Still, what do you mean when you say magecraft can only 'enact natural phenomenon'?" the hacker seemed willing to ignore the white element which was Miya and mine little quirk, and instead focused back on the topic at hand.

"Well," I began, feeling a bit like Akitsu as I took a second after my initial words to compose my thoughts. "Since magecraft is just like a program, it can only do something which is compatible with the computer's operating system, the OS. So in effect, magecraft can only be used to do something which might occur naturally, though out of context. However, since the magecraft isn't natural, the OS naturally tries to correct it."

"So even if you can do something, you can't do it permanently," Matsu summed up, before she pursed her lips. "But just what is it you consider the OS?"

"Well, the OS is the planet itself, Earth," I explained. "The Earth itself is conscious, and governs certain natural laws."

"Wait," Matsu held up a hand, bringing the other up to massage her head with the base of her wine glass. "As in like 'metaphysically conscious' as in it exists as an ecosystem, or like 'actually sentient' where the planet is literally a thinking thing?"

"Literally sentient," I nodded, before continuing. "Technically speaking, there are actually two consciousnesses present in the Earth. The first is Gaia, which is the consciousness that focuses on preserving the will and life of the planet itself. The second is Alaya, which is the representation of the will of humanity."

"Hold on," Matsu brought her hand up again as she grimaced. "I'm starting to get confused again. Are you saying that not only is the Earth alive, but it has a split personality?" her voice sounded incredulous, and it looked like I was reaching even the ends of her ability to accept my knowledge.

"Yeah," I shrugged, not able to try and soften the blow. However improbable Matsu might find this, the bitter fact was that this was the truth. I even had solid, undeniable evidence of it. "The first consciousness, Gaia the will of the planet, is only concerned about preserving all life in general. Because of that, it frequently crushes anything that might disturb the balance of life. Unfortunately, more often than not that something is humanity. Gaia has even gone so far as to create a manifestation known as the Beast of Gaia, the White Beast, Primate Murder, in order to try and eliminate all human life on earth in order to preserve the planet's life."

"The Earth is alive, it has a split personality, and it's trying to kill everyone?" Matsu deadpanned, giving me a blank look. I favored her with a sardonic smile.

"Pretty much. Welcome to the world of Thaumaturgy, where everything including the planet itself is a potential way to die." It was a bit cynical, but as a Magus it was a fact I had accepted. Our magecraft might kill us, our experiments might kill us, and even the planet around us might kill us. The first rule of the magi was that to be a magus was to walk with death. It was a companion that I had grown accustomed to over my life.

"What about the other personality, Alaya?" Matsu prompted quickly, as though looking for some sort of inspiring information to counter my earlier grim revelation.

"Alaya is the will of humanity, inscribed on the world," I began my explanation. "There are just so many humans, all with beliefs and ideals of their own, that eventually the will of humanity itself grew so powerful that it was able to take on its own life. Not like the gods, who were the accumulation of humanity's beliefs, Alaya is the accumulation of humanity's will, its desire to live, grow, and prosper. Since a lot of times humanity's will is counter to the planet's will, Gaia and Alaya are often in direct opposition of each other."

"So the Earth is alive, it has a split personality, part of it wants to kill us, and at its base it's a buggy and counterproductive OS that has effectively already been hacked by a third party," Matsu summed up, looking at me cautiously. When I nodded, Matsu gave a small shiver, before suddenly reaching over and reclaiming her glasses. The moment they settled on her nose, the hacker seemed to relax, as though the physical change prompted a mental one as well. "Matsu thinks that this is all kind of scary, Shirou-tan," the hacker announced, before promptly crawling over from where she was lounging nearby until she could snuggle against my side. She pulled one of my arms around her, the one not holding my wine glass, and seemed to relax slightly at the contact. "This is better!"

I let the contact go by uncommented on. The truth of the matter was that this topic was frightening, at its core. Most people go their entire lives without thinking about these kinds of topics, and even if they did most of them didn't have all the information to truly comprehend just how precarious humanity's position on the planet was. It was mostly only the magi who truly knew the forces that enacted themselves regularly on our lives, who could understand just what was occurring behind the scene.

Maybe that too was one of the reason so many magi retreated into cold-bloodedness over time. Perhaps it was a way to counter the oppressive force of knowledge, to seek even more knowledge and wisdom in order to try and accumulate power enough to have some measure of security in this dangerous world.

We were silent for a few minutes after that, Matsu seemingly intent on digesting some of the revelations that she had received, and I was just content to sit for the time. It was with a bit of hesitation that I had to admit to myself that my contentment might result from the warm body pressed next to me. The revelation of Matsu's beauty hadn't been too long ago, all things considered, and the feel of figure pressed against me was distracting in a way I was becoming more comfortable with. I had already been intimate with two of my flock now, and regardless of the way both had turned out it was still a step towards me being more open physically with my flock.

The dam that had been holding me back from being with the females which had mated themselves to me had been breached, and without that initial hesitation it was getting easier and easier to think of myself being with the rest of my girls now. Matsu had never made any effort to conceal her interest in physical intimacies, and even though I knew that she was deliberately holding her back from seducing me, I think I knew that she would be receptive to advances.

Maybe it was the wine talking, or maybe it was that Matsu's new coy approach might be working, but I found myself thinking of the creature next to me, and wondering if it would be so wrong to lean down just a little until our lips met…

"Well," Matsu's voice interrupted my thoughts, and I realized that I had actually begun to make the trip down to kiss her. The hacker hadn't seemed to notice, focusing more on leaning against me while idly swishing the wine in her cup. I chided myself, forcing the previous train of thoughts away so I could focus instead on what the redhead was saying, but it was with a certain sense of irony as I wondered if Matsu even realized that she had just interrupted what would probably have led to one of her most eager desires unintentionally.

"Well?" I instead prompted, focusing on what whatever it was that Matsu wanted to address now. The redhead seemed to come back to herself, glancing up at me with a small smile. She snuggled closer before continuing, burrowing her head against my chest.

"Well, we've talked about programs, and operating systems," she began, listing the allegories that had already been called to play. "But what about hardware? If magecraft is like software, than what about the other part of a computer, Shirou-tan?"

It looked like Matsu had intended for the comment to be a way to change the subject, and I got the impression that she wasn't seriously expecting me to be able to extend my metaphor that far. Thus, she gave me a surprised look when I could answer back immediately.

"That would be the Akashic Record, the Root of Existence," I declared, taking my turn to stare pensively at my wine.

"Akashic Record?" Matsu repeated, her brow furrowing as she tasted the unfamiliar word.

"The Akashic Record, or the Root, is the absolute sum of all human knowledge and experience, past, present, and future," I explained. I wasn't quite certain where the actual word came from, and wondered briefly if Homura might be able to shed some light on it. She had known exactly what Thaumaturgy was, after all, even when I the magus had never actually known the strict definition of the word. "It's called the Root, because it is considered to be the wellspring of all existence, the first impulse of all aspects of creation. If anything were to be hardware, than the Akashic Record would be the hard drive of the computer."

"Then, how does the Akashic Record fit into magecraft?" Matsu prompted, still with furrowed brow as she tried to equate this new unfamiliar phenomenon with her gradually expanding framework of knowledge.

"The Root is the end goal of just about all modern Thaumaturgical research," I explained, downing the rest of my wine as I did so before precariously balancing the glass between my knees and reaching for the bottle to refill myself once more. I gestured with the wine towards Matsu, and she held her own cup up for a top off as well. "I mentioned that most magi are primarily concerned with research, not the practical use of their discoveries. That's because all their research is generally dedicated to being able to access the knowledge of the Akashic Record."

"Access?" Matsu repeated again, shifting so she could look up at me from where she was lounging comfortably on me. "What do you mean by that, Shirou-tan?"

"Access, as in being able to physically or metaphysically transporting themselves to the genuine physical location of the Root, thereby gaining access to all the records and accumulated knowledge of humanity, ever," I elaborated. "Nobody is actually certain where the Akashic record is, though it's most commonly theorized as being some sort of pseudo-parallel dimension. That doesn't seem likely, otherwise the Wizard Marshall would already have access to it. But the life goal of nearly all magi is to somehow be able to locate and access the Root."

"Generally?" Matsu asked, still looking up at me, watching me intently. "What about the rest? Are they Magus Killers like you, Shirou-tan?"

"Some of them," I nodded. "Others are just those who don't think they'll be able to access the Root in their lifetime, and are trying to set the groundwork for the next generation of their family to do it. Still more others just don't believe that the Root really exist, and focus instead on just expanding their own mysteries."

"It does sound pretty farfetched," Matsu nodded, sounding dubious. I didn't blame her. The concept of the Akashic Record was so vast, so unfathomably incomprehensible, that it did seem like a pipe dream. "What about you, Shirou-tan? Do you think it exists?"

"No," I shook my head, a bitter smile creeping up on me. "I know it exists. I've seen the proof of it. Akasha is real."

"Proof?" Matsu perked at the word, rolling a bit so she could fit her elbows slightly uncomfortably on my stomach and proper herself to look down at me. "What kind of proof? Have you been to the Root then?" It sounded like Matsu's curiosity was starting to perk again, and she seemed eager to hear about yet another obscure Thaumaturgical theory.

"No," I shook my head. "There have been a few people who might have reached the Root, but they never return and could simply be dead. If they are dead, then they found the same proof that I did. They met the Counter Guardians."

Matsu didn't bother to repeat any part of my dialogue this time, instead just giving me an impatiently curious look, and I sighed, knowing that her curiosity would only cause her to press more unless I elaborated. Idly, I flopped backwards so I could stare listlessly at the ceiling.

"This all goes back to the planet, more specifically to the Alaya aspect of it," I began. "Alaya represents the will of humanity. However, she is just the 'will' not the 'hope'. In the end, Alaya most often acts as an equalizer, striking back at actions which might negatively affect humanity as a whole, but sometimes it moves to stop positive effects as well.

"It has two tools that it uses to do this. The first is known as the Counter Force. The Counter Force is an invisible and undetectable factor which sometimes uses humans as a receptor, forcing them to take action against some factor causing destruction."

"What do you mean?" Matsu asked, staring down at me. I could make her out through the very bottom of my eyes, and I could see that she was chewing her lips in curiosity.

"Well, the most famous instance of the Counter Force was probably Joan of Arc," I told her. "She was just a peasant girl, no one of any education or training, and yet one day she just stood up, claimed that she had received divine guidance, and set about leading the French army to victory after victory. That's how the Counter Force acts for the most part. It finds the most appropriate person to act as its medium, and then compels and empowers them until they can successfully accomplish their necessary mission."

"That seems rather momentous," Matsu pointed out, still leaning on me.

"Well, it's probably the source of many Heroes," I shrugged. "They might have been a bit less obvious than Joan of Arc was, but many people over the centuries have accomplished amazing events which preserved the lives of many. It's nowhere near that obvious these days."

"Because the world is a safer place, nowadays," Matsu nodded, and I snorted, shaking my head in contradiction.

"No," I refuted her. "The world is far more dangerous these days than it was back then. Think about it. The only thing necessary to destroy the world is if some logging company gets too greedy and destroys too much of the rainforest for the world to properly change carbon dioxide back to oxygen. The Counter Force is probably more active than ever these days; it's just far less obvious. In order to counter a threat like that, all it needs is to inspire someone to be a lawyer and fight back against deforestation, or maybe make them an activist to rally support. There are probably dozens of ambassadors, lawyers, and protesters that are under the influence of the Counter Force throughout the world."

"Matsu is having trouble believing that," the hacker pointed out, pursing her lips again as she wrestled with the idea of some invisible force acting to prevent humanity's destruction. "If this Counter Force existed, then wouldn't it have already done something about the Sekirei Plan? With the Jinki, doesn't the plan threaten to endanger a lot of people too?"

"Well," I began, swishing my wine again. "The Counter Force is an aspect of the planet. It can only influence things and threats that are natural to the planet. Aliens like you Sekirei, as well as the Crimson Moon and the ORT can't be affected by the Counter Force directly." I threw back a gulp of the wine again, this time feeling pensive. "Besides, what makes you think that the Counter Force hasn't already intervened?"

I asked this last question slowly, unsure if I should voice one of the secret doubts that I had been harboring for a while, but beginning to speak about them anyway. Matsu gave me a surprised look, and I continued, still speaking slowly and quietly.

"I just happen to get kicked out of the Clock Tower, and just happen to decide to fly back through Shin Tokyo instead of any of the other airports. Once there, I just happen to find a hidden flaw in a new piece of technology that just happens to result in me being reunited with my long lost mother, which just happens to prompt me to stay in Shin Tokyo." The more I listed the coincidences, the more Matsu's eyes widened as she saw where I was going. "Then, despite my best efforts to avoid you Sekirei, not knowing what you were, after all, I end up coming across one who instantly reacts to me, and then another who just happens to be waiting in the park that I randomly decided to cross. Then, again and again I just happen to come across Sekirei, even moving into an inn filled with them, and so many of the Sekirei I just happen to react to just happen to be single numbers, some of the strongest of your kind."

I paused for another swig of wine before continuing. "Then, just by coincidence, you just so happen to have a Jinki, and Miya is nearby to explain their potential misuse. I just so happen to be the kind of guy who won't let that kind of thing occur, seeing as I've already had to fight against a genocide causing event in the past. And now I just happen to have the experience, the resources, and the desire to stop another genoicide from happening, even if it puts me in danger." I paused, before reaching the conclusion of my speculation. "No matter how you look at it, Matsu, that is a lot of coincidences."

It was an insidious train of logic, but one which wasn't without merit. If you spend too much time looking for the Counter Force in your life, than you might start seeing things that weren't really there, imagining the hand of some guiding power where there was none. But then again, most people don't lead lives like I had. They hadn't crawled from ashes and embers, been forged in brutal war, and sharpened in endless conflicts. They most certainly didn't keep finding themselves in the position to influence the very safety of the world.

But then again, if I used the argument of the Counter Force in my life, then just how far back did the influence go? My summoning of Saber was a fluke more than anything else. I had enacted no ritual, made no attempt to bring her forth, had only been trying to survive against Lancer's onslaught, and yet despite that she had been called. Immediately afterwards I had come across Rin, an enemy Master who should have taken advantage of my ignorance and killed me immediately but instead chose to educate me in the situation, and eventually even became my ally against the dark forces lingering in the Grail War.

So many coincidences, so much doubt; maybe it was the wine, but I found myself lingering in my existential debate over just how much of my life might have actually been me, and how much might have been the influence of an impersonal higher power.

And more than that, the dark thought lingered, did I really mind?

I had always wanted to be a hero. I had promised Kiritsugu that I would be. I had sworn to Archer that I would never have any regrets, and that I would someday be a hero, no matter that he had been living proof of what awaited me at the end of this road. And here I am, finding myself in just the situation where a hero is needed, the chance to fulfill my life long wish.

If the Counter Force was involved here, than should I maybe be grateful to it?

"Well, if it's because of the Counter Force that Shirou-tan is here, than Matsu is grateful for it!" the hacker declared, unconsciously echoing my thoughts as she flopped down on my stomach suddenly enough to make me grunt at the unexpected force before she wrapped her arms around me, gripping me in a tight hug as she buried her face in my chest again. "If Shirou-tan hadn't been here, than Matsu wouldn't have met him. Maybe Matsu is selfish, but if the world being in danger is what let her meet Shirou-tan, than she's glad the world was in danger in the first place!"

Despite her fierce words, I could sense her unease at the grim picture of causality that I had painted for her. There was no obvious sign of it, no shaking or other physical symptoms, so I wasn't quite certain how I knew she was unnerved, but I could tell. Maybe it was just some aspect of me being this creature's Ashikabi, her psychically bonded mate. Whatever the cause, I put my free hand up to rest on her head, trying to comfort her through contact. It seemed to work, and even though her arms gripping me tightened the rest of her body seemed to relax.

"You know," I began, and couldn't suppress a brief chuckle of surprise before I continued my confession, "I think I'm glad too."

Not just because of my own selfish desire for heroism, but because whatever the case was, it was thanks to me being here that I had met Matsu. Matsu, and Homura, and Akitsu, and Tsukiumi, and Musubi, and Kazehana, and Kuu. Even Miya, and Uzume, and Chiho. My mother, Takami, and my sister, Yukari.

All these people… How had Musubi put it, so long ago? The joy of the miracle of having met them?

It was strange, or maybe it wasn't strange, but I was glad to have come to Shin Tokyo.

"Good!" Matsu chirped, glancing up at me from beneath loos bangs to give me an impish look. "Because if Shirou-tan wasn't happy to have met Matsu, than Matsu would have had to tickle him!"

"Anything but that," I told her, and her grin widened before she finally rolled off of me so that she could cuddle back against my side again rather than lay on top of me.

"So is this the reason that Shirou-tan is so sure about the Akashic Record?" Matsu seemed eager to draw the attention back to the original topic, and if it was anyone else I would think that she was embarrassed about her impromptu display of affection. "Because of coincidences? If so, than Shirou-tan doesn't really have a very good case."

A bit of my good humor slipped at that. If Matsu was trying to avoid keeping the conversation from becoming heavy, than she should have probably let the whole thing go. There were more landmines in this topic than most world wars managed to use up.

"No," I shook my head, letting my smile fade. "It's not because of the Counter Force. It's because of Alaya's second tool, the Counter Guardians." Matsu apparently decided to not repeat anything in this declaration either, trusting me to continue in my own pace, and after a pause I did so. "Sometimes, the spirit of Alaya will approach people who have a strong wish. She will make a deal with them, granting them the power they need in order to accomplish their goals. But in return, after they die they become a form of Heroic Spirit, the Counter Guardians, and they have to serve Alaya's purpose forever afterwards."

"So they become like guardian angels or something?" Matsu concluded brightly, once more showing her ability to put together information in an unbelievably quick fashion. It was a pretty good guess, too, considering just what she was working with.

Unfortunately, she was wrong.

"No," I shook my head a small scowl forming. "The Counter Guardians act on Alaya's will, and Alaya's purpose is to preserve the will of humanity. The will of humanity isn't always in the best wishes of humanity. They guard against great changes or upheavals for the most part. A big part of their purpose is to guard against access to the Root. If someone ever were to get access to the Akashic Record, than there's no way of knowing how that much power would affect them, or what they would do with it. However, the other purpose of the Counter Guardians is to step in if the Counter Force fails."

"But how would the Counter Force fail?" Matsu once more frowned as she tried to make a conclusion that she just didn't have enough information to reach.

"The Counter Force can only direct and empower a host," I explained. "And it only gives them enough power for them to be an equal to whatever it is that they're working against. Even if it gives them a fighting chance against an otherwise overwhelming power, it still falls to the host to be able to find victory. And the host is only human, in the end. Sometimes humans fail. And if they do, than the Counter Guardians are deployed, and they do not fail. They simply remove whatever the threat is, all parts of it, without hesitation or mercy."

"You mean…" Matsu trailed off as she realized the true purpose of these so called 'guardian angels'.

"They kill everything," I nodded. "No matter how insignificant, if they're connected to the threat they remove it. If Joan of Arc is a good example of the Counter Force, than Pompeii is the best example of the Counter Guardians."

Pompeii, the famous Roman city which had been right next to the volcano Mount Vesuvius. The citizens of Pompeii hadn't ever had a chance to escape once the volcano had erupted. They had died almost instantly, before being buried under meters of ash and debris, the fallout being so fast that their entombment had left bodies encased in nearly perfect condition. Scientists had been able to fill the holes left after their bodies had decayed with plaster of Paris to create statues of citizens frozen in shock, or covering loved ones.

There weren't many records of what sort of mystical research was going on at Pompeii, but the Clock Tower had records that indicated its sister organization, Atlas, had once had its headquarters there. Considering what I knew of Atlas, the absolute destruction of the city and all its inhabitants was telling enough. Atlas was an organization which was dedicated to trying to prevent some distant apocalypse through endless experimenting. Much of that experimenting was dangerous, centered around events or phenomenon which might be involved in this theoretical end of the world.

It was said that if the seal on Atlas were ever to be broken, than the world would end a thousand times over. That seems like it had plenty of reasons for the Counter Guardians to get involved with the organization at one point in time.

"The Counter Guardians are empowered by Alaya to be specifically able to overwhelm whatever the threat is, and then they manifest as some form of natural disaster, whatever is most suitable for destroying all traces of the threat," I elaborated, a grim set to my mouth as I did so. "Like a surgeon, they cut out any trace of cancerous material, any piece that might someday continue the danger. And unlike the Counter Force which only gives enough power for the host to match the danger, the Counter Guardians are given enough power to destroy it without any chance of failure."

"A final solution," Matsu murmured, her own face grim as she learned yet another dangerous fact of the world around her. She took a sip of her own wine, and her frown deepened as her thoughts raced. "And how do the Counter Guardians prove that the Root exists?" she prompted, once more returning to her original train of thought. "More than that, how can you prove that any of this exists? The Counter Force, the Counter Guardians, even this Alaya?" she challenged me, giving me a serious look as she did so.

I didn't blame her. This was a lot to take on faith, after all.

"Because I've met one," I told directly. "I've come face to face with a Counter Guardian, and he told me what it is he does."

And tried to kill me for it, as well.

"Met one?" Matsu repeated, a hint of incredulity flitting in her tone. "But didn't you just say that they manifest as natural events? Then how did you…" her eyes widened, and she understood. "The Grail War."

"Exactly. Counter Guardians are a form of Heroic Spirit, after all," I confirmed. "And after the Grail had been destroyed in the Third War, various types of Heroic Spirits that shouldn't have been able to be summoned were called. The Counter Guardian I met was one of them."

"Which one then?" Matsu pressed, her eyes beginning to blink rapidly in what I recognized as a sign that she was using her powers to check something on her computers. "Cu Cuhlainn? Medea?" Her eyes narrowed. "Not Gilgamesh or Hercules," she muttered, and I realized that she had been doing some research into the legends that I had personally met. Then her eyes widened again, her blinking pausing. "The other one. The one you wouldn't mention before."

"Archer," I nodded, my scowl growing a bit at the thought of the twisted hero. Matsu seemed to realize my negative response to the Servant, and gave me a cautious look.

"Who were they?" she asked, sounding like she wanted the answer for equal parts attempting to comprehend the information I was providing and also simply because of curiosity. I debated for a moment whether or not I should answer, but in the end I couldn't think of any reason not to trust the hacker with this information. I had already trusted her with so much, and it would be foolish to hold back on this particular bit simply because of personal distaste.

Still, there was one thing I had to make sure of first.

"Promise you won't tell Homura," I asked, my scowl twisting into a bit of a grimace. If Homura had had trouble with the others Heroes, than this one in particular would be too much for her. Even if she was no longer being affected physically by her metamorphosis like she had been the last time we had talked about Heroic Spirits, this was still something which I didn't think the immensely practical fire user could deal with easily. If she had so much trouble with the Fourth Sorcery, than something like this…

"Oh! Matsu promises," the hacker seemed to think that whatever I was about to say would end up being a particularly juicy secret, and judging from the light that was awakening in her eyes she most likely anticipated something scandalous.

"Archer of the Fifth Grail War was the Heroic Spirit Counter Guardian, EMIYA," I told her. I rarely ever thought of Archer's name, preferring not to. That guy didn't qualify to have that name, not after what he did. Even when I had to refer to him by something other than title, I always thought of the name he used being spelled with katakana, the phonetic system used to write out foreign words in Japanese, rather than in kanji like I did with my name. It made sense to me, seeing as Archer was about as foreign as it came in regards to being 'Shirou Emiya'.

"Emiya?" Matsu repeated, the name being so unexpected that it actually took her a second to make the obvious connection. "Wait," Matsu declared, sitting bolt upright so she could stare at me in surprise. "You don't mean like 'Kiritsugu Emiya'?" she demanded, and I had a brief moment of surprise that she even knew my father's name.

"No," I said flatly. "Not that Emiya."

Matsu stared at me in shock, the improbability, no the sure impossibility of what I was saying even too much for her vast intelligence, so I set about explaining.

"When a person becomes a Heroic Spirit, they ascend to the Throne of Souls, a portion of the Akashic Record where all legends are stored," I elaborated, taking another swig of my wine and wondering if it always had tasted so bitter. "The Akashic Record is the recording of all of human history, past present and future simultaneously. If at some point in the future a person were to become a Heroic Spirit, than that record of them will simultaneously exist throughout all of reality, and could be called forth at any time period, even at a period which predated their legend, or even their birth."

"You," Matsu whispered, her glasses slipping a bit as she stared at me. "You were the final Heroic Spirit of the Grail War."

"No," I said firmly, my scowl growing. "Not me; an ascended future version of a series of possibilities which revolved around an entity which at one time was called 'Shirou Emiya'."

"Your future self actually went back in time and met you," Matsu continued, starting to gather speed as the idea drove itself home. "That's so cool!"

"That wasn't me," I repeated, my scowl even fiercer now. Matsu didn't seem to notice as she continued to digest the fantastic news I had delivered.

"Were you able to learn anything about the future, Shirou-tan?" Matsu demanded, before continuing without giving me time to answer. "Like what the stock market was going to do, or what kind of technology was going to develop? Oh!" her eyes lit up even more. "Maybe how the Sekirei plan would go, or how many children you were going to have! What did you talk about when you met yourself…"

"I said that wasn't me!" I snapped, my voice harsh and my anger at the repeated insinuation that I was identical to Archer. Matsu flinched, and I realized that I had sat up as well, having even grabbed her shoulder harshly to stop her at some point. When Matsu continued to flinch, I realized that not only had I seized her, but that I had unconsciously began to manifest my Asura.

Quickly, I snatched my hands away from the hacker, and closed my eyes, forcing myself to take deep breaths as I enforced calm through sheer force of will and the iron discipline of a magus. When I had regained a semblance of calm, I opened my eyes to find Matsu cringing slightly, watching me carefully.

"Archer was not me," I repeated again, this time more calmly, and Matsu relaxed slightly when she realized that whatever temper had set on me had passed. "That was an ascended pseudo-deific force of nature, that just so happened at one point to have had some connection to the name 'Shirou Emiya'. The moment it ascended, it stopped being 'Shirou' and became just 'EMIYA'. Archer was just one potential possibility of what I might have become, and now that I've seen him and know what he was like, it's a possibility that I refuse to ever achieve."

"Shirou-tan," Matsu murmured, giving me a cautious look. I realized that I probably hadn't calmed myself as much as I thought I had, either that or just talking about Archer was enough for me to start losing my temper again. I took another deep breath, and tried to reinforce my calm as best I could. Matsu seemed to identify my inner struggle, and gave me the time I needed to settle down again. When it looked as though I was more relaxed she cautiously ventured, "I guess future Shirou-tan might have been a jerk?"

It was a strange way of phrasing it, but I couldn't deny it. "He tried to kill me," I admitted. With a scowl I confessed, "and I tried to kill him. He deserved it."

"Can I ask why?" Matsu still seemed cautious, maintaining the distance she had put between us after I had revealed Archer's identity. "What happened, Shirou?"

I grimaced, but even if I didn't want to talk about it, the way Matsu had flinched away from me lingered. She hadn't deserved for me to take my distaste for that guy out on her. In fact, the strength of my reaction to even Archer's memory surprised me. With an angry grimace, I reached for the bottle of wine, refilling my only half empty glass before I took a long drink from it.

If I was going to talk about this, being a bit less sober would probably help out.

"He wasn't me," I repeated, feeling the need to restate that fact again before I continued, "but even if he wasn't, we were still a lot closer in nature than most people can ever get. Even with him as a Counter Guardian and me as a human, we were still connected in a way. Because of that, when we were too close for too long, I began to get glimpses, visions or dreams, of things that had happened to him. I saw bits of his life, and bits of the things that had happened to him after he had become a Counter Guardian.

"Archer had a life that traveled the Path of the Shura," I revealed, "a life of endless fighting for causes, of going into battle for others. People couldn't understand why he did it, why he fought like he did, and in the end they began to blame him for the conflicts that surrounded him. But he didn't care, and he kept on fighting in the name of his ideals. Finally, there came a day when the people he fought for betrayed him, and he died."

Matsu was staring at me raptly, and despite the fact that she hadn't removed her glasses I noticed it was more akin to the kind of look I would receive from Glassesless-Matsu than Glasses-Matsu. She seemed like she was about to say something, but then swallowed her words, instead content to continue listening to Archer's story.

"Before he died, Archer had found himself at the scene of a great disaster. When Alaya appeared to him, making him the offer of power for service, he took it willingly. He knew what he would do afterwards, and he welcomed it. For him, the thought of saving more lives even after his death was an incentive, a way to continue his work in death." My eyes narrowed, and I took another sip of the wine. I found myself flopping backwards, staring at the ceiling.

Maybe I had had a bit much, because despite my strong constitution I noted that the ceiling appeared to be spinning slightly. Well, even if I was drunk it wouldn't matter for long. With Avalon in me, the alcohol would be sorted out far faster than for anyone else. I must have drunk quite a lot to even have reached this point, overcoming both my body and Avalon's natural cleansing effect.

"Instead, Archer found that the only thing service to Alaya brought was endless killing. The Counter Guardians are only summoned when all other hopes have failed, when there is no other choice but destruction. Endlessly, from the Throne of Heroes, he was summoned to kill. He began to despair, to abandon hope, to give up on his ideals. Eventually, he only had the wish to cease to exist. It was that wish that brought him to the Grail War."

"To the Grail War, and to you," Matsu murmured, her razor intellect cutting right to the core of things. I nodded.

"Yes. He hoped that by killing me with his own hands a paradox strong enough to make even him cease to exist might occur. It was no wonder we got along so badly," I admitted, still scowling. "I couldn't stand the sight of him. He was someone who had done something unforgiveable, someone who didn't have the right to use the name 'Shirou Emiya'."

"If he lived such a life, it's no wonder," Matsu whispered her agreement, misunderstanding my distaste for Archer. I scowled further, shaking my head as I threw back more wine.

"It's not his life I couldn't stand," I disagreed. "In the end, he fought hard for his ideals. He might have killed many, but in the end he saved many hundreds more. Even his death wasn't something so terrible. Until the end, he continued with his ideals, and even if he was betrayed he stayed true to them. And his service in the Counter Guardians is nothing to be ashamed of. He might have done terrible things, but in the end it prevented even things far worse from happening."

"So he was a martyr then?" Matsu asked, and from the corner of my eyes I saw the way her eyebrows narrowed. It looked like Matsu was thinking hard about the story I was revealing, but even with her intellect brains she was having trouble digesting all of it. "Then why didn't you get along with him? What did he do that was unforgiveable?"

"He gave up!" I growled, the disgust I felt for Archer still strong, still fierce, even so many years later. "All his ideals, all his dreams, everything he fought endlessly for, everything that was him, and he turned his back on it! So what if they were fake or borrowed, so what if he felt they betrayed him! 'Shirou Emiya' would not give up on them, would never regret them! So because of that, he doesn't get to use that name. He doesn't get to be me, no matter what!"

The very thought was anathema to the existence which was 'Shirou Emiya'. The ideals which I harbored, imparted onto me that day in the flames when my father saved me, that dream to save others; so what if it was borrowed? Fake ideals for someone who was simply too enraptured by the endless and impossible dream of salvation, an ever distant utopia which could never truly be achieved. This ideal, to save everyone, it was impossible, a faith which prayed to a god which never existed and would never answer my calls to it.

So what?

Even if the ideal was false, if it was impossible, if I was simply borrowing it from someone who had already been crushed by it, even if it would someday crush me, I will never turn from it. I will never regret my dreams, my ideals; I will never turn my back on my aspirations to be a hero.

No, I don't want to be a hero. I WILL be a hero.

And if my ideals are fake, then so what? I was after all, to my core, a faker. There was no reason that a fake can't surpass the original, and similarly there was no reason that my labors may someday not end up in vain.

Even if I drown in my ideals and die, I will never regret them.

"Shirou-tan," Matsu's urgent voice pulled me back from my thoughts, and I glanced up to realize in surprise that the hacker had once more closed the distance, leaning over me. For a moment I was confused, wondering why she was so close so suddenly, and then I felt her touch on my hand. I glanced down and realized in surprise that at some point I had clenched my fist so hard that I had shattered the wine glass in my hand, driving small fragments of glass into the tender palm of my flesh.

"Oh," I said dumbly, coming back from my reaffirmation of my oath as I took in the sight of my bleeding flesh. "Oops."

"Shirou-tan," Matsu began, a touch of concern in her voice, but she stopped when I gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it," I told her sit up a bit so I could bring both my hands in front of me. With the uninjured hand I began to pick pieces of glass from my flesh, glancing around as I tried to find a place to put the shards where they wouldn't cut anyone else. "They'll be gone in an hour or so."

For some reason, my attempt at reassuring the hacker didn't seem to work. Matsu gave me a quick look, before turning away quickly, the expression on her face giving me pause for a moment.

Why did she look so sad? It was just a scratch, in the end. It would be gone in no time, and I wouldn't even have a scar from it once it was done.

"Is," Matsu began, and she paused, reaching up to rearrange her glasses out of sight, for a moment. They must have slipped while I was distracted, because her hand had to move back and forth against her face. When the hand came down, they looked suspiciously wet. I felt a moment of concern at the sight. Was she really that upset over the wine glass? It almost looked as though she was crying…

"Is that why Shirou-tan got in trouble with the other magi?" Matsu's continuation of her abbreviated earlier attempt kept me from asking the hacker about her hand. "Shirou-tan said that his special skill, a Reality Marble," Matsu hesitated a bit before repeating the unfamiliar phrase which she somehow managed to remember despite me only having mentioned it once before, "was really rare and dangerous to try and research. Was the reason that he managed to do it was because Shirou-tan met Archer?"

"In part," I nodded, realizing that Matsu was trying to change the subject, and letting her do so. "Archer might have been able to do so, and I might have seen how he had done it, but I am not Archer. I might have had the potential to accomplish the same things he had, but I don't have the experience of skill that it would take to use it properly. In the end, I managed to make accomplish a Reality Marble that was similar to his."

It was hard to tell, just how close my Reality Marble was to the one which Archer bore. There were differences there, yes, but many of them were seemingly cosmetic in nature. However, for something like a Reality Marble even cosmetic differences were important in nature. If a Reality Marble was the realization of an altered perspective, than if the perspective is different in even the slightest way than the changes could have drastic meaning. I might have made strides in my Reality Marble, but I still didn't know everything about it, and was still probably a long ways off from mastering it.

"So just what is a Reality Marble?" Matsu asked, still refusing to look at me. It seemed the sight of blood made her uncomfortable, and I remembered the way that my flock had reacted when I had listed some of my other injuries, or how Akitsu had acted when I had been injured by the Archibald. I would have to try harder not to be injured in front of my flock, I suppose.

"Well," I began, hesitating as I picked the last shard of glass from my palm. The wounds were lingering, probably a sign that Avalon had already set about working on my intoxication rather than my cuts. Looks like I wouldn't be this tipsy for much longer. Still, the other cause for my hesitation was in figuring out how to explain something as esoteric as 'the alien common sense which projects the users perspective onto the world and rewrites it using the world egg theory' to Matsu when she still was having trouble relating to some of the more general magecraft terminology.

"I suppose the best way to put it is that I use a different OS then the rest of the world," I finally decided on resorting back to the earlier metaphor we were using. The statement seemed to be enough to pull Matsu's eyes back to me, confusion evident there. She seemed like she was about to speak, and then paused and instead just waved her hand at me to continue. It looked like even though she was paying attention there were other things on her mind that she was still contemplating.

"Well, I mentioned before that Reality Marbles tended to only show up in gods, demons, or elementals," I reminded the redhead as I continued. "Basically, a Reality Marble is a perception of reality so different and so strong that the user operates under fundamentally different rules. Most of the time they only give the user peripheral benefits or abilities, but if the user invests enough energy into them they can temporarily alter the world around them to resemble their own internal view of it, creating a pseudo dimension running closely parallel to the current dimension."

"So Shirou-tan can make a whole other dimension if he needs to?" Matsu asked for clarification, her brow knitting. "That seems pretty unreal. If Shirou-tan can do something like this, than why isn't he considered a sorcerer? Matsu doesn't think that modern science can do something like that."

"Well, technically all the Reality Marble does is change the world, and that's pretty simple actually. Humanity changes the landscape or the environment all the time. It would take a lot of time, effort, and money to change the world completely to resemble what a Reality Marble projects, but it's still technically possible," I explained, relieved that Matsu seemed to be taking my explanation well. I did have to acknowledge her point, though. "Still, Reality Marbles are considered a magecraft close to sorcery."

"Then why does Shirou-tan keep saying that he's not close to being a sorcerer?" Matsu continued to pursue her argument, and I shrugged uncomfortably, propping myself back up on to my elbows.

"Because I still can't utilize all of my Reality Marble," I admitted. "I can use the peripheral abilities, but I still can't properly project my Marble onto the world itself. I either just don't have enough power, or I still haven't managed a powerful enough Aria. Either way, until I can do that, then I'm still not even close to that level."

"When was the last time you tried, Shirou-tan?" Matsu pointed out, leaning forward as her eyes came into sharp focus on me. "Have you done so since you winged any Sekirei?"

"Well, no," I admitted, recalling the last time that I had even attempted to delve into the higher levels of my Reality Marble. It had been during the fight with Archibald, and I had only drawn upon the Unlimited Blade Works enough to enhance my body. Then my eyes widened as I realized what Matsu was getting at. "Wait, you don't think…"

Working under the assumption that Sekirei helped the magus enact greater mysteries, then that brought to table the possibility that I might be able to finally fully conceptualize my Reality Marble.

"Matsu doesn't know everything about magecraft, but from what she does know, then maybe Shirou-tan might be closer to a sorcerer then he thought," the hacker nodded, still watching me with that same sharp focus she seemed to have developed. Despite the intensity of her look, her tone was still deliberately light hearted. "What do you think, Shirou-tan? Is it worth a try?"

"Maybe," I acknowledged, my eyes narrowing as my thoughts started to work quicker through the haze of the wine. "I would have to look into it…"

"Why don't you just give it a shot now?" Matsu prompted, and I turned my attention to her in curiosity. She cocked her head to the side, an innocent move that looked a little deliberate to my eyes. "Matsu would like to know."

"Right now?" I repeated, eyes narrowing. "But that could be a little much. It would be better to take a little time to try and experiment…"

"Ah," Matsu glanced to the side briefly, before giving me another smile. "Matsu usually likes experimenting, but Matsu has to admit to being a bit curious. She wants to see Shirou-tan's magecraft personally! Actually, Matsu thinks she needs to see it," she emphasized the word 'needs' with strange intensity. "She wants to see the whole process so she can understand better. Would it be alright, Shirou-tan?"

"Well," I began, her deliberate request making sense but still leaving me a bit uneasy. It would make sense that Matsu would want a visual demonstration to help her understand some of the topics we'd covered, but still, magecraft beyond one's capability could be dangerous.

"I guess I could try," I finally admitted. I had done some experimenting with Unlimited Blade Works before, after all, and back then nothing had gone horribly wrong. For the most part, I would just reach a certain point where I was unable to produce any more power and simply cease the incantation. If I needed to, I could simply alter the projection from the world to my body, like I had in the past, and then simply dismiss it as usual.

Actually, those experiments had been how I had discovered that I could project the Unlimited Blade Works into my body in the first place.

"Good!" Matsu chirped, still watching me like a hawk. She seemed really eager to get a firsthand experience with spell work.

"Alright," I nodded, before pushing myself all the way back to a kneeling position. "Now, my Aria is a little under a ten count, so the incantation will take a little bit. Don't interrupt me while I'm doing it," I instructed the hacker, closing my eyes as I prepared myself. Normally, the incantation itself was a fairly easy process. In fact, it could even be interrupted and resumed without any negative impact, an essential for utilizing it in combat, but since this was more of an experiment than anything else it would be better to direct more focus on the progress of the Aria as a whole than normal.

"Okay, Shirou-tan," Matsu agreed, sounding like she was moving back a bit further from me, most likely so she could take in the whole process better. "It looks like Matsu is going to see Shirou-tan's Norito first!"

I suppressed a snort, but found the comparison not entirely without merit. In relation to the Sekirei, this was the equivalent of my greatest attack. Heck, the first time I had done it I had even needed to contract to get enough power for it, in a fashion which wasn't entirely dissimilar to the winging process either.

Still, if I was going to try this, than I needed to focus.

With a deep breath, the hammer in my mind was brought back, not with the quick speed of a gunslinger but with the deliberate slowness of a marksman, and then released.

"My body is made of swords," I began, feeling oddic power as it began to surge through my circuits. "Iron is my blood, and glass is my heart."

I felt power began to spread through me, first in one, then two, then five of my circuits. I was carefully monitoring my power output, and so far nothing seemed out of place.

"I have crossed a thousand battle fields," I continued letting the words of my Aria soak into my consciousness. My chant had undergone a number of different changes over the years since I first spoke it, phrasing constantly being shifted and adjusted as I tried to find the proper words. This was the latest incarnation of it, the one that had proven to have had the most effect on my concentration. "Never once have I known defeat. Never once have I tasted victory."

Power in ten of my circuits, power in fifteen…

"Alone, on the hill of swords, I forge my steel." This was the furthest I had ever gotten into the Aria, barring the one time I completed it. My body was heating up as more power surged through me, my circuits increasing to their maximum output. There was the sixteenth circuit, then the last I was able to use at seventeen….

And then, with a shock of surprise so sudden I nearly lost my concentration, I found myself moving on to my eighteenth circuit. Then the nineteenth, the twentieth! Power continued to grow, almost intoxicating as I broke the barrier that had been holding me back, faster and faster as more of my previously dormant prana channels began to spring to life.

"If my life has no other meaning…" My twenty fifth circuit began to light up, a mental image of a circuit board coursing with electricity coming to me…

And using that mental image, it was easy to imagine what happened next as a short occurring.

A brief surge of fire going through my body was the only warning I received before a sharp piercing pain shot through my concentration. I grit my teeth, nearly biting my tongue as I suppressed a cry. The pain lingered, and then increased into the realm of agony.

Damn it! It looked like I still wasn't ready for this! If a magus tries magecraft beyond their ability, than they would pay for it. I struggled to hold on to my slipping concentration, forcing my way through the last line of my chant, already frantically shifting my focus from the world around me to just my body, ruthlessly cutting off some of my circuits so that their oddic power shunted away from my spell. The heat in my body grew yet again as my od surged dangerously wild, and I focused some of it away to Reinforce myself, both to diminish the heat as well as to let my body's endurance rise to deal with it.

"…Then it was to be: The Unlimited Blade Works!" I finished through a jaw clamped tight in pain.

Despite my agony, it seemed like I was in time to prevent myself from accidently giving myself a stroke or just flat out dying. I could feel the changes being wrought in me as my Reality Marble deployed within my flesh, but it looked like I wasn't going to be able to escape this experiment without some negative consequences. I grit my teeth even tighter as the unsteady nature of my deployment caused my blades to shift. It felt as though it was trying to expand, as though I was desperately forcing back a dam holding a vast river in check.

I was able to contain it, though not completely.

"Shirou-tan!" Matsu cried out, horror in her voice as I felt some of the blades manage to escape my control, forcing their way out of the boundary of my body with a noise not unlike tearing paper. My eyes cracked open to see the shock and fear in the hacker's eyes as blades began to pierce out of me like some sort of demonic porcupine. I took a deep breath, forcing myself to remain calm. I glanced down, and was relieved to see that I had managed to isolate the few incidents to just my left arm.

"Well," I muttered, ignoring the pain of having a half dozen swords spontaneously erupting between my elbow and my wrist. "It looks like I'm still not quite there yet." With a grimace, I rubbed the back of my head with my uninjured hand. "Maybe experimenting with advanced magecraft while drunk wasn't the best of ideas," I concluded.

"Not there yet?" Matsu snapped, frantically crawling towards me and reaching out to my maimed limb, before stopping with her hand outstretched, hesitation causing her to refrain from touching the blood stained steel. "Who cares about that! Are you alright, Shirou? If you knew it was going to be this dangerous, then you should have just refused!"

"It's fine, Matsu," I reassured my Sekirei, bringing my left arm up to study the effect. My mind idly noted that the six blades weren't Noble Phantasms, simply nameless blades that I had born witness to at some point in the past. None of them had anywhere near enough power to do me serious harm. "It's nothing that won't heal."

"Nothing that won't heal?" Matsu parroted, giving me an incredulous look as I brushed off the incident. "You have freaking swords sticking out of your arm! Is this what a Reality Marble is supposed to do? It's insane!"

"Well, no," I admitted, eyes losing focus as I briefly checked on the state of the Unlimited Blade Works. It looked like my Marble was steadily coming back under my control. My headache was still there, but it was diminishing quickly as I limited the amount of power I was utilizing. It didn't seem as though my prana use was approaching the danger area anymore as my circuits began to cool down, drifting from twenty five to only nineteen remaining in use. "This is a first," I continued, running one of the fingers of my free hand idly along the jagged edge of the sword near my elbow, "but considering how much progress I made, it looks like I'm a lot closer to being able to project the Unlimited Blade Works then I was. It will take some practice…"

"Practice?" Matsu snapped, finally seeming to realize she should be doing something besides staring with an outstretched hand. Frantically, she turned and scrambled away on all fours, stopping in front of a small nook that she began feeling around in. "If you keep practicing something like this you'll end up looking like swiss cheese! Just give me a second, I have some medical supplies here…" She gave another frantic look at my arm. "They should be enough until we get you to a hospital!"

"Well, some bandages would be nice," I admitted, still studying the blades. "If we don't have any then I'm going to get blood everywhere. But this won't need a hospital."

"You have swords sticking out of you and you claim you… don't…need…" Matsu trailed off, freezing as her eyes widened even further as slowly, the offending weapons began to shift, sinking backwards into my flesh. My eyelids fluttered as I concentrated on the steel, forcing them back into the Unlimited Blade Works and my body slowly as the Marble came back under my complete control. With one final glimmer in the dim light, the tip of the final blade sank all the way back in, disappearing from view and leaving my arm no longer adorned with the strangest piercings in history outside of a battlefield.

"There," I nodded, still maintaining the Unlimited Blade Works. The steel in my body would help slow the blood loss until the wounds would have a chance to heal up. Still, it looked like this shirt was going to be a lost cause, what with the new rips and the blood stains slowly spreading on it.

"That is…" Matsu trailed off, still frozen looking over her shoulder with her hand in the small alcove. "You…" she began again, her eyes moving from my arm to my face. She swallowed, and started again. "You don't even seem to notice," she finally finished, her voice soft as she stared at me.

"It's nothing worth getting upset about," I tried to reassure her, before realizing that just minutes after having promised myself that I would try to be better about not being injured in front of my flock I had gone and done something like this. With a grimace, I tried to decide if maybe moving my arm behind my back so that it would be out of sight until it healed would be appropriate, before deciding that might end up staining some of her pillows. Thinking quickly, I decided to just pull off my shirt and wrap it around the arm. It would help absorb the blood and keep it from staining.

"You don't even notice," Matsu whispered again as I tugged my shirt up over my head, blocking her from sight for a moment before I reemerged from beneath the obstructing cloth. Carefully, I tugged it down until it was wrapped around my arm properly, before I realized that Matsu was still frozen, staring at me, her eyes locked on my chest.

I remembered the scar there perhaps a bit late, and grimaced, trying to decide if using my arm to block it would leave me in a position which was a bit unmanly in nature.

"Ah," I glanced away, scolding myself for again showing Matsu something she didn't need to see. "Sorry about that," I told her.

Matsu was frozen a moment longer, and then a scowl appeared on her face. With a slightly violent motion, she finally pulled her hand free and revealed the bandages she had been trying to reach for before. "Shirou-tan is an idiot," she declared fiercely, still glaring at me and I shrank a little. "The biggest idiot to ever walk the planet."

Despite her angry words, when she approached me she seemed less enraged and more concerned. She was actually gentle as she began to tug at my shirt, pulling the impromptu bandage loose so she could begin wrapping my arm.

"Sorry," I apologized again, and this time when Matsu responded she looked up at me and I realized that the redhead looked resigned about something, as though she had come to a decision in the few moments when she had crossed the room to start bandaging me.

"But even if Shirou-tan is the most idiotic idiot to ever grace the halls of idiots, he's still Matsu's idiot," the redhead declared, giving me a fiercely possessive look as she did so. I swallowed briefly, a bit unnerved by the look from the usually more carefree hacker. I briefly worried if she was going to hit me again, like she had before when she declared me to be a fool. Instead, she just leaned forward, not even having made it half way through the attempt at bandaging before she abandoned the task so she could rest her forehead against my chest.

"Sorry," I felt like a broken record at this point, but I honestly couldn't think of what else to say. Helplessly, I tried resting my undamaged hand gently on her hair again, and the contact seemed to help Matsu relax once more. The hacker peeked up at me, our faces separated by only a half dozen inches or so, and once more the fierceness in her eyes unnerved me.

Despite the situation, I felt my breath catch as the lovely creature seemed to realize our proximity. Unlike last time, when she unintentionally interrupted me, this time Matsu seemed aware of where my thoughts had perhaps inappropriately gone.

Slowly, our face began to draw closer, and the heat of my circuits throughout my body was joined by another heat, metaphoric alarms starting to go off in my head as we closed…

When Matsu suddenly froze, I blinked in confusion before realizing that those alarms weren't metaphoric at all. I glanced up in surprise as air raid sirens continued to go off, the sound echoing as it emerged from what seemed to be multiple directions.

"What is that?" I muttered, my focus drifting away from the potential encounter, before Matsu suddenly stiffened, her eyes widening.

"The third match," she whispered, and it took a moment before my eyes widened too as I stiffened as well.

It seemed that the next fight of the Sekirei Plan had come, once more without me being prepared.

"Shirou-tan!" Matsu snapped, and this time there was no hesitation as I turned my attention to my hacker. "Your phone!"

"It's here," I began, glancing down at my pocket. For a second I thought that maybe I was going to be passed over as the phone was still quiet in my pocket…

And then, just as that thought processed, I felt my phone begin to ring while simultaneously vibrating in my pocket as it went off.

"Shirou-tan, quick," Matsu declared, ignoring propriety as she began to dig into my pocket herself in her haste to get the appliance free so we could determine if this was an invitation to battle or just a poorly timed attempt at telemarketing. Our proximity made the quest awkward as Matsu tried to pull the phone free.

"Shirou!" A new voice accompanied by the slamming of a door caused both of us to jerk, turning in reaction to find that Homura had joined us in the room, the fire user most likely having raced up the moment she had heard the alarm to check on whether or not we would be participating this time. "Do you have your… phone?"

At first, I had no idea why she had cut herself off, but when Homura's face began to redden in a blush, I suddenly realized how the scene might have looked: me shirtless, my wounds concealed out of her line of sight, Matsu pressing against my chest with her hand in my pocket…

"This isn't interesting at all!" Homura suddenly declared, before she hastily backed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

I sighed. I just never get any breaks with this kind of thing, do I?


	34. Thirty Fourth Wing

In Flight: Thirty Fourth Wing

_Author's notes: Well, as stated before, more time to write means for faster chapters._

_First off, responses to some reviews. A lot of either negative or positive responses to the last few chapters of info dumps. It's pretty much too be expected. For some people, the information is new and fresh, an interesting introduction to the Nasu-verse mechanics, whereas for others they already know it all and find it incredibly boring. There are also some who think that the interaction between characters more than makes up for the long wordy explanations, and others who would rather the story just get on with it already._

_Like I mentioned before, 33 was pretty much the last chapter of that kind of stuff, so hopefully 34 will be a breath of fresh air for you all!_

_Now, on to the spoiler section_

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_First off, Sekirei List. Nothing terribly new or exciting here. 104 and 105, Haihane and Benitsubasa finally make there appearance, but it's a bit more tame than in the Sekirei manga. Here there was no escape attempt, so no grudge match between the Musubi and Benitsubasa. Instead its more of a first meeting between the Disciplinary Squad and Shirou's flock, so naturally there was a bit more freedom in their interactions. Things get a bit tense, and then get a bit silly, and then get a bit tense again, followed shortly by more silly. I'm finding myself enjoying Haihane, though the blurb about Shirou getting nervous about their colors was just something I added in there for fun._

_Next off, number 16 and 18, Toyotama and Ichiya. They've already made their first appearance a while back, and thus the grudge match aspect of the third match just changes focus here. A lot has changed in the original Sekirei between the first time the two made their appearance and now, so I felt I should list a few of the differences, just so readers won't be too confused._

_Originally, 16 and 18 had no direct affiliation with Higa, it was just strongly implied that he was their Ashikabi. I took that opportunity way back when to go ahead and attribute them to Kakizaki, then in recent chapters, around 130ish, it was shown that they do belong directly to Higa. Also, though she doesn't show in this chapter, it has also been revealed that Kouchou actually belongs to Kakizaki rather than to Higa himself. That is a bit weird, because though I can't remember the exact chapter there is a point where Kakizaki mentions that he was only 'once' an Ashikabi, indicating that he had apparently lost his Sekirei at some unmentioned point. I had kind of assumed that it was most likely a display of loyalty to Higa, which was why the Ashikabi of the East trusted his secretary so much. _

_Also, on another side note, Kakizaki apparently has no first name, and since Shirou's profiles always had a first name, I made one up for him. Hence, Kensuke Kakizaki as I called him._

_So just to clarify, while it might be Higa/Toyotama/Ichiya and Kakizaki/Kouchou in the original Sekirei, In Flight is now officially divergent in that it is Higa/Kouchou and Kakizaki/Toyotama/Ichiya in In Flight._

_Hope that clears up some confusion for you all._

_Now, onto other scenes._

_The first scene in this chapter wasn't originally planned on, and I actually added it on after consideration for one reason: Tsukiumi. Many have noticed that the Water Sekirei hasn't really been getting much screen time outside of Izumo-antics, and I agreed with them. I needed to give a chance for the water user to show a little personality, and it occurred to me that putting a brief scene in that explored her reaction to the Musubi incident might offer a chance to let her develop a bit as a character too. I've decided what I'm going to do with her in the long run, so expect some more Tsukiumi front lining later on in the story as well._

_Next up, I'm gonna call some attention to Akitsu here. I've always tried to deliberately portray Akitsu as being overpowered, and was presented an opportunity to do just that here. Since she has like zero chance of ever having a Norito in canon, I pretty much had free reign with her abilities. Her Norito chant was something I came up with on the spot, but seemed appropriate for her. Her attack chant on the other hand, well, if you don't recognize it, you fail at harem trivia. Go on. Take a guess where it comes from. I'm virtually stealing it line for line, as well as the results!_

_As for her ability itself, I tried to think of something which would be powerful, yes, but also something which would have a little bit of originality to it. I decided that broaching a bit onto Nasu mechanics might give her a unique Norito. Her territory creation was thus loosely inspired by Paradox Spiral, and those of you who know the movie or book should be able to see where her inspiration came from._

_And finally, the final fight between Shirou, Toyotama, and Ichiya. _

_Once more, just like with the Fraga, I was aiming at something of a deliberate dissonance here. Sekirei battles have always tended to be polite, formal, and lacking in real bloodshed and pain. What I wanted here was for two Sekirei who obviously have achieved a level which makes them inappropriate for the Sekirei Plan meeting someone who never once considered a straight up battle to be a fair one. I wanted this fight to be a bloody, vicious, knock down in the dirt type brawl. I wanted it to be something so different from what everyone familiar with the Sekirei Plan was accustomed too that no one would be able to see it without being affected by it. _

_And this is foreshadowing, but I literally mean No One. Just wait for the next chapter, and you'll see what I mean._

_Actually, one last confession. This chapter and 35 are once more originally planned to be the same chapter that just grew too long, and thus the ending for 34 is a bit abrupt, but 35 should pick up right after it. Since I'm still house ridden and recovering from my surgery, I hope to be able to get right down on 35 and pump it out pretty quickly._

_*Spoiler End*_

_So, here it is. If you just want to give a brief blurb over an impression or just shout something out, feel free to leave a review. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, there will be a thread over on the forums for the chapter._

_And as always, dear reader, enjoy._

*Story Start*

The Capital Central Junction: a multi-level over pass system which comprises of no less than four major highways that happen to intersect very close to the center of Shin Tokyo. At its tallest point, it reached nearly twelve stories high, and was a confusing interwoven web of connections and off shoots, exits and mergers. It had taken constructed in tandem with the rest of the city, and managed somehow to interweave around and even through several of the nearby structures. From above it was impossible to even see the true ground beneath the many webs.

It made for an intriguing battleground, as chosen by MBI to be the location of the third match of the third stage of the Sekirei Plan. It more or less allowed for all three dimensions to be used, especially to the prodigious jumping strength that Sekirei possessed. Even for the Ashikabi, the numerous connecting passes allowed for the normally earthbound humans to try to maneuver themselves above or below enemy combatants, that is if they could manage to navigate the labyrinthine nature of the confusing junction.

More than that, the concealing nature of the multiple levels allowed for combat to commence out of sight of any observing satellites which might be attempting to spy down on the combatants.

All said and done, it was a tricky battleground. However, while I might end up finding myself in a disadvantageous location, it was just as possible that it would be the enemy that would be the one finding themselves outmaneuvered.

I guess a lot of it would depend on just who had been elected to fight against me and my flock.

Still, even as my mind did its best to prepare itself with endless mental simulations it looked like my flock had their own concerns that they didn't hesitate to voice.

"Shirou!" Tsukiumi fumed, crossing her arms as she leveled her customary 'tsun' glare at me. "I still don't see why we have to come in from the ground level! Wouldn't it be better to come from above?"

"It's fine, Tsukiumi," I reassured the water user, still focusing on the destination before us as the small group the two of us were part of continued to make our way towards the elected battleground. "There are advantages to both above and below, but for now we'll be walking, not jumping."

"Oh, Shirou-kun is always like this," Kazehana dismissed, grinning happily as she continued to stroll beside me, hands behind her head and her posture as relaxed as if we were just walking through a park. "Is lover-kun afraid of heights?"

"Not of heights," I corrected. "But the result of heights. An overlooking view can be a dangerous thing."

Tsukiumi snorted again, and the heat of her glare increased as she continued to stare me down. "If you think that any of us would let you fall, then you are mistaken! As your wife and concubines…"

"Me being the wife, and Panty-Flasher-Chan being the concubine!" Kazehana interrupted skipping gently as she did so. If I hadn't been in combat mode, than I would have had trouble not blushing at the movement. With her hands up like that she was already in a position which displayed her considerable talents rather prominently. With the additional up and down movements something already a bit dangerous definitely switched into Dangerous territory.

"The order is reversed!" Tsukiumi snapped, whipping her finger out to point at her competition for the title of 'True Wife', a move which caused Kazehana to smirk and just skip a little higher. I realized that even in combat mode the move was enough to draw my eye, and the Wind Sekirei smirked, causing me to realize that she had caught that moment of weakness as well.

"Ah," it was Akitsu who broke in then, and just like me the other two Sekirei all paused, turning to patiently wait for the snow woman to conclude her statement. It was another moment of eerie synchronicity that Matsu had finally managed to explain with her 'Kuu-chan Theory', and I had a strange moment of vertigo wondering if it was because I was directly influencing the two that they were willing to be patient for Akitsu's sake.

"I am not a concubine," Akitsu concluded. "I am a sex slave." I sighed at the particularly satisfied tone that Akitsu somehow managed to convey, and found myself once more wondering if she was being serious, or if this was yet another sign of Akitsu's slowly developing sense of humor.

"That is even less appropriate!" Tsukiumi growled, whirling her finger around to jab at the snow woman behind me. Akitsu didn't respond in any other way to the gesture, simply following me like normal, the ever present clink of her chain as soothingly background to me as the beating of my own heart at this point.

"Teasing aside," Kazehana chose that moment to interrupt the frivolity with a brief touch of sincerity, her teasing expression sliding into something a little more cautious. "Are you sure about coming in from below, Shirou-kun? If another Sekirei does start above us, they'll have the advantage."

"Only if they have some sort of element," I reminded her. "If it's a weapon user, they'll have to come to us, and if they do that by jumping…" I trailed off, a small smirk coming to my lips. I absolutely love it when an enemy is foolish enough to leap at me. So many openings. "And even if it is an elemental user, all three of you are powerful users yourselves. The chances of them being able to overpower you are slim. The best way they could get us is through an ambush, and that will be harder than they think." I tapped my nose indicating my own ability to sense incoming Sekirei from a decent range.

"It's still a risk," Kazehana noted, and judging from the tone of her voice, it seemed that she was drawing from her own experience in combat. For all her flirtatiousness, this was a lady who had ended the lives of hundreds. "You'll be at quite the disadvantage."

"That's fine," I let myself settle back into combat mode, one hand coming up to trace the tip of Kanshou where it rested wrapped in cloth against my back, the hilt pushing up over my shoulder. I had traced my two favored blades earlier in the safety of Izumo House. It was likely that MBI would have the battle area as wired as the last two battle fields had been, and I didn't want any cameras to catch me using obvious magecraft in their presence. I had wrapped them into a cloth bundle, just like I had before we had gone to search for Tsukiumi so long before. "I'm used to disadvantageous positions."

I suppose Kazehana had never seen me fight, after all. If she had asked Homura what the fire user thought of my abilities perhaps she would have a better idea of just what my entire sword style was based off of.

"Ah," once more Kazehana, Tsukiumi, and I all turned to give Akitsu our attention. I noticed that the ice user had apparently taken a half step closer to me, and had her hands just slightly raised as though she had started to reach out to something before she stopped for some reason. "Never mind," she finished a moment later, her hands settling back to her side as she regained the distance between the two of us.

I raised an eyebrow, a little confused by her enigmatic actions. Just what was going through her mind right now?

"Advantage or disadvantage isn't important!" Tsukiumi snapped, stomping her foot as she did so, once more returning to glare at me. "This entire plan is foolish! Shirou, wouldn't it be better to just call this whole thing off, and go about this the proper way? If it's a fight that is needed…"

"Tsukiumi," I cut her off, meeting her angry stare with my calm one. "This isn't about the Sekirei Plan. It's not about fighting. You know what it's about…"

When the text first came through about my participation in the third match, it had been cause enough to hold an impromptu strategy session. The text had only listed the place where the match would take place, the number of Sekirei that I would be allowed to bring, and that the match would be a battle royale. The fact that the number was 'three' was something of an eyebrow raiser, considering that most Ashikabi only had one Sekirei to their name. That there was enough to give me some suspicion about what this match would contain.

However, even as I had been prepared to go contemplate the implications, the rest of the gathered aliens had a different question in mind: namely, which of the three would be accompanying me.

When I had told them my original intentions, there had been quite a few upset girls in the room with me, so I had had to adjust my plans. Still, I had been planning for this match since the very moment the truth of the Jinki had been revealed to me. Even with minor adjustments, I still had several key goals in mind for the upcoming battle.

And just winning was actually pretty low on the list of important victories that I needed from this fight.

Even as I tried to continue to repeat my arguments, Tsukiumi cut me off impatiently. "I do not care one whit about the Sekirei Plan!" the water user declared, actually surprising me with her claim. "What I'm concerned about is the danger you'll be placing yourself in!" Tsukiumi's eyes turned to narrow in Akitsu's direction. "And the roles you have chosen for us as well! Shirou, shouldn't it be me, the strongest of Sekirei, and not her who…"

"I will not fail my Ashikabi," Akitsu declared, her expression unchanging even as she forwent her usual pause. While her words were mild, and her posture unchanged, the very fact that she had interrupted so directly was a fairly good sign that even Akitsu could get territorial when someone tried to horn in on her chosen or appointed tasks.

"I already explained just why I chose Akitsu, and both you and Kazehana," I reminded Tsukiumi, even as I tried to subtly put myself between the water and ice users. The moments before the onset of battle were not the best of times for group dynamics to turn sour. It had been one of the things which had made me so nervous when I first began to unintentionally gather such a large crowd of different minded people to me, and though for the most parts things have settled I was still wary of how tense our situation could be.

"I know," Tsukiumi ground out, but then some of the aggression seemed to leave her. She folded her arms, still tense though not as high strung as she had been a moment ago. "I just don't like the way you keep choosing the others first," she finally confessed, her stare moving to the side as she shifted her glare to the scenery.

I grimaced, even in full combat mode at her confession. It looks like this wasn't just about the upcoming conflict.

It was no secret that out of all my flock, Tsukiumi and Musubi seemed to be the ones who got along best together. Even with the strange rivalry over who was the proper wife of the duo and who was the concubine, it wasn't a strange sight to see the both of them spending most of their free time together.

Though there group baths among my flock were fairly common, it didn't mean everyone always bathed together all the time. Sometimes the six girls would stagger who would bathe with who, like the way Akitsu and Kazehana had tended to start going together before the rest, or the way Kuu would sometimes go with Miya instead of any of the rest of my girls. Homura also tended to bathe alone, but considering her circumstances her own bathing situation was pretty complicated. However, despite the variation it was almost always that Tsukiumi and Musubi would go in together, just as it was likely that the two of them would be working together while doing house work, or even just relaxing together while watching the television. The two of them had somehow become very good, albeit strange friends.

And now, well, not only had I had sex with Musubi, but Tsukiumi had walked in on it at the end.

If we had all been humans living normal lives, that right there would be the kind of thing which would almost certainly have not only ended any kind of relationship between myself and Tsukiumi, but most likely would have also ended the friendship between the two girls as well. It was the kind of thing which most counted as a betrayal of the highest sort.

Well, most of the time that would have been the case. If Rin had walked in on me and Saber, than I guess it was most likely that she would have just jumped into the mix herself. Sometimes she could be a little perverted like that, despite her usual snobbish nature. Conversely, if it had been Saber who would have walked in on Rin and I, than the king would have most likely tried to excuse herself and make an excuse to leave to give the two of us time to finish up before Rin would simply drag her into it, the swordswoman protesting ineffectively all the while.

Actually, both of those events had happened in the past. I guess Rin might have been a bit more than just a little perverted when it came down to it. But that really wasn't important right now.

In this situation though, both Musubi and Tsukiumi weren't human in the end. They were both members of a species which knew they had the potential to end up mated to a partner that might have others of their kind with them. Even from the beginning, despite the initial resistance Tsukiumi had to sharing me with the others, the water user had seemed to not so much resign herself to the inevitability as she had simply encompassed the concept of me having sex with others into a specific conceptual framework. When she had argued with Kazehana right after the Wind Sekirei joined my flock it hadn't been over whether the two of us would ever have a honeymoon, but rather the order in which the honey moon would occur, after all.

However, despite Tsukiumi's stated desire to be with me, in the end it had been Musubi who had managed to be with me first. It wasn't anything we had planned on, me literally having been asleep when it started, but it still came down to Musubi having beaten Tsukiumi to the goal and it must be immensely upsetting to the water user.

Despite that, Tsukiumi hadn't really shown much of a reaction besides an increase in her general grumpiness. There had been no screaming or shouting, no attempts at physical violence. Even the usual arguing between the two rivals hadn't shown much of a change. It had barely been twenty four hours since Musubi and I had been together, and even in that short of a time the water user had seemed to have returned to a normal daily routine.

It was almost disturbing, how well the Sekirei adapted to the complicated interplay in a relationship which involved so many partners. But even with how she had been acting, I should have suspected something like that would linger.

"Tsukiumi," I repeated, this time my voice firmer, and the upset tsundere turned her head slightly so she could glance at me from the corner of her eyes. "It's not that I'm choosing one over the other," I tried to explain to her, to reassure her that it wasn't my intention to pick favorites. "It's just a matter of the right person for the right task. I need you to do what I asked, because you're the only one I can trust for it. It's the kind of thing that I can't rely on Musubi, or Kuu, or even Homura for. I need you, Tsukiumi. Can you do this for me?"

I wished I could do more for the haughty water user. I didn't like the idea that I might be overlooking her, and even if she seemed particularly well adjusted to the strange events we had found ourselves in I also didn't like the fact that I seemed to overlook the proud Sekirei. Even if the relationship situation I had inadvertently found myself in was absurd, it didn't change the fact that it was a relationship nonetheless. I didn't want to be the kind of guy who played favorites, or made one of the others feel left out.

But regardless of how much it made me feel like scum, it didn't change the fact that the four of us were going into a very real battle, one which might just affect not only the future of the Sekirei Plan, but all of my plans as well, and maybe even the fate of an entire species. Right now the only thing I could do was try to confirm to Tsukiumi that I needed her, and that I trusted her.

It wasn't much, but after a searching look that lasted a moment, it seemed like I had succeeded. Tsukiumi flushed slightly, before straightening out her posture, sniffing as she did so, closing her eyes as she turned her nose up at me.

"Of course!" she snapped at me, answering my question. "Foolish monkey! Who do you think I am? I am Tsukiumi, the number zero nine, the strongest of the Sekirei!" She gave me a direct, challenging look as she finished up. "There is no way I will fail to support my husband in his time of need!"

"Thank you, darling," I told her, using the customary word 'tsuma', the phrase used by a husband to address their wives, and Tsukiumi flushed again slightly, swiftly turning her head to the side. She wasn't quick enough for me not to catch the small smile which formed at my use of the word.

"Well," Kazehana spoke up, and I glanced over to find her still skipping along, not looking at all phased by the way the conversation had turned despite the implications of it. If anything, she seemed to be smiling a little wider, a hint of enjoyment in her features as she took in the interplay. "Lovey-dovey stuff aside, we're almost there."

"Yes," I nodded, dragging my focus back to the upcoming conflict, one hand tracing down to the hilt of Bakuya where it sat opposite its dark twin, the white sword's hilt pushing down just below my hip. It was an instinctive move to check my draw before combat, but once again just as I finished it a small flurry of movement caught my eye and drew my attention back to Akitsu. Again, the snow woman had apparently moved a half step closer, hands again stopping before they properly reached out to me. I blinked, finally deciding to voice my curiosity over her response.

"Is there something wrong, Akitsu?" I asked, wondering if maybe the snow woman was nervous at the chance of oncoming conflict. It didn't seem likely that the unflappable Sekirei would be so affected by the soon to arrive conflict, but then again she had been changing slowly, especially ever since she had gained her wings.

"Ah," Akitsu hummed again, once more drooping as I turned my attention to her. She seemed disappointed about something, but beyond that I found I couldn't tell just what the snow woman was thinking. "It's nothing."

"Shirou," Tsukiumi snapped, causing me to glance at her to find her once more composed as she glared at me. "It's inappropriate for an Ashikabi not to pay better attention to their Sekirei's feelings! Hurry up and give your slave your swords!"

"Give my what my whats?" I repeated, blinking in surprise even in combat mode. It was not just so much the outlandishness of the order, to surrender my swords right before I go into battle which managed to raise my confusion, but the very fact that Tsukiumi had just deliberately used the word 'slave' in conjunction with Akitsu, despite the water user's earlier denial of the title.

"It's shameful for a man not to recognize a woman's feelings!" Tsukiumi stomped again, apparently not even seeing the incongruity between her earlier statement and her current orders. "If you can't even read your slave's heart, than how will you ever be able to understand your wife's!"

"Ah?" I honestly couldn't find a way to properly express my puzzlement at how letting Akitsu' carry my sword in any way reflected my heart, before I glanced back at Akitsu as if the normally silent Sekirei might suddenly break character and have some explanation for the unexpected demands only to pause. Rather than her usual unflappable calm, Akitsu's eyes had tracked a bit to the side, and a small blush had risen on her cheeks.

"You… want to carry my swords for me?" I actually paused in incredulity at the bizarre desire, and blinked in even further surprise when Akitsu hesitated a moment before giving me a brief nod.

"Every girl likes to hold something that their loved ones give them, Lover-kun," Kazehana chimed in, her smile growing even wider as she twirled in a circle. "Ah, for that chance to hold a present from their beloved close to their chest…" the wind user let loose a girlish little squeal as she brought her hands together over her chest. "It's so romantic!" she gushed, "I want to hold your swords close to my bosoms as well, Shirou-kun!"

"Is that so?" I asked, scratching my head in puzzlement as I was informed of the romantic overtones of holding another's weapons for them until they were needed.

It didn't quite seem to make sense to me, but for some reason all three of my Sekirei nodded in unison, though Akitsu's was a bit more abbreviated than that of Tsukiumi and Kazehana's.

"Um," I tried, before shrugging and succumbing to the inevitable. "In that case, please take good care of them until I need them." I had been securing the bundled blades to my back with a piece of shoe string secured around my arm, so it only took a moment to shrug the impromptu sling off so that I could offer the swords to the snow woman. Akitsu hesitated, and then stepped close enough to receive the offered parcel, gently bringing the blades to her body and cradling them as though they were an infant to her chest. Her eyes closed briefly as she smiled slightly in satisfaction, before she opened them and resumed her position behind me and to my left.

"Thank you, Shirou-sama," Akitsu finally whispered, using my name for the first time in what must have been weeks at this point rather than my title.

"You're welcome," I told her, feeling completely lost at the interaction. "Just stay close so I can reach them if I need them. For some reason, Akitsu's blush grew even further as she shuffled almost hesitantly to obey my orders, stopping within arm's reach of me.

"Oh, I'm so jealous!" Kazehana declared, though despite her words she was still twirling about happily. "Next time I get to be the one who holds them, Sexy-Panty-chan!"

"Hmph," Tsukiumi simply snorted, leveling a narrowed eyed glare at the blushing snow woman, somehow seeming upset despite the fact that it was she herself who had suggested the plan.

I decided right about then that I would never understand women, or alien creatures shaped exactly like women for that matter.

"Alright," I declared, trying to put this whole disturbing scene behind me so I could focus on the upcoming bloodshed. "We're almost there. Kazehana, Tsukiumi. Are you ready?"

"Of course, Lover-kun/Shirou," the response from the both of them was instant, the two speaking almost as one except for their chosen form of address. Without another word, the two of them departed, Kazehana departing in mid twirl while trailing girlish giggles and Tsukiumi simply leaping straight up with an angry grunt.

Once the two of them were out of sight, I turned to continue forward, Akitsu maintaining her distance as she followed.

It was time to put this plan into motion.

*Scene End*

I had heard of the phrase 'fog of war' before, and knew well what it meant. It was used to describe the lack of knowledge that tends to permeate places of battle and war. The inability to see one one's allies are doing, of not knowing the enemies position, ignorance of the battlefields geography, all of these were elements of the phrase.

However, when Akitsu and I arrived at the Central Junction, 'fog of war' had a whole new and slightly annoying meaning.

"Just how many fog machines did he have set up for this?" I murmured, glancing around the thick billowing vapors that clouded most of even the enormous out door junction from sight and filled the air with a physical smell that reminded me of cheap raves and poorly thought out home parties.

I had said the words softly, more to myself than anyone else, so I was a mite bit surprised when just a few moments later, I found my thoughts being echoed from a much higher purchase.

"Bah!" a feminine voice laced with outrage declared loudly, cutting through the somewhat muffled silence of the fog filled junction. "The Director even added smoke? He's enjoying himself way too much!"

"The intersections are… blocked off from both ends," a second female joined the conversation. It was a much calmer, lower toned voice, and it paused at irregular moments. I found it reminding me much of the way Akitsu liked to gather her thoughts mid-sentence.

"So what? What is he thinking? Is he an idiot?" the first voice demanded. A third voice, this one a deeper tenor of a male pitched in.

"Maybe he just wants to show off how powerful MBI is?" this new speaker chimed in, sounding thoughtful. He paused a moment, and then continued, with a carefree air. "Well, I'm sure I don't care what the Director is thinking. We have our orders, so why don't we just enjoy ourselves?"

"Yes!" the first voice chimed in instantly, and I could nearly hear an emoted heart icon in her voice as the previously disgruntled tone changed to something much more breathless and overly cheerful. "Of course, Natsuo-san!" Then, in a change just as quick, it continued in a much more blood thirsty pitch. "I wonder who came here to die?"

It wasn't much to work with, just from the voices in the fog, but even if I couldn't quite locate them I could at least point myself in the right direction. However it was that MBI had filled such a large area with dramatic smoke, in an open area like this maintaining the haze was next to impossible. Even as it began to disperse I was able to make out the silhouettes of what was most likely my opponents. I could only make out three shapes, rather than there being a fourth one present that merely disliked to speak up, but that wasn't much for me to go on at the moment. I let my eyes close briefly, inhaling deeply in order to reinforce my ability to sense Sekirei.

There were multiple scents in the air, a jumble which should have lent to a confusing mess, but since I wasn't really smelling them it only took me a moment to separate the individual impressions.

Besides my own flock, the two most prominent were the ones which I took to be the speakers, who were becoming more and more clear to me as the haze dispersed. The first scent was weird, but strangely familiar. It had a low tang to it, a metallic overtone that took me a second to identify. It reminded me oddly of a wet stone doused well with oil. It was too general a feel for me to make many assumptions from, so I focused instead on the second. This one was a little more complex. Much like with Miya, I found that the scent itself had no physical equal, nothing that I could readily relate to with anything I had actually smelt. Instead, after a few moments to let my mind try to make a connection the best I could come up with was 'obsession'. It was an equally useless impression when it came to identifying either the Sekirei or their ability.

However, it was while I was so carefully analyzing what was most likely my opponent, that I manage to make out a third scent. It was faint, maybe because of distance or some other factor, and I only caught it for a moment, but I was able to identify it instantly:

Blood.

I only knew two Sekirei who carried that feel to them, and when I added in the name that the obsessive one had so carelessly dropped….

"Natsuo Ichinomiya," I announced, my voice strong enough to carry through the wide space. I could make out a sound of startlement from the obsessive Sekirei. "Clerk in the pharmaceutical department of MBI, and elected head of the Disciplinary Squad." My eyes finally managed to make out the male figure of the three, casually leaning against a wall high up on one of the pedestrian crosswalks which littered the intersection. In tried and true Sekirei fashion, it looked like this particular group had decided to try and stake the high ground as early as possible.

My eyes shifted to the other two as I continued my declaration.

"Number one oh four," I continued, focusing on the shape which reminded me of a whet stone. "Haihane, the Blue Sekirei." Maybe it was just me, but I found any entity which held the title 'Blue' in its name to be particularly ominous. At this point I was able to make out the shape which I most suspected to be number one oh four, and then I shifted my gaze to the other one. "Number one oh five, Benitsubasa, the Red Sekirei." A much less disturbing color on the magus scale, though still one to be wary of. "Current members of the Disciplinary Squad, third generation, of the organization formally known as the 'S-guard', alongside the number zero four, Karasuba."

"Eh?" the one I finally managed to make out as Benitsubasa gave a disbelieving noise as she leaned forward, peering towards where Akitsu and I were standing. It looked like she was having just as much trouble with the fog as we were. "Who the hell said that?"

Benitsubasa was a rather young looking example of her species, which was no surprise considering the lateness of her number. Wearing a vaguely kimono like shirt with only one sleeve and what appeared to be a set of biker shorts, spandex like lower garments designed to allow for flexibility while preserving modesty. She had long strawberry blonde hair which was being held back by two hair pins in some kind of flower design. She scowled as she glared down, one hand coming up to shield her gaze as though to help her vision in some way despite the dark and obscuring mist.

"One of the other… participants?" the other member of the Disciplinary Squad present pointed out, in a tone that seemed to indicate the conclusion should have been obvious.

Haihane was a rather gloomy looking Sekirei, appearing a bit more mature than her companion, but still looking rather young. The Blue Sekirei was also in a dark kimono, though it looked as though it was a great deal more ragged and longer than Benitsubasa's well-kept outfit. Besides the scruffy kimono Haihane seemed to be wrapped in an endless amount of bandages for some reason, and adorning her neck was a thick collar like that I would expect to find on a particularly vicious dog. The Blue Sekirei was slumped, hands nearly dragging across the ground in a way which emphasized the enormous dagger like claws that seemed to be her weapon.

Despite their odd appearance, these two formed the core of the current Disciplinary Squad. While Karasuba was a powerful and experienced Sekirei, according to records the Black Sekirei rarely actually got involved in any action carried out by the squad, usually only being tapped whenever a target for the squad had caused outright physical harm to the uninvolved populace. Whenever it came to a Sekirei trying to escape or some other offense that went against the Plan it was these two that were used, and so far their record spoke for itself about their effectiveness.

"Goodness," the final and only human member of the squad joined in, blinking in surprise. Natsuo Ichinomiya was a rather carefree looking gentleman, with features nearly as fine as Homura's had been before the fire user had been physically altered to actually be as feminine as she used to appear. The MBI pharmaceutical clerk looked as though he'd be right at home in a host club as well, and even his suit was well tailored and added to the image of a slim, good looking man. "It seems we're famous!"

"Oh course, Natsuo! Anyone as good looking as you should be worshipped!" Benitsubasa chimed in, turning to give her Ashikabi an adoring look. While addressing her chosen Ashikabi, she looked like she was nothing more than an excited girl with an obvious crush. However, the moment she finished her gushing she turned back to face the two of us, her expression instantly shifting to a glare. "Now, who the hell are you two?"

It looked like I had managed to single out just which of the two was responsible for the 'obsession' in the air.

"Well," I began, dryly, "I was the one who sent you a fruit basket."

"Eh?" Benitsubasa chimed in again, sounding like a scornful girl as she pulled back. "Wait, you're that weirdo?"

"Oh!" Natsuo chirped up, pushing off the wall so he could approach the railing that the Red Sekirei was leaning over. "Is that Emiya-san?" His expression brightened when he finally identified me. With a smile so wide it caused his eyes to close, he began to wave cheerfully, as though we were just two old friends who had caught sight of each other from across a park or something. "Hello! Thank you very much for the gift! It was quite delicious."

Somewhat bemused by the carefree greeting, I bowed back. "It's no problem," I informed him politely. "I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work."

Honestly, this wasn't quite the way I had envisioned our first meeting. Natsuo's profile might have revealed a great deal about his personal and professional life, but it didn't do much to illustrate his personality. It seemed odd to have someone so cheerful be in charge of such an important and ominous task force.

"Oh, it's so nice to have someone appreciate our efforts," Natsuo declared, beaming at me as he bowed back.

"Wait," Benitsubasa's glare at me sharpened, her arms folding as she drew back her head like she had smelt something particularly nasty. "You mean this is the weirdo that Karasuba's been all gaga over?"

"Heh," Haihane chimed in, the grim looking Sekirei raising a claw so she could dutifully join her Ashikabi in waving at me. "I kinda like him… He has good taste in fruit." Despite her ominous appearance and dark tone, the bandaged Sekirei seemed like a rather cheerful sort as well.

"Speaking of Karasuba," I began, eyes drifting closed for a moment. The scent of blood which heralded the walking genocide was thin, so faint that it might have been my imagination. "Will she be joining us tonight?"

"Oh, no," Natsuo smiled apologetically. With a small shrug, he raised his arms as though to dismiss the absence of his most powerful asset. "She's in a bit of trouble, ever since she went a little wild while visiting an Ashikabi recently," he confided in me, and a small smile broke over my expression.

"Well," I could imagine just which Ashikabi he was referring to. "It looks like I owe her those apple tarts after all." Natsuo blinked, not understanding my reference, and I realized I was being rude. "Oh, yes. Is there any particular type of baked good you all like? I'd hate to leave you all out."

"Baked goods?" Benitsubasa demanded, looking at me incredulously. "What the hell are you talking about? Why would you…" It looked like the younger girl was going to go on, but then she was interrupted as her fellow Sekirei spoke up, not appearing at all confused by my sudden change in topic.

"Oh! I want… banana nut muffins." Haihane declared slowly, one hand coming up to rest a finger on her chin as though in thought. Well, that was what the movement began like, but the other Sekirei apparently forgot about the four inch long dagger like claws she was wearing. The sharpened steel effortlessly sank into her soft flesh, and a spurt of blood followed almost immediately.

"Uhhh!" the blood Sekirei began to flail about comically, looking as though she was trying to staunch the flow while simultaneously remembering that putting her fingers to the task would only make it worse. I blinked in surprise, not sure if I should make an offer to help the bleeding Sekirei or if I should just take note of her preferences for future reference.

"I suppose a pineapple upside down cake would be nice," Natsuo also seemed to be getting on the bandwagon as well, completely ignoring the antics of the Blue Sekirei as though they were commonplace, before he blinked as Benitsubasa gently but insistently put herself between the two of us.

"You stay away from Natsuo!" she declared, folding her arms and sending me a look which let me know just how much she didn't like me. I was momentarily puzzled by the insistent display of hostility, before I remembered what Karasuba had informed me of out of hand about her Ashikabi's preferences.

I really hope that the other human wasn't taking this as flirting.

"Don't mind… the washboard," Haihane informed me, one hand coming up to cover a smirk, apparently dismissing the still bleeding wound on her face without a second thought. I began to wonder just how common self-inflicted wounds were to the strange female. "She wants… strawberry shortcake."

"I am not a washboard!" Benitsubasa screeched, hands shifting up to cover her chest protectively. "Besides, Natsuo doesn't like vulgar breasts!"

"Natsuo… doesn't like breasts at all," Haihane started to shake slightly, and I realized that the gloomy looking Sekirei was laughing.

"That's not true!" Benitsubasa stomped angrily, and I noted academically the way the entire pedestrian route shook slightly at the move. That seemed to be a good hint as to the nature of the Red Sekirei's power. "He just needs time to adjust!"

"Now, now," Natsuo was still smiling, not looking at all put out upon by the antics of his flock. "We're being rude to Emiya-san!" The smile he turned at me was so disarming that I had trouble not smiling back. Regardless of his position and even knowing his preferences, I couldn't help but liking the guy slightly. If I had to have someone in a position of authority like his, I would vastly prefer the kind of person Natsuo was turning out to be than someone like Kiriei had been.

"Still," Natsuo continued, his smile fading to something more restrained as he peered at me. "I'm beginning to see why Karasuba seems so fond of you! You're an interesting person, Emiya-san."

"Fond?" Benitsubasa repeated incredulously, frowning as she shifted from a defensive position to put her hands on her hips as she gave a disbelieving look at her Ashikabi. "She practically has a shrine to this weirdo," she declared, giving me a disdainful look. "What's up with all that junk she keeps piling up? I mean, a dinner plate, a crappy knife, and now that useless scrap? What's up with that?"

I blinked, trying to correlate the idea that Karasuba of all people was apparently fond enough of me for even his Ashikabi and fellow flock to have noticed. Actually, even the idea of Karasuba of all people being fond of anyone was a little offsetting. "Oh," I muttered, still trying to wrap my mind around the idea. "Those were the things I tried to kill her with," I explained off hand.

"Tried to kill her with?" Benitsubasa parroted, gawking at me after I gave my explanation. "Seriously?" Even Natsuo seemed put off by my confession, one eyebrow raising in surprise as he looked confused. Haihane on the other hand seemed to find my confession amusing, and began shaking even harder, still covering her mouth with a clawed glove as she did so.

"I like..him," the Blue Sekirei noted. "He has an easy going nature… just like you, Natsuo."

"None of that matters!" Benitsubasa declared, finally seeming to have enough of the casual banter. With violent motions, she brought one fist into the palm of her hand, cracking her knuckle as she did so. Her expression once more shifted to a more bloodthirsty one as she grinned sadistically down at me. "He just came here to die, anyway!"

"Indeed," I nodded, agreeing with the violent Sekirei's declaration in part. "It will be a shame to have to kill you all right after we were introduced, but that's just the way it is sometimes."

My casual claim of their upcoming demise was so diffident that it seemed to take a second for the claim to penetrate the other Sekirei's state of mind. When it did, Benitsubasa actually blinked, gaping at me as I announced my intention to end all of their lives. It looked like she wasn't used to being on the opposite side of death threats. Still, even as she sputtered in rage, I paused, my so far polite expression shifting into battle mode.

There. A new scent of power. No. Not one. Two of them.

And they were familiar.

"It seems that at least one more participant has arrived," I announced, sniffing as I tried to narrow down their location. It felt as though they were together, and growing closer. They were approaching slowly enough for me to finally locate them. Turning, I greeted them even before their shapes were discernible in the mist. "It has been a while. Kensuke Kakizaki, Secretary to the Ashikabi of the East. Number sixteen, Toyotama. Number eighteen, Ichiya."

"Indeed," Kakizaki greeted, his voice sounding hard as he strode into sight, hand already up and adjusting his glasses as he appeared. It had been a while since I had last encountered this one, and it looked like he had made great strides sense the last time we had met. For one thing, he wasn't cowering. It looked as though the secretary had managed to recover a bit of his previous arrogance, his posture once more condescending as he posed in his expensive suit. However, unlike last time, he definitely had a note of caution in his pose as well.

Kakizaki, more than any other Ashikabi in the Sekirei Plan, knew exactly what I was capable or, after all.

On the other hand, his two Sekirei seemed almost excited to see me again. Toyotama and Ichiya both glanced at each other, tiny grins beginning to form on their lips as they met each other's gaze before they both turned back to look at me, and solely me. The lancer casually began to twirl her spear, the red weapon appearing like a bloody disc in her hand at its speed, and the harlequin idly tapped the toe of one of her feet on the ground as she twisted the ankle as though to warm herself up. I noted that the leg she was flexing was the same one I had nearly cut off, and took that as a sign that whatever medical treatment Ichiya had received it had apparently been enough for her to recover if not all than a significant amount of her mobility.

Despite myself, I found a smile of my own growing at the sight of the two. When I noted Benitsubasa pull back as though startled at my expression, I realized that the smile was not a pleasant one at all.

It looked like those two were exited at the chance of a rematch. And despite my goals, and my intention to remain dispassionate at the upcoming battle, I discovered a bit too my surprise that I too was looking forward to this.

"I had known that MBI tended to play favorites," Kakizaki's voice pulled me from my unexpected bloodlust, and I glanced away toward the Ashikabi, my smile fading back into a dispassionate expression. "I suppose that this proves it. To see the Disciplinary Squad falling so low as to accept bribes…" the secretary snorted disdainfully, adjusting his glasses in a move that spoke of well-practiced arrogance. His eyes tracked to Akitsu, the superior smile of his once more showing condescension. "That MBI would even allow something like that to participate." He snorted. "So much for the Director's vaunted impartiality."

"What did you say?" Benitsubasa switched her glare from me to the other Ashikabi with such ease that I suspected 'rampant bloodlust' was most likely the girl's most common expression and not one solely reserved for me.

"You know," I chose that moment to interrupt, giving Kakizaki a measuring look, ignoring his accusations. "I expected someone else to be arriving for this match. Considering how unsubtle MBI was with the first match, I honestly thought Higa of the East would be the one standing before me."

"Ah," and now Natsuo was the one to speak up, looking slightly embarrassed as he joined the conversation between Ashikabi. With a rueful grin the clerk rubbed the back of his head as he continued. "The Director originally had it planned that way," he didn't even bother to conceal that MBI had been deliberately choosing the great powers of Shin Tokyo for the matches, "but after Karasuba's unauthorized actions it was decided to allow Higa to elect a representative in this battle in order to maintain impartiality."

It was such a blunt and yet subtle statement that it actually left me wondering just how much of Natsuo's carefree nature was genuine and how much of it was affected to hide a more cunning intellect. In one statement the very head of the Disciplinary Squad and elected representative of MBI at this meeting had both confirmed that MBI was deliberately going out of its way to arrange the conflicts that took place in the Sekirei Plan, while simultaneously admitting that it was willing to allow advantages to the players in this so called 'game' that it felt it had slighted.

On the other hand, the overt statement seemed to set Kakizaki back. Judging from the secretary's previous action, he had most likely been attempting to sow the seeds of discord, to perhaps use the events that were about to take place in some sort of overreaching ploy. It wouldn't be the first time that the East had used misinformation to try and manipulate other members of the Plan. After our first encounter the East had deliberately attempted to draw other Ashikabi into direct conflict with me in order to try and weaken my flock without directly engaging it. Judging from the way Kakizaki's accusations had been phrased, it was most likely that they had been attempting to do the same again, this time by making it seem like MBI and myself were in some sort of secret collusion, thus putting the rest of the watching Ashikabi against the two of us directly.

In light of that, Natsuo's casual confirmation of the claim as well as the stated actions allowed in recompense had actually done more to undermine Kakizaki's ploy than any denial might have.

"And yet that doesn't change the fact that MBI has continued to allow their own rules to be casually violated," Kakizaki continued after a moment of consideration. Once more, the secretary's glare turned not to me, but to the snow woman at my back. Akitsu didn't seem to react to the harsh look, once more nothing but an alabaster statue standing as a silent sentinel behind me. "After all, weren't the scrapped numbers supposed to be denied participation in the Sekirei Plan?"

Ah. So that was Kakizaki's ploy. Perhaps he remembered the casual way in which the ice user had taken down two of his forces the last time we met, or perhaps he was simply changing his direction in order to continue his first subtle strike at MBI and I. Whatever the case, it shouldn't be a surprise that the East had already managed to ferret out the true nature of Akitsu. After all, I've already determined that if Higa made use of Kouchou half as well as I had Matsu then the East was in a very dangerous position indeed.

"A scrap?" Benitsubasa snapped, her eyes once more whipping to glare back at me again. "Here?" Her eyes narrowed. "Hey, weirdo," she called down, hands clenching around the railing she was still gripping. "If that is a scrapped number, than it's against the rules of the Sekirei Plan to have her here!" Her grin grew more vicious as her eyes continued to narrow even further. "If that's the case," she paused to unclench her hand, bringing them up to pop her knuckles gleefully, "then I guess I'm going to have to give out some Discipline!"

"Ah," Natsuo once more interrupted, this time sounding apologetic as he once more seemed to be called on to play the peace maker in response to the East's accusations. "If that's the case, Emiya-san, than I'm afraid Kakizaki-san is correct," he sounded disappointed in the ruling, but gave me a sympathetic look while admitting the concession. "I'm afraid that the scrapped numbers won't be allowed to take direct action in these matches." His eyebrows raised in concern as he seemed to realize something. "Um, that wasn't the only Sekirei you brought, was it?" he asked, taking note of the fact that besides Akitsu, I had shown up apparently alone. Without Akitsu to protect me, then it definitely appeared that I was in a dangerous situation.

Kakizaki's satisfied smile was plainly apparent as he turned to give me his trademark smirk. It appeared that he had been rather hoping for the opportunity to either force me to continue alone, or force me to withdraw from the field.

His smile didn't last that long and his eyes narrowed in confusion when he caught sight of my own satisfied expression.

Honestly, I couldn't have set this up better myself if I had tried.

"To confirm," I asked, turning my attention to the still worried looking Natsuo. "By the rules of the Sekirei Plan only winged Sekirei are allowed to participate, correct?"

"Well, yes," Natsuo confirmed, probably thinking I was just intending to clarify the ruling of MBI that I wouldn't be allowed to use Akitsu in the upcoming fight. "I'm sorry, but…"

I cut him off, already having just what I wanted from him. "Akitsu," I ordered, and the snow woman instantly stepped forward, probably already knowing what would come next and most likely anticipating it, despite her frigid appearing demeanor.

"Yes, Ashikabi-sama," the snow woman acknowledged, once more slipping back into her habit of using just my title. Without another word to the rest of the gathered Sekirei and Ashikabi, I half turned so that I could place one hand on Akitsu's cheek before leaning in so that I could place my lips on hers.

"Wait, what the hell…" was as far as Benitsubasa got, though whether her outrage was over my attempt to evoke a reaction out of a scrapped number or if it was just over the sudden and unexpected display of intimacy would never be known as the Red Sekirei cut herself off with a choked sound as great limbs of frost and ice once more sprang from the supposedly unwingable Sekirei's back.

"What is this!" Kakizaki snapped, shock thick in his voice that even outrage or surprise couldn't find any purchase in his exclamation.

I ignored the onlookers for the moment, feeling the od syphon away from me in the usual manner before pulling back, taking in the sight of the glowing wings that stretched from Akitsu's back before turning back to face the Disciplinary squad.

"There," I told them, taking in the honest disbelief in all three of MBI's enforcers expressions. "Now there is no problem, is there?"

"But, that," Benitsubasa stuttered, her expression a mixture of disbelief and outrage. "That should be impossible!" The rambunctious Sekirei turned to glare at the equally surprised Kakizaki. "Were you lying about that being a scrapped number?" she demanded, turning her anger at a new target.

"No," it was Natsuo who interrupted, the carefree man blinking in much more sedate surprise. "According to the files, that was Akitsu the first scrapped number. It shouldn't be possible, but it looks like she really has wings." Natsuo blinked again, before his expression changed into an innocuous smile. "Congratulations, Emiya-san! I'm really shocked by this!"

Well, it wasn't quite the reaction I had been hoping to evoke from him in particular, it wasn't just for Natsuo's benefit that I had been hoping for the chance to allow Akitsu to demonstrate her new status.

It wasn't just Natsuo who had born witness to the feat after all. It was all of the Sekirei and Ashikabi present in the Sekirei Plan who were no doubt watching on whatever electronic device they favored. Most importantly:

It was MBI itself who had seen it as well.

MBI, who had declared the scrapped numbers to be lost causes. MBI, who had decided they were too powerful to have free reign in the plan, who had, if my suspicions had been correct, deliberately engineered a way to keep the scrapped from ever being made more powerful through their Ashikabi. MBI, who was now seeing what was either their own judgment over the scrapped's genuine inability to be winged or whatever safety measures they had implanted to keep them from doing so being either proven wrong or rendered ineffective.

I hadn't come out here to this match just to win. No, I had to accomplish more than just a victory in battle over a few poor lovesick aliens being forced into a grudge match at an immoral company's whims. I was planning to defy that corporation, after all. I was planning to steal some of their most powerful and important artifacts, violate the boundaries that they had defined for their planned conflict, and then deliberately disappear from their purview while challenging their full might.

I needed an edge. If I was going to have to pit myself against the accumulated wealth and power of an internationally acknowledged entity, then I needed something which would give them pause, which would make them hesitate. Just like I had been trying to cultivate with the rest of the participants in the Plan, I needed a reason for even MBI themselves to be cautious.

Even Miya hadn't thought that Akitsu could truly be winged, had been genuinely shocked at the sight. It had caused her to doubt herself, to have second thoughts about what she knew about her own species in general. I was gambling that MBI would find themselves doing the same.

The dagger like appendages sprouting from the ice woman's back were only part of what I was counting on to give me that edge that I need.

Hopefully, I'd get the chance to sow a few more seeds of doubt before this conflict ended.

"This trickery is irrelevant!" Kakizaki declared, his tone starting to get a little high as he realized that once more his attempts at manipulation had been outmaneuvered. With a furious glare, alternated between looking at myself and the Disciplinary Squad. "Wings or not, it is in the rules that scrapped numbers cannot participate! Regardless of…"

Whatever the secretary was about to say was interrupted as three simultaneous ring tones went off, each one coming from the pocket of one of the gathered Ashikabi. Both Natsuo and Kakizaki seemed surprised by the incoming transmission, and though I managed to suppress it the sudden vibrations from my pants almost caused me to start. With an awkward look shared between the three of us, all the Ashikabi present fished out our respective phones, the other two flipping open theirs immediately while I took a second to identify that it wasn't a call I was receiving, but one of those texts that Homura had introduced me to so long ago.

Even as I managed to open the electronic document, Natsuo apparently had already finished his. "'Hahaha!'" the head of the Disciplinary Squad read out loud dutifully, confirming that he at least had received the same message I was still making my way through. "'I'll allow it! Smiley face, smiley face, the Director.'"

It took me a second to realize that the smiley faces the clerk was reading was what the colon and capital 'd's that I was looking at were supposed to mean. Huh. That's pretty clever, actually.

"Well," Natsuo continued in incongruously happy tone. "I guess that settles that!"

"This is an outrage," Kakizaki hissed, glaring at me rather than Akitsu this time. He seemed to realize that his cultured air of superiority was slipping, and immediately seemed to calm himself, drawing himself up so he could adjust his glasses once again. His smirk reappeared, though now it appeared a bit strained as he watched each of his gambits blocked nearly as quickly as he could produce them. "Still, it's not like this will change anything. It was foolish to bring only one Sekirei with you, regardless of their strength."

It looked like without any more options for trying to maneuver the two of us, the secretary had nothing else to fall back on but bluster. It also looked like he was unnerved when my smile widened in response to his rather lackluster threats.

"You mean just one Sekirei, who was originally so powerful that MBI thought she would never be able to find an Ashikabi, made even more powerful now that she actually has?" I pointed out, causing Kakizaki's eyes to twitch at my blunt summation of Akitsu's status. I had chosen to only bring one Sekirei with me for a number of reasons. One of which was to act as a display of confidence. In a fight which had originally allowed three Sekirei to come, I had shown up with only one apparent one, and more than that it looked like I honestly intended to win even with that disadvantage. My smile widened further as I continued, pointing out something which made the secretary's smile disappear entirely. "Also, a Sekirei who is already engaged in Norito?"

"Uh oh," Natsuo managed to get out as he too seemed to realize that maybe my intentions had been more than just to prove Akitsu's status as winged Sekirei. Despite the suddenly dangerous situation that had developed, he seemed no more upset than if he had managed to stub his toe while on a nature walk.

"Akitsu," I declared, pointing at the two Sekirei who had shown up with Kakizaki. Despite the development, both Ichiya and Toyotama seemed unconcerned by the imminent danger. Instead, the two just shared another secret look, their smiles widening as they did so. "Change of plan. Leave those two unmolested, but allow no other to interfere."

"Yes, Ashikabi-sama," Akitsu acknowledged my order instantly, before tilting her head back and allowing her eyes to flutter closed.

Kakizaki seemed to realize what was about to happen, and broke into a desperate shout. "Number sixteen, number eighteen, to-" was as far as he got before Akitsu spoke her Norito.

"Glacier of my pledge," the snow woman declared, her tone unusually strong for the soft spoken Sekirei. "Preserve the heart of my Ashikabi."

I had seen Akitsu's power before, so I thought I would be prepared for what would come next. I had seen on multiple occasions how the strength of the soft spoken snow woman would manifest itself visually, the range around her which transformed into something right out of the arctic circle, the hoarfrost and the mist as the very air itself was cooled so drastically that its very nature changed.

That was before Akitsu had received the fantastic boost that her species received from so small an amount of od. And I was not ready for what happened next.

Just like before, the earth itself turned white as jagged lines appeared, giving the appearance that all the world was made of glass which had suddenly shattered. The lines didn't stop at their usual limit, instead racing away from the still Sekirei impossible distances, spreading up and around the intersection itself in three dimensions. The smoke in the air billowed as the change in pressure caused by the change in temperature forced it away only to replace the artificial mist with the real variety. The change spread out for nearly a hundred meter diameter in a three dimensional sphere, encasing nearly everything that wasn't blocked from sight by the mist in jagged lines of white.

And then Akitsu continued her chant, and I realized that it wasn't over yet.

"Serve me, Queen of Ice," Akitsu continued, and the spreading frost froze, no longer spreading with lightning speed. "Come, Everlasting Darkness of the Eternal Glacier." AKitsu's eyes opened, and she finished her chant. "The End of the World."

The frost exploded, changing from mere white lines to genuine sheets of ice. The freeze extended, stretching between each of the previous lines and thickening, coating everything in nearly inch thick sheets of frozen shelling. The ice erupted in spots, forming enormous stalagmites and stalactites, teeth like daggers of the element swelling and erupting with violent force. It only lasted a handful of moments, but in those seconds the world changed from some urban sprawl to a scene straight out of an ice age.

And somehow, despite the change in the world, I felt no chill. My breath didn't even frost in front of me, and none of the ice came closer to me than a handful of meters. However, the rest of the gathered participants didn't seem so lucky.

"Whoa!" Haihane yelped, staggering as she slipped as the ground beneath her changed in nature. "I'm gonna.. fall…" the Blue Sekirei noted in her usual dismal tone, before latching on with her claws to one of the walls, the sharp blades giving her purchase enough to keep from slipping. Natsuo stumbled as well, but managed to keep his footing. Benitsubasa didn't seem so lucky. The moment the ice had started to close on the rail she had been gripping she had jerked back, losing her footing and falling on her butt with a yelp. Kakizaki managed to keep his footing, though it looked like it was a near thing for the secretary. He hadn't had any sharp blades to secure his purchase, and he slipped and slid comically for a few seconds before managing to right himself, hunched over as he tried to lower his center of gravity.

However, his two Sekirei hadn't even moved. Just like me, they seemed equally as unaffected by the ice age, a wide circle that the cold element had seemingly refused to infringe on opening around them. The two seemed unsurprised by the development, instead just remaining smiling as they continued to keep their gazes solely on me.

"Well done, Akitsu," I managed to get out, trying to suppress just how much shock I was feeling at the power of the former scrapped number's Norito. I had expected something noteworthy, but this… this was unreal.

"Thank you, Ashikabi-sama," Akitsu visibly preened under my compliment, looking as unaffected by the drastic change in the environment as I had tried to portray myself. Ice was still thick around her, but unlike the others her element seemed to cause her no impediment, her stance not even shifting as the ground turned slippery beneath her.

"Gah!" Benitsubasa shouted, the angry Sekirei managing to right herself. The member of the Disciplinary Squad seemed outraged, and quickly voiced just the source of her emotion. "You made me embarrass myself in front of Natsuo!" she declared, and despite her bloodthirsty tone the girl actually looked close to tears as though the assumed humiliation had genuinely hurt her feelings. "That's it!" she declared venomously. "You're all going to die right- urp!"

Whatever Benitsubasa had been planning was cut off as the girl prepared to launch herself over the edge of the railing only to be brought up short as she slammed into a sudden wall of ice which had sprouted directly in front of her from nowhere. It was such a sudden move that even I was caught surprised by the change in the scenery. There had been no indication of the new mass of ice having been present, it forming in a split second without any warning.

"My Ashikabi has ordered that no one will interfere," Akitsu declared, her voice as cold as the environment. I glanced back to find the ice woman glaring directly at the now stunned Sekirei who was shaking her head to try and clear it after the impact. "So no one will be allowed to interfere."

Her words finally made the true nature of her Norito clear to me, and I swallowed despite myself. I had thought that while powerful, such a simple Norito seemed unusual. For all the drastic nature of the change, just covering the world in ice wasn't actually an attack. It wasn't like Tsukiumi's Tide Jewels, or Musubi's Bear Fist. Both of those had been direct, the nature of the attack obvious if overwhelming. However, what just happened added a new level to this Norito.

Akitsu had controlled the ice directly, with no more than a second warning, and from a distance. There had been no obvious movement on her part, and the attack had appeared directly without any shard of ice being launched like her attacks normally included. The snow woman had just controlled her element instantly, from a distance, and if that was an indication of her ability, then it meant she could do the same at any point in this vast crystal sphere she had created.

This wasn't an attack, not in the conventional sense. No. This was…

"Territory creation," I whispered, understanding the nature of the mystery being presented to me. No, this wasn't a mystery meant to strike in one move. This had more in common with a bounded field or with the wards that a magus might set up to defend their workshop. Even those might fall short in describing Akitsu's Norito. Such a drastic change in the nature of the environment, one so obvious…

This wasn't a Reality Marble, like what I used. This probably wasn't even a Marble Phantasm, like some of the more powerful nature spirits tended to have.

But it was close. Very close.

And I couldn't help but wonder if this was the Norito that she would have had if she had been a normal Sekirei, or if maybe it was in some way a combination of my own nature combined with the fashion in which she had been winged making itself known.

Still, regardless of what this revelation might imply or lead to, it wasn't the time to let myself be stunned by it.

Because still waiting patiently, Toyotama and Ichiya stood opposite me, both as untouched by the change in the environment as I had been. Both of them were still smiling, watching me like hawks.

And once I focused on them, the look I returned was most likely very similar.

I had come into this battle with a plan. At this point, the plan had been for Akitsu to display her power. Even before she had been winged she had been a match for just about any Sekirei in the Plan. During the last fight Tsukiumi and Homura that just being a single number was enough for them to have an unfair advantage over their sister Sekirei. With Akitsu being the former number zero seven as well as being a scrap, she was almost certainly a match for any of the other Sekirei in the plan, regarding a few noticeable exceptions. With her Norito activated against Sekirei which hopefully wouldn't have their own up, it was almost a guarantee that she would have been able to take a team even if the Ashikabi had brought all three of the optional Sekirei with them.

After that, it was supposed to be my turn to show off my own prowess. It didn't necessarily have to be a full fight, but with swords in hand I was supposed to engage another team of Sekirei. If Akitsu targeted the most powerful group gathered, than it was a fair chance that I would be able to match any of the other teams. Even if I did prove to be out gunned, I could still withdraw, have Akitsu come in and either finish them off or just force them to disengage. All I needed to prove was that as an Ashikabi I had the ability to count myself as an active combatant in the Plan.

However, that was before these two showed up.

Ichiya and Toyotama, who had shown before that they had no problem violating the terms of the Sekirei Plan that nearly every other Sekirei followed devoutly. Ichiya and Toyotama, who had shamelessly attacked an Ashikabi with the intent to hurt him and then blackmail his Sekirei into following their Ashikabi's will, whom had most likely done exactly that countless times before. Ichiya and Toyotama, whose very scent spoke of the satisfaction they got from their violence, whose power was so stained with sadistic joy that their power had come to reflect their perverse lusts.

Ichiya and Toyotama, whom even after they had been disarmed and grievously wounded, had still been ready to continue their battle, showing none of the regret or hopelessness that their sister aliens showed when they were defeated.

"Last time we met," I spoke to the two, straightening as I watched the two waiting patiently, "I said I would kill you both."

"Oh, we know," Toyotama purred, hunching forward as she planted the butt of her spear into the ground, hunkering down as she used it to support herself as she leered at me.

"You treated the two of us so well last time, that we've just been dying for a rematch," Ichiya added, the harlequin leaning over, resting her elbows on her partner's shoulders as the two continued to grin at me.

"We have to make sure to return the favor, after all," the spear user concluded, grinding her weapon into the ground slightly, shifting it in her grip as she gave the conclusion of their little speech.

I should have Akitsu take these two out now. They were dangerous, not Dangerous dangerous, but genuinely dangerous. These two, they were aberrations in the Sekirei Plan, where even the most powerful number zero one acted with restraint and dignity towards the machinations of a madman. These two were predators, superhuman monsters that had no problem with preying on those who were weaker than they, who had no trouble both hurting and being hurt. After the snow woman took them out, I could continue on and show off a little with the Disciplinary Squad, testing my strength against the enforcers of MBI before withdrawing, learning their general capabilities for future planning.

However, instead, I just reached towards the blades Akitsu continued to cradle to her chest. As though sensing my intentions, she simply raised the swords, unwrapping them slightly so that I could grasp their hilts, pulling them free from their impromptu sheathes. Black and white shown in the reflections the ice castle provided as Kanshou and Bakuya settled into my grips.

"You two," I continued, musing out loud. "You two won't regret this, will you." It wasn't a question, just a statement. "No matter what happens, you won't regret this."

These two won't gasp desperately for their lost lovers, their last breaths uttering hopeless pleas for their master. These two would rather spend their last breath attempting to murder the one who took them down, would drag themselves from the mouth of hell just for the sake of more violence.

These two were exactly what I had trained myself to fight. These two were things that needed to be put down. These were creatures that preyed on humanity, and enjoyed the pain of others.

And I was going to kill them for it. Not my Sekirei, fighting nobly until their foes couldn't fight anymore. There would be no whispered Noritos on their crests, no guarding their bodies once they were deemed to be level four. My flock would not even be allowed close to these hunters, I would not let them deal with these predators.

I was going to do it myself.

"Shirou Emiya," I reintroduced myself, stepping forward as Kanshou and Bakuya fell to their customary position, held at waist level and elevated to both of my sides. "The Asura of the North, sword bearing Ashikabi."

I had been carefully cultivating the rumors and then myths for quite a while now. With Seo adding in when he could, the rumors of the North had long since become the stuff of nightmares to many of the Sekirei Plan. Now it was time for me to publicly claim not just one, but two of those titles.

All that was left now was proving it here and now that I was the one who really deserved those titles.

"Oh?" Ichiya's grin widened at the declaration, pushing herself off her sister so she could begin circling to the side, a slow animal like pacing which displayed well her anticipation for what would come next. Beside her, Toyotama pushed herself up, whipping her spear down to a ready position, point held low to the ground and away from me as she too began her own circle in the opposite direction of her sister.

"Not just an Ashikabi, this time?" the lancer asked, a teasing tone in her voice. Just like that, it felt like I was back on that roof all those weeks ago, when it had just been the three of us and the violence that was to come.

It was strangely satisfying, actually.

"Eh?" Behind and above the three of us, Benitsubasa squawked at this development. "You can't be saying that the three of you are going to fight? It's against the rules for Sekirei to fight Ashikabi!" It looked like the violation to the rules seemed to strike a chord in the Disciplinary Squad member. Then, just as quickly she added, "Besides, I'm the one who's going to kill him!" in direct violation of the rule she herself had just brought up.

"Well," Natsuo began, apparently seeing something wrong with this confrontation himself, but was interrupted before he could get another word out by the ringing of his phone. I couldn't make out the other Ashikabi as he apparently checked the appliance, but judging from what he said next it was most likely he was reading another text message out loud again. "'Sounds interesting. I'll allow it! The Director.'"

"Well," I acknowledged the confirmation that not even MBI was going to interfere with this duel, absently, not particularly caring whether they would or not. "Looks like things are going to get interesting again."

It was with only a small bit of surprise that I realized their bloodthirsty grins had found an echo in mine, despite being deep within combat mode myself.

Deep in my head, the hammer that had been cocked released and oddic power flooded through me.

Without another word, all three of us moved.

*Scene Break*

It was a tense moment, one that bespoke well of the upcoming pain and bloodshed which was only seconds away. Like gunslingers of old facing each other across deserted streets, knights whose very presence caused the rest of a battle to sway away from their confrontation, or like gladiators whose might was enough to still even the raucous crowds of Rome, the three of us had been poised for the upcoming fight.

Which was why when I turned and ran as fast as I could directly away from the two Sekirei, I had no doubt that many who had been watching the fight with anticipation had probably been more than a little surprised. I even managed to make out Benitsubasa shouting some sort of derogatory remark in the background.

I ignored any potential scorn on my actions. There was no way in hell I was stupid enough to challenge these two straight on. However impressive boldly holding my ground and matching their onslaught standing tall and proud might have been, it was a fight which I could not win. For all my skill, for all the extra power that my Reinforcement was lending my body, it didn't change the fact that I was just a human with a little extra toughness being added on to him.

These two things were most definitely Not Human. They were from a species which was superior physically in just about every sense of the word to my own. More than that, these two could be counted as especially powerful by the standards of the Sekirei.

The powers of Sekirei tended to gravitate in two directions, that I have determined so far. The first was towards the esoteric side, the ability to bend or manipulate an element directly to their will. While these types of Sekirei tended to be stronger than a normal human, my observations so far had led me to believe that in a strictly physical aspect I might be able to match an esoteric Sekirei in a purely physical battle.

The other way that a Sekirei's ability might gravitate was towards physical strength, or being a 'power type' as Musubi called it. The bear Sekirei was a prime example of this kind of strength. Physically, Musubi was simply at a level which I could never hope to match blow for blow, not without putting some serious effort into developing superior combat enhancement abilities.

Oh, how I wish I had had more time to go over those runes that the Fraga had used. If I had access to that kind of strength then a straight up fight might have been in my reach.

Ichiya and Toyotama were both of the power type, and even by the power type's standards these two were particularly dangerous. Toyotama as a weapon user could put that terrible strength of hers behind her weapon, potentially crushing or stabbing her way through my own defenses if I tried to stand up to them straight, and Ichiya could be considered even stronger than a normal example of her species. It was a rule of thumb that the human leg was three times stronger than the human arm, a result of its constant use and strain. The harlequin had shown in the past that she was primarily a kick oriented fighter, and three times the normal strength of a Sekirei was downright chilling to consider.

I wasn't going to win this fight trying to overcome disadvantages like that head on. I was going to win this fight in the way I usually won fights against superior creatures: by controlling the battle itself.

Thus, when I ran, I didn't run blindly. Even as I raced across the pavement, the surrounding ice and snow parted away from me as though there was an invisible barrier pushing it aside. I was thankful for Akitsu's attention, and noted that the ice didn't close back behind me, the snow woman seemingly leaving the battlefield clear as she took my orders not to interfere seriously. Since I wouldn't have to worry about footing, I was able to make my way straight towards my destination: the onramp leading up further towards the rest of the intersection.

It was an obvious move, and one which made tactical sense. Holding the higher ground in combat let a fighter add extra strength and distance to their blows, and put the defender at a disadvantage.

And since it was an obvious move, the two pursuing Sekirei did the obvious thing and attempted to cut me off from it.

I had raised Bakuya in front of me as I sprinted, the white blade once more proving itself reliable as more than just a cutting implement. Mirror bright, I was able to use the weapon to check my rear, and with it I could make out as Toyotama leapt, launching herself with supernatural ease up and away, moving to push herself off a nearby support pillar so she could launch herself higher up on the off ramp I was aiming at. Ichiya on the other hand continued to pursue me directly, the harlequin closing quick as she closed the distance between us easily.

Their tactic was equally as obvious as mine had been. With the lancer claiming the high ground first, and the harlequin behind me to cut off retreat, I would be pincered between them both advance and retreat cut off and the two of them having the opportunity to surround and subdue me. I noted objectively that just like with me, the arctic environment spread away from the two, letting them have free reign over the terrain. I suppose it was just like Akitsu to take my orders to leave them unmolested seriously.

Still, it was naïve of them to take such obvious tactics at face value.

The moment I reached the edge of the off ramp, rather than start ascending it I instead kicked out, halting my momentum with my legs against the barrier surrounding the ramp, and then used the force to push myself backwards, changing my direction in only half a heartbeat. Instead of running towards Toyotama's ambush, I was now instead racing backwards towards the isolated Ichiya instead.

The harlequin's eyes widened as she realized my intention, and above me and behind me I heard Toyotama curse as she found herself midair, unable to change her flight path and thus aid her sister. Too late they realized the trap I had set for them.

Fighting the two of them together was suicide, but one on one, there I had my chanced for victory.

Ichiya managed to halt her forward rush in time to keep herself from driving her own body onto the stabbing Kanshou, but only barely. The dark sword bit lightly into her side, nothing serious but enough to draw blood. With that enormous leg strength of hers she even managed to kick back herself, forcing herself to change direction nearly as quickly as I had. Still, while I had had a vertical surface to aid me she had nothing but flat ground, and it limited her mobility or her ability to change her direction as quickly as I had. As Bakuya followed through with my second attack, her grin turned fierce as rather than try to dodge she instead bent backwards into a bend, her hands just managing to come into contact with the ground long enough for her to find purchase and physically pull her legs upward in time to block my attack.

Bakuya impacted into her calf, or would have if it wasn't for the armor that she still kept in the front portions of her boots. Steel scraped against something hard and metallic, and sparks erupted into the night air. I continued with my attacks, still charging forward as my own momentum wouldn't be stilled, and her second boot rose to block that attack too. By this point I was nearly past the summersaulting Sekirei, and I knew I would only have time for one more strike before the two of us would separate and she would have time to recover.

I was only just able to direct Kanshou's second strike, but I managed to aim it down, away from her guarding shins and instead at the arms which were supporting her weight. Ichiya seemed to see the attack coming and managed to twist, her strong fingers biting into the cement as she forced them to find purchase enough for her to start a spin away from the blade, and she managed to make it almost entirely out of range, receiving only another insufficient cut along her forearms rather than losing one of her hands like I had been hoping for.

And then I was past, and rather than turn to try and follow up I instead continued to sprint, Bakuya pulling to its position in front of my eyes in time for me to catch sight of Toyotama driving her spear into the ground directly behind me. The lancer had had time to land and once more had come in from above, no doubt trying to take advantage of my assault on her partner to surprise me. If I had tried to turn and continue the encounter, she probably would have impaled straight through my chest.

The lancer's eyes rose from where they had been locked on to her impact point, and met mine reflected through my impromptu mirror, and then Toyotama's grin widened, her teeth showing white, before she launched herself after me.

With no time to stop, I instead was forced to whirl, continuing my backward momentum even as my swords raised themselves to defend against the first wild stab directly at my heart. Still racing backwards, desperately trying to keep the landscape in my mind so I didn't end up backed against a wall, I found myself engaging in a genuine running battle, fending off lightning like strike after strike from the furiously attacking Sekirei. Her weapon was like a blur of crimson, and when confronted with the mad grin of a blue clad, red armed lancer I had to suppress a giggle of nostalgia, the high of battle making my circumstances unusually amusing to me for some reason.

It wasn't that bad a comparison, actually. Toyotama was a powerful member of her species, and unlike others her skill spoke of training and practice. She unerringly found the openings in my stance, and every blow she sent at me would have killed me in an instant. It was once again only thanks to my style itself that I found myself weathering the assault. It was a furious exchange of blows which was reminiscent of the time I had sparred with Miya or back when I had been perfecting the style with Saber.

It was almost enough for me to be distracted enough not to realize that Ichiya had disappeared from sight.

I didn't have time to confirm, couldn't take my attention away from Toyotama long enough to look for the harlequin or hold Bakuya up to check my rear, and thus I could only react on instinct and what I knew about the two. So far, whenever was possible, the duo would always strike from behind or above, ruthlessly taking advantage of an enemy's blind spot to make their assault as effective as possible. Toyotama was the one who seemed to favor coming in from above, which made since. Her lance allowed for a clean avenue of attack from that direction, letting her regain her footing easily afterwards. For Ichiya it would be different, the number of attacks she could use with her legs from that angle being limited. Instead she would come from behind.

So without looking, I threw Kanshou behind me, the blade spinning in a razor disc reminiscent of the circular saws carpenters used to split logs.

Toyotama's eyes widened in delight at the move, and even though I couldn't look I heard a grunt from behind me followed by the clang of metal on metal and a bright shower of sparks again as my guess was confirmed. It seemed that once more Ichiya had managed to defend herself against my attack with that armor of hers, but that was too be expected.

However, it did leave me at a disadvantage. My sword style depended on two blades after all. And as Toyotama's grin widened even further, followed by a distant part of my mind once more noting that the scent of arousal surrounding the creature was once again not entirely metaphysical, I could guess that she knew that too.

So I changed my style.

I had said this before, and I would most likely say it again, but when it came right down to it a two sword style was downright impractical most of the time. The strengthening of the off hand, the training of my reflexes, the perfecting of the interplay between interchangeable defense and offense for either side, what it amounted to was an insane and generally wasteful type of style. Moreover, it didn't change the fact that it was all for nothing if one sword managed to be trapped or I was partially disarmed. Dealing with suddenly only having one sword wasn't something I had been overly concerned with in the past, seeing as I was never truly disarmed, but here in the eyes of MBI and the world, that wasn't an option.

But all my training would have been a failure if I hadn't taken that into account as well.

Toyotama's eyes widened as quite suddenly all the holes that I had been leaving for her to exploit disappeared. Kanshou had originally been gripped in my right hand, Bakuya in my left. While the hilt remained in its original hand, the back of the white swords tip was suddenly being grasped by my newly free right. It was an uncommon way to hold a weapon, sacrificing all the range that a blade had by deliberately holding the end of the sword close to the body, and was meant mostly to be used defensively, a way to help support the blade against more powerful strikes which might otherwise overpower a fighter's guard.

Which is why when I went on the offensive with this new stance, it completely caught the lancer off guard.

Suddenly finding me no longer to have easily exploitable defenses, and having me closing fast as I forced myself to plant my body and to match her strike and then force myself forward to simply bull into her, it was Toyotama's turn to be forced back. While I had lost nearly all my range, that was fine in this situation. A lance was meant to attack from a distance in the end, and with me infighting so closely she had lost much of her offensive capabilities. Moreover, with my double grip on the blade I had more mobility within my limited range, able to manipulate the blade from both ends in order to move it quicker.

Toyotama was forced to change her grip on her lance, placing her hands wide in order to give plenty of space between them as she used the opening to guard against the twisting razor edge of Bakuya. She was fast, and powerful, and there was no way I was going to do more than force her back temporarily with this new offensive. Her weapon was simply too well made to succumb to the meager in comparison power I could exert in this position. She knew it, the lancer's grin reasserting itself as she recognized my desperate offense as being just that: desperate.

After all, I might have set Ichiya on the defensive momentarily, but there was no way my blind throw had taken her out of the fight completely. Toyotama knew that I was now down a weapon, had limited range, and that most importantly her partner would recover in seconds and I'd have no way to defend myself against her attack against my unprotected rear.

So when I stepped in, lowered my center of gravity, and struck hard against her lance, the full force of my body pressing Toyotama upwards and off the ground, suspending her above me even as her spear kept my blade from her flesh, the lancer wasn't worried. Instead of pushing off or trying to disengage, she let me lift her, seeking to trap my one remaining blade against the handle of her weapon, trying to lock me in place as her eyes glanced over my shoulder to track the progress of her partner. My own eyes were locked on Bakuya as well, once more using the mirror surface to check my back.

It was because both of our attention was behind me, that both Toyotama and I saw Ichiya as she raced towards me, preparing a brutal kick which would most likely break my back, or quite possibly managed to pierce through me completely with the power behind the blow. We were both able to see the mad look of glee as the fight was about to come to an end.

And then Toyotama's eyes widened as she caught sight of what was directly behind her partner.

"Ichiya!" the lancer shouted, the shock and surprise in her tone enough to cause Ichiya's expression to change to wariness. "Duck!"

It was a testament to their bond that the harlequin didn't hesitate or question her partner, instantly throwing herself down and to the side, impacting the ground harshly as she rolled desperately. Because of that, she managed to avoid dying in that instant as Kanshou made its return trip, cutting nearly soundlessly through the air at torso level where she had been standing only seconds ago.

I wasn't able to use any of my more esoteric abilities at the moment. But that didn't change the fact that Kanshou and Bakuya by their very nature were Noble Phantasms. They were the last remnant of the husband and wife blacksmith who would not let themselves be separated, who always returned to each other.

And so, even if Ichiya managed to survive the return of Kanshou, the husband, as he sought out his wife, Toyotama was not so lucky. After all, Bakuya, the wife, was only a few inches from the other Sekirei.

Toyotama tried to escape, realizing with wide eyes that by whatever means the sword had managed to make an impression of a boomerang, it was now heading directly towards her. She pushed desperately at her weapon, seeking to force herself off of me and away so she could dodge. Only now, rather than me being the trapped one, it was her who was stuck. When she tried to push, I simply buckled in response, sinking to my knee and allowing my arms to bend so that she had no purchase.

Our eyes met in her last moments. With a look of disbelief, the lancer realized that this wasn't an accident, some random chance. She realized that I had planned this exact moment. With a disbelieving snort, she leered at me, still mad until the end. "Why you…" she began, her voice laughing as she began her last words.

She never got any further, and Kanshou arched inches over Bakuya, me adjusting at the last second in order to prevent my fingers from being the ones who took the assault, and the black blade buried itself deep into the Sekirei's chest. It landed nearly full on, the entire length of its edge sinking through the entirety of the lancer's chest with a noise look wood being split. It didn't managed to cut all the way through, finally being arrested by the creature's spine, but it was obvious that there would be no surviving this blow. A spray of blood erupted from her, flooding down on me like warm crimson rain before the force behind the final blow lifted the dead Sekirei away from me, her grip loosening on her weapon as she was propelled backwards until she tumbled onto the ground, rolling to lay still against a clear patch of cement.

I shook my head, trying to clear my eyes as her blood soaked down my hair, splattered across my neck and shoulders, some of it even seeping down my shirt. Her spear clattered on the ground as I finally blinked my sight clear, before almost belatedly spinning, trying to catch sight of the one remaining opponent.

I didn't manage to find her before she found me. I grunted as two bands of steel wrapped around my waist, tightening with painful intensity. Another shackle latched onto my left hand, grasping my wrist with an unbreakable grip, and a final one snaked around my right arm, before coming up to latch itself onto the back of my neck with such strength that I felt my skin tear.

"You," Ichiya whispered in my ear from behind me. She had somehow managed to finally close with me, and even now the legs around my waist tightened even further. With one of her hands securing my only remaining weapon so that I couldn't move it more than a few inches, and the other limiting the mobility of my free hand in a half nelson-esque move, the harlequin whispered again. "You!"

I grunted, desperately reinforcing my waist and tightening the muscles of my stomach, but it was a losing effort. It looked like Ichiya had finally managed to get the drop on me, and rather than make it quick the sadistic Sekirei was going to do her best to savor the upcoming kill. I could hear her panting in my ear, and just like before I could smell the literal arousal in the air as she nearly ground herself against me, her legs ever tightening as she slowly set about choking the life out of me.

If I could just use my magecraft, than this situation would be no danger to me, none whatsoever. Hell, after what had happened earlier in Matsu's room it was entirely possible that just being in skin contact with me could prove to be fatal in the future, if I put a little effort into it. However, once more I found myself limited by the potential observers.

Desperately, my mind raced even as I struggled for breath, the harlequin's panting growing faster as I squirmed in her twisted embrace. With one sword locked in a deathly embrace with the fallen Sekirei, the other secured away from her, and a half nelson limiting the mobility of my only free hand, there was just about no way for me to stab behind me well enough to pry the creature off of me.

Well, the analytical part of me which judged battles noted, if I can't stab behind me…

I stumbled briefly, and Ichiya paid my movement no mind, instead seemingly getting even more turned on by the action. She didn't even notice what my free hand brushed against as it pushed off the ground, what it found there. In order to keep her attention away from it, I instantly recovered and began to charge forward as best I could, aiming for one of the thick concrete pillars which supported the junction itself. She moaned in delight as she seemed to guess what I was planning, and hunkered down on my back, tightening even further as she braced herself. She gasped as I spun, putting her between me and the hard surface and giving her the full force of the impact. It wasn't enough to cause her to loosen, and I felt spots forming in my sight as the lack of breath began to catch up with me.

I wasn't trying to shake her off though. No, I just needed something to brace her on.

My free hand had just enough mobility to position Toyotama's spear so its butt braced against the ground, just enough to wedge the tip at place in the middle of my stomach, and then I dropped, forcing the piercing end of the spear into my flesh, through it, and directly into the one who was clinging to my back even now.

I was a tall man, that much anyone could see just from looking at me. In order to wrap her legs around my waist, Ichiya had been forced to lower herself so she could get her legs properly positioned. When she had braced for impact she had scrunched herself down even more. Thus, judging from the position of her breasts on my back, with her body positioned so low on me, when the blade that penetrated no organ more important than perhaps my small intestines, it erupted from my back in a position to cut into her directly below her sternum, the upward angle sinking the point of the lance straight up and into her heart.

Ichiya gasped and tightened in shock as she was penetrated, and I felt her warm blood join Toyotama's as it spurted out, drenching the back of my shirt as it flowed from her. The lance in my flesh kept it from entering me directly, but still it soaked my back. Seeming to realize what had happened to her, the harlequin tried to tighten her grasp, realizing too late that attempting to kill me slowly had been a mistake, but by then her strength was already leaving her. I felt her limbs tremble as her life bled out of her.

"It was… fun," Ichiya gasped, still breathing into my ear as just like her partner she gave her last words, and despite myself I couldn't help but grimacing as the scent of arousal thickened and I tried not to determine whether the second wetness which suddenly made itself known low on my back was anything other than blood.

Then, with her final words spoken, she too died.

I could do nothing for the first few moments afterwards besides suck in deep breaths of air, trying to determine if her crushing grip earlier had damaged anything, but found myself unable to make a conclusion at this point. Finally, once I had recovered enough, I shook the arm that was still laying on my left hand off, before grasping the shaft of Toyotama's lance securely with my right and using the butt of Bakuya to crack the lance in half, leaving a generous hand hold of the lance in front of me. I would pull it out later, but for now it was best just to leave in to help slow the blood loss. With a shrug of my shoulders, I forced Ichiya's body up and off of the lance's tip, and let her crumble behind me.

Rising to my full height, I turned to give the corpse a brief study. Just like Toytama, Ichiya had died with a smile on her face.

"I was right," I murmured softly, the elation of adrenaline mixing with the euphoria of having survived a desperate battle and leaving me feeling a little punch drunk. "You didn't regret it, even at the end."

"What the hell?" a shrieking behind me caused me to whip around to face the sound, my mind racing to prepare itself for battle before I remembered that it hadn't just been the three of us here originally. "What the hell was that?" Benitsubasa shrieked again, staring at me as though I was some sort of snake about to strike.

"Oh my," Natsuo was gnawing on his lip. At some point the head of the Disciplinary Squad had joined the Red Sekirei at the railing so he could get a better view of the fight below him. He caught sight of me watching him, and his smiled at me as though nothing more important had just happened than someone crossing the street. "That was quite impressive, Emiya-kun!"

"Impressive?" Benitsubasa's voice was still high pitched as her eyes darted from me, to the two fallen Sekirei. "He just level fived two Sekirei, and all you can say is 'impressive'?" she demanded, apparently so put out by what she had seen that she wasn't even slipping into her cute mode when addressing her Ashikabi.

"Wait," Haihane began, holding her hands up as though to indicate that everyone should stop. "Does that mean… no banana nut muffins?" she finally concluded, one hand coming up to scratch her head in confusion before the bladed gloves once more sank into her flesh. "Gwah!" the Blue Sekirei yelped, wiggling around again helplessly as more blood spurted from her head.

"Forget the muffins!" Benitsubasa screamed at her partner, turning to level a wild look at me. "You know what, you and Karasuba are perfect for each other!" she declared, pointing at me angrily before pausing suddenly. "Perfect for each other," she repeated again, and just like that her earlier panic seemed forgotten as she apparently lost herself in deep thought.

"Ashikabi-sama," a voice across from me murmured, and I glanced up to see Akitsu remaining in the exact position that she had been standing in beforehand. Despite her apparent inaction, her eyes were focused on me with laser intensity. "Are you alright?"

Even with her obvious worry, it looked as though the snow woman had obeyed my orders, and kept herself from interfering. For that I was grateful, so I gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's fine, Akitsu," I told her. "It's barely even a scratch..."

I suppose I had an excuse, for not being ready for what came next. After all, as drenched as I was with fluid there was no way that I could have noticed the scent of blood as it grew even stronger.

But that didn't change the fact that I was unprepared when with the noise like a stained glass window being shattered, a dark blur appeared above me at the edge of Akitsu's territory, scattering ice and frost in its wake as Karasuba, with eyes wide with glee launched herself at me, a cry of, "Sahashi!" being howled as the Black Sekirei bared her steel and her teeth at me.

Oh crap.


	35. Thirty Fifth Wing

In Flight: Thirty Fifth Wing

_Author's notes: Well, as mentioned before this chapter was mostly finished before the stupid real world interrupted me. After that, well, Honor Thy Masters kinda jumped me, and that happened._

_However, at the request of several reviewers, I decided to button down and finish this new chapter of 35 by Christmas, so here you go! Happy solstice all._

_Anyway, reviews for 34 mostly focused around whether or not Karasuba was gonna kill or kiss Shirou, and here's your answer: does there have to be a difference?_

_Anyway, a few notes for this chapter._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_First off, the conclusion of the Third Match. Mostly what you would expect. I tried to make Karasuba powerful, because as any good writer knows a story is only as interesting if the antagonist is strong enough to oppose the protagonist. Sense I tend towards having powerful protagonists, I have to make sure that my bad guys are tough enough to deal with them. Fortunately, Karasuba is already that badass, so here we go._

_After that, I mentioned that everyone saw the fight. Reactions of Takami and Uzume are just a few examples of what I meant by everyone. I'm still catching up on my forums, but as soon as I do expect a few omakes about how other reactions went down, the ones that happened out of sight of Shirou._

_Now, Uzume. Maybe its a bit of reflection of my 'Bromance of Uzume and Shirou', but I like Uzume. I like her a lot. She was just such a properly sympathetic character for Shirou, a sort of foil as someone that could connect with him at a different level then his flock, that I had to emphasize that. _

_Sadly though, just like when Yukari and Haruka, she just couldn't hang around any more. With so many characters in Izumo House, especially Chiho who has little in the way of development in cannon besides moe sick girl, it just is simpler to get them kicked out than continue to try and characterize them. That aside, I could very well see Uzume getting her the hell away from Shirou. Uzume would kill the innocent for her Ashikabi. If protecting Chiho involved her leaving, she'd do it in a heartbeat. Don't expect her to be gone forever, I'm not putting the two on a bus, but for now they get to disappear for a bit and have adventures of their own out in the real world._

_Might be an omake or two there for them too._

_*End Spoilers*_

_Anyway, there you go folks. Third Match complete. With this there are only three arcs left of In Flight. _

_And yes, before anyone starts bothering me about it again, Saber and Rin will show up in one of those arcs._

_So, drop a review if you wanna give a first impression about the chapter. Gonna start another threa in the Mechanics of In Flight forum, so questions and concerns can head that way._

_And as always, enjoy._

_*Story Start*_

It actually took me a second to gather my thoughts. I blamed the high of adrenaline which I was still riding on after the fight, maybe complicated by the rush of endorphins I was no doubt experiencing after impaling myself.

After that second, I found that the only response I could still generate at the sight above me remained, 'Oh crap!'

I had seen Karasuba before. Normally, the Black Sekirei was rather calm, smiling that benevolent grin of hers, eyes crinkled in unspoken merriment. I had known what she was capable of, had sensed from the very first moment I had come into contact with her, and that once in the lot behind Izumo Inn she had shown me a face which I had no doubt many others had seen, the face of a predator judging its prey.

But this was different. This was Karasuba, with her eyes wide open and a savage, teeth bearing smile that bore no joy in it besides the euphoria of bloodshed. This was Karasuba, steel drawn and target selected. This, this was a Karasuba that I had no trouble believing had slaughtered probably over a thousand people.

And if I wasn't careful, it looked as though my life might be added to the tally soon as well.

Even as I finally managed to collect myself, it looked like at least one other present hadn't been so distracted.

Karasuba was coming in from above, and not with the usual speed of someone who had just jumped. With the speed she was approaching it was far more likely that the Black Sekirei had deliberately launched herself from a higher purchase, using her own power to supplement the force gravity would give her. It was a much better tactic than just jumping was, but even as she closed too fast, her eyes shifted, and she twisted midair to avoid the sudden massive spike of ice which speared through the space she had occupied seconds ago.

"You shall not.." was as far as Akitsu got, hand outstretched as she manipulated her Norito, only to be interrupted as the same attack she had just launched shattered, fragmenting just as the edge of her Norito had only seconds ago.

Karasuba's sword glinted as it carved its way through the several feet thick dagger of frozen water. Her dark grey cloak trailed behind her as even mid strike, she simply adjusted her footing so that her feet rested on the remains of the pillar, still angled downwards towards me, and then she kicked, her descent barely even delayed for a moment. If anything, her grin seemed even wider now.

What happened next was so sudden it was nearly a blur to me, even with my combat experience. Akitsu had apparently not taken being dismissed so easily well, and without another word the world around me erupted. Pillars of dagger sharp ice erupted from every surface around me, both near and far, the attacks launching themselves towards the still descending Dog of MBI. It was an attack so overwhelming it reminded me that for all Akitsu's passive nature, she had a tendency towards over kill which was damn near overwhelming.

Even more terrifying though, was Karasuba's reaction to it. It was a chilling reminder that the now dead Toyotama and Ichiya weren't the only ones in the Plan who were consummate killers. Every pillar that closed with the Black Sekirei was either dodged or blocked, her gleaming nodachi moving like a blur of silver as it intercepted, often outright destroying, dozens of attacks. More than that, every blow it did block provided leverage for Karasuba to force her body out of the way of another half dozen attacks. At one point it honestly looked like it would be enough, that the sheer number would catch Karasuba, and then she spun once more, briefly obscuring her body with her long grey coat which was a moment later perforated from nearly every angle, only for her to somehow appear beneath it, now free of a large number of the blows Akitsu was launching at her.

And throughout it all, somehow, impossibly, not only had Karasuba managed to maintain her speed, but had actually increased her velocity!

"Sahashi!" Karasuba cried out once more, her volume increasing with every syllable, and then there was no more time to think, to observe. The Black Sekirei had closed enough that Akitsu could no longer attack her, not without risking me being caught in her assault. The closing Sekirei was mid spin, a motion which would add even more power to an attack which was already backed by gravity, her earlier launch, and what would no doubt be this walking genocide's own considerable strength.

There had been no time for me to dodge or escape. In fact, retreat was even being hampered by the pillars of frost and ice which Akitsu had attempted to impale Karasuba on. The only thing I had time to do was bring up Bakuya, Reinforcing myself dangerously to prepare even as I grasped the back of the point of the blade like I had earlier and prayed that I would be able to survive this strike.

The Black Sekirei struck me like a meteorite. I had known that trying to match a power type Sekirei straight on would be suicide, and nothing reinforced that idea like the breath stealing strength of the blow that I had managed to interrupt.

I managed to keep my arms from buckling for nearly a half second, and then even with my own personal strength being magically enhanced I just didn't have the capability of stopping the strike. Desperately, I leaned forward, and caught my collapsing guard square on the broad side of my shoulders, trying to use my own body and mass to stop the one attack. It helped, as the full strength of my arms was joined by my mass and the power of my body.

Than even that proved to be not enough, and so I collapsed further, letting one leg go out beneath me so that I could go to one knee. I tried to control the descent, but too much power bled into my collapse and when my left knee hit the pavement I nearly cried out as the force behind it shattered the joint, the unyielding concrete an immovable object catching me between it and Karasuba's unstoppable force.

Still, even as the pain of the sudden wound shot through me, I grit my teeth, forcing myself to ignore it, to resist it, to continue struggling against the one blow which had just done more damage to me in a heartbeat than I had taken from the entire duel with numbers sixteen and eighteen.

And somehow, through some miracle, it proved to be enough.

"Oh?" Karasuba panted above me, and I had to glare up through my bangs to meet her gaze, sparks showering down on me from above as her nodachi ground into the edge of Bakuya. If the white sword hadn't been a Noble Phantasms, the very real fear that the strike would have been strong enough to shatter the steel would have been an alarming concern. "You stopped it? Not bad, Sahashi!"

In one move, despite my own fighting prowess, despite all my combat experience, and even with all the preparation I had been investing in, I had been brought to my knees, and may very well perish in just a handful of moments more.

And despite that, the only thing I could think to do was snarl back up at the creature leering down at me.

"My name…" I ground out, my entire body shaking as Karasuba tried to force her blade down through sheer physical strength. Even though it was dangerous, that it might cause me to lose my grip, I released my right hand from the tip of Bakuya, bringing it down to the shattered hilt of the lance buried in my gut. "… Is Emiya!"

With a force inspired either by rage at the continued use of that name or a desperation inspired by my current condition, I tore the spear out of my body, hoping that the edges of the wound would be enough to keep any of Ichiya's blood from getting mixed into my own. Karasuba's eyes widened even further in what was either delight or surprise at the move, but whatever it was she was feeling was enough to cause her to hesitate as she failed to discern my motive for the action in time.

Thus, she didn't have time to jump back quite quick enough as I used my own height and reach advantage to stab upwards with the bloody implement, aiming the point of the spear right between the Black Sekirei's eyes. She managed to dodge in time, pulling away and relieving the awful pressure on my body significantly, but not completely and the weapon managed to find the flesh of her face, drawing a line of crimson across the Black Sekirei's cheek even as she continued to leap backwards. I tried to follow the sudden attack with a strike from Bakuya, but found that my body's strength had been sapped enough that I couldn't quite manage to cut Karasuba any further.

Even as she leapt, Karasuba's attention whipped away from me, locking on something outside of my sight range. Her grin grew as twin shouts made their way to my ears.

"Water Dragon!" Tsukiumi declared, somewhere outside of my range of vision.

At the same time, Akitsu's voice also sounded, definitely louder than it usually was. "Ice Dragon," the snow woman declared as well.

Karasuba's eyes narrowed, still gleaming with bloodthirsty glee, and she readied her nodachi. I managed to lift my head enough to catch sight of my two Sekirei standing next to each other, great serpentine beasts of their elements forming in response to their attacks. It looked at first like the Black Sekirei was going to dismiss the two completely, and then her expression changed, a hint of caution appearing as the two separate dragons, rather than charging independently at her, instead coalesced at point a few feet in front of the two, the elements combining.

The end result was something bigger than what the two separate combined should have made, a great speeding mass of razor sharp ice combined with roaring whitecap covered water. It was something which Matsu had suggested earlier. When two Sekirei were winged to the same Ashikabi, than they were unconsciously synchronized to each other to a certain extent. Normally, combining an attack like this would take too much precision for two independent Sekirei, but with the aid of the Ashikabi, a joint attack was indeed possible.

Even as the enormous serpentine assault closed, rather than dismay, Karasuba just seemed to grow more excited. At the last moment, when the dragon shaped maw should have closed down on the Black Sekirei, Karasuba instead struck, slicing deeply into the attack with her nodachi. Somehow, again seemingly impossibly, the slim length of steel in her grip managed to not stop, but rather cut directly through the combined might of two of the strongest Sekirei in the Plan.

Okay, I thought to myself as I forced myself to my feet, gritting my teeth to keep from crying out as my ruined knee made its protest known at the movement. This is just unfair!

The others had mentioned that Karasuba was possibly the most dangerous Sekirei in the Plan, some of my flock even going so far as to informing me that I should have winged her just to keep us from having to fight her later on. I had dismissed their concern, not because I had been underestimating Karasuba's power, but because I had thought it would be wrong to take a Sekirei by force.

I was not regretting that decision. Nope. Definitely not. No matter how much my leg hurt, I was absolutely not going to regret that decision.

"Shirou," Tsukiumi shouted, and the water user landed beside me in a flurry, having leapt to my side probably the instant she had finished her attack without even checking on its effectiveness. "Are you alright?" she asked me, a thumb hovering near her lips as she seemed about to start gnawing at her nail again. Her concern over me was obvious, and I could actually make out a shiver of fear going through her as she seemed to waffle between holding an appropriate distance and checking me physically for wounds.

"I'm fine," I told her, lying through my teeth as I did so. I was most certainly not anything near fine right now. I had a bleeding hole in my stomach, had lost just about all mobility in one of my legs, and still only had one of my blades. More than that, the final spray of water and chipped ice was finally settling around Karasuba, the Black Sekirei's maniacal grin proof that she was most likely having fun rather than being pressed by the attempted assault.

I don't know what had gotten into the number zero four, but if she kept up in this vein, than not only were my plans going to be threatened, but I could very well end up dead, here and now, bleeding out in the snow just like Toyotama and Ichiya were. I had to find some way to get Karasuba to stop, to force her to back off, and judging from the way she was already turning to face me, I had to find it fast.

I just wouldn't be able to survive another attack like I had just repelled.

Well, if I couldn't survive the battle, I would just have to avert it.

With that thought in mind, I brought Bakuya up. Karasuba's eyes widened as she took the move as me preparing to rejoin the battle, but then they narrowed as I continued to raise the blade until it was resting on my own throat.

"Shirou!" Tsukiumi hissed, jerking backwards at my unexpected response, "what are you doing?"

I ignored her, instead locking eyes with the still Karasuba. For a moment the developing tableau held, and then Karasuba sighed, her smile receding into something a little less blood thirsty, but still showing more teeth than I was comfortable with.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" she asked me, her tone friendly and conversational, as though she hadn't just done her absolute level best to slaughter me where I stood. "Do you really expect me to be stopped by something like that?"

"Honestly? No," I replied frankly. Karasuba's grin remained, though she cocked her head to the side, silently encouraging me to continue. "Seems a shame though," I continued, my tone conversational as though I hadn't been affected in the least by what had just happened. It was taking more self-control than I was comfortable with to maintain that tone, what with the agony in my leg. "With what would happen to number eighty eight, and all."

It actually took a moment for Karasuba to understand what I was saying, but once it did it looked like it came as a surprise to her, the Black Sekirei actually blinking as she seemed to realize something that she had previously forgotten.

After all, I was the Ashikabi of Musubi. The same Musubi that was apparently one of Karasuba's friend, maybe even her only one, the Musubi that Karasuba had a promise with that was so important that the Black Sekirei would even pass up on being winged to an Ashikabi that she was reacting to so that she could fulfill that promise.

The same Ashikabi she had nearly killed only a second ago, and was even now holding her dear friend hostage at the cost of his own life.

"Ahaha," Karasuba finally laughed, her smile fading again into that much more accustomed grin, her eyes narrowing until they crinkled in a friendly fashion at their corners. "Good point, Shiroi-kun," she noted, sounding for all the world like she was just commending an acquaintance for reminding her that she had forgotten a phone or something. One eye opened a bit more, giving me a level look as she continued. "It seems I'll have to put this on hold until after I take care of that little matter."

"That's good," I nodded, giving her a polite smile of my own. "It would be a shame to have to terminate you before you got the chance."

"Oh?" Karasuba's eyebrow rose, amusement obvious in her voice. "Was that how you saw this fight going?" She seemed a bit skeptical at my prediction of the battle's conclusion, and her sword shifted, as though she were going to raise it once more to a ready position.

In response, I took Bakuya from my throat, confident that whatever had gotten into the Black Sekirei it had at least been pulled back enough that she wouldn't be attacking me at any second. "Oh yes," I nodded, raising the sword to point above and behind her. "That's exactly how I see this going at the moment."

Eyebrow still raised, Karasuba turned to follow my blade to where it was pointing, and I was treated to the sight of Karasuba actually blinking in surprise again.

"Hi, Crow-chan!" Kazehana called cheerfully, from where she was wrapping her arms around a suddenly surprised Natsuo. At her shout, both Benitsubasa and Haihane flinched, the Red Sekirei whirling about to find that while she had been to wrapped up in staring at the fight that had erupted between Karasuba and I a new strange Sekirei had gotten within arm's reach of her Ashikabi. "I hear you've been doing well!"

"Who the hell are you!" Benitsubasa screamed, starting to take a threatening step forward, before Kazehana took a step back herself, dragging a now very uncomfortable looking Natsuo with her. The Red Sekirei froze, only then realizing the danger that had appeared to her Ashikabi.

"You get away… from him…" Haihane also realized the situation, and though the Blue Sekirei didn't make any sudden moves, it looked like it was taking a lot of self-control to keep herself from reacting.

"Oh?" Karasuba was the only one of the Disciplinary Squad who seemed unconcerned, simply raising a hand to her eyes as though to shield her gaze. "Is that you, Kazehana?" she asked casually. "I heard you were still out on a quest to drink all the sake in the world."

"Oh, I was," the Wind Sekirei called back, waving one hand idly at her former coworker. "But then I met the most amazing man and settled down!" Despite her casually cheerful tone, at no point did Kazehana let Natsuo out of her grip. "I see you've met him already!" With those words, one hand came up to delicately rest on Natsuo's chin.

Karasuba appeared unaffected by the action, even as both Benitsubasa and Haihane both stiffened at the casual treatment of their Ashikabi, but when she turned back I knew that the Black Sekirei had gotten the message.

Kazehana, for all her innocent debauchedness, and casual drinking, had been right alongside the Black Sekirei when the two were carving their legend on the bodies of entire armies. The number zero three had killed before, and back then she had been doing it just because she had needed to protect the rest of her species. Now though, now Kazehana had an Ashikabi, and for a Sekirei there was nothing they wouldn't do for their Ashikabi.

With a sigh, Karasuba gave an exaggerated shrug, turning back to me with an innocent smile. "Alright, I guess we'll have to do this some other time, Shiroi-chan," she surrendered easily, and despite the very real danger to her Ashikabi and by extension herself, the Black Sekirei appeared completely unaffected by the threat. When a moment later her eyes cracked a bit, locking onto mine with sly amusement, I think that she was actually enjoying the situation in some way.

"Now just wait a second!" Benitsubasa shouted, stomping angrily as she quivered in impotent fury, unable to even make a move to help her Ashikabi due to Kazehana's proximity to him. "Just who are all these Sekirei? Where are they coming from?" Shaking with rage, she turned level a murderous glare at me. "And you… don't think I'll forget this! Breaking the rules like this…"

"Oh?" I cocked my head to the side, unaffected by the very real threat. "The rules were that I could bring three with me in the first place, weren't they?" I nodded my head from Akitsu to Tsukiumi, and then at Kazehana, indicating that I had indeed brought only the specified amount. "And as for breaking any other rules," my tone turned amused as I put my hands on my hip, Bakuya and the bloodied spear being directed akimbo as I did so, "who do you think broke them first?"

"Whoops?" Karasuba laughed lightly, holding her hands up innocently.

"Karasuba-san," this time it was Natsuo's turn to speak up, and he leveled a stern look at his Sekirei. He paused, turning to give a surprisingly serious looking glare at Kazehana for a second, before continuing to address his Sekirei in a carefree tone. "You know you weren't supposed to interfere."

"Ah, that's my fault," the Black Sekirei admitted easily. "You see, I was watching from above, and after having such a wonderful show put on in front of me, I just got so excited I couldn't resist joining in. And, well, I'm a bit clumsy," she shrugged, sounding as though she was confiding a secret to the rest of us. "I generally have trouble avoiding attacks from below, so when I attack from above I just can't hold myself back and usually end up carelessly slaughtering them." She said something so bloodthirsty so casually, that it only made the meaning behind her words that much more chilling. And when she turned to give me another sly look, I knew she was being serious. "Well, that's usually what happens. Someone surviving like this…" Her grin flashed bloodthirsty once more. "It's kind of exciting, actually."

Despite the words not being aimed at them, both Haihane and Benitsubasa seemed unable to suppress a shudder at their more experienced partner's words. Actually, if it wasn't for the blinding pain in my knee consuming most of my attention, I might have done the same.

"Karasuba-san," Natsuo at least seemed unaffected as he sighed, leaning forward to put his head in his palm before he once more paused, giving Kazehana another fierce look for some reason. The Wind Sekirei caught the look this time, and merely smiled at him, not letting him go despite the antipathy. The head of the Disciplinary Squad seemed like he was about to continue when for the third time this match his phone rang once more. The clerk gave his pocket a bemused look, beginning to reach for it before he turned yet again to glare at Kazehana.

"Excuse me," he said firmly, not sounding at all carefree or cheerful at that moment. Kazehana continued to grin innocently at him, no doubt expecting him to say something about letting him go, but then she blinked in surprise as he continued. "But could you stop touching me with those?" he emphasized the word 'those' with immense scorn as he gave her breasts a pointed look.

"Oh?" Kazehana glanced down too, taking in the sight of her own chest with surprise. "What's wrong with these? Don't you like big breasts, Pretty-Boy-kun?" she taunted the other Ashikabi, no doubt expecting the usual reaction to her teasing.

"No," Natsuo confirmed bluntly. "Since they're usually attached to women, I don't enjoy them at all." He honestly seemed more offended at the close proximity to such a luscious figure then he did at being so obviously held hostage as he pulled his phone free, opening it so he could hold it to his ear.

"Oh?" Kazehana seemed surprised by the confession, before her eyes widened in understanding. With a sly grin, her eyes tracked to the chests Benitsubasa, and then to Karasuba herself. "So that's why you winged so many pancakes?"

"I am not a pancake!" Benitsubasa screeched, hands instinctively coming up to protect her chest from further leering. Karasuba on the other hand just smiled, either honestly not being affected by the dig or just a lot better at hiding it than the younger Sekirei.

Haihane, despite the tense standoff, actually snorted, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as her body again shook with suppressed laughter. "… pancake," she repeated, and Benitsubasa flushed even brighter as even her teammate got in on the teasing.

"Yes?" Natsuo answered the phone, once more slipping back into his carefree persona. "Ah, Director! Why yes, we are having fun. A little too much perhaps," the Ashikabi somehow managed to make the look he directed at Karasuba both scolding and yet still friendly. The Black Sekirei just smiled back with crinkled eyes. "Oh?" Natsuo's attention turned back to his conversation, and he listened for a moment more, before nodding. "Alright then."

Still not seeming at all concerned about his predicament, Natsuo promptly hung up his phone, turning slightly to address me directly. "Well, it seems that since Karasuba decided to interfere, it looks like we've officially been ordered to surrender! It looks like this is your win then, Emiya-san!"

"What?" It was Benitsubasa again who expressed her astonishment at this somewhat unexpected turn of events, her voice still remaining annoyingly high pitched as she did so. I didn't see what she was so surprised about actually.

A retreat at this point was the absolute best option for the Disciplinary Squad. They had effectively been neutralized with Kazehana's capturing of their Ashikabi. In fact, there was a very real danger that MBI was about to lose their most prominent and important personnel, their only real match for the rest of the powerful creatures they had released into the city already. Making a public offer to withdraw and allow me victory was most likely MBI's only option for trying to preserve their most powerful asset, Karasuba.

The question was, would I accept it?

I knew that MBI would need the Disciplinary Squad at some point in the future. Once I was gone with the Jinki, the plan would no doubt be stalled. That would leave a lot of Sekirei hanging around idle in a relatively small space. They would need a force capable of actually controlling the rest of the species, especially if some of the other Ashikabi began to get ideas about how to use their super powered mates in less than reputable ways. Not having the Disciplinary Squad around would possibly cost a lot of people lives.

However, that didn't change the fact that this might be the best, maybe the only chance, I would ever have to completely remove Karasuba as a threat. The Black Sekirei would almost certainly be tasked with finding and returning the Jinki at some point in the future, and given what I'd seen here any future chance of battle with her was risky. There was no guarantee that the next time we fought I would be so lucky.

For a moment I hesitated, and judging from the knowing glance MBI's dog sent me she had already deduced my train of thought. Her smile remained unaffected, the chance of being slain so casually not even enough to get her to change her expression. Just like Toyotama and Ichiya, this was someone who truly had given themselves up to battle and bloodshed, someone who had accepted the universal truth that those who live by the sword will always die by the sword.

This was not someone who would ever regret her way of life. And strangely enough, that was the reason that prompted me to glance up at Kazehana, and nod at her to release Natsuo.

I think that someday Karasuba would have to die. And I think when it finally happens it will be at an enormous cost. But for now, her reputation and power was just too important to the safety of her species to remove her from this world. It was better that the rest of the Sekirei have someone like her to protect them, so that they wouldn't have to walk the same path that she did.

Well, that and the fact that I really wanted to just hurry this up and get out of here. My stomach might as well be on fire right now, the normal sort of pain for having been run through, but my knee made even impalement seem pleasant right now. I had been cut and pierced many times in the past, and I've even been crushed in places on occasion, but I think this was the first time I ever had a joint in particular so thoroughly maimed. I was finding this whole new kind of pain to be a bit more distracting than normal.

"Well, looks like you get your wish, Pretty-Boy-kun," Kazehana told the once more imperturbable Natsuo as she released him. The moment the Wind Sekirei was no longer in striking distance of her Ashikabi it came as no surprise that the Red Sekirei charged my Sekirei with a war cry. It also came as no surprise that Kazehana had to do nothing more than gesture and a gust of wind both forced her attacker and herself apart, the Wind Sekirei summersaulting easily through the air like a leaf being tossed by a playful breeze before she landed nearby me. Kazehana mimed blowing a kiss at the still furious Benitsubasa. With a twirl, the number zero three gave zero four a playful glance. "You should get that looked at, Crow-chan!" Kazehana continued to talk to Karasuba as though the two of them were old friends. Which, I suppose, they actually kind of were. "A girl's face is her treasure, after all!"

"A girl's face?" Karasuba repeated, sounding pleasantly curious as she gave Kazehana a curious look. Idly, she reached up to brush a bit of her hair back, letting her fingers trace slightly across her cheeks as she did so. "What do you mean by…"

I wasn't certain why the walking genocide trailed off for a moment, her eyes widening, but when she pulled her hand in front of her eyes to find them spotted with her own blood I realized the reason for her confusion.

"This is your first time being wounded, isn't it?" I asked, once more disturbed by just how alike Miya and Karasuba could be at times. Their smiles, their light hearted teasing, their unreal fighting abilities, and now this: their previous flawless battle histories.

Karasuba didn't answer me with words, too busy taking in the realization that she had actually been injured, and then her expression changed in a way that set both me and all my Sekirei, even the so far playful Kazehana, on edge. It wasn't rage on the Black Sekirei's face, but rather an absolute euphoria, the kind you'd expect to see on a little girl who had just been given a dozen ponies, a whole new wardrobe, and a hundred dolls. It only lasted for a moment, and then Karasuba's eyes locked onto mine, and her grin was once more the kind you'd expect on only the most sadistic of killers right before they drove a knife home. With a healthy dose of fear, I realized the analogy might be proven too accurate as the Black Sekirei began to lift her blade, shifting to take a step forward, and I tensed myself, getting ready to fight for my life…

"Karasuba!" Natsuo's voice once more had taken a sharp edge to it, and it was enough for both the Black Sekirei and I to pause. The head of the Disciplinary Squad was setting an unusually stern glare on his wayward Sekirei. It looked like he at least knew her well enough to know when she was about to go on a killing spree without orders. "We have to be leaving now."

Both Benitsubasa and Haihane were already doing just that, though the process seemed to involve a slouched Blue Sekirei physically lifting a struggling Red Sekirei by the back of her shirt as the clawed Sekirei continued to drag her partner behind her. The two had chosen to head further up the stairs they had been perched on the entire battle, making their way towards the overpass that would lead them over a nearby highway. Natsuo was only a few steps behind them, but had apparently paused to check on his final Sekirei right before she had nearly been driven over the edge again.

Karasuba glanced at her Ashikabi, before her eyes once more shifted back to me. I could see the struggle in her eyes, the grimace on her lips as she seemed to weigh the consequences of disregarding her Ashikabi's orders, of ignoring MBI's intent and my Sekirei who were already shifting to put themselves between her and I and just charging forward to finish what she had started with me. I was still tensed for just that, not trusting the thing in front of me to have enough restraint to pull back after what appeared to be an irresistible provocation to her. If she charged than there would be no way for me to fight her besides with Magecraft. With my knee ruined I simply didn't have the mobility to fight her conventionally. I would have to resort to my swords, most likely some Noble Phantasms at that, in order to just live through her initial strike.

Then, like a cloud passing over the moon, the moment passed. The Black Sekirei relaxed, her smile settling back and her eyes crinkling.

"Very exciting," Karasuba corrected her initial assessment of my capabilities, and I felt the tension leave the group. Natsuo seemed to feel it too, and he favored me with one more beaming smile before he turned to follow his other two Sekirei. Karasuba also began to turn, and then paused, giving me a searching look.

Just like before, it took me a moment before I could figure out what was causing her to hesitate. It wasn't until I realized just where her eyes had settled that I understood what she was waiting for.

"You can't be serious," I deadpanned, and her eyes lifted to mine again, her smile widening. Even as she began to open her mouth, I interrupted her, knowing exactly what she was about to do. "Oh just take it," I snapped, flinging the broken lance that had tasted the blood of three people today at her. I aimed it like a thrown weapon, the shortened spear flying towards her heart, and just as casually as I had thrown it Karasuba caught it.

If I hadn't done it now, she would have just called me by the wrong name again until I did anyway.

"Why thank you, Shiroi-chan," the Black Sekirei told me with an amused tone of voice. She idly brought the very tip of it up to before her eyes, as though she would somehow be able to tell just which crimson stain belonged to which individual that had been stabbed with it today. She seemed immensely satisfied by my latest tool for attempted murder.

"You can even add it to your shrine," I told her back dryly, and her expression shifted a bit, drawing down in mild annoyance. Actually, the response to my little jab at her unusual collection would have been called a 'pout' on just about anyone else, but the idea of Karasuba pouting was just as unbelievable as that of Miya eeping. The day had already had enough twists in it for my tastes, so I decided to ignore that particular train of thought.

"That Benitsubasa," Karasuba murmured, apparently annoyed at the loose lips of her teammate, before she gave me one last beatific smile. "Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. Don't worry though. Next time, I'll be sure to take your head to use as the centerpiece of my so called shrine."

I had very little doubt that she was being absolutely serious with that promise.

"See you soon, Shiroi-chan," and with that Karasuba bade me farewell, turning and disappearing into the arctic scene, drawn sword at her side as she waved idly above her head with her newest prize.

"Ashikabi-sama," Akitsu murmured, and I pulled my eyes away from the disappearing genocide to find the snow woman once more behind me in her usual position. She too was staring after the vanishing Karasuba, her gaze intent and her frame tense as the Sekirei that very nearly killed me walked away as though she hadn't a care in the world. I knew Akitsu well enough to understand what she was implying with her single word though.

"No, Akitsu," I told her. "We still need her alive for now." Akitsu nodded, and though she relaxed slightly she never took her eyes away from where Karasuba had vanished.

"Shirou," this time it was Tsukiumi who interrupted, and I gave the Water Sekirei a brief look. The nervous blonde was still hovering on the edge of chewing on her thumbs, and seemed caught between reaching out to either support me or try to tend my wounds. "We need to get you to a hospital!"

"Why?" I asked, doing my absolute best to appear nonchalant, even though at the moment the thought of a hospital brought to mind thoughts of pain killers. Yeah, some of those would be nice right about now. "I only go to those for serious injuries."

"You have a hole in your stomach," Tsukiumi reminded me flatly, giving me an unusually deadpan look which oddly reminded me of Matsu for a moment. "How does that not qualify as serious?"

"It isn't through any of the important organs," I told her, also deadpanning. I would be able to focus more on my injuries later, when I wasn't still having my every move broadcasted to all the participants of the Sekirei Plan. For now, I just needed to maintain an air of strength. I absolutely could not falter now.

That meant I just needed to collect my prize and walk coolly into the sunset, and then I could start thinking about finding someplace quiet and dark to lay down in.

"You know," Kazehana murmured, sounding contemplative. "I think that might have been the first time I ever saw Karasuba flirt."

"That was flirting?" Tsukiumi snapped, turning to give Kazehana an incredulous look. "She tried to kill my husband!"

"Definitely flirting," the wind Sekirei confirmed, nodding her head.

"Yeah," I also agreed, causing Tsukiumi to give me a surprised look. Even Akitsu stirred restlessly as I agreed with the unbelievable statement. "It's not the most extreme case I've ever seen, but that was definitely too playful to be a real fight."

If Karasuba had been serious about trying to kill me, then the best chance to do it would have been right after the first strike, the one I only barely managed to stop. If she had struck again quicker, and with the speed she no doubt had she could have launched a dozen blows in the time she had held me pinned before I countered, then I would either be in far worse condition now, or have been forced to reveal my magecraft in order to survive.

Still, the nearness of my life and death encounter could wait for the moment. Now, the only thing I wanted to do was collect my prize and then retreat to lick my wounds.

Speaking of prizes…

It seemed that with the withdraw of the Disciplinary Squad, the Third Match was officially over. As though to confirm the end, fireworks were beginning to go off again. Amidst the loud booms of the detonating rockets, the sound of a helicopter approaching became evident. At first, the noise caused me to tense slightly. I was still standing amidst the corpses of two Sekirei, and I briefly worried that the retrieval squads were going to be coming for them.

I did not want to be here when the cleanup began. I had given MBI plenty of reasons to want to ask me questions, and I didn't want to answer them at the moment. I wanted to leave them guessing for a while.

However I relaxed slightly when I finally caught sight of the approaching aircraft. It wasn't one of those the fancier military crafts. Instead it was just a normal looking helicopter.

And dangling from the craft on a flapping rope ladder, clutching a Jinki in one outstretched hand, was none other than Hiroto Minaka.

"Winner: Shirou Emiya!" the Director of MBI declared, his voice magnified as it emitted from several of the nearby loudspeakers. The madman responsible for the Sekirei Plan sounded almost jovial as he made his dramatic entrance. "So sorry that we had to withdraw one of the teams early for disciplinary reasons. Come here and claim your prize!"

For a moment, I honestly couldn't believe that the man had actually appeared before me. He had to know that his actions had probably pissed off a lot of powerful creatures. To walk around, or fly around in this case, unprotected when so many had a grudge against him seemed ludicrous. I actually entertained the idea of following through on Homura's favorite plan, and just killing the man now. It might even work, after all.

And then, as though in response to my grim musing, the rope ladder the Director was hanging from snapped.

"Huh?" Minaka sounded confused, before he plummeted to the ground, ladder flailing behind him before he landed with a resounding crash.

"Hahaha!" despite what should have been a fatal impact, the Director's voice continued cheerfully. It took me a second to locate the body, obscured briefly by dust and snow where it had fallen. I would have liked to get closer, but at the moment my leg was in too much pain for me to move casually. When I finally managed to see the crash zone, it was to find that what I had thought was Minaka was in fact nothing more than some sort of animated mannequin of some sort.

Alright, using a body double made sense for someone in his position. Maybe he wasn't a complete idiot.

"Did I scare you?" Minaka continued, the sound coming as much from the doll's head as it did the loudspeakers around me. For some reason, the head was actually attached to a giant spring which was bouncing lightly. "It was just a little joke! A bit of extra amusement!"

I kept my face stony, not showing any reaction to the poor taste of the gag. Beside me, Akitsu hesitated for a moment, before slowly beginning to clap at the absurd prop humor. Beside her, Tsukiumi gave the snow woman a brief annoyed glare and elbowed her sharply in the side to get her to stop.

"Tough crowd," Minaka noted, before apparently brushing off the lack of response. "Now, for the winner!" A panel on the doll's chest popped open, and again revealed a Jinki. A quick glance confirmed that the one the doll had been holding originally had shattered, nothing more than a prop for the ridiculous prank. The one in the chest panel though was real. I had a moment of looking at it, but managed to glance away when I felt myself beginning to descend into my usual fit of constrained madness at the sight of the strange artifact. "Here! The winner may take his prize!"

"Kazehana," I gave the wind Sekirei a brief look as I gave her a nod. She nodded once at my abbreviated order, smirking as she approached the doll. With a flirtatious glance back at me, the smirking bottle fairy took the Jinki and gave me a smoldering look as she slowly slipped it between her breasts in a sensuous movement no doubt meant to tease.

I couldn't help but find it ridiculous that not only was she using her cleavage as an impromptu 'Jinki vault' but that the 'vault' was actually large enough to completely conceal the alien artifact from view. The fact that two objects capable of reducing me to a stuttering idiot were in such close contact just made me a little uncomfortable.

"It would have been more dramatic if the Ashikabi was the one to pick it up," Minaka's doll couldn't change expression, but the voice definitely sounded petulant as I failed to play along with the man's sense of theater. I remained stone faced and silent, partly to conceal my injuries and partly because I had nothing to say to the man who had caused so much pain on an apparent whim. As though sensing my distaste, Minaka cleared his throat briefly before continuing in a slightly more serious tone.

"The Jinki," Minaka went on, no longer sounding like he was trying to grandstand. "Or, 'the weapon of the gods', if all of them are gathered, the Age of the Gods will be restored." I felt my jaw clench. That could have just been more attempts at drama, but given everything I knew of the Jinki it came across more as ominous. Did Minaka know just how dangerous those things were? If he did, then just what was he planning to do with them? "The power of the gods," he continued, "if you were to obtain such power, Shirou Emiya, when such a time comes what would you, what would all of you do with it?"

It seemed like even though I was the only one present, Minaka was addressing the viewers as well. Still, I already had my response to his question.

"I've told you before," I finally spoke to the Director, my voice cool. "The Age of Gods is over, and mankind is better off without them."

"Hey!" Minaka protested, again sounding upset over my insistence that humanity was better off without the divine. "That's…"

"Akitsu," I interrupted the director, giving my Sekirei a glance. "Destroy that thing."

With no warning, just like with Karasuba, a dozen daggers of ice erupted to pierce the doll puncturing the mannequin in a number of places that would be lethal on a normal human.

"Understood, Ashikabi-sama," Akitsu murmured a moment after the deed was done.

"Aw," the voice that came from the doll's head started to fade. "I didn't even get to use my self-destruct function!" With a final whine accompanied by a few sparks, the machine finally died completely.

"Time to go," I announced, turning to leave the battlefield. I gave the frosted world around us one final look, wondering if I should maybe have Akitsu do something about it, or if she even could at this point. "Akitsu, would you take this down?"

The snow woman nodded again, and even as I lead the three Sekirei away from the killing field she raised one hand up to slowly snap it.

"Break," she ordered, and the icy castle we were leaving behind began to shatter around us, accompanying our exit with showers of lethal shards of ice that missed all four of us by a generous distance.

Well, I guess Minaka got a bit of drama out of me after all. It was one hell of an impressive way to leave.

*Scene Break*

We'd been walking in silence for nearly five minutes before my phone began to ring. Each step was a new shard of agony on my destroyed knee, but I resolutely gave no indication of my pain. I must have appeared particularly unapproachable because of it since none of my accompanying Sekirei seemed willing to speak up before me.

I tried to juggle Kanshou and Bakuya in my hands for a moment so that I could reach my phone, before remembering Akitsu's strange fetish. "Akit…" I began turning to the snow woman only to find her obediently standing nearby, an expectant look on her face. "Right," I nodded, and handed over the blood stained blades. With a slightly proud look she accepted them, paying no mind to the way the drying blood stained the front of her kimono and a bit of her exposed cleavage as well.

Was holding my swords really that satisfying? I wondered to myself as I fished out my phone. A quick glance at the front revealed the number calling me, and I gave a relieved sigh. Flipping open my phone, I prepared to speak only to be interrupted instantly.

"Shirou-tan!" Matsu snapped, sounding worried and nervous. "Are you okay? Your stomach, is it going to be alright?"

"My stomach is fine," I reassured her, voice still tense from the effort of not displaying my pain. "Are we off camera yet?"

"What?" Matsu repeated, sounding a little unsure of my question.

"I said, 'are we off camera yet?'" I repeated, still tense.

"Well, yeah," Matsu began, and I cut her off once more.

"Oh thank god," I gasped, and finally let myself react to my leg. With a grimace, I hopped, trying to get weight off of it and nearly stumbling. "Finally!"

"Shirou!" Tsukiumi gasped, and appeared beside me instantly. I managed to get one arm around her shoulder, and she wrapped one around my waist gingerly. She made an effort to avoid my stomach wound. "I knew that it was worse than it looked," the declared grimly, her lips pressed firm in worry.

"My stomach is fine," I reassured her with a grimace, thankful for the support. "Any swordsman worth their salt knows how to stab themselves there. It's my freaking knee!"

"You're knee?" Matsu repeated, sounding confused, only to be interrupted.

"Oh my," it was Miya's voice this time, sounding somewhat contemplative. "I'm afraid I don't know how to stab myself. It appears to be a very foolish thing to do. Does that not make me a proper swordswoman?"

Despite the light hearted nature of her words, it sounded like the landlady's voice had a note of rebuke in it, as though to chide me for doing something which she thought to be very foolish indeed.

"It's easy," I told her, still grimacing. "Instead of hitting all the important bits you usually aim at, you miss them instead." Then I paused, realizing that she had spoken at all. "Wait, are we on speaker phone or something?" I asked, confused.

"Just miss the important parts," Miya repeated, and I had the impression that she was shaking her head in either amusement or consternation. "Why did I not think of that? Perhaps it's because I focus too much on not being injured in the first place."

"Enough, Miya-tan," Matsu re-interrupted, sounding annoyed with the other alien for delaying her attempt at checking on her Ashikabi. "Yeah, we're on speaker," she continued, and then was cut off again.

"Shirou-sama!" Musubi sounded exuberant, and I heard a quick scuffle before her voice sounded even louder. "That was amazing! You and Karasuba-sama were so cool!" It looked like the battle maniac side of the shrine girl was firmly in effect at the moment. "The way you… and then you… and then… squeee!"

Distantly, in the background, I thought I heard Kuu-chan squee-ing as well. It was interrupted by yet another scuffle noise, and then Matsu was back on the line again.

"Just hold it down! Shirou-tan, what about your knee?"

"That crazy girl broke it earlier," I muttered, still grimacing at the discomfort in my leg. "That blood thirsty alien tart destroyed it when she jumped me. I take back everything good I ever said about her."

"You mean Karasuba?" Matsu asked, sounding like she needed clarification.

"At last, Emiya-kun starts to speak sense," I heard Miya in the background once more, sounding like she was enjoying my bad mouthing of Karasuba immensely.

"How bad is it, Lover-kun?" Kazehana at least seemed able to focus without a peanut gallery behind her to distract her and picked up where Matsu had left off. The wind Sekirei seemed cautious as she knelt near me, reaching out to tenderly brush against the leg I was favoring. I winced in response, trying to pull back and putting more weight on the increasingly anxious Tsukiumi.

"I don't have a joint anymore," I told her bluntly. "I have a bloody pancake where it should be."

"Will you be alright, Shirou-tan?" Matsu seemed to have once more regained control of the phone, and she sounded concerned at the update on my injury.

"As long as I can have a good night to rest, I should be fine in the morning," I informed her, hand coming down to trace the wound in my stomach lightly. As the first wound I received, it looked like it was already receiving Avalon's attention. It was definitely smaller than it should be. I could only hope that I had somehow managed to avoid getting any blood in the wound. That could cause an infection which would tie up the scabbard even longer before it could get to my knee.

It was about then that I realized just how much blood was covering me. When Toyotoma had fallen apparently I had gotten showered with more of the stuff than I had realized at the time. Glancing down, I realized that was probably the reason no one had realized just how badly my leg was injured. Wet blood was still staining the leg of my pants, and my own blood was probably concealed by it.

I guess I should be thankful for small coincidences like that.

Matsu was silent for a moment, probably taking in my projected time frame for recovery for calculations, before she spoke again. I could still hear Musubi and Kuu-chan in the background, the two of them still making excited noises after having witnessed my fight. I was a little surprised by just how exuberantly Kuu was taking the battle. She always did love to watch Musubi and Miya spar, so I had known she like watching fights, but this seemed a little excessive for someone so young.

"The battle," Matsu finally spoke up. "How do you rate it, Shirou-tan?" The hacker seemed subdued again, and it looked like she was seeking my battle experience in order to judge how successful we had been in our goals.

"This was a complete victory," I told her firmly, and despite my pain I felt a smile growing.

"You break your knee and stab yourself and you claim complete victory?" Tsukiumi scowled at me, and the hand wrapped around my waist tightened firmly. "I would think not being injured would be necessary for such a claim!" she glowered at me.

"This battle wasn't about just winning, or even just getting the Jinki," I reminded her, before pausing. "Which we did," I added a second later, giving Kazehana's chest and what was concealed there a quick look. She smirked briefly at me, straightening her back to give me a better view of her 'Jinki vault' before I quickly looked away, fighting back a blush. Dangerous. "This battle was about reputation, and in that regard it went even better than I could have hoped."

"How did it go better than you hoped?" Matsu sounded different, and I think she might have taken off her glasses as she primed herself for some serious analysis.

"Every Ashikabi and Sekirei in the city just watched me take down two Sekirei on my own," I began my list. "They even saw me go so far as to impale myself in order to do it. Right now they're going back over the forums, reviewing every 'sword bearing Ashikabi' rumor, and convincing themselves that it has to be true now. There probably won't be an Ashikabi in the Plan that will risk coming to the North again, and most of them will probably run the moment they see me."

That alone would have made this match worthwhile. This nearly eliminated any chance of future random encounters, and the less conflict we engaged in the better. My flock was strong, yes, and so was I, but there was always a chance to lose no matter how much the odds seemed stacked in your favor. I had overcome ridiculous disadvantages in battle before in order to secure impossible seeming victories. And if I could do it, so could anyone else.

"More than that," I continued my triumphant grin growing. "They saw me get right back up afterwards and face down the Black Sekirei herself. I even managed to injure her without taking any apparent wounds. Then I deadlocked the Disciplinary Squad and forced them to back down publicly. I was just a rumor before, an exaggerated mythological danger to trade stories about, but now I'm a credible power with proof of my ability."

"And all it cost was a hole in your stomach and a 'pancake' for a knee," Miya pointed out, still sounding like she was chiding me. "And MBI most likely will not stand for this either."

"They don't know about the knee," I reminded her defensively. "They only know what happened on camera. And MBI might focus more attention on me personally, but they're going to have to be cautious. I've already shown that I could possibly be a credible threat to Karasuba, their trump card. If there was a chance that I could actually overcome her, then they'd be without their primary enforcer. They'll have to be cautious while engaging, like they are with the other Great Ashikabi. More than that, they saw what I did with Akitsu. They themselves declared her unwingable, and yet here she is." Akitsu seemed to straighten a bit at the praise. "They'll have to be even more cautious while they investigate. If I could do something impossible with the Sekirei they thought they knew better than anyone else in the world then just what else might I be able to do?"

"Perhaps," Miya allowed after a moment, sounding as though she was seriously considering the points I had made.

"The Third Jinki is just the icing on the cake at this point," I was feeling distinctly good about the way this whole fight had gone down, and I had to force myself to remain calm. As good as this match had gone, it was no reason to gloat. There were always things that could still go wrong. "Matsu, when I get back we're going to start preparing."

"For…?" Matsu began, before she paused. "I see," she finally concluded, resolute understanding creeping into her tone.

"And what shall you be preparing for now, Emiya-kun?" Miya sighed, sounding as though she was finding my planning to be getting ridiculous at this point. "An assault on MBI? Perhaps to conquer the world?"

"No," I shook my head, tone going grim. Beside me Tsukiumi gave me a sharp look at the change. "Preparing to leave."

Miya drew a breath, understanding what I was saying. "I thought you were planning on collecting five?" she finally ventured finally.

"Five would be best, but the longer this goes on the worst things could happen," I declared bluntly. "We'll take our time getting our resources together, hopefully collect a fourth before we're ready, but right now we have the absolute minimum Jinki. It's best to be ready to leave at any time at this point."

Three Jinki might not be enough to stop whatever MBI was planning, but there was a good chance it would be. Now was the time to be preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

"So sudden," Miya murmured, and I found I couldn't quite read the tone of her voice. It looked like the Landlady was a little surprised at just how quickly I was moving along with my plan to derail the Sekirei Plan.

It was about this point that I realized that apparently not everyone was present. "Where's Homura?" I asked, realizing that I hadn't heard one comment about leaving before we killed Minaka. The fire user had been quite persistent in trying to get me to add assassination into my plans before we escaped Shin Tokyo.

"Oh," Matsu began, sounding vaguely amused by something. "She was watching the fight with the rest of us, but halfway through she started to get quite distraught." I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was keeping something back from me, but there was no way I could figure that out with my current resources.

"Distraught?" I repeated, prompting her to continue.

"Something about suicidal idiots," Miya also seemed amused. "And how the moment they get back they're going to be tied to their bed until they heal."

"But when Matsu asked if Homura-tan would be getting in the bed too, Homura-tan got a little shy," Matsu added the last little bit so innocently that I just knew that some part of the story was being edited. I sighed, shifting to keep my weight off my leg a little better.

"I wish you two would just leave her alone," I muttered, trying to be stern and ending up more resigned. "She's having a hard enough time of this as it is." It shouldn't surprise me that Miya and Matsu would be the primary instigators of a little friendly tormenting, but still, I thought that the landlady at least would have the grace to wait at least a week before she started in on the fire user. "How would you like it if something like that happened to you?"

"Fuhuhuhu!" Matsu began to cackle maliciously, and I realized that she probably wouldn't have any problem at all with a change like that. Homura's predicament would probably be treated a great deal differently if the lascivious witch were being subjected to it.

"After that horrible woman made herself known," Miya at least seemed willing to focus on the exposition rather than the supposition, though she still sounded amused, "Homura grew quite distraught indeed. I believe she's in the back right now, burning things. She seems to have a few things she wants to talk to you about later, Emiya-kun!"

Okay, see, that's what I meant when I said things could still go wrong. I winced, a little concerned about just what Homura had in store with me. She had been through a rather traumatic change recently, and if I was a lesser man I might make comments about hormones becoming involved. The thing is, hormones probably were involved, what with the sudden, unexpected, and entirely natural transgender experience.

It was while I was considering just what awaited me back at Izumo that my phone began to beep in my ear.

"What the…?" I began, pulling the phone away so I could glance at it. "It looks like I have another call," I noted, not recognizing the number that greeted me. "I'll call you back in a bit."

"Get back quick, Shirou-tan!" Matsu still seemed to be engaging in some perverted fantasies and was willing to put off any more conversation until I returned.

"Return safely, Emiya-kun," Miya added gracefully, and the line went dead a moment later. It took me a second's fumbling, but I managed to answer the phone before whoever was calling got bored and hung up. I had a few guesses about who was on the other line.

Stupid telemarketers. I thought I had told them to take me off their list.

"Look," I began impatiently, already knowing this song and dance. "I already said I'm not…"

"Minato Sahashi," the voice that came out from the line was a low, animalistic growl that slowly enunciated each syllable of my name, and I wasn't ashamed to admit it scared me. It scared me a lot.

"Ah," I swallowed, freezing as I did so. "Takami. Uh. How are you?"

Okay, maybe I had forgotten just who it was that might also be watching my performance tonight. In my defense, I really wasn't used to having family around that might be concerned by some of my more fool hardy stunts. Well, Rin and Saber tended to get upset, but it was always accompanied by a sort of resignation, as though they knew well just what sort of person I really was.

Takami on the other hand, well, I don't think she had any preparation for this kind of event.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Takami continued, still speaking in that slow growling way she had said my birth name. She must be pretty upset if she was ignoring my chosen name despite knowing how much I preferred it. "I thought I had seen some stupid freaking things in my life. The Sekirei Plan, for instance. Or Minaka in general. But stabbing yourself? That has to be the most idiotic example of suicidal lunacy I have ever witnessed in my life!"

I swallowed, not even having a moment to interject as she continued to rant at me with ever growing speed and volume. I was honestly at a loss for what to say anyway. I suppose I would have to try anyway though.

"Ah, Mother," I began, trying to calm the woman on the other line down.

"Shut up, Minato," she snapped at me, and I instantly obeyed. "Where the hell are you?" she demanded immediately afterwards, so angry that she didn't even seem to realize the contradictory nature of telling someone to be quiet then interrogating them afterwards. "We're on hand for the pickup, and we are going to have words about that too later, and you are coming with me so we can get you to a hospital immediately."

That brought me up short for entirely different reasons. Takami was the MBI agent in charge of retrieving terminations, so it made sense that she would be at the location of two fallen Sekirei. It would also make sense that she would want to take me in to get me looked at as well, considering the fact that I had a hole going all the way through my intestines at the moment.

The problem was, I didn't need medical attention, and if I went with Takami, they'd know that too. I could not think up any sort of way to explain Avalon's regenerative capabilities to curious doctors without potentially revealing information that would get me in trouble with the Mage Association.

"Ah, mom," I began, hesitantly trying to decline her offer of medical attention, but that was as far as I got before she interrupted me.

"Don't 'mom' me," she snapped, apparently angry enough that even using her title wasn't enough to settle her down like it did in the past. "I didn't ask for excuses, I told you to get back here right now, and if you don't I swear to god, I will prove that you're not too old for spankings before I strap you to a hospital bed and tell the nurses to use the extra-large catheter!"

Okay. Wow. Now that was a truly terrifying threat. I thought doctors were supposed to be gentle and understanding?

"Well, when you put it like that…" I began, trying to find a way out of this that wouldn't involve me incurring my mother's wrath. When none came to me immediately, I quite rightly panicked and decided to engage in the better part of valor. "I'll be right there…" I began, before interrupting myself with a loud yell. "Agh! Help! I'm being abducted by aliens!"

Then I hung up, and frantically hit the off button on my phone before Takami could call me back.

"Abducted by aliens?" Kazehana repeated, sounding entirely too amused by my desperate ploy. It was probably right up there with 'legacy of a misspent youth' when it came to inadequate, but hey, I was still a little fuzzy on adrenaline so I think I had a pretty good excuse.

"It's not untrue," I pointed out, nervously looking behind me as I did so, checking to see if maybe Takami and the MBI forces might be coming after me directly. "Now get me the hell out of here, and quick. If we can make it to Izumo House we'll be safe."

Somehow, I felt a little less certain about how successful the night had been at the moment.

*Scene Break*

"Oh my," Miya tsked, looking down at my knee with a disapproving expression. "This really is quite bad, isn't it, Emiya-kun?"

"I don't think Karasuba was joking when she said she didn't hold back when coming from above," I agreed, looking down at where Matsu had just finished cutting the leg off my pants so she could get to the knee injury.

Spurred on by the threat of imminent Takami, we had made good time getting back to Izumo House. Once there, and having gotten past the greetings of an exuberant Musubi and Kuu which had involved a tackle, weight on my bad leg, and manly whimpering, we had moved onto the final part of every fight: the strategy meeting slash tending of the wounded. Since I was the only one who had taken any damage on our side, that meant mostly giving my flock a chance to smother me with concern.

It was a strangely nice feeling, actually.

I had already had my shirt stripped off by a stern Tsukiumi nearly the moment we got back to the inn, and at some point Miya had put down some plastic that I was led too so I wouldn't drip blood all over the tatami mats. Kazehana had cheerfully volunteered to bandage the wound on my stomach, an offer which was challenged by a glaring Tsukiumi for a minute before Matsu slyly pointed out that I would need a sponge bath to get the blood of me first. The water Sekirei had seen the benefits of having that task pretty quickly and jumped on it fast, leading to the current situation of me having my pant leg removed while shirtless and having a blushing well-endowed female slowly dragging a damp cloth over me while surrounded by other similarly well-endowed females watching me closely and trying to help.

I have got to stop comparing my life to eroges. I think something out there was hearing me and taking me seriously.

"Onii-chan has a boo-boo," Kuu pointed out, eyes watering in sympathy as she watched her sisters treat her brother. The small Sekirei was doing her best not to look at the blood, but seemed determined to remain in the room despite the gruesome nature of my injuries. "Pain, pain, fly away!" she chanted, throwing her hands up in the air as she used the childish charm that parents commonly told their children after they skinned their knees or something similar. She gave me a shy look after. "Did it work, onii-chan?"

"Yes," I told her, smiling while suppressing a wince as Matsu began to gently probe my knee and send sharp lances of pain back through me again. It was just pain though, and I could ignore it. "Thank you, Kuu-chan." The girl beamed at me happily, before again turning so she didn't have to look at the blood.

"It's definitely broken," Matsu finally proclaimed, sighing as she adjusted her glasses and giving me a sideways look. "Are you sure you're alright, Shirou-tan?" The hacker seemed concerned, but also curious about how long it would take my unusual healing to deal with the injuries.

"My stomach is already healing well," I confirmed, reaching down to finger the ragged hole in my torso. It was already smaller than it should be, a good sign that it was being dealt with quickly. Avalon was probably delayed slightly when I had accidently smeared alien blood all over it. Mixing blood was generally a bad idea, like when giving a blood transfusion of the wrong type to someone could be fatal, and alien blood was probably even worse, but I saw no symptoms indicating a reaction.

"Stop that, Shirou," Tsukiumi snapped at me, pushing my hand away from the injury much like I had chastised Miya after her own injury. The water user was blushing, despite her tone, as she continued to gently scrub the dried blood off of me. "Let it heal on its own."

"It certainly is a fine strike," Miya noticed, taking a moment herself to lean over and inspect the wound. The landlady seemed interested in the placement of the injury. "It seems you managed to avoid harming any of your organs, save your intestines."

"Which doesn't really matter when compared to the fact that you freaking stabbed yourself," Homura growled. The fire user was perched near the reduced hole in the living room, arms folded as she glared at me with a look that could probably set me on fire if it got any hotter. She smelled of smoke, and not just in the metaphysical sense like she normally did. Despite the change in her gender, Homura still seemed to favor a white shirt and black pants, though the shirt had shorter tails than her old ones and was untucked. The top few buttons were undone, enough to reveal the gentle swell of her modest breasts, and I wasn't certain if this was a sign that she was getting more comfortable with her condition or if she just didn't realize she was doing it like when she first began her change.

I wasn't certain which the more comforting option was, but I also noticed that her white shirt was darkened a bit in spots from what appeared to be soot. It looked like she really had been out back relieving her frustration by burning things.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," I muttered defensively. It looked like most of my flock was willing to shelve their concerns for the moment while I healed up, but I had the impression that once I was back on my feet there might be a few pointed words about it later on. Homura in particular didn't seem patient enough to wait until then, and the fire user continued to glare at me.

"Why the hell did you do something so stupid, Shirou?" Homura continued, scowling as she did so. She had her arms folded, and her fingers were digging into her arms as she clutched her biceps hard.

"It was amazing!" Musubi chimed in, bouncing excitedly where she sat nearby. The bear Sekirei seemed to be battling the urge to launch herself into another hug at me as she continued to indulge in her battle junky side.

"It was suicidal," Homura snapped at the shrine girl, and Musubi blinked, apparently only then realizing that not everyone shared her enthusiasm for the match. Homura's head shot back to face me, her glare only intensifying. "Why didn't you have Akitsu finish them off?" she growled, fingers tightening as she did so. She gave the snow woman a harsh look too at that, but didn't press her. Homura already knew that Akitsu would obey all my orders without question, and I had ordered her not to interfere.

Akitsu endured it without any sign of discomfort. Instead she continued to slowly fold my blood shirt. She had seemed so disappointed when I released my swords that I had let her take my top afterwards so she could have something to do. The shirt at this point was a lost cause, drenched in blood and with two ragged tears in it, but she seemed content to slowly fold it before hugging it to her chest. I think I saw her actually sniff it, but didn't double check to verify.

Some things were even too weird for me.

"I already said why it had to be me that fought the two," I reminded Homura, before suppressing a wince again as Matsu stole one of Tsukiumi's rags so the hacker could start wiping up my knee. The joint looked horrible, distended and bloody as though someone had taken a crowbar to it, and even the hacker's soft touch was painful.

"Don't give me any shit about needing to make an impression," Homura snapped at me, finally pushing off the wall she had been leaning against and starting to stalk towards me. "Reputation doesn't mean anything if you're dead, god damnit!" The sheer frustration she seemed to feeling made the room seem warmer, before I realized that might just be the literal case. I realized that a small haze has started to surround the fire Sekirei, a shimmer of heat that reminded me of the way Tsukiumi's hair would sometimes start floating.

I was silent for a moment, before nodding slowly. "You're right," I admitted, causing the fire user to pause. "Tactically speaking it was foolish to engage those two. If it had been any other two Sekirei, it would have been better for me to handle them both, but those two were dangerous. They had no respect for the rules of the Plan, and would have killed me without hesitation. It was dangerous to fight them."

It was the truth, really. If it had been any other Sekirei, one that actually would fight in a straight up manner, one on one, and would stop at the edge of death, then it would have been safer for me to engage. But Toyotama and Ichiya hadn't been like that.

"Then if even you know it was wrong, why the hell did you do it?" Homura demanded, exasperation making her tone even higher than it had become normally.

"Because I wouldn't have let any of you get near those two," I admitted bluntly. Homura paused, not having expected my direct answer. "Those two were exactly the kind of thing I've trained myself to deal with: vicious, cruel, violent, and completely devoid of mercy. I wouldn't have let any one of you fight them. They were too dangerous, too much a chance that they might win. It's better that someone like me deals with things like that."

It was the truth. My flock was still so innocent in some ways, still so used to civilized conflict, to rules and honor. What had happened tonight wasn't a duel, or a fight. It had been a battle, a slaughter, and in the end I was the one best suited for dealing with battle and slaughter. Homura seemed honestly surprised by something, and I realized that during my explanation I had slipped into battle mode, my face expressionless once more. The rest of the room seemed unsure of what to say to my declaration, even Miya seemingly at a loss for words.

"Besides," I added a second later, feeling a bit sheepish as I did so. "Our last fight was interrupted. I wanted to finish it." There was that too. Even if it was childish, it didn't feel right to just let things stand as they had between me and those two. Even if it was tactically better to have had Akitsu take the two down, it didn't change the fact that I wanted to finish our fight. Tsukiumi at least seemed to understand that particular reason, nodding briefly as she resumed wiping me down.

"Oh Emiya-kun," Miya shook her head, my confession apparently prompting amusement. "Young men and their pride in their blades."

For some reason, Miya's comment set me on edge, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.

"Because Shirou-tan is a magus," Matsu muttered, and though my explanation seemed to set some of the flock at ease, she seemed more pensive than before as she resumed treating my leg slowly. "No," she corrected herself. "Because Shirou-tan is a magus killer."

"Yeah," a new voice agreed with the hacker's pronouncement, "bro over there is hard core like that."

"Uzume?" I blinked, only then realizing that the Veiled Sekirei had entered the room. She was leaning against the doorframe much like Homura had been earlier, dressed in her usual jean and shirt combo. The ponytailed Sekirei was giving me a crooked grin, but her expression was a serious, bordering on grim even. I wondered for a moment just why she looked so upset, and then it struck me like a bolt.

"Hidaka-san saw the match, didn't she," I closed my eyes with a sigh. I had honestly forgotten about the newest addition to Izumo House. She had only been here for a day or so, after all, and she had spent much of it out and about. In the heat of combat, in the urgency of the match, I had forgotten that there were those out there who knew me but were unaware of the more violent aspects of my life. First Takami, but also Chiho, and…

Oh god. My sister had been watching, hadn't she?

I swallowed at that. For someone who was so obsessed with manga and anime, who looked to them a little too closely for guidance, just what conclusion would Yukari make after having seen the match?

I was suddenly not looking forward to tomorrow so much. It would be Saturday, and that meant that Yukari would be coming over for dinner.

"Oh yeah she saw the match," Uzume admitted, still smiling slightly, her expression relaxing slightly at something my statement must have reminded her of. "I saw it too. Not bad bro. Not bad at all. I met those two a couple times myself," her smile grew fiercer and wider. "Those bitches had it coming."

The venom in her tone reminded me of the encounter with Kochou, and again I found myself not really wanting to know what had happened between Uzume and Higa's forces.

"Uzume-chan," Miya frowned, glancing at Kuu. "Language!" Despite her chastisement, the landlady didn't bring out her Hanya mask like she normally would. I think that maybe she was a bit surprised by Uzume's malice as well, and most likely had reached the same conclusion I had about the veiled Sekirei having a well-earned grudge or two from her time being blackmailed.

"You look a little worried, Tomboy-kun," Kazehana pointed out, her voice coming from behind me unexpectedly. I started to give a glance behind me, only to pause as I felt two large warm objects squish against my back and hands wrap around me unexpectedly. I started to open my mouth to yelp, only to feel something else soft against my skin and realized that it was just the Wind Sekirei starting to wrap bandages around me. I guess she just couldn't resist a chance to flirt even while treating my wounds. She continued to address Uzume as she administered the treatment. "Shouldn't you be happier?"

Uzume hesitated for a moment, her smile slipping. Finally she sighed, raking her hand through her hair as she seemed to resign herself to something.

"Chiho and I are leaving," she announced, looking to the side as she did so. Behind me, Kazehana paused, her surprise evident as the rest of the Inn also reacted in shock.

"This is a bit sudden, Uzume-chan," Miya pointed out, blinking at the proclamation, a small frown forming as she heard the other Sekirei's resolve. "Is there any reason for it?"

"You could say that," Uzume muttered, giving me a quick look. Our eyes met, and I realized that Uzume seemed hesitantly ashamed, and then I understood.

"Because of me," I finished for her softly. Uzume flushed at my words, but gave a quick brief nod confirming them.

"Uzume," Tsukiumi snapped, turning a glare at the uncomfortable Sekirei in the doorway. "After everything that Shirou has done for you, would you really think so little of him as to…"

"Tsukiumi," I interrupted the water user as her tone started to rise in anger. She paused giving me a haughty look at having broken in on her chastisement. "It's alright," I told her. "I understand."

"Do you, bro?" Uzume asked, a hint of hope showing up in her expression. I gave her a rueful smile, nodding again. Still tending my knee, Matsu gave the two of us brief look, before nodding herself and returning to treating me without a word.

"After tonight, even if they're gonna hesitate to make a first move on me, MBI probably wouldn't have a problem moving on someone else," I reasoned. "If they think they might get something, they might try to take anyone close to me as leverage, or maybe just for interrogations. With Uzume and Hidaka-san living in the same house they'd make prime targets." Tsukiumi bit her lip, not liking what I was saying but listening anyway. "However, if they leave right now, than it will look like even if they might have been friends before, after seeing me kill two people they got nervous and ran."

"But Shirou," Tsukiumi began, sounding as though she understood my reasoning but didn't like it. "To behave in such a cowardly fashion…" she trailed off, her fierce pride evident as she found the idea of distancing herself from someone solely for the sake of appearances to be a contemptible act.

"Uzume has to look out for her Ashikabi," I reminded her, and behind me Kazehana resumed her bandaging at a slower pace, apparently in agreement with the importance of a Sekirei protecting their lover. "So she needs to distance her from me, at least in the eyes of the public. Besides," I continued slowly. "Pretty soon, we're going to leave, and when we do MBI is not going to take that laying down. If Uzume is associated with us at all then there's no way they won't use her to try and get the Jinki back."

"Are you certain?" Miya spoke up then, giving Uzume a contemplative look as the landlady studied the Veiled Sekirei carefully. "Hidaka-san might have recovered, but she is still very innocent. Regardless of what MBI does, I can assure you that there will be no violence in Izumo House."

"He-heh," Uzume seemed a bit more cheerful as I took her side on her sudden announcement. "Yeah, but I got an idea for a place where we can go." She seemed confident in whatever destination she had settled on for her and her Ashikabi. "And even it's not like we have to go forever. After bro here splits, we could always come back."

"Making it look like it was just my presence which drove you away," I concluded for her, nodding at her logic. "It would seem like you left just to avoid us, and the moment we're gone you came back." I found myself nodding at her idea. "It's a good plan," I concluded, smiling at her. The grin she gave back was relieved.

"Great!" she chirped, bouncing slightly on her feet before she paused, a sheepish expression appearing now. "So, bro, could you help me convince Chiho-chan to do it?" she asked rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. "I kinda haven't brought it up with her yet, and I think I might need a hand getting her to go along with it."

"Uzume-chan," Miya sighed at the confession, though she had an amused smile on at the tomboy's impertinent request.

"Bah," Kazehana snorted behind me, still pressing against me flirtatiously. "It's alright, Uzume-chan," she announced in a sly tone. "You don't have to lie about why you're leaving. You're just trying to get away from Miya-chan so she doesn't get in the way of your love-love time with your Ashikabi!"

"Really," Miya huffed, giving Kazehana a dry glare at the other woman's insinuation about the landlady being a stymy point for intimate relations. It was completely true, but that didn't seem to bother Miya at all.

"Yeah," Uzume grinned instantly. "That too!"

"Uzume-chan!" Miya turned to give another dry look at the other Sekirei, now actually looking put out on by the continued dialogue.

"Yeah," I nodded, trying my best to sound serious as I got in on the action. It was just too rare to see Miya getting genuinely flustered to pass up the opportunity. "She does get in the way a lot, doesn't she?"

"Honestly, Emiya-kun," Miya turned her glare at me this time, "it doesn't seem like my efforts have been that successful at all lately."

"Yup," Uzume's grin was growing. "But not all of us are as awesome as Shirou, so looks like me and Chiho have to get on out of here." She gave the landlady a sly wink. "Ya know," she began, leaning forward in a stage whisper. "I think Miya might be sweet on you, bro."

"Uzume-chan!" Miya narrowed her eyes, though she sounded as much flustered as she did outraged at the implication.

"Why do you say that?" I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, internally delighting in the way Miya was getting teased. I would probably pay for it later, but it would also probably be worth it. It did help distract me from my wounds as well.

"Well, I think she's letting it slide with you so that she can peep…" that was as far as Uzume got before the whisper of steel being drawn was accompanied by a sudden feeling of absolute terror and helplessness.

"Uzume!" Miya snapped, "implying that I would sink so low as to peep like Matsu-chan is prohibited!"

Uzume started to flinch, and then freezing in surprise as the grim aura of the hanya suddenly winked out. Even Miya paused, blinking again as her technique disappeared beyond her control. She actually turned to look behind her as though to search for the masks, unable to understand why they had vanished so unexpectedly.

Her confusion lasted until she caught sight of me. I couldn't quite manage to suppress my smile of success.

"I've been trying to do that for ages," I muttered, folding my arms in triumph. I had suspected that if two opposing forces of malice were to meet, it might act in the same way that a superior amount of prana could overpower a mystery before it can form, but it had been hard getting the timing down right. It was a trick Rin had used when she was battling Caster, and I figured since I was experimenting with my own mask I might try to compare it to more conventional magecraft.

"Bro," Uzume began, the first to interrupt the shocked silence as the room stared at me. "Did you honestly just figure out a way to stop that thing?" My proud smile grew, and her eyes widened. "You are a god," she told me in an awed whisper. "Not even beach balls are big enough to describe the size of your…"

"Uzume!" Miya snapped, and again she tried to chastise the dirty mouthed Sekirei, and again I managed to get the timing right and the aura winked out. The landlady whirled on me, looking the most flustered I had ever seen her appear. "Shirou!" she snapped, using my first name again like she tended to do when she was at her most out of sorts. She actually stomped her foot angrily as she literally pouted at me. "Stop that right now!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I told her, though the smile was probably giving me away.

"This is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen," Homura muttered, face white as her arms went slack. It looked like even her rage couldn't be maintained in the face of the fact that I had managed to counter the dread hanya. "Ever," she added.

*Scene Break*

It was later that night, in the bath, that Miya's words came back to me from earlier.

Despite the fact that I had been wiped down and bandaged earlier, in the end it had been decided that a more comprehensive cleaning was needed. I had had blood all in my hair, and a lot of it had trickled down my pants as well. Despite the best efforts of Tsukiumi and Matsu I really needed a proper scrub down to get myself hygienic before I went to bed for the night.

And despite their wishes, I had come down with a still flustered Miya when she prohibited my flock from bathing with me. Just because I had a counter for her mask didn't mean I had to use it, despite how much my flock protested.

It was what she had said, about having pride in my blade. It was only later, when the thrill of adrenaline was finally gone, when the pain in my body was starting to diminish, that I realized what was wrong with her words.

I didn't have pride in my blades: pride was useless.

For me, my swords had always just been a means to an end. Even if at my most fundamental level, at the Reality Marble which was the core of my identity, my nature was to collect swords and weapons without distinction or restraint. Though also due to my ability to sympathize with their history I was capable of using those same blades at a diminished level, I was at nature a collector rather than a wielder. The awesome skill which made so many of my Noble Phantasms into the legends they had become were never something I really concerned myself with too much. As long as I could use the blades enough to accomplish my goals, that was enough.

I should have had Akitsu dispose of those two. They were some of the most dangerous opponents in the Sekirei Plan. I should have had her take one out immediately, and then gone to face the other in a one on one fight. I could have just exchanged a few blows, proven that I was capable of using my weapons, then retired, hidden the true depth of my skill, and then had Akitsu finish the job.

So why had I fought the two? Why had my sense of competition been so strong, my desire to end them with my own hands so irresistible? So long as they were gone, that would have been enough.

Silently, I held a hand in front of me, Kanshou flickering into existence. The dark blade gleamed paradoxically in the dim light of the baths, and I couldn't help but wonder…

Was Miya right? If so, when had I come to have pride in my blades? At what point did my skill matter to me as more than a tool to achieve my goals?

"Hey, Shirou," the first indication that the Veiled Sekirei was there was her voice, muffled from coming from behind the door.

"Uzume?" I called back, stirring briefly as I did so. I let the blade in my hand disappear, half turning in the bath to look towards the door. Uzume made no move to come in, and I heard a soft rustle, probably the sound of her sitting down.

"You're really cool with Chiho and I leaving, aren't you?" Uzume asked, her tone as soft as she could make it while still talking through the door to me. I shifted in the bathwater, feeling the heat help sooth some of the aches of combat, and noting that despite my washing earlier the water was starting to pink slightly. A trickle of blood was still flowing from my torso even though the wound was almost closed at this point, and more was leaking out of my knee as well.

I was going to have to clean the bath tomorrow once I was better, I decided.

"Yeah," I called back, putting the chore from my mind for now. "I understand," I told her, and I did.

"I thought you would, ya know," Uzume told me, relief in her tone. No, there was something else there too. For some reason, Uzume seemed happy as well. "Out of everyone, I knew that you would understand. About everything."

I sat up a little straighter, turning my head towards the door to the bathroom. It sounded like Uzume wasn't just talking about my supporting her decision to leave.

"Bro," Uzume continued, then paused. "Shirou," she corrected herself. "I want you to know that if it wasn't for you, I'm not sure what would have happened."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," I offered, not understanding the source of her gratitude. "You could convince Hidaka-san to leave on your own." We had decided to wait until tomorrow morning to convince Chiho to leave Izumo House. Apparently she wasn't quite as used to late nights due to her time in the hospital and had gone to bed before we had managed to make it back to Izumo.

"No, I don't mean just that," Uzume repeated insistently. "Back when I was hunting down other Sekirei for that asshole, if you hadn't understood then I'm not sure what I might have happened," she continued, her tone dropping until I had to strain to hear her. "I was in a bad place, and it was eating away at me. If you hadn't been there to help, I'm not sure what I might have ended up doing. And then again, when you helped me rescue Chiho, and made it so she wasn't sick any more. And now, understanding just why I need to get her away from here, and even planning a way to stop the Sekirei Plan." She sighed, a pensive noise. "It's like every time I turn around you're pulling my butt out of the fire."

It was such an honest and direct expression of gratitude that it left me a little speechless. Finally, the best I could manage was a, "uh…it's fine. I was just trying to help."

"He-heh," Uzume chuckled slightly at my stuttered response. "Chiho has a crush on you, ya know?" Now that made me sit up straighter, blinking in surprise. "You're like a knight in shining armor for her. Even after watching the match, she still won't think bad about you."

"Sorry," I muttered back, not sure how to deal with that particular tidbit. Sekirei and Ashikabi were mated, and for one of the mates to have an interest in someone else… I certainly did not intend to interfere in something like what I had seen between the two that night in the hospital! Though Natsuo had also been interested in someone outside of his flock, now that I think about it. Was this kind of thing normal?

"It's fine, bro," Uzume reassured me, sounding amused. "She's got good taste. If I was into guys at all, I might have swooped down on you too. He-heh," she gave another laugh, and I got the impression that if I could see her face there would definitely be a teasing leer on it. "Who knows, you might just have been able to get us in your harem after all if things were a bit different!"

"Uzume!" I snapped, glad she couldn't see the way I was blushing at the implication. She laughed again, and I got the impression that even if she couldn't see it she was well aware of it. "You shouldn't be implying that! I would never do anything to get between you two!"

"Oh? I'd think it might be fun to have you between us!" definitely a leer there, I was sure of it. "Don't worry about it. She'd still be mine first, and if I shared her with you, well, it's only fair you share yours with me, right? You do got a couple of cuties already!"

"Not happening, Uzume," I told her, sinking my head into my hands and worrying that my blush might be heating the tub to the boiling point. "Just… just not happening."

I was not having a conversation about partner swapping from my harem with a lesbian alien. And that might just have been the first time that particular sentence had ever been used in the history of language. And also oh god, I've even started calling my flock a 'harem' in my head.

This was not how I saw my life going all those years ago when my father pulled me from the fire. Something out there had to be laughing at me. I just knew it.

Probably that prick Archer, come to think of it.

Uzume chuckled a bit more, before going quiet for a bit. I thought that she might have left after getting her jokes in, but after a minute or so she spoke up again.

"So for everything, thank you," she said softly. "Thank you so much, Shirou." There was a noise, and I realized that Uzume must have been sitting next to the door of the bathroom and had just stood up. Before I could respond I heard quick foot falls as she left, probably running as she did so.

I sat in the tub in silence, idly watching a bit more blood trickle out of me.

I think… I think that might be the first time anyone actually thanked me for something like this. I always did my best to help others, and I'd get an expression of gratitude all the time from the more mundane jobs I did. But for some reason whenever I saved someone, truly saved them from a situation as grim as Uzume's had been, for some reason the words 'thank you' were rarely said.

It felt… good to hear them.

"You're welcome," I finally told the empty hallway, before settling back in the tub. Thoughts of Uzume and Miya's words lingered with me long into the night, even after I had gone to bed, my flock nestled against me.


	36. Thirty Sixth Wing

In Flight: Thirty Sixth Wing

_Author's Notes: Well, smaller delay than usual with the update. I find that with real life more settled, and with the holidays over, I have more time to write. Besides that, the end of In Flight is actually getting near, and I find my own anticipation to finish the story completely is giving me more and more enthusiasm to write as well. Hopefully, things will stay settled and I can keep up a decent pace._

_Alright, on to the review responses. A lot of people express either positive or negative reactions to the Karasuba encounter. Most of the positive reviews revolve around keeping Karasuba up as an appropriately powerful antagonist and enjoyment of the frenemy feel that her and Shirou have going for them even if they are serious about killing each other._

_And, amusingly, most of the negative reviews have to do with Karasuba not getting to join the harem!_

_Either way, it's good to see that she's still liked as a character and that I managed to keep a good balance with her, so that's a relief for me._

_The fight itself got good reviews as well, so I'm glad about that. The thing which got the most comments outside of Karasuba, is of course the continuing Mask Off between Shirou and Miya, and I'm glad I managed to get comedy right. Comic relief is important to keep too much tension from ramping up too quickly, and it looks like the Mask continues to be a successful running gag._

_Alright, now, on to the spoiler section..._

_*Spoiler Alert!*_

_And now, things start to happen. I did say that once the world building was done In Flight was going to be getting back to action. With the last three arcs on us, it's only natural that fighting is going to be a big part of it. Shirou and Higa finally facing off is a good example of just that._

_Honestly, I had considered not using this arc at all in the past. It's not that it's unnecessary for the story, but if I had chosen not to use it I could have reworked the last two arcs and not had any trouble getting the story moving. However, I found that this arc allowed me to set up several other plot points to later arcs, and even if I could cut it out there was no reason not to. So in the end, we get to have Shirou finally face off with one of the main antagonists of In Flight, the intellectual bad guy Higa to counter Karasuba's fighting bad guy._

_Now, focusing on Shirou for the most part. One of the main reasons that I chose to keep this arc in, is because I wanted it to help illustrate just how serious Shirou is when he talks about the Path of the Shura. I'd mentioned before that IF Shirou has spent a good couple of years developing as a magus, and that for all his usual nice-guyness, he could still be ruthless if needed. I also wanted to balance that out with Shirou still trying to do the best to help everyone, even if he knows that he might fail._

_Let me know how it turns out, by the way. Was Shirou too ruthless? Or did I manage to make his thought process logical enough for him?_

_Anyway, that's it for spoilers._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_A shorter chapter than normal, but still the best place to end the chapter._

_Any questions or concerns? Come down to the forum where a thread will be up for the chapter including a deleted scene from this chapter. _

_Just want to throw a comment out there? Give a review._

_And as always, enjoy._

_*Story Start*_

"They're gone then, aren't they?" Miya asked me, nearly causing me to miss the nail I was hammering in. Thankfully, I managed to keep the tool on focus, and thus the nail and not my thumb took the blow.

"Asama-san?" I asked, glancing behind me to find the landlady standing nearby, at the door between the dining room and the kitchen. I hadn't heard the door open at all, which was somewhat surprising really. Miya was usually pretty careful about not being too stealthy. I was pretty sure it was an attempt by the alien to seem more normal, a way of masking her inhumanity. Generally, the only time when she even hinted at her fighting prowess was either when she was training with her sword or preparing to unleash punishment for those who ignored the rules of Izumo House.

With that in mind, I recalled that quite recently I might have sort of done something which she might have taken offense to, and nervously gulped.

"If this is about the mask thing, then to be perfectly fair…" I began nervously, only for Miya to give me a small narrowing of her eyebrows accompanied by an expression which once more bordered on 'pouting' accompanied by a small shake of her head. With a relieved sigh, I focused on her earlier words.

"They're gone?" I repeated, before realizing what she meant. "Ah," I sighed, turning so I could lean my back against the wall behind me. After several days of dedicated effort I had nearly managed to finish repairs on the dining room. The boarding was all up, and all that remained was to refurbish the traditional paper linings of the walls. "Uzume and Chiho."

Miya nodded once, her expression softening away from petulance as she focused on the topic she had originally brought up.

"It seems that they have already departed," the landlady confirmed, sounding oddly melancholic as she did so. I straightened a bit, paying more attention to her as she continued. It was unusual for Miya to seek me specifically for conversation. While it wasn't unusual for us to talk throughout the day, it was generally conversations that centered on household chores and upkeeps.

I think the last time she ever deliberately sought me out for a serious talk was after Musubi had revealed the true nature of winging.

"Uzume did say that she wanted to leave as soon as possible," I reminded her, though I too felt a bit pensive at the abruptness of their departure. "The sooner they leave, the more it reinforces the impression that they're running from me."

"I am aware of that, Emiya-kun," Miya chided me gently, though with a touch of sternness too. Despite her apparent annoyance, her expression softened afterwards almost immediately. "It just seems so sudden." With a sigh, she gave me a chiding look. "Why is it that you seem to chase so many of my residents away, Emiya-kun?" she gave me an aggrieved look. "Leaving without even paying their last month's rent, or packing any of their belongings, or even waiting for a goodbye party. Why, if this keeps up, I'll soon have no residents at all! What is an old widow to do without any source of income?"

Despite the teasing nature her tone had taken, I couldn't help but glance away awkwardly. Because even if she meant it as a joke, even if she was only attempting to lighten the mood, it was still true.

First it had been Haruka and Kuno, then almost immediately afterwards Yukari and Shiina. And now, it appears that Uzume and Chiho had made good on their departure, in the middle of the day without telling anyone but Miya.

My girls would be disappointed. I think Matsu was still in the middle of planning their goodbye party.

And even if she didn't say it directly, Miya's words were prophetic in a way. Soon, I would leave too, taking my flock with me as we fled the city and MBI with ill-gotten goods in hand.

"I'm sorry," I told the landlady, causing her to pause. "But soon, you'll be able to get new renters, so if you're just patient, I'm sure that you'll be able to refill this house soon enough." It was the best consolation that I could offer the alien. Uzume and Chiho would be back for sure, and with me gone I'm sure that others would come back here. Maybe I should have Matsu start an advertising campaign once we were gone. There must be dozens of Sekirei and Ashikabi who would mind a place to live where all violence is forbidden. The first few weeks after I'm gone would probably be a bit tumultuous, and if word got out of a safe house in the North that was soon to be open…

"That isn't quite what I meant, Emiya-kun," Miya sighed, finally stepping the rest of the way into the dining room. She didn't make a sound while she moved, and her posture set me on edge. I wasn't quite certain what it was, but there was something in the way she held herself which felt wrong, which reminded me of creatures in the past standing on the brink of violence. I felt myself tensing despite myself, a motion which caused Miya to pause for a moment.

"My goodness," she muttered to herself, looking down as though to check herself for something only she could see. After another moment's pause she resumed her movement, and I felt myself relax. Whatever was there that was setting me off in her posture was gone as though it was never there. I could even hear her foot falls again. "It seems I might be a bit distraught," she murmured apologetically.

Despite her passive bearings, I still couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was off with the landlady. Cautiously, slowly, I put the hammer still held in my hand to the side, keeping my eye on the alien as she took in my movements with a sense of amusement.

"Asama-san," I began, before pausing. There definitely seemed something off with the landlady; something which I didn't think had to do with any kind of physical cause. "Miya," I began again, and the landlady's eyes widened slightly as I used her first name without suffix. "Are you alright?"

Miya was still for a moment, before she sighed, and her eyes opened out of her customary lidded appearance. Her fully opened eyes were unusual. Normally, when she looked like this it was usually accustomed by a sense of intensity as whatever had forced her to pay attention was most likely hostile in some way. Now though, the look she turned on me, and then on the repairs to the wall of her Inn, seemed more contemplative than anything else.

"I think, maybe," she began slowly, taking measured steps towards the newly closed hole in the dining room wall, "that I might perhaps be lonely."

"Lonely?" I repeated, blinking in honest surprise at the confession. It was just so unusual, something so unexpected, that I really didn't know how to respond. A second later, I think I managed to divine the reason behind her declaration. "Ah, is it time for you to go visit your husband again?" I asked, before wincing slightly as I realized just how blunt and rude that statement was. I opened my mouth to try and make some apology for my unthinking words, but Miya didn't seem to even notice. Instead she just shook her head slowly, eyes distant as they remained locked on the repairs to her house.

"That is not it, precisely," she denied slowly, one hand coming up to touch the bare wood gently. "May I ask you a question, Shirou?" Just like I had addressed her informally, the landlady returned the favor. When I gave a cautious nod, she continued. "Uzume-chan and Chiho-chan have both left. If your plan goes through properly, then you might never see them again." She paused, giving me a searching glance. "Are you truly alright with that?"

"Yes," I answered easily, nodding as I did so. Miya raised an eyebrow, inviting me to explain, and I let myself settle with my back against the wall, trying to find the right words to explain why I would have no regret with my last meeting with the Veiled Sekirei and her gentle Ashikabi being the one that happened no more than an hour ago. "It will be safer for those two if we never meet again. It will just make them targets."

"I was not asking what would be safer for those two," Miya pointed out, eyes still open as she watched me, a peculiar attentiveness to her as she studied me. "I was asking if you yourself were fine with never meeting them again."

I paused, but only for a moment.

"Yes," I repeated firmly, meaning the word. Miya continued to watch me for a moment, before her eyes drifted to the side.

"That is a sad thing to hear," she told me, rebuke in her tone. Despite her chastisement, I shook my head.

"I don't think so," I disagreed with her. The certainty with which I spoke seemed to give Miya pause. Finally, she turned her gaze back to me.

"And why is that, Shirou?" It was a surprisingly tentative question, as though the alien landlady wasn't so much demanding as trying to cajole an answer out of me. "You may very well never see those two again. Even if you had just met Chiho-san a few days ago, you did work hard to maintain her safety. With her leaving, you won't even be able to perform your follow up checks with your," and here Miya couldn't quite hide a little purse of her lips, "magic. And Uzume-san and yourself seemed like quite good friends. Are you really alright, to know that you might never meet them again?"

I considered just repeating myself and giving a simple 'yes' as an answer, but Miya was so insistent with her questions that I felt that she deserved a little bit more than a monosyllable for an answer.

"It's not that I mind never seeing them again," I tried to find the best way to explain my train of thought, to reveal what I really felt inside, but it was slow going. I haven't generally had reason to explain myself too much in the past, all things considered. "It's more that I can leave satisfied knowing I've done everything I can for them."

That seemed to give Miya pause, the lavenderette's eyes opening a bit more as she studied me.

"Go on," she prompted me, sounding genuinely curious about my train of thought.

"I do like Uzume," I admitted, before hastily adding qualifiers onto that ambiguous statement. "As a friend, and a companion, and a comrade. She was someone who was a lot more familiar with the unpleasant side of life, someone who understood how dirty things could be out there." I couldn't stop a small quirk of a smile from forming. "And despite everything she went through, she still managed to be fun to be around. As for Hidaka-san," I gave a small shrug, "the fact that she was someone who had also endured so much but managed to stay so innocent is also admirable. I can honestly say I like the both of them." Miya cocked her head, still waiting for me to continue, and so I did. "That is why I don't mind never seeing them again."

"That seems a great jump of logic, Shirou," Miya pointed out, voice cool as she commented on my somewhat unusual jump of logic.

"It's because I like them that I don't mind never seeing them again," I reasserted, still trying to find the right way to voice my thoughts. I scrubbed a hand through my hair, sighing as I tried to explain something which was so viscerally a part of me that voicing it almost felt like trying to describe color to a blind man. "I have baggage, Miya."

"The first time you said that to me, I had a great deal less perspective as to just how true that was," Miya pointed out, sounding a bit amused at the statement. I blinked, and then couldn't quite suppress a brief smile of my own. The last time I had said that had been well before Miya and the rest of my flock had been exposed to the world of Magi.

"It's the truth," I asserted to her, managing to suppress my smile as I tried to be serious. "With everything aligned against me, with what will happen when MBI starts hunting me as well, when I compare that to what might happen to those two if I stayed in contact with them, then it's better that we go our separate ways." With a small smile, I let a hand come up to scratch briefly at my scalp. "Sometimes," I continued, and I couldn't hold back a wave of nostalgia. "Sometimes, things come to an end. The time we get with people isn't infinite, and nothing lasts forever. I'd rather be grateful for the time I had, and be content with doing everything I can while I'm here. Just knowing that those two are out there, and that they're safe, and happy, that is all I need to keep going."

In the end, you can't save everyone, and love isn't enough. No matter how hard you try, you can't always do everything you want to. But at least in this case, I can be content knowing that I have done all I could to help, that at least this time I managed to save someone.

And, honestly, I don't think I need to worry about those two anymore. Uzume is the type who knows what she's doing, and I don't think there's a thing anyone in this world that could threaten Chiho and not have Uzume come down on them like the wrath of a pantheon of angry gods.

Those two will be fine. Even if nothing in life is certain, I'd still lay hard money on those two's odds.

Miya was silent for a minute or so after wards, her eyes down towards the ground, her hands resting at her sides as she contemplated my answer to her question. Finally, she sighed, before turning back to me, a small smile on her lips.

"It seems that you are well adjusted to seeing people leave," she noted dryly. Her smile turned pensive. "Perhaps it's just that I am not so comfortable with such things."

"You could come with us, if you'd like," the offer was out before I even had a chance to think that it might be a bad idea. Just having the Jinki when we escaped would be enough to draw negative attention from MBI. Having the Number zero one, Miya Asama the strongest of the Sekirei and a fighter more bloodstained than even Karasuba with us would be like declaring war on the company in a way they couldn't ignore. It would almost guarantee that MBI would be willing to go to any lengths not just to see the Jinki returned, but to see a very real threat ended.

But in the end, that didn't matter. Miya was a friend, and if taking that extra risk was what it needed to make my friend happy, than I would be willing to do just that.

Miya didn't seem to have expected my offer, and for a moment she blinked in surprise. Her eyes opened all the way, her usual squint disappearing as she gave me a serious, contemplative look. For a moment, she actually seemed to consider the offer.

Then the moment passed, and she smiled, her eyelids lowering again.

"Why Emiya-kun!" she declared, a teasing tone entering her voice as she waved one hand at me idly. "What a sudden thing, to proposition an innocent widow like me so unexpectedly! Why, what would Takehito think?" She sighed again, one hand coming up to cradle her cheeks. "To think that Emiya-kun was such a shameless predator, all along! My innocence is surely in danger!"

"Yeah, yeah," I drawled, playing along. Miya had given her answer. Even if it meant being alone, it seemed that she wouldn't abandon this place. It just meant to much to her, the place her and her husband had been together in. "I'm sure that he's very worried about me brutishly assaulting your soft, weak, and demure self. Surely his soul in heaven is overwhelmed with concern."

"Ah! At last, proof of Emiya-kun's carnivorous nature shines through," Miya gasped again, bringing the hand she had been waving at me to her cheek as well. "That he would spend so much time watching me to know my helpless nature… Help me, Takehito-san! Your wife is in danger!"

With a snort, I turned back to the wall, resuming my task. "Well, there is one known way to keep me from engaging in my terrible lusts," I pointed out innocently, trying my best to keep from sounding too eager. "All you need to do is…"

"No kitchen until the wall is fixed, Emiya-kun," Miya cut me off, providing proof positive that she had indeed been forcing me from my chosen domain deliberately as punishment.

"Curses," I muttered. "Guess it's back to seducing innocent landladies then." Still, my pace increased ever so slightly as I pushed myself to finish the repairs.

Soon, the dark days would be over!

*Scene Break*

"There," I muttered, flexing my leg under Matsu's watchful eyes. "It's better. Can I put my pants back on now?"

"Well, if you have to…" Matsu leered at me suggestively despite the way she was continuing to prod my knee gently. It had taken a bit longer than I had expected for Avalon to deal with the damage, probably because the stomach wound was most likely a bit worse than I had anticipated, but finally I could move without any sharp twinges or sudden stumbling. A full sixteen hours to recover from the battle was a bit much, but not unexpected either. "Matsu wouldn't mind if Shirou-tan decided not to!"

"Well, Shirou definitely minds," I muttered back, before blinking as I realized that I had fallen into Matsu's habit of referring to herself in the third person. "I mean, I mind," I said again, deliberately correcting myself. "It's going to be hard enough dealing with Yukari and Seo as it is without having to do it in my underwear."

"Ah," Akitsu spoke up briefly, causing both Matsu and I to turn to give her expectant looks. I realized that the snow woman was blushing lightly, and while she was engaging in her usual habit of staring she was focusing on an area a bit different from where she usually looked. "I kind of like it."

With a blush, I deliberately pulled my pants back up. Akitsu was definitely becoming more expressive, as she managed to look a little disappointed at the area she had been focusing on disappeared from view.

"Fuhuhuhu," Matsu giggled, the lascivious witch no doubt enjoying my discomfort. Still, she made no other comment on it, instead leaning back so she could plop down on one of the pillows strewn about her room.

"Well, now that I've proven I'm fully fixed, can we get back on topic?" I asked plaintively, hoping to get this impromptu strategy meeting under way.

It was late afternoon at this point, about time for my normal lessons with the hacker, though today was less about 'getting me out of the stone age' as Matsu like to put it and more about us going over the details we needed to cover for when we fled the city. While some of the planning was already taken care of, like the actual escape from the city, there were other details that needed to be covered as well: things like gathering enough finance for us to be able to survive, getting human identification for the aliens, and securing an exit route from the country as well.

"Matsu has already started to hack some of MBI's accounts," the hacker updated me, turning back to one of her computers. The screens all around us were displaying a variety of different information, some of them focused on MBI related themes, others showing feed from some of the spy satellites, a few of them showing what appeared to be Matsu's progress on uploading my magecraft texts to digital medium, and a bunch more displaying long strings of numbers and symbols which were entirely incomprehensible to me. "But Matsu still isn't sure how to go about getting fake passports."

"Those generally require more in the way of face to face interaction," I admitted, plopping down besides the hacker. With one hand still pounding away at her keyboard she passed me her doohickey so that I could start contributing as well. I might not be at the level where I could help her with the tricky stuff, but I had become at least competent enough to focus on the magecraft databases. My input would be more useful there anyway. "I'll have to start hitting some of the less savory places in this city, hopefully make some yakuza contacts who can point me the right way. It will cost a pretty penny, but it will be discreet at least."

"Matsu still thinks she could just hack the government and get real identities set up for everyone," the hacker suggested helpfully, still mostly focused on the screen directly in front of her. She would periodically close her eyes completely, her eyes moving beneath the lids like in REM sleep, as she used her abilities to keep track of multiple streams of information at once, but I had gotten used to that little habit of hers a while back so I ignored it.

"Might not be a bad idea later on," I muttered contemplatively, before shaking my head in the negative. "But for now it might tip our hand to MBI if they pay attention to those kinds of things. Just hardcopies for now, and after if we need to we can slip it in."

"If Shirou-tan thinks so," Matsu capitulated easily enough, giving me a side long glance as she deferred to my experience with sudden illegal exits of countries. "How long does he think it will take before everything is ready?"

"If we push it, we could have it done in a week," I estimated, trying to guess how long it would take to track down some forgery professionals and factor in how long it would be to get seven new sets of passports and papers done. Seven, I mused. Was my flock really that big already? I shook my head, focusing back on the topic at hand. "But if we move too quick we might draw attention. Better to stretch it out and be discreet, so maybe two to four weeks to get everything together."

"About a month then," Matsu nodded, turning back to the screen. "Matsu is going to miss having all her computers about," she muttered, giving her enormous system a mourning look as she sighed at the loss of her processing power.

"Can't you just slave it to one of your doohickeys and access it from abroad?" I pointed out, trying to cheer her up a bit, and Matsu gave a snort.

"Tablets," she reminded me, rolling a bit so she could bump me with her hips without getting up from her sprawled position. "Not doohickeys, tablets."

"Doohickeys," I told her back with a false air of sternness. Matsu gave me an impish grin at my stubbornness, before her look turned innocent, too innocent, and her fingers paused briefly. I narrowed my eyes, long practice having let me catch the inconspicuous movement.

"Akitsu," I addressed the snow woman without taking my eyes off the hacker who was watching me with a grin. "My screens are showing porn again, aren't they?"

"Yes, Ashikabi-sama," Akitsu confirmed immediately, and I sighed as I realized I probably wasn't the center of the snow woman's attention any more.

"You know what," I decided, rubbing my forehead and wondering just when the previously implacable Sekirei had become so perverted. "I think I'll call it quits for the day." Deliberately not looking at the screens that Matsu had high jacked, I got up, preparing to head out.

"Ah," Akitsu began, before hesitating. With another sigh, I cut her off, already suspecting what she was about to say.

"Yes, you can stay here for a bit Akitsu," I told her, rubbing my forehead even harder at that.

"Ah," Akitsu sounded grateful. "Thank you."

"Sure you wanna leave, Shirou-tan?" Matsu called at my back as I made my way to the exit of her secret room. It sounded like she was having trouble holding back a giggle as she watched me flee. "It'll be just like when we were watching porn together yesterday!"

"That wasn't…" I began defensively, but cut myself off. "You know what, maybe next time," I said instead.

"Really?" Matsu perked, sounding surprised by my sudden change of heart.

"No," I told her instantly, crushing that hope immediately.

"Shirou-tan is a meany!" Matsu's final words were almost certainly accompanied by a pout, but prior experience had taught me well that looking now would only be greeted by even more porn, so I just pushed the door shut behind me.

Honestly, at this point, I had less against the porn in general than I once might have. After having dealt with Matsu and her traps for so long, I think that she was running out of shocking fetishes to unleash on me. However, I couldn't help but feel that deliberately watching actors committing amoral and depraved acts on each other while in the presence of my flock might be a little too Dangerous at this point. The dam of my inhibitions against engaging in those kinds of things with my flock was getting weaker and weaker at this point, no doubt a result of me having actually slept with some of my girls, and the thought of being in close proximity with one of them while watching that kind of thing…

"Focus, Shirou," I told myself, feeling another blush forming. "Focus on the important things."

Important things, like it being Saturday at the moment, and at any moment my sister and her Sekirei would be showing up.

"I hope they won't be mad that I couldn't get that teriyaki," I muttered, raking a hand through my hair nervously. I had no idea how this meeting was about to go. The last time I had seen Yukari she was swearing to find some way to keep me out of what she thought was the clutches of a brainwashing organization of evil after all, and I had little doubt she would have reacted to the fight between Toyotama, Ichiya, and I in what was most likely an inappropriately exaggerated manner.

But even more than worrying about her doing something foolish like trying to attack me in some misguided comic book induced delusion of redeeming me through violence, there were other more dangerous options she might have taken. Options like maybe trying to track that organization down to confront them directly. Or maybe even trying to imitate me and fight a Sekirei directly.

Or maybe, maybe she just wouldn't want anything to do with her brother anymore now that she knew he was a killer?

I think the last possibility chilled me the most. I had never really had family before, though I guess Fuji-nee probably came pretty damn close, and now that I had actual blood relatives I didn't know how to feel about the thought that I might have disappointed one. I didn't know how I'd react if one of them didn't want anything to do with me anymore.

As though to punctuate my thoughts, a knocking came from the front door.

"I got it," I called out instantly, turning to the stairs which would lead me to the foyer and what awaited me there. Nervously, I swallowed. I couldn't sense Shiina's power so maybe she had just chosen to arrive alone for some reason, but then again maybe this wasn't Yukari at all.

Hell, maybe it was even worse and Takami had decided to show up. I'm pretty sure the only reason she hasn't is because Miya's presence makes Izumo House a 'no MBI' zone, though I'm pretty sure if that was the reason my mother wasn't here then she most likely was being forced to comply with the hands off policy.

Takami was scary like that some times.

Still, maybe I'd be lucky and whoever was at the door would prove to be just a salesman or something?

"Hello," I began, as I prepared myself for the worst and hoped for the best. "Is that…"

I trailed off, honest shock keeping me from completing my sentence.

Turns out, it wasn't Takami, Yukari, or even some random salesperson.

"Good afternoon, Shirou Emiya," Kensuke Kakizaki smirked at me, adjusting his glasses with one hand as he did so. "May I come in?"

"I can't tell if you're a lot braver than I thought you were, or just that stupid," I told him, my absolute astonishment at the Secretary of the East actually appearing before me, and alone to boot, temporarily overriding my usual courtesy. The former Ashikabi frowned, his expression of superiority temporarily disappearing at my rudeness, before it returned.

"I'll ask again," Kakizaki repeated, lifting up a box I hadn't noticed tucked under his other hand. It was wooden and with hinges on one side set so that he could open it easily in front of him, and my eyes narrowed as I saw what he had in that box. "Can I come in?"

Battle mode was already on me as I took in the sight of Yukari's boots folded within the depth of the box.

"Oh," I murmured blandly, "I think it would be best if you did."

*Scene Break*

"So this is the headquarters of the infamous Ashikabi of the North," Kakizaki spoke, giving the room around him a casually dismissive look, taking in the mostly finished repairs in the side of the dining room. "How quaint," he declared in a tone so dismissive that he absolutely had to have practiced it.

"Hmph," Miya frowned at the tone of the unexpected guess. "How rude," she murmured, before placing the tray with tea on the table.

"I still haven't determined if its bravery or stupidity," I mentioned, speaking in a calm tone despite the situation, "but so far the more you speak the more I lean towards 'stupidity'."

Kakizaki sneered again, and I couldn't help but wonder at the source of his confidence. The two of us had taken up seats on the opposite sides of the dinner table. Considering just how this conversation was likely to go I had already sent Kuu, Musubi, and Tsukiumi up to join Matsu and Akitsu in the hidden room. Most likely they were all already watching the upcoming scene from one of Matsu's monitors. Either that or they had joined Akitsu with her new found perverted porn addiction. Either way, having Kuu and Musubi out of the room would help ensure that no one said anything out of place.

Still remaining, both watching Kakizaki with levels of hostility, were Homura and Kazehana, with Miya also in presence. Homura was leaning against the mostly fixed wall, arms tucked under her breasts as she leveled a narrow eyed glare at the seated secretary. Kazehana had draped herself on one side of the table, looking for all the world as though she was just relaxing with a bottle of sake. Despite her relaxed appearance she too was focusing all her attention on the newcomer.

Miya on the other hand seemed perfectly at peace, acting as though she was nothing more than a host serving an unexpected guest. Given the way Kakizaki had purposefully displayed distain for the landlady's residence I suspected that he had no idea just what she really was, most likely assuming her to be just an ordinary Sekirei or perhaps only a human bystander.

"It seems that you still don't understand the situation you find yourself in," Kakizaki noted, sniffing again in distain. His smile turned smug as he continued. "I will look forward to seeing you put in your place. However, for now, I'm afraid that I must take the time to introduce you to your new employer."

I decided to let that particular comment slide for now, though Kazehana snorted at the presumptuous claim and Homura's eyes narrowed even further. As though oblivious to the reaction of my Sekirei, Kakizaki reached into his jacket to receive another of those doohickeys that seemed to be everywhere these days. This particular tablet had some kind of stiff leather casing around it, and with a quick move the secretary popped the cover open, thumbing the power button with the ease of practice. Even as the screen blinked to life he arranged the case in such a way that it managed to turn into an impromptu stand, holding the tablet lengthwise and vertical so that I could look at it directly without him holding it.

"You're a hard man to contact, Shirou Emiya," Higa of the East told me, the face of the business man already present on the tablet. I could make out the light at the edge of the screen which indicated that the cam was on, and I knew that this was most likely a two way call.

"Izumi Higa, known as the Ashikabi of the East," I responded tonelessly, simply identifying the other man rather than acknowledging his statement. "Heir and CEO to the Higa Pharmaceutical Conglomerate. Current number of Sekirei: fifteen." I paused for a moment, before correcting myself. "Excuse me. Eight."

It turns out that unleashing Karasuba on my clandestine opponent had been a great deal more effect than even I had initially anticipated. It was no wonder MBI had tried to appease the other great power by allowing him to send a substitute to the third match. I decided to double the number of tarts I was planning on making for her.

"Yes," if Higa felt any discomfort at the loss of nearly half of his bonded mates, it didn't appear on his face as he nodded at my abbreviated biography. "Your reputation for being well informed appears to be true." He gave me a serene smile, looking for all the world as though he wasn't discussing the loss of nearly half his flock. "I understand that you might have had something to do with that particular instance."

"As I understand it, wasn't that loss caused by members of the Disciplinary Squad after your refusal to comply with an investigation concerning the security of the Sekirei Plan?" I pointed out plainly, my expression never shifting from battle mode as I kept my face set in stone to avoid revealing anything. Higa's eyes narrowed slightly at my denial of any responsibility with the attack.

"How very well informed indeed." Higa's tone held a bit of an edge to it, before he seemed to catch himself and he returned to a more poised expression. "Well, all banter aside, I assume that we can be professional for this conversation?"

"Oh yes," I assured him. "Quite professional."

The fact that Higa took my words at face value told me quite a bit about the man I was talking to for the first time. If he understood the hidden meaning behind my words I suspect he might not have continued the conversation in the manner in which he did.

"As of quite recently, a Yukari Sahashi has availed herself of the courtesy of my company," Higa went on, and I could pick up a muffled outcry coming from the second floor of the house. It seems that my flock was indeed listening in on this conversation. Higa most likely didn't notice the sound, but Kakizaki's eyes did stray upwards as he managed to catch it. "Though Sahashi-san's safety is naturally being seen to, it would make her continued company more comfortable if I could rely on you and your tools to provide specific services to me in the future."

So, that was the way this was going to go down. It looked like Higa was trying to phrase it politely, either out of some personal sense of decorum or maybe because he thought it would be more intimidating that way, but what it came down to was that he had my sister, and if I didn't do what he wanted then there was no guarantee how well it would go for Yukari.

Okay. Despite how placid I kept my face, my mind had been frantically scrabbling since the moment Kakizaki had shown up on my doorstep. This wasn't my chosen method of confrontation, but I had picked up a few tricks for situations like this during my time at the Clock Tower.

Though, admittedly, considering how that had ended up turning out it didn't bode well for my chances here. Still, I had to try.

"Yukari Sahashi?" I asked, cocking my head to the side in feigned curiosity. "Who is that? I don't believe I know anyone of that name."

First of all, deny. They obviously thought there was some sort of connection between Yukari and me, and they were right, but there was no way of knowing just what sort of connection they assumed we had.

"Come now," Higa seemed amused by my attempt at disassembly. "Surely you haven't forgotten your sister already, Minato Sahashi?"

Well crap. There went that ploy. Still, there was no way of knowing if they had actual proof or if they just had made a well educated guess.

"Minato?" I repeated, once more trying to sound confused. "You already know my name is Emiya, Shirou Emiya. I'm sorry, but are you sure you're not confused?"

"Well if I am, then it would appear that it is a confusion shared by the Disciplinary Squad's chief enforcer," Higa pointed out. His smile grew a bit at the exchange of words. "She did seem quite certain, if her actions during the third match were anything to go by."

Shit. God damn it. That blasted Karasuba. If that idiotic, genocidal madwoman had just kept her damn mouth shut than this wouldn't be happening!

"It must have taken your tool quite a while to cover your connection," Higa continued, sounding amused, "but in the end it looked like even with its talents it could still miss things. She should have had someone destroy the physical birth records, or at least change them to whichever name you assumed." He leaned back, putting a bit of distance between himself and the screen, bringing his hands up in a slow exaggerated clap. "Still, I applaud your efforts. Going so far as to erase yourself in order to try and conceal a weakness? Bravo."

I stilled, my mind dissecting his words with frantic speed. Erase myself? My tool's efforts?

That's it!

He must know about Matsu. Just like I had already pegged Kouchou as a threat, Higa was probably one of the Ashikabi most likely to truly understand the potential of an information type. He must have assumed that I had deliberately gone out of the way to change my identity, most likely as a means to distance myself from my family. It made sense in a way. Considering how highly placed Takami was in MBI, and the rather extreme measures I had already taken, cutting connections with a mother and a sister would make a great deal of sense, if I had actually been raised in normal conditions.

It was actually precisely the type of thing I could see myself doing, if that had been the real way of things.

"You know," I hedged, still trying to figure out how I could use this misconception to my advantage. "I never much cared for referring to the Sekirei as 'tools' you know that right?"

"I can imagine," Higa seemed to feel that my lack of denial was a victory, and his smile turned a trifle triumphant before he can continue. "After all, having been raised from such a young age exposed to them, learning so much about them that you were even able to wing one that the rest of MBI deemed unsalvageable? Yes, that must be quite a connection, a bond strong enough to even attract so many single numbers." He snorted. "However, in the end, that is all those things are: tools. And now, Minato, so are you."

The last bit at the end must have been deliberate, an attempt to get a rise out of me, but I dismissed the insultingly familiar way he used my birth name. Oh, this just kept getting better and better. It was a logical string of assumptions he was making, after all. If my mother really was one of the heads of MBI's Sekirei related research, then it would have been possible for me to learn more about them than most people would. Maybe even visit the facilities, make acquaintances with some of them, draw them in, and attract as many single numbers as I had even before the plan started.

Honestly, it was a more believable scenario than me being a magus on the run who might or might have been guided by a superior cosmic force or maybe just had the blind luck to attract so many random powerful creatures through sheer charisma.

Homura seemed to be a bit confused by Higa's assumptions, but she at least seemed to understand that I wasn't making corrections for a reason and she kept her mouth shut. I couldn't get a read on Kazehana at all, seeing as she was using a cup to conceal much of her face. Those two were probably my most discreet Sekirei, which was why I had let them remain in the room unlike Musubi or Kuu. That and Kazehana was most likely willing to back me up if I had to get violent, even if the enemy was only a human. Homura had also already admitted to being willing to attack humans as well, though so far the only target he was focused on was Minaka.

Akitsu would have been willing to, but considering her penchant for overkill it was probably for the best that I kept her back for now. I might need Kakizaki alive by the end of this conversation.

"A tool, am I?" I repeated, trying to keep this conversation going for the moment. I needed to get as much information out of Higa as I could.

"Indeed," Higa smirked. "I have a number of tasks that I find need of accomplishing, and quite recently the number of assets at my disposal has decreased drastically. Luckily, it seems that I have just gained seven new ones." He paused, giving me narrow eyed looks. "No, make that eight," he corrected himself, and I realized that my display in the third match had done just what I had intended.

It looks like I was being considered just as dangerous as my flock. Good.

"And just what kind of tasks did you have in mind?" I prompted, finally reaching for the tea that Miya had brought. The landlady herself had perched herself at the edge of the room, in a position that was out of the way but allowed her to observe everyone in the room, including Higa's face on the screen. She had brought out a pot, four cups, a bowl of sugar and a bowl of lemon, as well as enough spoons to supply each cup with one. Deliberately, I poured myself some tea, adding sugar and lemon before stirring it.

"Well to start with, I do believe you have some items of mine," Higa's smile was equal parts triumphant as it was sinister. "The Jinki. Both of them. Please hand them over to my secretary, if you will."

The Jinki. Alien weapons capable of mass genocide and havoc at such an epic scale that even the sight of them was anathema to me. And this twisted, ruthless, and unethical man wanted them.

But only two of them. So they didn't know about the third that Matsu had brought with her when she escaped MBI. Good.

"And after that?" I made no effort to get up and jump to my counterparts orders, instead reaching for a second cup. Pouring a new glass, I took looked up to meet Kakizaki's gaze, wordlessly lifting the sugar bowl as I offered him the new glass. With a triumphant smile at what he assumed was my capitulation, he indicated two with his fingers, and I put the appropriate amount in the cup, stirring it briskly with a new spoon.

If Higa took note of my inaction, he made no particular comment at it. He most likely interpreted it as a minor act of rebellion, meaningless defiance to his will. "After that," he continued, smile growing, "it seems that you were instrumental in removing another tool of mine from its rightful place. Once it has been returned to me, well, there are many tasks a tool of your stature might be useful for."

Uzume then. There was no way that he could know that I hadn't just stolen Chiho and moved her to a new facility. She was supposed to be incurable. The very thought that she could be healthy and out on her own was most likely something inconceivable to him, so he thought I had simply moved her somewhere safe for my own purposes. That was good to know.

"And after that?" I prompted, pushing the newly prepared cup of tea in front of me. I made sure that it was far enough away from the waiting Kakizaki that he would have to reach for it, an act which caused the secretary to snort. It seemed that I wasn't going to be called to task for this kind of defiance so early in the arrangement.

"I'm most interest in learning just how it was…" Higa began while his secretary reached for the cup, leaning forward as he did so, before I interrupted him.

A silent round of Alteration added sharpness comparable to any knife to the teaspoon still held in my hand, and without another word I drove it downward, through Kakizaki's hand, leaving it impaled to the table in front of me.

Higa froze mid speech, flinching backward as the view of the screen allowed him to see the brutal attack, and Kakizaki shrieked, his expression twisting in pain. To my side, Homura shot up straight, eyes wide at the attack and Kazehana flinched back a bit as well, spilling some sake. A yelp of 'Emiya-kun' alerted me to even Miya's surprise at the motion.

Ignoring them, I leaned forward reaching for the screen displaying a recovering Higa.

"What is the meaning of this, Minato…" he snapped, angrily, only for me to interrupt him.

"My name is Shirou Emiya," I told him with narrowed eyes. "Now, excuse me for a moment while I deal with your secretary." With that, I flipped the table so the screen was face down on the table.

"You bastard," Kakizaki hissed, trying to pull his hand free, only for the pain to stop him. He flopped with his other hand, reaching for the spoon so he could try and pull it out. "I am going to have your pathetic slaves flogged for this right in front of your eyes…"

He froze when the hand he was trying to free himself was interrupted by mine, a grip like steel crushing his wrist. Furiously, he looked up to meet my eyes and froze.

"Further speaking from you is prohibited," I hissed, the dark rage in my eyes finding an echo in the creeping madness spreading behind me.

Kakizaki went white as for the first time he was confronted by a horror beyond his comprehension. And what a horror it must be.

I was fucking furious.

I had thought I had been angry when Yukari called me about having met a strange boy. I thought I had been enraged when I had believed Homura might have slept with my mother.

But that was nothing compared to what I was feeling at this very moment.

My sister, my little sister, at this very moment had been captured and imprisoned by some self-entitled little shit, and it had been because of me! She had been accosted, and was enduring who knows what at this very moment, and it was all my fault!

It was taking all of the hard won self-control imparted to me by my years of magecraft to keep myself from tracing a dozen different of the cruelest swords I knew of and impaling this smug bastard in front of me and then going out and doing the exact same thing to the one behind it all. I was so furious that I felt lightheaded, the thrum of my heartbeat an angry echo pounding through my ears and brain, my breath coming short as rage caused my breathing rate to accelerate dangerously.

I don't know what the Asura behind me looked like at this moment, but from the way Kakizaki began to frantically pull at the hand still impaled to the table, an animal move that paid no mind to the way the silverware was digging further into his flesh, it must be something horrifying to behold. Even Homura and Kazehana seemed caught in its sway, the two going white, and to the side Miya tensed.

"You paid too much attention to the third match," I continued in a hiss, "and not nearly enough to the first. You had been warned that there were demons in the North." The man was making mewling noises now, unintelligible strangled animal sounds, and if he had been an animal he most likely would have begun trying to gnaw his own limb off to escape. "Now, sit down, shut up, and don't move, and I may allow you to walk away in one piece."

Kakizaki froze, some bestial part of his mind interpreting my words and understanding him, that same part most likely causing him to go absolutely still despite the no doubt painful wound.

With a nod, I released both his hand and the Asura, a noisy sigh of relief coming from Homura as I did so, and with a deep breath I forced my face back into combat mode and then righted the tablet. Higa no long looked nearly as confident, his eyes narrow and hard like daggers as he searched the room that he could see, finding that he could still make out his secretary's impaled limb in his line of sight. His eyes narrowed even further.

"Kakizaki," he snapped, addressing the statue still former Ashikabi. "Kakizaki, are you alright?"

"He's fine," I assured the other Ashikabi, once more calm and firm, none of the rage still pounding through me observable. "Fortunately for him, there is no violence in Izumo House. However," my eyes drifted to the bleeding hand, "exceptionally stern chastisement is occasionally permissible."

"Stern chastisement he says," Homura muttered, shivering as she did so.

"I'm disappointed," Higa declared, a sneer forming as he glared at me. "I had honestly thought we would be able to handle this professionally."

"I had thought so too," I confirmed. "However, even if your behavior so far has been pathetically amateurish, I suppose I can look past that."

"Amateurish?" Higa snapped, drawing back in surprise, his tone angry. "Why you insolent little…"

"Tell me, Higa," I interrupted him head cocked to the side. "Do you even know the best way to maintain hostage? So far, I'm beginning to think you don't even know that much."

"Oh?" the other Ashikabi sneered, "and just what way might that be?"

"Why, you kill them of course," I told him, and the other man paused, blinking at my blunt statement. "Then you destroy their body. That way, there is never any way to prove where the hostage is, or for them ever to be rescued. So long as the body is sufficiently destroyed, there is no way to prove their death either. In that way, the hostage becomes the perfect tool, something which can always be held out of reach."

"I see," Higa snapped. "I suppose I should take your advice to heart. I'll be sure to tell your sister just who suggested it."

"However, that won't work in this situation," I continued, still perfectly calm. "After all, if you kill her, then her Sekirei will automatically terminate. With my own access to MBI's information, I would know instantly. Then, there would be no reason for me not to seek retribution by killing all of your remaining family, your friends, destroying your company so thoroughly that its name will be used as cautionary story in business schools for decades to come, and then finally impaling each and every one of your organs in alphabetical organs while keeping you alive the entire time."

Higa sneered, but he kept his mouth shut. The look he was giving me was hard and evaluating, as though he had only now realized the peril his ploy had put him in.

"Of course," I continued in a lecturing tone. "In this case a medical coma is just as effective. It removes the hostage's ability to resist, while allowing for their Sekirei to remain functional. If the hostage is kept in a sufficiently remote medical facility, under a fake name, then they could be kept out of reach nearly as effectively. Of course, by doing so, the ruse is still only as effective as the hiding spot. A hospital would most likely be out of the question, but a private facility or restructured living quarters could take years to locate, especially if the hostage was periodically moved to new ones. In a way, your former situation with the number eleven and her Ashikabi was ideal," I noted distantly. "Even if Hidaka-san's location was known, you did have the only facility that was capable of providing treatment. Well, 'had' the only facility anyway."

"Shirou," Homura hissed, apparently realizing that this new method I was explaining was actually an effective method of carrying out a threat against me. It wasn't nearly as effective in my case as I was making it sound. With Matsu I would have the resources to find any such hostage rather quickly, and with Avalon even a medical coma could be recovered from.

"Of course," I continued, leaning back. "This is all dependent on whether or not you actually have a hostage in the first place. The one in question, Yukari Sahashi, does possess one of the more powerful members of the Plan, the number one oh seven, and being able to get by that one is no mean feat, especially with your recent losses." I gestured at the shoes, snorting in contempt. "The only thing you provide is a pair of shoes which may or may not have belonged to my sister, or may or may not have been purchased due to their similarity. This could very well be just a ploy to try and use panic to convince me to comply to your immediate demands, the exchange of the Jinki, with your secretary escaping with the prize before I have time to realize that it was all a feint anyway."

"And just what might be a more effective way of proving your sister's presence?" Higa spoke bitterly, still glaring at me as I continued to rip apart his ploy. He did not seem to be taking the lecture well, though whether it was at the fact that I was being defiant or that all the points and options I had described were indeed more effective than what he had been attempting to do. To me, Higa did not seem the type to take having his errors pointed out to him well.

"Typically? A recorded video of the hostage in question, sometimes accompanied by a body part, typically an ear or finger, something that can provide biological proof of the hostage's identity."

"Well then, in the interest of formality, which would you prefer," Higa asked coldly. "The ear or the finger?"

"The finger," I supplied with a nod, before reaching out to grasp Kakizaki's nearby hand. I wrapped my hand around one of his fingers, separating it from the rest as I reached for another spoon. The secretary flinched at the contact, but that same animal panic from earlier kept him from moving. "We can trade, if you'd like," I offered. "After all, my hostage might not be as important to you, but I'm sure you'd rather he came back in relatively one piece rather than the theoretical numerous ones I could return him to you in." I gave the other Ashikabi a hard look. "After, of course, I have him inform me about as many of your plans as he is aware of. As your secretary, I'm certain there must be quite a few useful tidbits he could tell me."

Higa's mouth twitched, but he made no further comment as the situation became plain to him.

The most likely reason Higa had sent Kakizaki, his right hand, was because of the Jinki of course. If things had gone as they had expected then the secretary would have left with two of the Jinki, the most important revealed element of the Sekirei Plan so far. The possibility of someone betraying the Ashikabi of the East and making off with the Jinki for themselves was probably too much a risk for Higa to send anyone but a highly trusted and informed lieutenant to retrieve them. Add on that Kakizaki probably had a personal grudge against me, and the secretary had probably volunteered for what he anticipated to be a round of one upping me directly.

However, now that I had proven to be less than compliant, it looked like overconfidence had turned the table on the other Ashikabi. Now I had a hostage of my own, after all, one who just happened to be highly trusted and exposed to most likely numerous sensitive projects.

"Make no mistake, Izumi Higa," I continued quietly. "I am no lovesick alien that will do anything without question to protect their Ashikabi. I am no confused and easily intimidated young man, who had never had to face threats or violence before. Your secretary's Sekirei were by no means the first targets that I have killed. It was not a fluke that I was able to deal with them, or just chance that I am so familiar with the proper protocols of hostage taking. Between the two of us, I have been involved in this kind of thing a lot longer than you have."

I leaned forward, meeting Higa's eyes directly, the man watching me with intense eyes as he took in my cold speech.

"And, unfortunately for you, you were mistaken earlier. Even if she is my biological sister, I have only known her for only a few months at best. It has been years since I used the name Minato Sahashi. My name is Shirou Emiya, and not even the Black Sekirei herself can call me anything else. Now. Are we going to handle this professionally, or do I need to continue educating you on proper protocols?"

And this was the pivotal moment. By now I had given Higa enough clues and false leads to hopefully direct him to the conclusion I wanted him to make. This was a battle like any other, and the key to all battles was controlling their flow. Before, Higa had been expecting to simply blow in like a foul smelling breeze, throw his weight around, and properly intimidate a promising former opponent into being a proper pawn. It made sense, in a way. Just like before, when Kakizaki had first tried to make a move on Tsukiumi, it appeared that they already had a system in place, an approach which had met with success in the past. It had been a proper combination of intimidation and dismissal, a presentation meant to emphasize how helpless the newly compromised individual was.

However, everything I had said so far was designed to counter that impression, and present a new one of my own. Crisp professionalism, extensive knowledge on unsavory tactics, the hinting at superior experience in this field:

If he had any sense at all, he would naturally think that I am an assassin, or a mercenary, or some other profession that is steeped with violence.

Which, on second thought, I actually was. It made the ploy a lot easier to pull off, I suppose.

"It seems that we are at an impasse then," Higa finally responded, expression serious after I had finished dressing him down. "It seems that I have something which holds no value to you, whereas you have something which is easily replaced of mine. It will be difficult, invalidating any of the information you might receive from Kakizaki, but getting rid of the useless hostage will no doubt help provide me some satisfaction."

There. Ploy success. Earlier, Higa had been treating me as a clear inferior, having already relegated me to the role of 'tool' in his mind. Now though, he was regarding me as, if not quite an equal, at least a potential threat.

Why on earth does it always take me so damn long to get some genuine respect out of the people I deal with all the time? I swear, it's ridiculous how often I get underestimated and looked down on. Maybe it's the cooking. For some reason, people just have such a hard time taking a chef seriously. It must be the apron.

"The fact that your hostage does indeed have value to me is the only reason this conversation is continuing," I corrected him. I had no doubt he was serious about just cutting his losses at this point, and I didn't want that. Now that I've established a position of power of my own, now proper negotiations can be held.

"Well then," Higa leaned forward again, accepting my acknowledgement of the validity of the hostage as a chance to reopen dialogue. "Now we just have to determine the value of it. To begin with, we will be starting with the two Jinki, as well as my secretary, without further harm."

"Impossible," I told him bluntly. "You want me to give up two of the most important prizes of the game simply on the off chance that you might have something important to me? And without properly negotiating a release of your own hostage? No. First of all, we will have you establish both the presence and the safety of my sister."

"So eager to have a part of her back with you?" Higa sneered, reminding me of my own earlier mention of body parts being appropriate proof of hostage. "I can make the video during the removal as well."

"Unfortunately, that is no longer an option for you," I answered back easily. "Given you've already displayed your unreliability, I will be requiring no less than a video conference like this one."

"Oh? And here you've made such a show of professionalism," Higa noted, "going back on your speech so soon?"

"The problem is that you aren't a professional," I countered, "If you were, then I would be able to rely on you following through with any deal that might be made. However, your reputation precedes you, or did you think that I hadn't heard some of the stories from number eleven?" I raised an eyebrow. "As a business man, surely you should know that reputation is important, and you have a poor one." His lip actually twitched in anger at the unsubtle dig. "No, I will be requiring visual and audio proof of her continued safety, and since you no doubt have the resources to fake a simple video, it will have to involve conversation where I can confirm authenticity."

It looked like Higa was enough a businessman to make concessions, or at least he realized that he had inadvertently weakened his position due to his earlier actions. "That can be arranged. However, it should be noted that if negotiations go poorly, proper proof can still be provided later on."

"Due to the situation, I find that I am unable to prevent such actions," I allowed. The threat was clear, misbehave and Yukari would suffer for it. "However, any damages on her will decrease her value in the future."

"And since you're so reluctant to part with your particular prizes, just how do you intend to ransom your sister?" Higa pointed out. The business man was starting to settle, the familiarity of negotiations putting him more back in his element.

"Services, of course," I offered my own particular concession. "Just as you have your own reputation, I've no doubt you're aware of mine as well." And what a reputation it was at this point. "I'm willing to offer five operations, at your discretion but with veto power in the case of impossibility, where in both I and my flock will be in your employ." I gave a small, carelessly exaggerated shrug. "It wouldn't be the first time my services were for hire, though previous employers have tended to be a bit more polite than yourself."

Higa's eyebrow rose at the offer, the possibilities no doubt tempting to him. I'd already proven myself competent in not just combat but in back door deals and information gathering, and was reinforcing my image as a professional mercenary. The chance to use me to accomplish some of his own goals was no doubt one of his original intentions, and here I was offering to do just that. With me, he could no doubt engage on more ambitious undertakings, using me as a screen to protect his own assets.

"A tempting offer," he noted, nodding slowly. The fact that I was bartering in earnest was definitely helping him relax. "However, I'm afraid it's not enough. The Jinki are, unfortunately, a nonnegotiable article."

My eyes narrowed briefly. It seemed that Higa definitely had his eyes on those prizes. Unfortunately for him, I agreed. The Jinki were nonnegotiable. Knowing what they were, what they could do, it just was impossible for me to give up that much potential danger to the hands of an unreliable enemy.

Also, unfortunately, it looked like my options were running out. I might have been able to change the flow of the battle, but if we were to think of leverage as weapons in this fight it would appear that Higa was better armed. No matter how much I might try to downplay how important Yukari was to me it didn't change the cold dread and near frantic worry that was fueling my anger at the situation.

It seemed that I was running out of options. In a perfect world, I would have been able to ransom my sister without endangering her. Then again, in a perfect world, my sister would never have been in danger in the first place.

My options were running out. No good choices were making themselves known. This situation had no perfect solution.

My eyes closed, and I realized what I would have to do. When I opened them, it was to find Higa's cold smile. It seemed he had caught my slip, and knew that I had come to a decision. He also seemed to think he knew what the decision was.

Again, if Higa was aware of the difference between his expectations and reality, things might have gone very differently.

"One Jinki, and three tasks," I offered bluntly. "The Jinki only to be provided upon return of my sister."

At my side, Miya drew in a soft breath, the knowledge that I was actually willing to offer up one of the most dangerous items on the planet no doubt striking her with indecision. Homura's scowl grew, and Kazehana frowned herself, the expression mostly hidden behind her cup.

"One Jinki, and three services," Higa agreed, before relentlessly pushing. "However, the Jinki is to be provided immediately."

And that settled it. I nodded. "I will be requiring further proof of wellbeing at the beginning and end of every task," I added on, angling for one last concession, and the other man nodded in return, sealing the deal.

"Show me the first proof of continued safety," I ordered. Higa's smile grew, and he glanced to the side, leaning out of sight to whisper something to someone off screen.

"It'll take just a moment," he assured me, leaning backwards the perfect picture of relaxation. He made a magnanimous gesture, no doubt reveling in his victory.

It took five minutes, and they passed silently, no one in the room having anything to say and Higa seemingly satisfied with having gotten at least part of what he wanted out of me. Finally, Higa seemed to follow something onscreen, leaning over to once more consult with someone off camera, before nodding and reaching for the screen.

The view flickered over, and I found myself looking at my sister.

Yukari looked scared, that much I could say for sure, but she seemed to be in good condition. Her clothes were a bit scuffled, and she was barefoot except for her socks, but she didn't look hurt in any other way. The room she was being kept in looked to be some kind of conference room, a large table and some chairs the only furniture, no window that I could see. Her eyes flickered from somewhere over the view at whoever must be holding the screen, before they locked on the screen, disbelief and relief flooding her eyes as she realized who she was looking at.

"Onii-chan!" she yelped, eyes watering before one hand came up to scrub at her eyes furiously. "Uh," she began, giving me a watery and sheepish smile. "Hi?"

"It looks like you won't be making it to dinner today, will you Yukari?" I asked, having trouble maintaining my composure. Part of it was sheer relief that she really was well, and another part was that same absolute fury that she was in this condition. I wasn't quite able to keep my hands from clutching my knees, thankfully out of sight from the camera.

Yukari gave me a blank look, before she half laughed, half hiccupped. Her grin grew a little more sheepish, but she looked like she relaxed a little at my attempt at brevity. "And it would have been teriyaki too," she muttered, rubbing her head as she did so.

"Well, it would have been," I admitted, finally allowing a small grin of my own, my own hand coming up to echo her gesture. "But Miya has been kinda mean lately, and she hasn't been letting me do any cooking…"

"What the heck you do to piss of Miya-san, Onii-chan?" Yukari asked, pouting as she did so, but that was the last. Without any warning, the screen switched back to Higa, the business man giving a confident smile.

"Will that suffice?" he asked, though judging by his tone it was mostly a rhetorical question. The smile disappeared from my face, and I let my hand fall back to my lap.

"For now," I acknowledged, sliding back into my implacable expression.

"Then I shall wait for my secretary to return with the first installment of your payment," Higa announced, and without waiting for a reply he reached towards the screen. "Talk to you soon, Minato," he smirked at me, once more using my birth name with deliberate rudeness, before flipping off the screen.

"My name is Emiya," I murmured softly, before speaking up. "Matsu, bring one of the Jinki."

"Shirou," Homura began, tone anxious as she maintained her vigil by the wall. "Are you sure about this?"

"It seems there's no other choice but to follow this through," I responded. It only took a moment for Matsu to arrive, carrying a wrapped bundle in her arms as though it were a baby. The hacker wasn't wearing her glasses, and her eyes locked onto mine before she gave me a small nod.

Reaching out, I took the spoon still imbed in Kakizaki's hand, and twisted it before pulling it free. The secretary flinched at the little extra spike of pain, but quickly retracted his hand, still watching me with a terrified expression. He barely even noticed it when Matsu pressed the Jinki into his damaged hand, just awkwardly clutching it with his uninjured limb.

"Run," I suggested to him.

"What the hell are you?" he finally rediscovered his voice, the words cracking as he stared at me, still unable to move. "What are you?" he repeated.

"Run!" I snapped at him, feeling the Asura grow as I allowed myself to vent a little more of my fury on this worthy target.

He obeyed, running into the wall at the exit to the room as he kept panicked eyes on me, before I heard his footfalls escape into the hallway, and then out the door.

I closed my eyes, sighing as I did so.

This just got complicated.

*Scene Break*

"This is an outrage!" Tsukiumi shrieked, her tone high in her anger. I could hear the water user was pacing angrily, her hair no doubt dramatically flowing around her as she stalked the room like a caged tiger. "How dare that contemptible monkey think he can do something like this!"

"Quiet down, Tsukiumi," Homura countered, her voice tense but low. "Getting angry won't change anything."

"I hope that Yukari-chan will be alright," Musubi noted, though again the distorted Sekirei seemed more idly curious than she was worried.

"I will not stand for this!" Tsukiumi wasn't so easily mollified, and continued her rant unabated. "To think such a contemptible monkey tried to get his filthy claws into me! I will show him what it means to threaten the most powerful Sekirei's Ashikabi!"

"Ne, Onii-chan," a tugging at my sleeve caused me to open my eyes to take in Kuu's wide and worried glance. "Is Shii-chan going to be alright?" I wasn't certain how much of what was going on Kuu understood, but she had at least made the connection that danger to Yukari was danger to Shiina as well.

"I'm sure he's fine, Kuu-chan," I reassured her softly, putting one hand on her head. Kuu wiggled under the touch, but seemed to take comfort in it as she knelt next to me. I heard the jingle of chains, and knew that Akitsu was down here too.

"Emiya-san," it was Miya's voice that finally seemed to calm down Tsukiumi, the water user reducing her volume to grumbling at the landlady's behest. "Are you certain this course of action is wise?" She was definitely worried, and probably rightly so. "Even if it is your sister, you know what the Jinki can do…" It sounded like even though she realized the danger my sister was in, she still couldn't put aside her worry over what the Jinki might be capable of doing.

"We'll have the Jinki back by noon tomorrow," I assured her softly. That settled even Tsukiumi, a silence falling on the room.

"What do you mean by that, Lover-kun?" Kazehana prompted, still sipping sedately at her sake. The worldly wind user was watching me with expectant eyes, offering no other contribution to the conversation.

"Higa has no intention of following through with the bargain," I noted with a cocked head, eyes drifting to the blood stain on the table as I voiced my train of thoughts. "If he had, he would have accepted the Jinki as final payment. He most probably intends to extort either the second Jinki after he finished using up my favors, or simply demand 'one more' service, for as long as he can. He intends to betray us whenever it would be most convenient for him."

"That's what I suspected," Homura muttered. Again, I suspected her involvement in an industry rife with such schemes had given her some insight into blackmail. "So what do you intend to do then, Shirou?"

"He's finally proven that he is too much of a risk to allow anymore," I concluded. "His own pharmaceutical company has been rivals with MBI for as long as MBI has been around. He's no doubt been studying the Sekirei under his control since he first became aware of them, and the Jinki will also most likely be examined. Even if he hadn't come here, he would have probably found a way to get a later one, maybe after we had left. No, I'm afraid it's time to assassinate him."

"Him and Minaka?" Homura chimed in, sounding slightly hopeful despite the gravity of the situation, and I sighed, shaking my head. He was the only one in the room who found any sort of hope in my proclamation.

"Did you plant the tracker, Matsu?" I instead turned to the hacker, and the redhead nodded back in affirmative. I had trusted the intelligent hacker to be able to take the initiative in this instance, even though we had never specifically planned on a situation like this. It looked like I had been right to do so.

"I attached it to the Jinki directly," she confirmed, already pulling a map with a blinking mark on it that I assumed was the Jinki up on her doohickey. "I'll keep an eye on it until it stops moving."

"They might find it, so make sure to note its final location if you lose the signal," I reminded her, and she nodded dutifully.

"So… that's it?" Tsukiumi asked, gnawing on her lips as she looked between Matsu and I, apparently unable to believe that just like that, I had committed to an action so far outside of the rules of the Sekirei Plan. "Shirou, are you sure?" I nodded without hesitation.

"Lover-kun," Kazehana spoke back up, still looking somber. "What about washboard-chan?"

"Chances are that Higa will have her watched, most likely with the orders that if anything happens to him she be killed," I admitted. "There's a chance that we might be able to avert that, but it's most likely that she will die."

"But, I like Yukari-chan!" Musubi protested, still sounding innocent. I couldn't help but wonder if I ever sounded that, so absolutely nonchalant in the face of grave situations. Again, it was a bit disturbing to see someone as distorted as me, and I had no sympathy for Saber and Rin for some of the things I must have put them through.

"Emiya-kun, is that really alright with you?" Miya asked softly, and again, I nodded.

"The chances that Higa will somehow manage to find a way to use the Jinki in a destructive fashion, either on purpose or simply by accident, are too great," I shook my head. "Even if he won't be able to gather all of them, it's a risk that can't be taken. He needs to die."

"I meant your sister," Miya pressed, brow furrowing as she found herself agreeing with me, but still feeling the need to ask. "Even if she…"

"The Path of the Shura," Matsu said softly, uncovered eyes watching me with an expression that I couldn't quite read. "Ashikabi-sama," she continued in the same tone. "If you were just planning on killing Higa, than you wouldn't have needed to negotiate. You could have just finished Kakizaki, and then gone on to your next," her words hesitated for only the briefest of moments before she finished her sentence, "target."

"If I had done that, than Higa might have tried to retreat, or at least fortify his condition," I noted, still in my battle mode, the swirling possibilities of what might happen being weighed, measured, and set aside so the next one could be studied. "If I had capitulated too early, than he would have gotten suspicious. I had to drag it out as long as possible, try to get as much information from him while simultaneously making him work for concessions, otherwise he might have suspected my own intention to betray him. Now that we have a deal, one in his favor, he'll be less likely to expect an attack."

"You used Yukari-san as bait, Ashikabi-sama," the hacker summed up my unspoken statement bluntly. Tsukiumi stiffened, looking offended at the idea that I would do something so callous, though Homura and Kazehana's eyes both focused on me with resigned grimness.

"Yes," I admitted.

I was furious, but not just at Higa. Not just at Kakizaki. They had threatened my sister, the family I never knew I had but found myself caring for anyway. They had brazenly walked into my home and attempted to trample on my pride, to steal my prizes, to try and force me to their will.

I was furious at them, but even more so at myself.

Because no matter how much I might be screaming inside, no matter how low I knew it meant me to be, in the end I measured the life of my sister against the lives of who knows how many other potential victim, and in the end my sister's life was the lesser.

Maybe I wasn't as crappy a magus as I always thought myself to be. It turns out I could be pretty damn heartless as well.

"We have one chance of managing to retrieve the Jinki, eliminate Higa, and save my sister as well," I continued on in the shocked silence that followed my words. "The first two take priority. If we move fast enough, the third might be accomplished. The rest of you, get some sleep. Matsu," I focused on the hacker, and the redhead stiffened at my gaze. "Matsu, you and I have work to do."


	37. Thirty Seventh Wing

In Flight: Thirty Seventh Wing

_Author's Notes: Well here we are, number 37 up and running. A bit delayed from what I was anticipating, I'll admit, but real life managed to interfere. Luckily, this time it was in a good way, as I finally have a job which actually allows me to retain dignity, possibly advance, and pays well enough that I might someday escape the 'starving artist' stereotype!_

_A day job that can support me. I've dreamed for so long... sniff... and now that its here I just... sniff.. I just don't know what I'll do... wahhhh! o;  
_

_Anyway, enough of that pesky RL thing. On to review portion of author's notes!_

_So far most review are focusing on a combination of Shirou's cold blooded nature, combined with cries of 'save Yukari' and 'Shirou would never do that!'. I have to refrain from commenting on a lot of these reviews, because, quite frankly, In Flight is coming to a head. It's reaching the point where a lot of plot elements are going to be coming together fast, and hopefully revelations about just why Shirou is the way he is will come to light. Thus, questions have to remain unanswered else the fall into the 'spoiler' section._

_Sorry guys._

_On the plus side, another line of reviews that come up is the 'In Flight is way to long' line. Actually, I have to agree. I've been doing some research, and the average novel ranges between 150,000 and 180,000 words limit. _

_Go check to see how long In Flight has been going on._

_This story could be easily broken down into a trilogy, and I'd still have words to spare by the end of it. Luckily, In Flight is nearing its end. Just two more story arcs left, a conservative estimate putting that at 6, maybe 7 more chapters. _

_Honestly, I'm kind of on the edge of my seat with that. When the whole story finally comes to end, when all the diverging plot elements I've been working in have finally concluded, when this monstrous opus is finally done, will you, the readers, be able to say that it was worth it? That it worked?_

_I can only finish the story and see._

_Anyway, on to the second part of my AN._

_Beware..._

_*Spoiler Alert!*_

_This chapter can pretty much be summed up with 'WWKD?': What would Kiritsugu do? This entire chapter was meant to be Shirou showing just how 'Magus Killer'-esque he can be. I tried to balance it with him still showing elements of the old Shirou, his worry for his sister, his interaction with his flock and his mother, and Karasuba for that matter, but it was meant to show that this Shirou is a consummate professional in his line of work._

_It's necessary for the next arc, where explanations will abound, and yes, we will finally find Rin and Saber making their appearance. I could try to hold that information back, but I've already admitted that the two would be showing up, and with only two arcs left it was kind of either/or at the moment._

_Beyond that, focusing on scenes, most of this chapter tends to resolve around Shirou's flock finally getting a glimpse at the actual capability of their Ashikabi. Matsu had a clue already, but now the rest of them do as well. _

_Not much more to add to that at the moment. Saying much more will be spoiler rather than foreshadowing at this point._

_*Spoiler End*_

_I'll go ahead and post a forum thread for this chapter as well, but lately I haven't had much in the way of forum time, so responses might be a bit sporadic. I've also been replaying F/sn, mostly to refresh it in my head, but also so that when the inevitable lore troll rears its head I'll have the proper club to beat them down with._

_Freaking lore trolls. Only troll worse than a lore troll is a psychic troll. Stupid psychic trolls._

_Anyway, replaying F/sn again, so that might delay me, as well as the whole 'new job' thing too, so while you can rest assured I'm typing when I can, the full plate in front of me might delay._

_If you just have a shout out, go ahead and hit the review button. Want to risk my turbulent circumstances to try for a personal response, go ahead and hit the forums._

_And as always, enjoy._

_*Story Start*_

"Shirou," Homura began, her voice quiet. "I've been meaning to ask for a while…" she trailed off, obviously not quite certain of how to put whatever it was she was about to ask.

"Yes?" I prompted her, voice cool as the air around us.

"Do you have a split personality or something?" Homura finally demanded, the fire user sounding equal parts frustrated as curious. Despite my firm lock on my emotions, I blinked in surprise at the question.

"What do you mean?" I had to ask, turning from the ledge I was standing on to give the fire user a quick glance. Homura seemed uncomfortable at my look for some reason, glancing away briefly before forcing her eyes back to mine.

"I mean, like right now," she continued, pressing on as she waved as though to indicate all of me. "Most of the time, you're just so, well, normal," she stressed the word as she spoke. "You go to work, you pay bills, you even cook for god's sake." I couldn't help but wonder why that last one in particular seemed to be so unbelievable to the other woman. "You smile, and get along with everyone, even get embarrassed when some of your Sekirei tease you too much."

"Cutely embarrassed," Kazehana cut in with a ridiculously serious tone as she stroked her chin, nodding at the fire user's points.

"Thank you, Kazehana," Homura shot her an annoyed look, before pressing on. "And then, something like this happens and it's like you're an entirely different person." Homura sighed, scrubbing a hand through her hair. "You go cold as ice, start talking about killing as though it doesn't matter at all, and you don't even blink at the chance that your sister could be killed. You don't look like you care at all!"

"I care," I corrected her softly, but I understood her point nonetheless.

"Matsu is curious as well," the hacker spoke up, glancing up from her doohickey as she gave me another one of those inscrutable looks that she'd been favoring me with lately. I couldn't help but wonder just what was the source of those odd looks. "Is this another one of those magus things?"

I cocked my head briefly, considering her question, before giving a brief nod and turning back to the view before me.

It was the very early hours of the morning now, the time just before when most early risers got up. We had gotten into position only an hour ago, my flock minus Kuu helping me as they brought me to the roof of the building that I had selected for my purposes. Even now, my girls had scattered around the roof, taking the opportunity to make themselves comfortable as they waited for the operation to start.

Kazehana had perched herself atop a large water reservoir, with Homura leaning against one of the posts that supported the enormous structure. Matsu was closer, standing nearby at my right but behind the cover of the roof access structure to avoid the worst of the cold wind that tended to blow at elevations like this one.

"Enough," Tsukiumi snapped from where she was waiting, though despite her sharp tone she did not look anywhere near as confident as she usually did. The water user seemed nervous, her thumbnail caught by her lips even as she sat a bit apart on some large pipes that existed for some purpose I had no idea about. "Shirou would have no such thing! As though my Ashikabi would be beset upon by some illness of the mind!"

"Yeah!" Musubi cheered from where she was sitting beside Tsukiumi. She threw her hands up in the air in emphasis. "Shirou is too strong to need a mind!"

"Musubi," Tsukiumi sighed, palming her forehead as her close friend misunderstood what the water user was trying to say.

"Actually, I do have another personality," I admitted, turning back to the view before me. I was standing on the rim of the building, a position which let me take in the cityscape before me, vast skyscrapers and intertwined roads stretching beneath my eyes. "And yes, it's a magus thing, though not just magi do it. After all, Homura and Matsu have other personalities as well."

"What?" Homura sounded startled, as though she had never realized that she could have that kind of issue as well.

"When you used to go as Kagari," I reminded her, bringing her former alter ego back to her attention. "It's not uncommon for magi to have a separate personality," I continued, explaining without waiting for further encouragement. "Magi live their lives in secret, and it helps if they develop a personality that can react with the normal world more easily while they maintain another personality for their studies. Since magecraft depends on self-hypnotism , it's usually pretty easy for a magi to develop a separate identity. "

Rin had used to use her 'perfect student' façade to do just that. She had been so good at it that only Issei had ever suspected that she might not be as perfect as she portrayed herself.

"Typically, a magus will use some sort of external mnemonic device to help them keep their personalities different," I went on. "Like the way Matsu is different when she's not wearing her glasses." A stir from the hacker let me know she understood what I was referencing too. "I don't use anything like that, but since I'm a Magus Killer by nature it's important that I can switch personas at will so it's one of the things I practiced a lot."

"Huh," Kazehana grunted, sounding intrigued by the explanation. "So if you were to start developing a personality based around sex…" she began, only to be interrupted by Homura.

"That's just stupid," the fire user snapped, sounding mildly embarrassed by Wind Sekirei's train of thought. Internally, I agreed with the fire user, but didn't mention that it was entirely possible that I already had one. For me, sex had always had the prana exchange ritual implications, so I tended to be a little more detached when in bed and better able to focus then most people.

Still, for now it would probably be best if I didn't mention that.

"You say that other people besides magi do that too?" Matsu brought the conversation back in line, sounding reflective as I pointed out how she had been unconsciously imitating a staple magi habit.

"A lot of military forces try to help their members develop a 'warrior persona'," I nodded. "Usually the special forces or anyone who might see a lot of combat. It helps them separate violent reactions, and gives them a buffer in order to help them cope with traumatic experiences. Like if a soldier is holding a knife and startled on a battlefield their first response is to attack with the knife, but when they're back home with their families and are startled while holding a knife they won't."

"That, that actually makes sense," Homura muttered, her question apparently answered to her satisfaction.

"Shirou-tan seemed to be able to explain that pretty easy, actually," Matsu agreed, sounding curious.

"It's just another phenomena," I explained with a small shrug. "At their nature, magi focus on researching the world around them in order to find rules and themes that exist in nature. The greater their understanding of something, the easier it is to find some way to circumvent it through magecraft and helps them formulate new mysteries."

"Circumvent?" Matsu repeated, before I saw her shift from the corner of my eye, an excited look appearing on her face. "Wait! You make it sound like all magi are hackers!"

"Huh," I grunted, also blinking as I thought about her analogy. "That's, that's not too far off, actually." At their nature, magi spend all their time trying to circumvent the natural rules of the world. 'Hacker' might be a good way to describe that type of actions.

"This is all irrelevant," Tsukiumi declared, before pausing as a stiff breeze fluttered her hair and coat around her. I swayed a bit from my place at the ledge, and she caught the movement. "And you shouldn't be standing so near the edge!" she declared, pointing her finger at me in her usual proud pose as she chided me. "For someone who dislikes height so much, you're too close!"

"Not heights, overlooking views," I corrected her absentmindedly, but I hopped off the ledge as ordered, though I didn't walk away completely.

"Oh?" it was Kazehana's turn to sound curious. "That's twice you used that phrase," she noted, calling attention to my wording. "Is this maybe another one of those magi things you were talking about?"

"Actually, yes," I admitted. "When you stand at a high place, the view before you is enormous. All the things that you see every day become smaller, become different. Even though it's the same world you've always seen, you can no longer understand it the same way you normally do.

"But because it's different, no matter who you are, an overlooking view always inspires the same impulse: to jump."

"Oi, Shirou," Homura sounded worried as she reacted to my words. "That's not true. If it was, wouldn't there be a lot more suicides?"

"Just because the impulse is there, doesn't mean everyone acts on it," I defended my statement. "And even if it's crazy, everyone thinks it. It's because of the difference in the way we perceive the world every day and the perspective of an overlooking view gives of the way the real world exists that confusion sets in. A person's knowledge of reality and their everyday experience clashes, and it's in that confusion the impulse forms. Most of the time, a person isn't serious about it. It's just the stray thought, 'what would happen if I jumped?', and they ignore it as a joke and move on. But that impulse is there anyway."

"Hmm," Matsu seemed pensive as I explained the dangers of an overlooking view. The hacker moved forward until she could stand beside me, taking in the same scenery as I was. "I see," she murmured, as she looked and took in the city around us.

"Musubi feels that a lot!" the shrine girl declared, throwing a hand in the air excitedly. "I love jumping from high places! It's fun!"

"You dolt," Tsukiumi sighed, though the look she gave her friend was slightly fond.

"She raises a good point though," Homura sounded troubled by my explanation, though she seemed to understand the impulse as well. "I don't think that I feel that kind of thing. For me, being in a high place is just more comfortable. I don't think that I feel any of that confusion you're talking about."

"Well, you're not human," I pointed out. That also seemed to make Homura uncomfortable, and she turned her attention to the floor before her.

"Oh!" Musubi didn't have the same reaction to having her species pointed out as the fire user, and instead began waving her hand in the air excitedly. "How about Shirou-sama's fighting? Is there one for that too?"

"Eye of the mind, true," I answered again, though this time in a softer voice. I couldn't help but feel pensive about this particular skill, in the end. "A skill brought about through experience with battle. The more a person fights, the more they understand how to fight. Eventually, they get enough experience to begin being able to anticipate how a battle will flow, and when they do they can start planning their tactics to increase their chances of victory. With the true eye of the mind, even if a battle only has a small chance of victory, they are far more likely to be able to find that chance and win."

It was a skill that I had developed slowly, over the course of many fights. Or perhaps I had simply inherited it from Archer, as I had so much from the twisted Counter Guardian.

"Across a thousand battlefields, never once knowing defeat, never once tasting victory," Matsu murmured softly, drawing a quick look from me as she repeated the lines of my Aria. She didn't look at me, too focused on the view the rooftop presented her. Her eyes drifted shut again, REM movements betraying her activity before they snapped open. "He's moving, Ashikabi-sama," Matsu informed me.

I nodded, again turning to the city before me, but now my eyes focused on a specific area.

"I still don't understand why we're up here," Homura pushed off the frame she'd been leaning on, reacting to Matsu's word. Around me, the rest of my flock similarly began to stir. "We're too far away from the building to be able to attack without him getting some warning. Just what are we doing here?"

"We're not going to attack Higa," I corrected the fire user. "This is an assassination, not a battle. And I'm the one who's going to do it, so there's no need to worry."

"And just how do you plan to assassinate him?" Homura pressed. "You don't even have a weapon."

"With magic, of course," I reminded the confused Sekirei.

"He's coming down to the lobby," Matsu informed me, eyes still flickering.

I wasn't certain just how long Matsu could maintain her Norito. I had given her the kiss an hour ago, when we first arrived at this particular rooftop. The lack of visual elements or increased strength that typically marked a Norito just wasn't present with the hacker. I didn't know for certain whether she just had access to her superior abilities for a set period of time, or if she had some reservoir of power that she tapped into to manipulate electronics directly and once that pool was depleted the Norito ended.

I didn't matter in this particular case. I had simply informed Matsu that if she needed another Norito to tell me immediately. In this case I needed her help in order to pull off what I had planned.

Even if she wasn't in range of her usual computer systems, somewhere beneath us in the building proper was electronics she could access, though I wasn't certain just what the building beneath us was used for. Nowadays just about every building has some sort of point of access to the internet. Even as we'd been sitting here talking, Matsu had been making use of the high jacked equipment to work her own brand of magic on another target completely.

A cocked hammer went off in my head as od flowed through me. A trickle of that od went to my eyes. Self-Reinforcement of senses was some of the most difficult uses of that particular mystery, and the eyes in particular were hard to safely reinforce. However, Reinforcement was one of my best skills and so my vision drastically sharpened without any negative repercussions.

A little under a mile away, the entrance to the Higa Conglomerate's VIP employee housing came into sharp focus to me. It was a facility meant for high placed members of the conglomerate to live in, sometimes with their families or by themselves as the case might be. It was a fancy and well protected facility, meant to house only the most influential and affluent members of the conglomerate, and it boasted an impressive lot around the building itself, with an equally impressive amount of security.

And as we spoke one particular employee was, according to Matsu at least, just preparing to start his day.

"Trace on," I declared, holding my left hand out so that the familiar weight could form comfortably in it.

"That is just so handy," Kazehana noted, apparently still enjoying the novelty of me being able to create random things out of thin air. The rest of the gathered aliens seemed less impressed in this instant.

"Is that a bow?" Tsukiumi demanded, blinking owlishly at the weapon I had materialized.

"You can't seriously be considering shooting an arrow at him?" Homura threw her hands up disbelief at her incredulous explanation.

"Not exactly an arrow," I corrected, settling myself into a shooter stance and preparing to notch a projectile that I had just finished visualizing in my head. "Trace on," I muttered again, and a blade formed in my hand. It was a double edged long sword with an unusual series of waves affecting the blades width at the edge in a rippling pattern the entire length of the blade.

"You're going to shoot a sword instead," the fire user deadpanned, giving me a blank look.

"Alteration," I murmured, and the sword I was holding changed, its shape twisting and becoming more aerodynamic as it took a new shape. I still hadn't managed to figure out how to do this on my own, but this sword in particular I had seen in both shapes and could cheat a bit with.

"You're going to shoot a… giant screw at him?" Homura seemed to have trouble even vocalizing such an odd concept, so heavy was her disbelief.

"Matsu is a bit curious," the hacker noted, eyes still drifting. "We know Shirou-tan is a magus, but just what kind of magic can he really do? So far all Matsu has seen is Shirou-tan making swords."

"Because that's all I can do," I admitted, taking a shooter's stance as I did so. "It's the nature of my Reality Marble."

"And again, he says something like it should be obvious, when really it isn't at all," Homura grumbled, and despite my battle mode I couldn't stop a chuckle. I had never really noticed it before, but Homura really seemed to take it personally whenever she felt she was being left out of the loop.

"You're right," I apologized. "As a magus, I'm so used to hiding things that sometimes I forget that I'm doing it. If we're going to be going into combat together, I guess it's right that I explained my mysteries to you all."

"Oh," Kazehana murmured. "At last, a look into the dark and mysterious past of our troubled but handsome Ashikabi!" As always, she somehow managed to make things sound far more tawdry then they really are.

"My Reality Marble is called 'The Unlimited Blade Works," I continued, and Matsu shifted, her eyes opening briefly as she recognized the name. "It allows me to perfectly understand every aspect of any sword I see."

"That's it?" Musubi asked, sounding curiously disappointed at the rather inadequate sounding power. "Musubi thought it would let Shirou-sama shoot laser beams from his eyes or something!"

"As if having one person who could do that isn't enough," Tsukiumi muttered, no doubt thinking about Musubi's newly acquired abilities.

"So what," Matsu focused instead on the original conversation. "What's so amazing about something like that? It must have some other ability, if the other magi gave you a Sealing Designation, Shirou-tan."

"When I say every aspect, I meant every aspect," I repeated. "Not just its shape, but its composition, its forging, its experiences, its powers. Just by looking at a sword, I know everything about it, and I remember it all."

"Like psychometry?" Matsu ventured, using a word I didn't quite know.

"You mean token-object reading?" Homura handily provided an explanation before I could betray my ignorance. "The ability to psychically read the past of an object?"

"Sort of," I nodded, thinking that was a close enough comparison. "I unconsciously read everything I see, but swords and other simple weapons are the only ones I really record completely unless I'm trying."

"That is a bit interesting," Matsu admitted, still sounding hesitant. "But it doesn't really sound dangerous…"

"It wouldn't be," I nodded, "if I hadn't fought in the Grail War."

Both Homura and Matsu seemed to be the only ones who really understood what I was implying as they drew in quick breaths. The rest of my flock just seemed more confused than ever.

"Every Heroic Servant has a Noble Phantasm," I continued, and behind the dark glass that marked the entrance to the Higa Conglomerate housing I saw shadows beginning to move as someone started moving in the loby of the building. "A Noble Phantasm is a weapon, a weapon that accomplished deeds so infamous, so miraculous, that their names live on in legends to this day. They become representations of that legend, crystalized miracles which are catalysts to performing the feats they were famous for. Normally, they can only be used by their original wielders, seeing as only the hero that made them famous actually can use them well enough to realize that potential. However, since I can sympathize with their history, I can effectively use them myself almost as though I were their original wielders."

"And that right there is…" Homura trailed off, finally apparently understanding just what I was holding lightly in my right hand.

Then, before I could answer, Izumi Higa stepped out of the front of the housing complex, wearing either the same white suit or an identical one to the outfit he had been wearing yesterday.

I raised my bow, fitting the twisted blade in my hand to the string as I prepared myself.

There are eight steps to proper kyudo, to the art of the bow: ashibumi, dozukuri, yugamae, uchiokoshi, hikiwake, kai, hanare, and zanshin. The first five, ashibumi, dozukuri, yugamae, uchiokoshi, and hikiwake are mostly concerned with the positioning of the body and the preparation of the shot. For me, those five are simply preparations for the final three.

In many ways, kyudo and magecraft have always been inexplicably linked in my mind. The philosophical aspect of the bow revolves around the destruction of 'self' as a meditational technique, and back when I was still misinformed about the nature of magic circuits that had resounded greatly with the concentration necessary for me to attempt to remake my circuitry out of my nerves every time I wanted to perform any sort of mystery.

The final three steps were always the ones that came easiest to me. Kai: the unity of the self and the target. Hanare: releasing the arrow that has become yourself and the moment time stops. And zanshin: the self that is shot to the target already knows "it will hit", and the action and the result become one to make the past and the future into a single point.

As one who is familiar with joining himself with his weapons, who knows how to release his intentions into physical form, and is inescapably linked with objects such as swords to the point where my body is made of them, these three are definitely the easiest for me.

The shot I line up is perfect. If Mitsuzuri were here it would no doubt set her to pulling her hair as yet again the prodigal son of the archery club showed just why his loss was mourned. The stance, the draw, and the release were fluid and flawless, the only change being the moment between kai and hanare where I spoke my Aria.

"My core is twisted in madness. Caladbolg."

Caladbolg, the sword of the hero of Ireland, Fergus Mac Roich. In its twisted and changed form, it was known as the Fake Spiral Sword. The curve of the altered blade caused it to spin with an intensity that no drill could ever compare to. It cut through the air, and only after it had been gone for half a second did the noise of its passing actually meet the ear, a strange warbling howl as it twisted through the air. It spun with impossible intensity, the force of its turning so great that just its passing struck the world around it like a physical blow. Even when Archer had missed with this blade, back when he had fired it against Caster, its passing was enough to nearly end the Witch of Betrayal.

"What the…!" Homura snapped in panic, before realizing what I had done. "How will you even be able to hit him from here? He's a mile away!"

I ignored her.

I was unmoving. Zanshin was the stage where the shooter waits until the inevitable result of the shot is revealed. Though some who practice kyudo use this portion to wait to see the results of their shot, for someone like me, it was different.

I already knew where the shot was going to land. Now it was simply a matter of dealing with the inevitable consequence.

I watched as Higa continued to move, stepping out of my line of sight as one of the many buildings between him and I concealed him from view. It took seven more seconds for Caladbolg to cross the distance between the two of us, the Noble Phantasm arching up, a parabolic path that took it over the highest of the skyscrapers interposing between the two of us, and then it began its descent, howling its belated war cry as it homed in on the target.

Even though Higa was out of my line of sight, when a thunderous detonation occurred, loud enough that even a mile away it shook the glass of the windows beneath me with a low rumble I let myself relax.

"All remaining Sekirei attributed to Higa of the East have undergone level one termination," Matsu whispered into the silence on the roof. "Izumi Higa is dead." Her eyes fluttered with increased intensity.

"Shirou actually hit him?" Tsukiumi seemed like she was torn between disgust at the necessary but dirty deed, and awe at the martial feet she had just witnessed.

"Reviews of security footage confirm the death of Izumi Higa," Matsu confirmed. Her eyes narrowed. "He was struck by an unidentified explosive device exactly midway in the courtyard between the housing unit and his vehicle."

"It was the best position to minimize potential civilian casualties," I explained my choice of impact zone without any particular tone in my voice. It was just another shot, another deed, another necessity.

"The hell?" Homura muttered, sounding actually awed as she tried to understand just what she had seen. "Is that… is that the true power of a Noble Phantasm?" She swallowed, and I think her, and most of the rest of the flock, finally began to understand just what kind of power I was wielding. "And you have, what, six more of those?"

"No," I shook my head, taking a deep breath as I let the bow dissolve in my hand. "I had to minimize the power of that Phantasm. If I had used its full potential, I might have destroyed the rest of the buildings in that area too." The memory of the cemetery where I had first seen the true power of Caladbolg flickered behind my eyes, of watching even the mighty Hercules loose a life outright to one attack, an attack which he had even blocked at that. "And it's not seven. I have hundreds of Noble Phantasms stored in my Marble."

"Hundreds?" Homura definitely sounded strained, and I had to suppress a sigh at the thought that I might just be giving her an aneurism if this keeps up.

"One Heroic Spirit in particular, Gilgamesh of Urek, was famed for having all the treasures of the world," I explained. "And he wasn't shy about using them. I saw quite a bit of his treasury before he was beaten. And there was one other…"

I trailed off, shaking my head. I had born witness to Archer's Reality Marble, after all. Archer, who, as a Counter Guardian, had been summoned endlessly to all reaches of time, had seen more battles than probably have even happened at this point in history, and, as a Counter Guardian actually retained his memory and experience from those encounters.

The Gates of Babylon had been nothing to the Counter Guardian's Unlimited Blade Works when it came to the treasures held within.

And I had been there twice.

"That is utterly terrifying," Matsu murmured, shaking her head slowly as she tried to deal with the information I had provided her.

"I only do one thing," I admitted softly. "But what I do, I am the best at."

Without second glance at the devastation I had caused, I turned away, preparing to move to the next confrontation. It wasn't until I reached the opposite edge of the roof and turned to Akitsu to see if she was ready to support me for the jump that I realized I was alone. The rest of my flock, all of them, including Akitsu, were still standing at other side of the roof, still staring at the building which blocked their view of the carnage I had caused as though if they could look long enough they might be able to make out what was happening despite the obstruction.

"Ladies," I called, a touch of impatience in my tone, and most of the gathered females started, as though only just then realizing I was gone. "We still have work to do."

I had taken care of my second objective. Now I just had my first and my third to focus on. Hopefully, the confusion from this particular act might just last long enough for me to accomplish both of them.

*Scene Break*

It didn't take long for us to make it to the next destination. The building was an unassuming, quite ordinary looking four story complex. It was located approximately three miles away from the housing complex, and five miles away from the actual headquarters of the Higa Conglomerate.

The building itself wasn't even listed as an affiliate of the conglomerate, instead being held under the name of some other company altogether, but that was to be expected. Considering what the conglomerate was doing here, there was no way they wanted it associated with the corporation itself if its secrets ever came to life.

Human experimentation generally cast a negative light on the company performing it.

When MBI had initially gotten control of the Sekirei, they had had the entire island that the crash-landed ship had been on to run their operations. Technically speaking, they had been operating on international waters, and were exempt from any of the governing laws on experimentation that most countries had. The Higa Conglomerate, on the other hand, hadn't been able to acquire any specimens of the alien species until well after MBI had managed to get a foothold in Japan. If they wanted to make any progress on studying the Sekirei, they would either have to do it under the purview of the law, or in a facility that was sufficiently removed from observation that they could perform their experiments clandestinely.

Honestly, if it had just been a matter of tracking down their illegal facility, I wouldn't have the first clue where to start. This shell company was so far removed from the conglomerate proper that it would have taken me ages to hunt it down. Matsu might have been able to track its funding from the conglomerate's coffers eventually, but if they had run the money through enough other shell companies, that might have taken weeks.

However, it was a lot easier to narrow down this location when it had been the place they had brought our tracking bugged Jinki too almost immediately. The tracker's signal had cut off shortly after it had arrived here, but it had been enough for Matsu to start investigating this particular facility. Add on that when we double checked MBI's tracking satellites, it was revealed that there were no less than fifteen Sekirei located inside the compound as well. Eight of those were registered to Higa himself, and three of the last five were affiliated to Ashikabi that Matsu had determined likely to have been compromised before.

This was almost certainly the place then. Facilities like this, especially oriented around medical research were expensive to build and maintain. Some of the equipment used for their research was too rare and costly to have more than just one or two of. The chances that there was another facility besides this one and the legal one maintained at the conglomerate's headquarters were minimum. It had been risky, allowing the Jinki to be taken even for a short amount of time, but in the end it was in my style to use the openings I created myself in order to trap the enemy.

"Which story, Matsu?" I asked, calling out over the rushing wind as Akitsu dragged me through the air at heights and speeds I couldn't manage on my own. The rest of my flock was keeping pace, with Matsu being similarly supported by Kazehana as we closed on the facility.

"Third, Ashikabi-sama," Matsu's eyes were closed and flickering, her doohickey clutched firmly to her chest as she held on to the other former Disciplinary Squad member tightly. The Hacker was even less capable of this kind of speed and power than I was, and with her utilizing her abilities wouldn't have been able to concentrate enough to run anyway. She was effectively a living and breathing terminal at this point, her powers being used to full advantage. "Somewhere in the heart of the compound!"

"Third floor it is," I nodded, turning to Musubi. "Musubi, make an entrance," I ordered her.

"Okay, Shirou-san!" the shrine girl chirped cheerfully, her fist lighting up as she started to bring her own powers to bear. "Kya!"

I wasn't certain if Musubi just hadn't thought up attack names like most of the other element users in my flock tended to shout when they used their abilities, or if Musubi had just decided that 'Kya' was a good enough name on its own, but whatever the case a the beam of light that rocketed from her extended fist lanced through the air, striking the side of the building at around the third floor.

"Everyone in!" Homura snapped, already launching herself to the new impromptu entrance. First her, then Tsukiumi made it in, and then it was my turn.

"Clear," I declared, taking in the empty room we found ourselves in. It had the appearance of just a regular office, a smaller one with somewhat opulent features, most likely belonging to some bigwig rather than just the normal working file of this facility. "Matsu?"

"Accessing," Matsu answered my prompting, and I didn't press. She already knew what she needed to do, and pressing now would just distract her.

"Shirou, they're coming," Homura announced already moving to the door which would lead further into the building. She tugged on it firmly, but it remained closed. "Locked," she announced tensely.

"Akitsu, keep it that way," this time I addressed the ice woman who had released her grip on me and moved to stand in her usual position.

"Hai, Ashikabi-sama," she announced, without her usual pause as she took in my order. She raised one hand slightly, and the door promptly sprouted with ice, further sealing it. I could make out muffled shouts from the hallway, as whatever response team that had been rushing here found that they wouldn't be able to open the door simply.

"Stay back from the door," I ordered, already moving out of the way, pulling Matsu with me. The hacker followed obediently, not really paying attention as I maneuvered her. "It's unlikely, but if they have breaching charges they might use them."

"Okay, Shirou-san!" Musubi chirped happily, bouncing excitedly as she obeyed.

"And if they use them on the walls, Lover-kun?" Kazehana pointed out, noting how if they did have explosives, they could use them just as easily on the rest of the room as they could the door itself.

"Unlikely, but possible," I acknowledged. "However its most likely the door they will target in order to minimize structural damage. Stand ready anyway." Most Sekirei were at least mildly psychic, after all, evidenced by the times I'd seen them make impossible dodges without any forewarning. I would have to rely on that if the response teams ended up being creative.

It was a tense minute, and I could do nothing but count the seconds down in my head. If we moved too early, then things would only get more dangerous than they already were.

Finally, after what counted as an eternity in combat, Matsu spoke up again. "Access complete. Firewalls disabled. Closed circuit monitoring has been compromised. The system is mine, Ashikabi-sama."

"Lock it down," I ordered her, relieved that she had been able to pull it off.

The thing about facilities like this was that they had to have a lot of security. Not only were they performing sensitive research, but they were doing it illegally as well. It wasn't like they could rely on the police or other authorities if something happened. Because of that, places like this made good targets for other companies looking to get an edge up on a business rival. Mostly that just ended up with the labs being on guard for espionage like infiltrators or compromised employees, but they had to have armed guards on hand for more direct attacks as well.

I doubt that they had much to worry about in the way of a front up assault like this one normally, but it was technically possible. Especially when the company itself was aware of the threats of the Sekirei, and the possibility that MBI might try to interfere as well.

However, the cost of this kind of security meant that a lot of the systems had to be electronic in nature. It wasn't like they could have just guards or supervisors to watch out for things. They needed to be able to watch everything in this building, to track the employees, to be able to secure facilities remotely. And systems like that had to have either some centralized point to control all of the systems, or a series of semiautonomous points doing the same.

All that electricity, all those electronics, all those computers, and here was Matsu, in full blown Norito mode.

There was a damn good reason I had considered Matsu and the other brain types to be potentially the most dangerous Sekirei in the Plan. And the fact that I had just used one to take over an entire research facility in a matter of minutes definitely showed I was right.

"Secure all doors, corridors, labs, stairwells, everything," I ordered the hacker. "If there's a general alarm, silence it. No signals, in or out. Cut this place off and lock it down."

"Securing…" Matsu trailed off again as she followed my orders.

"Hmm, I don't remember you being this slow, Matsu," Kazehana murmured, giving the hacker a curious look. She didn't seem at all affected by the growing noises coming from the corridor, or the fact that we were invading a building full of armed guards illegally. I guess that was her experience in the Disciplinary Squad shining through.

"Extensive countermeasures have been prepared," Matsu murmured, sounding almost defensive as she responded to the innocent question. "Most likely at the instigation of number 22.

If they had had Kouchou working on the security here, than that would make sense. I suppose we were lucky that Higa was notorious in his distaste for Sekirei in general. He would have most likely limited her influence, not wanting an alien to have too much control over his systems. If the other brain type had been allowed free reign, Matsu's hacking might have been that much harder.

"I think they're trying to break the door down," Tsukiumi declared, glaring at the ice covered entry. I could definitely hear thumping as something impacted against the frozen door. I wasn't certain how effective it would be, or even how many people outside the door were actually soldiers or just curious office workers and scientists without the self-preservation instincts to run away from the explosions.

"Secured," Matsu finally announced. "All remote locks have been engaged throughout the building. Three communications to outside lines have been aborted: two to private security companies and the third to Higa Conglomerate Main offices. Access to systems by other parties has been denied, excepting hardware tampering. This facility is now yours, Ashikabi-sama."

"Locate the Jinki, hostages, and any mainframes," I informed her, before turning to let her work. "Musubi, open the wall over there," I indicated the far corner of the room, well away from the door itself. "Tsukiumi, flood the hallways immediately afterwards, and Kazehana, move in after to incapacitate anyone present."

"Okay!" Musubi definitely seemed to be having fun, barely waiting for me to finish speaking before she skipped over to the portion of wall I had indicated. "Hehehe!" She actually giggled as she reared her fist back.

"Of course, husband," Tsukiumi still had her imperious air to her, but she was moving with that same strange synchronicity with Musubi, already preparing a ball of water before her.

"I have just the thing!" Kazehana grinned, even as Musubi struck, shattering the wall with a thunderous impact of her fist. Before the pieces had even settled, Tsukiumi was there, wave flooding out and down both directions of the corridor beyond. I could make out surprised and panicked shouts, before the wind user darted past me, carrying something I couldn't make out with the speed she was moving.

"Mainframes location established in basement, remote access possible," Matsu's announcement brought my attention back to her and away from the noises in the hallway as Kazehana got to work. "Hostage location unascertainable, most likely in unmonitored sectors of the fourth floor. Jinki location, established on third floor, corridor E."

I grit my teeth. The Jinki and the mainframes were the priority here, but even as I moved to the hallway to begin the recovery operation my thoughts were racing to location of the hostages.

If they were kept here, then yeah, having them someplace outside of observation would be the most logical place. It would keep any recordings of them from being present, recordings which very easily could become 'evidence' if their kidnapping was ever revealed to the public in general. However, the chances of them actually being in this facility were fifty/fifty at best. It really wasn't the best idea to have the only thing holding an alien weapon of potential mass destruction at bay somewhere where that alien could get to them quickly. Having them in another building entirely made sense. However, doing that would mean spreading out the illegal activities, and the more clandestine locations a company had meant the more chances that one of them could be discovered.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to concentrate as I marched out into the hallway. It only took me a second to find the plaque on the wall listing this particular corridor as 'A', a useful landmark for finding 'E', before I paused.

"Is that duct tape?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, finding Kazehana perched impudently on what appeared to be a pile of bound and gagged bodies wrapped all around in the infamous adhesive. Many of the poor souls were still struggling, while some had eyes wide with panic.

"Mmhmm," Kazehana grinned smugly, casually twirling a roll of the tape around one finger.

"Good job," I told her, and wondered if I should ask her just where she had been keeping the roll, before deciding that the answer would most likely only confuse me and I should just focus on getting the Jinki first.

"Which way now?" Tsukiumi gave the gagged and hogtied masses a dismissive look, having already written them off as unimportant while she took in the damage of her attack. The hallway was soaking wet, but beyond that was still in good repair.

"Down this hallway, to the left, past four more junctions, another left, and then through the lab complexes," Matsu supplied, stepping into the hallway as well.

"How many enemies between here and there?" I questioned, committing the instructions to memory. At this time of night, a large presence in the facilities seemed unlikely, most likely only a skeleton crew present overnight. For now, most possible foes were probably either secured on other floors, in their rooms, or maybe even just unaware of our invasion, but there was still the chance that we might come across other forces that were already present.

"Uncertain, Ashikabi-sama," Matsu acknowledged, brow furrowing. "Gaps in security footage due to placement of cameras exist."

"Then stay on guard," I began, already beginning to make my way towards the interjection. "If we come across anyone, take them down as fast as possible. If you can do it without hurting them, good, but if you must, don't hold back."

I still wanted to hold back the casualties as much as possible, but that didn't meant I would risk myself or my flock unnecessarily.

*Scene Break*

It didn't take us long to make it to the labs that Matsu had specified. The hallways were mostly empty, barring a few sudden though expected encounters. Kazehana seemed to be having way too much fun leaving behind a trail of bound and gagged scientists and clerks, and a handful of startled security guards. It seemed we managed to get control of the systems fast enough to keep a heavier defensive force from mustering, thankfully. Kazehana had already made her way through one full roll of tape, and somehow had managed to produce a second roll as well. I wasn't certain if I should be praising her for her foresight, or questioning her on just what she would need two rolls of duct tape for so much that she'd keep them on her person at all times.

"In here," Matsu indicated the final door, still with her eyes closed as the electronic oracle guided us to our prize. "Defenses inside are thirty percent more damage resistant…"

"Kya!" Musubi interrupted the hacker gleefully throwing another ball of light at the door, blasting it off its hinges. "There!" she announced happily as she took the initiative.

"Thank you Musubi," I told her with a sigh, "but next time let Matsu finish explaining, just in case."

"In case of what?" the shrine girl asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

"Shirou," Homura hissed, calling my attention to the settling dust. My eyes narrowed as I saw what Homura had caught sight of.

"In case of things like that," I said coldly. "Going somewhere, Kakizaki?"

I was almost gratified by the way the man was frozen just at my presence. I had gone out of my way to try and inspire that kind of reaction, after all, and it was nice to know my efforts had worked. The secretary of the former Ashikabi of the East was hunched over some kind of control panel, one hand fisted as he had frozen while in the middle of attempting to pound the console, most likely rendered inoperable due to Matsu's machinations, while the other bandaged hand had a phone pressed against his ear. The console that he was focusing on seemed to be connected to a large clear cylinder, in which the Jinki was set on some fancy looking pedestal. I forced my eyes away from it before it compromised my ability to focus, and turned my attention instead to the paling secretary.

"You," he whispered, wide eyed as he stood me standing in the heart of the equivalent of his workshop, my flock gathered around me. "You!" he managed to shake himself out of his paralysis, his face contorting in a snarl as he managed to regain control of himself. "What have you done!"

"Killed your employer and invaded your facilities, and soon I'll have recovered my Jinki, rescued my sister, and destroyed your entire company," I told him, stone faced. "Oh, and killed you as well," I added on as an afterthought.

Kakizaki had most certainly been involved in many of Higa's shady dealings, seeing as he was right here in the heart of the conglomerate's illegal facility. It wouldn't do to let him go free with any of the accumulated research or knowledge he might have gleaned from their research on the Sekirei and whatever they might have gleaned from the Jinki in one night.

"Don't move!" Kakizaki snapped, backing away hastily as he straightened up. The hand on the phone tightened as he gripped it like it was a life line. "Don't move or I'll give the order to have that bitch of a sister of yours killed!"

"Why you impudent monkey…" Tsukiumi growled, before I held a hand up to silence her. She quieted, but continued to level a glare at the man who had tried to forcibly take her so long ago.

"Prove it," I told him, and his snarl twisted into a grimace. "We have total control of your facilities at the moment, so it's unlikely that you're either able to contact anyone in time to issue the order, or that anyone you have nearby is even able to make it through the facility to reach her in time."

"You…!" he snarled again, though the knuckles holding his phone whitened even further.

"Good," I interrupted, cocking my head to the side. "You didn't deny the lockdown stopping you. That means she's here for sure." Kakizaki's eyes widened even further, more proof that my hypothesis was most likely dead on. "So she's on the fourth floor then."

"What the hell are you?" he demanded, his shoulders visibly shaking as he glared at me. "What the hell are you!" he shouted again, hysteria in his voice.

"It's not 'what', it's 'who'," I told him, eyes narrowed. "And my name is Shirou Emiya. You should have remembered that."

"Shut up you son of a…" Either Kakizaki couldn't think of any other choice or maybe he just panicked and acted, the moment he started talking his hand darted behind him towards his back in a move I instantly recognized.

"My body is made of swords," I chanted fast, bringing one hand up to protect my eyes, forcing the Unlimited Blade Works to manifest through me once more. I didn't have time for the next portion of the Aria, which I usually needed in order to fully internalize my Reality Marble, but it was enough thanks to the internal boost to my magecraft my Sekirei had granted me. By the time Kakizaki had managed to pull his gun and aim in my direction the Body of Swords had been realized.

Kakizaki had time to pull the trigger twice, though I only felt one impact against my forearm. He must have been one hell of a shot to be able to hit while he was shaking like that or he had just managed to get lucky. Whatever the case, that was as long as it took for me to finish my second Aria.

"Trace bullet on!" The blade materialized slightly below my elbow and to my left, and was launched nearly before it had completely formed. The projected blade cut through the air so fast it was a blur, impacting with Kakizaki dead center in his chest. The inertia of the blow actually lifted the man up, sending him backwards and crashing into the glass tube that the Jinki had been secured in. I'm not sure what material the protective material was made of, but the fact that it didn't shatter with the impact indicated it was probably made of pretty stern stuff.

Of course, it didn't hold up when a moment later a dozen needlepointed icicles impacted as well, the crystalline structures expanding after they penetrated, growing within the corpse and shredding it violently into several unevenly sized chunks that splattered across the lab like grotesque confetti.

"Akitsu," I began, giving the snow woman behind me with her hand up a stern look. "I said I was the one who was going to kill him."

"Ah," Akitsu began slowly into the silence which had settled on the room. "Sorry, Ashikabi-sama."

"Good job, Sexy panty-chan!" Kazehana finally crowed, a fierce expression on her face as she took in the shattered remains of the former secretary. "Next time hit him before he shoots!"

"Stop joking around!" Homura snapped, the fire user gritting her teeth as she reached out to grab my shirt collar before seeming to catch herself. "Shirou, are you hit!"

"Husband!" Tsukiumi also looked scared, before she caught herself. "Of course he's fine!" she snapped, though her eyes were flicking all over me as she tried to find any wounds. "As though Shirou would ever be injured by trash like that!"

"His arm," Matsu interrupted, for the first time since we arrived here with her eyes open as she homed in on my limb.

"What about his… what the hell is that?" Homura began strongly before trailing off in confusion.

"The bullet," Matsu identified the warped metal mass which had apparently lodged itself to my forearm.

"The hell? Are you wearing some kind of magic bullet proof shirt or something?" Homura demanded, still looking tense but able to control herself since it seemed like I hadn't been injured.

"Actually," I began, before jerking as Akitsu appeared from nowhere, one hand latching onto my wrist as the other swiftly tugged my sleeve down over my arm until it was bunched at my bicep. Just as swiftly with my wrist still secured she reached out to pluck the bullet from my arm, dropping it as she leaned in, her eyes focused on the impact point with unnerving intensity for a moment.

Then, apparently satisfied by what she saw, she released me to step back to her usual position. I'd forgotten how forward Akitsu could get when it came to checking on my injuries. Maybe I should be thankful that she had been so busy carrying my swords after the third match, or she might have just stripped me on the street to check my wounds.

"Oh? What's that, Shirou-san?" Musubi blinked leaning forward innocently as she was the first to notice what it was that Akitsu had already verified. "It's shiny!"

Somehow, the reason that she noticed first was because it was shiny just seemed appropriate to me.

"Oi, Ashikabi-kun," Kazehana sounded slightly less jovial and a bit more confused as she also peered at the spot where the bullet had been stopped. "What is that?"

Just like with the Archibald, even if the wound hadn't gone any deeper than the skin, the skin still didn't escape unscathed. I was lucky that the bullet had apparently struck head on enough to just flatten and stop rather than been redirected and scrape across even more of my body, but I definitely had a patch of broken skin about the size of a five hundred yen piece.

And in that open patch the glint of steel could be seen beneath the slow oozing of blood as the Reality Marble I was still maintaining warped my body.

"They're swords, aren't they Ashikabi-san," Matsu's words might have been a question, but her surety made it more of a statement. "Just like before, before the Third Match. Your body really is made out of swords."

It's no surprise that she'd make the connection, especially after watching me impale my own arm repeatedly from within. I gave a brief nod, before allowing the effect to fade.

Glimmering into nothing, the silver disappeared and a small patch of red took its place. The bleeding began to pick up a little, before Avalon started to work its magic.

"Only sometimes," I confirmed verbally, before giving Kazehana a brief look. "Could you go retrieve the Jinki please? We still have one more target to get to, and even if she's probably safe, I'd really like to make absolutely sure."

Kazehana hesitated for a moment, before she seemed to recover herself and gave me a saucy look. With a wink and a sway, I watched as she made her way to the rubble that had been the Jinki housing, carefully avoiding the pieces of Kakizaki as she did so. When she located the Jinki, I was absolutely certain that the way she bent over to pick it up, followed by the slow and seductive manner she tucked it back into her 'Jinki vault' was purely for my benefit.

I think I managed to blush a bit, even in combat mode at the sight.

"Your body is literally made out of swords sometimes," Homura muttered, pulling my attention away from the flirting Kazehana. She had her head in her hand, and a grimace that continued to worry me about possible aneurisms in the future. "Literally out of swords."

"That is astounding, husband," Tsukiumi also seemed a little overwhelmed by the revelation of my special ability.

"That's amazing!" Musubi cheered, bouncing excitedly with her usual battle lust. "I can't wait to tell Kuu-chan and the landlady!"

Maybe it was because I was still distracted by Kazehana's impromptu show, but for some reason I could almost hear little Kuu altering her usual mantra. The thought of the sprite looking up at me with wide eyes while saying something like 'Onii-chan is made of swords!' seemed entirely too plausible at that moment.

"Focus," I told them as much as myself. "Think about that kind of thing after we save Yukari."

If we weren't too late, that is. Even if Kakizaki hadn't been able to give the order directly, it was still possible that one of his underlings might have had outstanding orders, or simply took advantage of the situation. It had been right to go for the Jinki first, that much I was sure of. If Kakizaki had had enough time to retrieve the alien artifact like he had been trying to and then escaped, there was no telling how hard it might have been to track it down later, or what he might have been able to do with it before we found him.

It had been right to go after the Jinki first, but I couldn't stop the cold feeling of dread that went through my stomach that this time saving the many at the expense of the few might have just killed my sister.

*Scene Break*

"Looks like someone beat us here," Kazehana noted, taking at the sight in front of us. It had been quicker to just locate a weak spot in the ceiling and let Musubi work her brand of straightforwardness and just punch a way up to the next floor than find any stairs.

We had made it up to the fourth floor the moment the rubble had settled enough for us to make the jump, and the first thing we found when we arrived were, surprisingly enough, bodies.

Lots of bodies.

"What happened to them?" Matsu muttered, looking over the damaged people in front of us. They were alive, I was able to determine with a glance, but their condition was certainly serious. The majority of the fallen around us were male, though there were a few females mixed in, strong looking women that were probably just as capable as their male counterparts. Each of them seemed to have suffered from the exact same infliction.

They were all naked, for one thing. There was no sign of any clothes or weaponry around them. Their bodies themselves looked mostly uninjured, though lacing every inch of the fallen were thick veins, blue and red lattice work that covered most of their exposed bodies. Even the hallway itself looked the worse for wear. The carpet was so ragged it was more common to see cement that cloth and several of the walls looked as though they had been torn to shreds.

It only took me a moment to recognize the damage. I had seen it before, after all.

"Shiina," I murmured, feeling a pressure deep in my gut that I had been forcibly ignoring for the last day suddenly relax. Kazehana and Musubi gave me a confused look as I named the one responsible for this devastation, probably not having any idea just what the gentle genocide's real power was, though Homura and Tsukiumi both were silent, the two of them having not spoken a word since my propensity for severe internal body modification had been revealed. Matsu on the other hand just nodded, eyes once more closed as she continued to bend the electronics of the building to her will.

"Who's there!" the voice of number one oh seven cut through the otherwise quiet hallway, confirming his presence. The slight male strode out of a room further down the hallway, and I nearly sighed in relief when I confirmed that Shiina had indeed made it to Yukari in time, his Ashikabi being held princess style as her Sekirei strode down the hallway with a confidence I rarely saw on the timid young man. "If you think I will let you go…" He paused, eyes widening as he took in just who he was threatening. "A-aniki!" he finished in a high pitched yelp.

"Onii-chan?" Yukari perked, sounding healthy though tired. Even though she still had her hands wround her savior's neck, she turned to stare at me and my group. "Onii-chan!" she cried again, happily this time. "You came to rescue me too!"

"It looks like my help wasn't needed," I told her, and even though I was in battle mode, I couldn't suppress a small chuckle. "Good work, otouto."

Really. Had I underestimated the situation that badly? I had been so worried for Yukari, knowing her position and not being able to help her the way she deserved. I had been so consumed with anger, so certain that it had been my fault and was my responsibility to fix, so conflicted knowing that it was a responsibility I had to shirk, all of that and I had never once thought that maybe it didn't have to be me that would save her at all.

I was suddenly equal parts ashamed of myself as I was relieved.

Ashamed because I had never once thought that it didn't have to be me that saved Yukari, that I hadn't even considered that someone else would be able to help her as well. But I was relieved as well, because just like Uzume and Chiho would be alright once I was gone, I knew now for certain that so would Yukari. With Shiina by her side, she would be just fine.

"That's not true," Shiina protested, though he looked flushed and happy when I had called him 'little brother'. "If I had just been stronger, then Yukari would never have gotten hurt in the first place!" Despite his protests, he began to bashfully rub the toes of one of his feet against the ground as though in embarrassment. "Uh," he added a second later shyly. "Does that mean Aniki is giving us his blessing?"

He beamed at me when I gave him a firm nod. He might be a wimpy looking bishounen, but I was certain that my sister had done well with him at that point.

"Never mind that now!" Yukari interrupted the bonding moment between me and the alien. It looked like my sister was already recovering her wits, even going so far as to unwrap a hand from her boyfriend's neck so she could raise the fist in the air. "We have to hurry so that we can bring the dastardly Higa and his henchmen to justice!"

She was so enthusiastic about her declaration, that she didn't even notice when the smile slipped from my face as I returned fully to battle mode. Shiina did, on the other hand, and from the way he tensed instantly I was pretty sure that he had been watching the broadcast of the third match.

"That has already been seen to," I told my sister calmly, before giving Matsu a glance. "Go ahead and unload the package, then unlock all the door and trigger the fire alarms."

"Yes, Ashikabi-sama," the hacker acknowledged, eyes flickering again. In her arms, the tablet flickered to life, the graphic based interface disappearing to be replaced by endless lines of scrolling numbers and words.

In Norito, Matsu hadn't needed her tablet in order to hack any of the buildings systems. She could and had just brute force controlled them directly with her mind. No, she had brought the tablet not so she could use it for her hacking, but more for the data she had already stored in its memory.

"What package?" Yukari demanded, blinking in confusion. "And what do you mean 'seen to'?" she puzzled a second later. Her eyes widened as she thought of something. "Do you mean they've already been taken by the police?"

"Before we came I had Matsu store some of her more dangerous computer viruses in her tablet," I explained to my confused sister. "Right now she's uploading them directly into this building's mainframe. Since this building's systems are connected to their main servers, at the moment all of the Higa Conglomerate's systems are being systematically destroyed: their financial data, their research, all of their everyday programming. In an hour, Higa Conglomerate will be so ruined that it will never be able to recover." I had been serious when I told Kakizaki that I was going to destroy his company. I wasn't going to allow this weed to take root again. "And I already killed Higa and Kakizaki."

Yukari stiffened in her Sekirei's arms, and Shiina clutched her a bit tighter in response. "Onii-chan…" Yukari began, swallowing hard. "Maybe it's not too late!" she recovered, eyes filled with determination as her voice rose. "Maybe if we get them to a doctor they can…"

"There aren't enough doctors in all the world, Washboard-chan," Kazehana interrupted, snorting as her dislike for Yukari showed despite the gravity of the situation.

"Finished," Matsu confirmed, before an alarm began to ring as she completed the final part of my instructions.

"Aniki," Shiina began, still regarding me with caution. Even though I had as much as welcomed him to the family, he still seemed cautious around a man who he knew could kill two Sekirei single handedly, and then admitted to assassinating two other men casually.

Good. It proved he had a brain.

"Why are we only now setting off the fire alarm?" Tsukiumi demanded, having to shout a bit to be heard over the blaring alarm. "If you were trying to clear the building, shouldn't we have done that before we arrived, husband?"

"No," I shook my head. "That would have just made the hallways more crowded, and delayed us as we moved. We're setting the fire alarm off now, so that everyone can escape when Homura sets the building on fire as we leave."

I liked to be very thorough when I destroyed a corporation. I suppose Akitsu wasn't the only one who tended towards overkill at times.

"And why do we need to destroy the building when we've already finished?" Homura demanded, looking as though she was starting to get over the revelation of my nature, at least enough for her to be annoyed at being left out of the loop again.

"We're not finished yet," I told her. "In fact, the hardest part is probably what comes next."

*Scene Break*

Most of the third floor had already been evacuated by the time we returned to our point of entry, Shiina trailing behind with Yukari still in his arms. My sister had wrapped her hands around his neck once more, and looked as though she was more shaken by the revelation of my violence than by her entire captivity. Whatever the case was, even as I went to the gaping hole in the building I was prepared for what lay before me.

It was pandemonium. Even as the residents of the secret laboratory were trying to exit, many of them froze when they saw what was waiting for them outside.

After all, they were a rival company to MBI, and seeing the private army of their rival circling their research facility with numerous armed guards as well as intimidating armored vehicles was most likely rather unsettling for them. The helicopters circling the building was probably just overkill, really.

It wasn't a surprise to me that MBI would show up in such force. If anything, I'd say that their gathered numbers was probably a little on the low side. However, while the researchers who worked here were probably suspecting some kind of aggressive corporate takeover of some sort, I had a better idea of why MBI was here in such force.

There were eight level one Sekirei inside of this building, after all, and MBI always made sure to recover terminated Sekirei. That the Sekirei were down in a Higa Conglomerate building pretty much guaranteed they weren't going to be able to get in and recover the Sekirei just by asking nicely.

Even as I watched, MBI forces were already starting to take the Higa employees into custody. At this time of the day there really wasn't much a human presence, but there were still enough nervous researchers and out gunned security agents that a portion of MBI's forces were being tied up with keeping an eye on them. Even more of the gun toting security personnel were starting to penetrate the building, weapons up and ready just in case there was an armed force or dangerous security system waiting for them.

"Matsu, are you getting this?" I asked her, and again, the still Sekirei nodded.

"Yes, Ashikabi-sama," she acknowledged, and I took a moment to study her. She still appeared to be in control of her Norito, and I wondered for a moment if I should propose a second one just to make sure she had enough power, but decided that sudden glowing wings of light might be too obvious in our semi-exposed position. I still harbored hopes that…

"Shirou Emiya!" my name came loud, and I almost winced when I identified the voice. I could hear it easily, even from the third floor. "Come down here right now, or so help me I'm going to come in and get you myself! And you won't like it if I have to do that!"

I had to suppress a wince, even through my battle mode; so much for escaping unnoticed.

"Wow," Musubi looked impressed as she shielded her eyes with her hand looking down to where the speaker was waiting. "Takami-san sounds really mad! Oh! Karasuba-sama!" the shrine girl began to wave excitedly as she raised her voice to shout down at her friend. With resignation, I followed her gaze.

Sure enough, Takami was definitely present. She was personally assigned to all retrieval missions, so I had been pretty sure she would be here. She looked immaculate despite the fact that she must have been pulled out of bed to go on this mission, her lab coat fluttering in the cool early morning breeze, one hand holding a clipboard and the other a bullhorn. She was standing towards the back of the perimeter that MBI had set up around the labs, but even from this distance I could make out the angry expression on her face.

While I had been expecting Takami, I had only given it even odds on whether or not the companions she was standing near would be here as well. Sure enough, the entire Disciplinary Squad was out in force. Karasuba looked amused, dressed in her normal uniform, and just like Takami she didn't seem to have been inconvenienced by the early hour in the least. Arrayed behind her, Haihane and Benitsubasa at least both looked disgruntled to be here, the Blue Sekirei lifting a hand to cover a yawn an accidently stabbing herself in the cheek as she did so. Behind the now flailing Sekirei Natsuo also looked rumpled, his tie loose and his shirt unbuttoned on the first few buttons. He was clutching a disposable cup in one hand, probably coffee judging from the steam that was rising, and a doughnut in the other. Despite the situation, he seemed more tired than upset with the whole situation.

"Well?" Takami called again, the bullhorn making it obvious to catch her tone of impatience as she started tapping her foot. "Are you coming down, or am I going up?"

"Yes," I muttered to Musubi, giving the excited shrine girl a dry look as she continued to wave at the waiting Karasuba, "she definitely sounds mad." I sighed, taking a deep breath, and then forced myself to calm down. "Are you ready, Matsu?" At the hacker's brief nod, I addressed the rest of my flock. "Remember, defend yourself, but make no aggressive move unless I say so. Let me do the talking."

After the brief chorus of agreement from my girls, I took another deep breath, and stepped off the ledge of the third story.

"What the hell are you…!" Takami began to screech, no doubt not expecting me to take such a direct route down, even as I heard a shout of, "Onii-chan!" from Yukari behind me, but by the time they managed to get that much out I had already made it most of the way down.

It was a hard landing, but I bent my knees properly and managed to stay upright. Generally, most magi using Reinforcement wouldn't have been able to make a jump from that height, probably preferring some other mystery to keep them from splatting across the ground, but my level was enough that it only gave my knees a bit of a sting before I stood upright and started walking towards where my mother was waiting, the older woman looking a bit nonplussed by my feat of athleticism. Behind me, I could hear the rest of my flock landing as well, Akitsu carrying Matsu as she did so.

"That was so cool!" Yukari had been brought by Shiina, it seemed, and it looked like she was a bit awed by the jump herself.

"Aniki is strong," Shiina murmured, still cautious in my presence. I ignored the both of them. Right now, there was one last enemy to confront.

"You," Takami began, still speaking into the bullhorn, before she flinched, apparently realizing that she was still using the tool. With a snarl, she reared back, launching the now unnecessary appliance at my head. "You idiot! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

With one hand, I caught the impromptu ordinance, calmly glancing down so I could switch it off. They might need it later when they had to deal with the detained researchers. Takami continued on, her rage unabated as she glared at me.

"First, that bastard Higa brat get hits by what appears to be an exploding sword falling from the sky of all things. Then, while we're gearing up to come retrieve the Sekirei an unexplained explosion takes out a portion of a wall on the third floor. Then, just as we're finishing up our infiltration of their electronic systems a third unidentified hacker beats us to it and locks us out. And to top it all off, suddenly we got swamped by all the idiots too stupid to realize that an exploding building is generally the best sign to leave that they're ever going to get!"

Takami was strangely enough getting more and more calm in appearance as her list grew. It appeared that the angrier my mother gets, the colder she gets.

"And sure enough, despite me knowing that there's no way my idiot son should be doing anything besides resting after he stabbed himself in his own stomach," the way she growled 'stabbed himself in his own stomach' definitely indicated that she hadn't forgotten the wounds I took two days ago, "who has also been too damn stupid to even try to go to a hospital, who do you think MBI surveillance shows to have attacked a civilian complex openly?" Takami's eyes drifted over my flock, and I was pretty sure I saw both Homura and Musubi flinch at the look, though the shrine girl accompanied the motion with a stuck tongue and knuckled forehead. I suppose it was a testament to just how upset she really was that it was only then that she seemed to notice Yukari, and in response Takami froze for a moment, before her eye literally began to twitch. "And you brought your sister along as well?"

"Raining exploding swords you say?" I asked, cocking my head to the side, feigning confusion. "What a strange meteorological phenomenon. I suppose I should have brought an umbrella."

Haihane actually snorted at that, before desperately covering her mouth with her clawed hands when Takami whirled to glare at her, incidentally stabbing herself yet again as she did so. Karasuba grinned as well, though when she received the same glare the Black Sekirei just shrugged innocently, never once taking her eyes off of me as she did so. Karasuba seemed delighted, her smile so wide it was nearly ear to ear, her eyes open as she watched me with honest mirth.

Figures she would be finding this whole situation amusing.

"You think this is funny?" Takami growled at me, pinning me again with her angry glare. "You are going to come with me to a genuine hospital, and then I am going to tie you to the bed until the doctors manage to find out just what is wrong with you to make you ever think something like this could possibly be a good idea!"

"No," I disagreed softly. "I'm not." My response only seemed to further enrage her, but I met her glare evenly, not flinching no matter how intense it was.

I had the feeling that things were about to get intense, that Takami had simply been too provoked to even consider speaking anymore, and was preparing myself to give the orders to move to the Disciplinary Squad and gathered soldiers when we were interrupted.

"Mom," Yukari swallowed, sounding like she at least was sufficiently cowed by maternal rage to even think about falling back on her usual manga inspired shenanigans. "It's alright. Higa, he, he kidnapped me. Onii-chan was just… he was…" She trailed off, swallowing as Takami turned to glare her way. It was almost startling, to see my usually so energetic sister cowed so easily.

It only lasted for a moment, Takami's eyes sweeping down, probably only really seeing Yukari at this moment, the way her daughter was dirtied and disheveled, missing her shoes of all things, and clutching on to Shiina like he was a life preserver. Still, the state of her other child seemed to snap Takami back to reality enough for her to take a deep breath. The white knuckles around her clipboard seemed to relax, and I released a slow breath.

If she had just gone ahead, ordered the Disciplinary Squad and the rest of MBI's forces to subdue me, it would have turned into a blood bath. I can't allow myself to be taken in by MBI. I had already proven myself dangerous and to have knowledge on sensitive subjects which apparently surpassed their own.

MBI was too dangerous to me now. By my own design, true, but that design had happened before I had had to take a risk to rescue my sister, put down Higa, and recover the Jinki.

I could actually see Takami forcing herself back from her anger, see the calm and logical woman I was familiar with reasserting herself.

"Alright," she finally said, voice still tight. "It seems things might be more complicated than they appear. You'll be able to explain it to me later, after we get you to a hospital. Everything else aside, I am not letting you out of my sight until we make sure that wound in your stomach doesn't go septic."

I could hear it in her voice that this wasn't a point she would compromise on. That was fine. Just like earlier, the plan to recover my sister and the Jinki, this was also a battle, one between me and my mother.

The key to winning a battle was controlling its flow: time to change this one's.

"Wound?" I cocked my head to the side again, obviously faked confusion in my voice. I pulled up my shirt, lifting until it was up to my neck to show off my undamaged skin. "What wound?"

"That…" Takami's eyes widened as she realized that despite having clearly stabbed myself only two days ago it was as though I had never been wounded. Karasuba saw it too, and her smile faded as her eyes widened. It only lasted a moment, but when the Black Sekirei's grin reappeared this time it was showing teeth. Too many teeth for me to be comfortable with.

"Amazing things, the Jinki," I noted as though speaking to myself out loud. "They're capable of so much. Especially to those with a strong connection with the Sekirei. With enough time, and resources, well, a suitably clever individual might find all sorts of ways to use them. With the proper guidance, that is."

"With proper…" Takami parroted, before her eyes widened. My mother was smart, that much was obvious; she leapt to the conclusion I had been leading her too almost instantly. "Matsu, what have you done? And Miya too…"

It was a logical train of thought, after all. Matsu was a brain type, one of the smartest in the plan. And she had been pursued by MBI for taking a Jinki ahead of time. It was no large jump to consider that maybe the number zero two might have been able to discern a way to use the Jinki. Especially when that number two was living with Miya, the number zero one herself, the strongest and most aware of her species.

It was an insidious train of thought. I had already shown myself to be stronger and faster than most humans, and that I had a way of winging the Scraps as well. Was there some aspect of the Jinki I had managed to unlock, some secret that even MBI didn't know about, perhaps found by the hacker or even just imparted to me by Miya herself?

It was complete bull, true. But it might be true. And that possibility seemed enough to cause Takami to hesitate.

"Oh my," Natsuo either didn't seem as impressed as Takami was, or was possibly just choosing to look me over in a way which made me a bit uncomfortable while he had the chance. Beside him, Benitsubasa seemed to notice her Ashikabi's look, and shot me a brief glare, but Haihane on the other hand just grinned. I wasn't certain how the Blue Sekirei and her Ashikabi got along, what with Natsuo's apparent inclinations, but it seemed that the clawed Sekirei at least seemed to prefer males.

It was Karasuba though, who called attention to the other thing I was attempting to display. "That's quite a scar there, Shiroi-chan," the Black Sekirei leered, the hand resting on the hilt of her sword idly stroking her weapon. "It looks like someone else did quite a number on you before me."

"What are you talking about, Karasuba?" Takami began, still looking like she was stunned by the implications I was feeding her, before my mother too caught sight of the great scar on my chest. She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes widening as she started to clench her clipboard tighter again. "Shirou, what happened to you?"

"Legacy of a misspent youth," I reminded her, allowing my shirt to fall back down and conceal my body. I had to keep her off balance, to put her on the defensive if I was going to walk out of here.

"Legacy…" Takami repeated dully, trailing off as she took another mental blow.

"I wonder," Karasuba broke in, still caressing her blade. "It looked like it was quite deep."

"Yup, Karasuba-sama," Musubi chimed in eagerly, ignoring my warning to let me do the talking as she tried to catch her friend's attention. "There's another one on his back too!"

"Wonderful," Karasuba breathed, and I began to worry that I might have pushed the bloodthirsty alien a bit too far. Getting Takami to calm down only to rile up Karasuba would only lead to this ending in blood as well. "I haven't seen anyone get up after having been impaled through the heart before, Shiroi-chan."

"I'm just not the type to die of a broken heart," I shrugged dismissively. Time to change the subject. Quickly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to." I turned, hoping that I would be able to make it clear without being stopped. Unfortunately, my attempt to retreat apparently snapped Takami out of whatever shock she was experiencing.

"Hold it, Shirou," she snapped, recovering some of her authority as she did so. She didn't sound as angry as she did before, so that was good. She still sounded angry, true, but now she sounded cautious as well. "Wound or not, I'm going to have you come with me, for now. MBI has too many unanswered questions here."

"Are you sure now is the time for this?" I asked her, turning back to face her directly. "After all, I'm sure MBI is going to be pretty busy for the moment, what with them having to cover up their attack on the Higa Conglomerate."

"Our attack?" Takami straightened, blinking in genuine surprise at my accusation, before her eyes narrowed again, mind working furiously. "Shirou, what have you done?"

"It is rather suspicious, after all," I continued softly. "Just minutes after their young CEO dies in suspicious circumstances, some explosive goes off at one of their facilities. Then armed MBI soldiers arrive, abducting the buildings personnel. Some of their research material disappears. And then, a virus sweeps through their systems, destroying their records. I imagine MBI's going to have to work pretty hard to keep the public from finding out about their crimes."

"Research material?" Takami grit her teeth, as she echoed me again. "A virus? Don't be ridiculous," she snapped, swatting the air with her clipboard as she denied my implication. "By the time we're done, there won't even be proof that we were ever here!" Judging by her confession that MBI was going to be doing some cleaning after this operation, it looked like I wasn't the only one who had been planning for this kind of a situation. Too bad I got here first.

"Matsu," I said over my shoulder, and the hacker obediently stepped up, holding her tablet in front of her as it began to play a video clip. Takami's eyes widened as she saw a recording of MBI soldiers as they broke down the front of the facilities doors, storming in with military precision as they entered. The clip changed, and I had to applaud Matsu's ingenuity as the clip then showed those soldiers moving to circle several downed women. No body not in the know would know that those bodies were Sekirei, and they had been brought down the moment I killed Higa. To anyone watching this clip, it would just look as though it was the soldiers responsible for their state. The scene changed again, outside security cameras clearly showing how MBI was taking the building's personnel into custody, despite their protests at time.

Matsu really was one of the most dangerous Sekirei in the plan. All it had taken was her recording some of the security footage from the building, careful editing, and now I had the perfect weapon to use against MBI.

"Shirou," Takami began slowly, but I cut her off this time.

"It would be a shame if this clip were to be posted to the web, or maybe sent to media, or even just delivered anonymously to the authorities," I noted without any particular inflection. I tried to make it sound like nothing more than a comment on the weather. "Why, the possible repercussions could very well destroy MBI entirely." I paused before continuing with a shrug. "Or we could just be on our way, and this whole thing can just blow over without any more fuss."

Takami hesitated, and despite the fact that I was blackmailing her company, that I was shamelessly using them as a cover for my own action, I couldn't help but feel that she looked almost proud at the moment.

"You should probably hurry," I urged her, pointing back to the building as I indicated the roof, where smoke was starting to be obvious. "It appears someone set the building on fire. I should think rescuing those level one Sekirei would be far more important than just catching up with your son."

For a second Takami closed her eyes, and then she smiled, a trifle bitterly.

"You get that from me, I'm sure of it," she muttered. "No way that idiot could have done something like this." I'm not sure if meant for me to hear or not, but she straightened a moment later. "Get out of here. If you're not gone by the time the recovery is done, I'm gonna have Karasuba bring you in, video or not."

"Well then," I gave her a brief nod, before turning to make my escape.

"Shirou," Takami cut me off one last time, her voice low. "We are going to have a talk soon. Just you and I." I met her gaze briefly, before giving her a quick nod. If it was just the two of us, that should be fine.

I led the way, my flock falling into step behind me as we passed by Takami and the rest of the Disciplinary Squad, when Karasuba spoke up one more time.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Mina…"

Whirling, I snatched the clipboard from Takami, the woman yelping in surprise as I spun, Alteration flashing through the stolen office supply, before I hurled it at the Black Sekirei. Karasuba dodged casually, and the projectile flashed by in a flurry of ruffled papers to bury itself an inch deep into the armored vehicle that she had been leaning against.

"What the hell!" Benitsubasa shrieked, pointing at the quivering clipboard that had just cut through an armored plate. "No, seriously! What the hell!" Unable to keep silent at the sight she whirled to give me a glare. "You two really are perfect for eachother!"

"Thank you, Shiroi-chan," Karasuba beamed at me, ignoring her subordinate completely, her smile sliding back to her normal expression as she reached out to claim the latest spoil of war for her collection.

"Oh give it a rest," I muttered, before turning to lead the way as we made our escape.

Behind me, I couldn't help but hear a yelp from Yukari.

"And just where do you think you're going, young lady?" Takami snapped, apparently having focused on her other child. "Hospital! Now!"

"But mo-om!" my sister wailed.

"No buts! Unless you happen to have something up your sleave, you are getting checked out if I have to strip you here and do it myself!"

I purposefully did not look back to see just what the two of them were getting up to as Yukari let out another wordless sound of protest. Sorry Yukari, but your sacrifice will be remembered.

Time to get out of here while the mission could still be considered a success.

*Scene Break*

"Thirty minutes," Homura muttered when we were far enough away from MBI to start taking to the roofs again. In the east, dawn was just beginning to brighten the sky, and even as we scrambled across the tops of buildings I could make out some of the houses' residents starting to get up and begin their days as well. We would have to fall back to the streets soon, but I wanted as much distance between us and MBI as possible before then.

"What's that, Homura?" Tsukiumi snapped, the blonde's long hair trailing behind her as we made good time.

"Thirty minutes," the fire user repeated. "We just assassinated one of the most powerful players in the Sekirei Plan, infiltrated his building, killed his secretary, recovered the Jinki, freed Shirou's sister, and then blackmailed MBI itself, and got away with it clean. And it just took thirty minutes." Homura tiredly rubbed her head, pushing her hair off her forehead as she did so.

"It was a well-planned smash and grab," Kazehana nodded, though she seemed less disturbed by the implications than the former host was. "In and out."

"But that's just not the way this kind of thing goes!" Homura shook her head furiously. "It was just, it just went so well! Too well! How often do you do this kind of thing, Shirou?"

"Often enough," I admitted with a shrug. I'd been using my battle mode for so long that I was starting to get a bit tired, but I wasn't willing to let it go until we were safely back in Izumo House.

"Matsu supposes this must be that thing Shirou-tan mentioned," the hacker interjected thoughtfully. It had only been a few minutes after we had made our escape from MBI's forces that she had briefly stumbled, opening her eyes and pulling her glasses off as she announced her Norito's end. "The true eye of the mind."

"Yeah! We won easily!" Musubi cheered happily, throwing a fist in the air as she did so, nearly knocking herself off path to the next roof.

"It was an impressive victory," Tsukiumi agreed a bit less enthusiastically.

"Experience matters," I confirmed, Akitsu helping me as we made it to the next roof. "But it won't keep going like this. We've caught MBI's attention before, but now we've proven that we can take initiative, and they're going to be planning a move against us soon. We need to speed up our timetable." My flock tensed, almost as one in one of those disturbing displays of synchronicity as they understood my seriousness. "When the next match happens, that's when we make our move."

Knowing when to retreat was also a part of battle, after all. And now, well, now was the time for us to get the hell out of Shin Tokyo. Three Jinki would just have to be enough.

Strangely enough, the realization that we would soon be leaving left me feeling a little sad. For the life of me, I couldn't quite figure out why.


	38. Thirty Eighth Wing

In Flight: Thirty Eighth Wing

_Author's Notes: Well, it took a little bit, and I won't bore you over the details of how RL continues to hound my writing time, but here it is, the 38th chapter of In Flight. _

_First off, as always, the review response section. Generally, a good response to Shirou's take down of Higa. Like I said, I was aiming to show Shirou at his most Magus Killer for that fight, and so far it looks like it came off believable. A few responses to specific inquiries._

_Some people have been asking where I get my Nasu information. For that, I rely heavily on the Type-Moon Wiki, but I also spend a lot of my time going directly to Nasu's work. Fate/Stay Night, Tsukiumi, and perhaps most underestimated of all, Kara no Kyoukai. Seriously, some of the scenes where Touko is explaining magecraft have been the most useful for getting the nitty gritty of the Type-moon world. She was the one I got the 'magecraft is limited' tidbit from, though I can't remember which book it was off hand. Guess you'll have to read them all to find it!  
_

_Also, some people have been wondering about how squishy Shirou seems to be. For instance, they bring up how Shirou managed to face Saber Alter in the Heaven's Feel arc. In regards to that particular scene, I do have to point at the time he had Archer's arm, which seriously boosts his potential buttkickery output. However, for the most part, it's more a matter of keeping Shirou at a level where he still has to face antagonists that could genuinely overcome him. In this case, the primary factor holding him back from kicking it up a notch is that most of his fights have been happening on camera, thanks to MBI, and because of that he has to limit himself so he doesn't reveal the existence of magecraft. It's proven a good way to help keep him as a level where he's still competent in a fight, but not so overpowered that it makes the story boring._

_Now that that part is over..._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_Okay, this chapter is a good bit shorter than I normally make them, but it is for a very good reason._

_Cliffhangers of course!_

_No, seriously, I just really liked this spot for a cliff hanger. I could have added one more scene in, but then the ending of the chapter would end up on a less tense note, and it would effectively cut the planned reunion between Shirou, Rin, and Saber in half. I wanted to keep the reunion all in one chapter, mostly so that it'll play out more evenly, and also because then the reader would have to wait however long it takes for me to get 39 out to see the whole reunion. _

_I decided to be a little evil, so that the next chapter will be more satisfying. Feel free to burn effigies of me if it will help. Make sure they have Hawaiian shirts on!_

_Also, this chapter also plays a bit as a breather episode, giving me a chance to put some time in for Shirou and Takami to have some more interaction. What I was aiming for with those two was the continuation of the theme I introduced way back at the beginning, that just because the mother and son found each other doesn't mean that everything is going to be sunshine and puppy dogs after. They're both very different people, with very different goals and ideals. In these circumstances it's not unexpected that there would be a whole lot of tension there._

_Also, Yasaka._

_Bet you didn't see him coming, didya? He was there much for comedic relief, but also to show how how much Homura had changed over the story, as well as help remind the reader that there are normal people out there. He gets to be a contrast between what the normal citizens of Shin Tokyo are going through and what those involved with the Sekirei Plan have to deal with._

_Well, mostly, I just didn't want to just put him on a bus, like how canon Sekirei did._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_And with that, on to the chapter. I have a day off for once, and I'm actually going write to getting started on 39 while I still got the time and motivation._

_So, as always, if you just want to give a shout out, go ahead and put up a review. If you have any serious questions, use the forum, though lately I just haven't had time to get there much. I'll do what I can to keep up with it, but sometimes you just have to prioritize how you spend your time, and so far my forum time has been the one to suffer._

_And as always, dear reader, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"The answer is no," I told Matsu stubbornly, despite the fact that she continued to lean over my shoulder helping me access the information I was looking for.

"Shiro-tan," the hacker sighed, pointing to the correct file as she did so. "Shiro-tan is the one who said that MBI is dangerous now," she reminded me, pausing. "There, now you just need to enter a password…"

"That doesn't mean Takami is dangerous too," I protested, fumbling through typing in some word. I never was too good at passwords. The only reason they ever worked on anything was that I was always surrounded by people too technologically ignorant for it to even matter. Now that I had Matsu around, I doubted even if I tried I could keep any potential passwords out of her notice for long enough to make a difference.

"Takami-tan is MBI," Matsu pointed out gently, sighing as she flopped back. "And yeah, even if she wasn't Takami-tan is definitely dangerous," she muttered, crossing her arms as she let herself sprawl backwards with a huff.

"Well," I hedged, but sighed myself, knowing she was right. Takami was a formidable woman, even the few months I had known her more than enough for me to have figured out that much. "But still, she said she wanted to meet alone," I insisted. "And that's how we're going to meet." I gave Matsu a steady look, and she sighed, rolling over to start typing at one of her keyboards. "More importantly, any movement from MBI yet?"

"Nothing yet," Matsu pouted. "Mou! Just when we need them to actually do something, they have to start being all docile!"

It had been a little over a week since the execution of Higa and his company. Over a week since open fighting started out in the East over who would claim that newly opened quarter of the city. I had predicted long ago that the deaths of the three great Ashikabi would cause enough unrest to reduce the number of Sekirei low enough to render the Sekirei Plan moot, and so far it looked like I had been spot on. Maybe it was a result of all the other sectors of the city having such scary reputation, but just about every independent Sekirei and Ashikabi left in the plan had headed that way. The fighting for who got to be number one started almost instantly.

So far, according to the reports Matsu had been making, it looked like a three way tie. The first contender was some Ashikabi named Oosumi Orihiko, with Sekirei number eighty seven, Kaho. The second possible new Ashikabi of the East was, and this surprised even me a bit, none other than Seo. If he actually did end up one of the official powers then I would have to find some way to make fun of him. It was only fair after the ribbing he used to give me. And the third potential new Ashikabi of the East was, perhaps unsurprisingly, none other than my sister Yukari herself.

"It's possible that MBI is waiting for things to stabilize first," I noted, finally starting to get to flip through the database I'd been trying to get into. "They have kept track of power structures before, even going out of their way to arrange matches between the big names. They might just be waiting so that they can be more dramatic later." My eyebrow shot up as I finally got a chance to give the data a proper look.

"That would be just like the Director," Matsu sighed, before realizing I was staring at her. Huffing proudly, she sat up, arms still folded as she puffed her chest. "Well?" she demanded expectantly. "What do you think, Shirou-tan?"

"This is amazing," I told her bluntly, meaning it. "You actually managed to do it!"

"Hmhmm!" Matsu hummed happily, looking like the cat that caught the canary. "Praise me more, Shirou-tan!"

"It actually has a search function, a roll over description, a detailed description…" I trailed off, clicking on one and finding the detailed description mostly empty. That made sense, I suppose. "Well, a spot for me to insert research notes…"

"Matsu also added a 'find similar' search engine as well," she proclaimed, and I had no choice but to whistle.

It looked like I was now officially the first magus ever to have an electronic workshop. I'm pretty sure that this right here would have been enough to get me a Sealing Designation on its own, even if I didn't already have one.

Mostly so that the stuffy archaic lords who knew even less about computers than I did would always have someone as tech support nearby.

So far the info was pretty basic, Matsu having just put in all the rune primers that had survived the fire, but it was still a fantastically complex and user friendly system compared to the old method of having to flip through hundreds of pages in order to hunt down whatever rune you were looking for.

"The full texts are in there too," Matsu went on to explain, crawling over so she could lean on my shoulder and point out some of the other features. "As well as spots to set up specific topics, and a few basic calculating tools like a spreadsheet and note pad. Matsu also added this!" She seemed really excited as she pointed out a little tab towards the top. It looked familiar, but I had no idea why. "Try it, Shirou-tan! Put in some runes!"

"Okay…" I muttered, before just briefly tapping in a few random runes I used for Ath nGabla and hitting the 'ok' button. The result made me gawk. "You… what did you do?"

"Yup!" Matsu was grinning, apparently not realizing that she had potentially changed the way runes would be studied at a fundamental level forever. "There's lots of translating software out there, and since runes are just old letters…"

"You hooked the database up to a translating search engine," I summed up, still staring. It's not like it would be a perfect match. No, runes could have a lot of different interpretations, and using runes was a lot like trying to learn a new language. But one of the hardest parts had always been learning ways that runes could interact to form concepts or ideas.

Just knowing where to start was one of the biggest stumbling blocks of any rune apprentice out there. And now I could just type in what I want, and get not only a single idea but a whole list of potential combinations?

"Matsu, you are a genius," I told her plainly, giving her a bewildered look. She at least seemed to be enjoying my awe.

"So, as a genius, if Matsu tells Shirou-tan that going to this meeting with Takami is stupid and he shouldn't do it…?" she began, and I shook my head.

"Still going, but I'll bring Akitsu and let her stay nearby," I compromised. Matsu didn't look completely happy about that, but she seemed to cave. She didn't make any more comment on where I was heading after this lesson, so I took it to mean she had given in.

Honestly, I was having way too much fun with the user contribution area of the new database. Using a wiki based software to be able to link relevant notes in mid paragraph? Genius! Who comes up with this kind of stuff?

*Scene Break*

"Alright, you can do this," I told myself, hoping that if I said it enough it would be true. "How hard can it be?"

With a deep breath, I pushed open the door to the restaurant in front of me, and went to meet my mother.

I hadn't been certain just how this meeting would happen, or even if it would happen. For all that Takami wanted to talk to me, she was still MBI and I was probably now officially 'MBI's least wanted' Ashikabi. However, it looked like Takami had either sold the idea of meeting with me officially to her higher ups, or she just ignored them and went on with it on her own. Whatever the case, after the dust had cleared enough from the destruction of the Higa Conglomerate the call had come to my cell phone, and a date had been set up.

It was easy enough to find Takami once I entered the restaurant; the white hair and lab coat stood out like a sore thumb against all the suits and fancy clothes. The whole place looked kind of high class, and I felt a little out of place in a long sleeve and jeans, but none of the staff stopped me as I made my way towards Takami. None of the staff was even trying to stop Takami from openly smoking, using a wine glass as an impromptu ashtray as she did so.

"I wish you wouldn't smoke," I told her with a sigh, taking in the half dozen butts that were already in the cup.

"I wish you wouldn't be an idiot," Takami told me flatly. "Look how that's working for me."

I winced a bit, but let the shot pass. It still set the mood for the meeting though, and I took my seat gingerly.

"I thought you were going to come alone?" Takami asked, giving the front door an open look. Akitsu was pretty obvious, just standing there directly in front of the entrance and staring in like a fetish mannequin. I had told her not to enter, but I think getting her to hide rather than just stand out front would have been one of those situations where it might be more effort than it was worth.

"My friends were a little leery of me being by myself," I admitted, using the code word that we had settled on back when I had first gotten involved in this whole debacle. "I had to compromise otherwise they would have mutinied."

"Trouble at home?" Takami gave a brief smirk at that. "Good. Maybe next time you won't get so greedy. I had thought you were smart enough not to try for a harem."

"I didn't try for it," I protested, palming my head. "It just happened! And the sad part is that it could have been bigger!"

"Oh? So there were others that someone managed to snatch out of your greedy hand?" Takami seemed to be relaxing at least, some of the tension evaporating as she teased me. I wondered if this was what it would feel like if we had been a normal family; just a mother and son meeting up for dinner, the mother catching up with the son by teasing him about his love life.

"Karasuba was reacting too, but she had other plans," I told Takami, and like that the tension ratcheted up.

"She what?" Takami demanded, crushing a cigarette into the glass and pulling another one out immediately. It reminded me of the way Homura would chain smoke when something was bothering her. "Funny, she never mentioned that before," Takami growled, and I wondered if I might have just got the Black Sekirei in trouble with her bosses.

"So how have things been, you know, at work?" I tried awkwardly, hoping to change the subject to something with a little less in the way of landmines. I nearly smacked my head afterwards when it occurred to me a second later that that topic was probably even worse.

"Well, ever since a certain someone had to go and make some overtime for me it's been a nightmare," Takami muttered. "Still, things are starting to settle down. Shouldn't be long before that idiot gets bored and finds some other way to make my life a living hell."

I wondered if 'that idiot' she was talking about was me, or someone else who went around endlessly complicating Takami's life. In the end, I figured it could go either way.

I opened my mouth to try again at a new topic, but paused as a familiar scent of power hit me: smoke and ash. I grimaced, and shot a look around the restaurant. I had told my flock that I wanted to have this meeting alone, but it looks like Homura had decided to pull a fast one. I couldn't see the former host anywhere, so at least she was being discreet, but I was still going to have words with her after this.

The distraction was enough for me to lose the momentum, and the conversation dwindled to silence. Considering that every time I tried I ended up dropping bombs, it was probably for the best. Still…

This wasn't what I wanted.

This awkward silence, this discomfort; I didn't want this type of relationship with my mother. I had never had one before, but even if it had been strange it had been good having Takami around, knowing that there was someone willing to drop whatever they were doing to answer a call, someone who would push me to finish college, to check in on me when they worried.

And now, well, this was probably going to be the last time I ever met my mother.

Takami was MBI, after all, and I was about to steal some of their most important alien artifacts, leave the city in violation of their Plan, and probably end up spending the rest of my life hiding or in a running battle with them.

So I tried to think of something, anything, that we could talk about that would make this last conversation a good one, when finally it seemed that Takami had had enough. She sighed, lighting another cigarette from the butt of the previous one, dropping the stub into the wine glass again.

"Kiritsugu Emiya," she said, and I tensed. "Internationally known assassin, the Magus Killer, the most ruthless murderer and terrorist in fifty years: that was who adopted you."

That topic definitely didn't count as one that would make this conversation a good one.

"I never tried to hide it," I reminded her softly. Somehow, I didn't think that trying to pretend ignorance here was going to help my case. "I told you who my father was the first day we met."

"Funny how you didn't…! Takami snapped starting to stand up from her seat, eyes blazing in anger, before she caught herself and sat back down. "Funny how you never mentioned exactly what your 'father' did for a living," she tried again, voice cool now as she got herself back in control. "Funny how you never mentioned what you do for a living, for that matter."

"Whatever do you mean, Takami-san?" I prompted her softly, hoping against hope that she would just let it go, we could order some overpriced fish or something, and we could have a bonding moment where we both made fun of how something so expensive could be so mediocre.

"You're an assassin, Shirou," she said flatly. She paused when I shook my head briefly. I think if she was a bit less cynical of a woman she might have had hope in her eyes, however she just looked curious about my negative response.

"I'm a mercenary," I corrected. "Mostly bounty hunting, but sometimes I'll take other jobs, if the reasons for them are right."

"Money?" Takami prompted, and again I shook my head.

"I have a moral code," I told her. "I'm pretty selective with what work I accept."

"Oh, wow," Takami deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "A killer with a heart of gold. Now that is an original concept! Quick, call a producer. Maybe I should start working on a script."

"Not gold," I told her, sighing as that really was the best response I could give. "Just steel."

"So you are an assassin then," Takami didn't quite seem to know how to respond to my correction, instead returning back to her original accusation. "My son. Raised by a killer who still remains at large and spent the last thirty years firmly stuck in the top ten internationally most wanted. It's lucky that you aren't really related to him, otherwise the breath analyzer would have linked you to one of the world's most vicious terrorists."

"Legacy of a misspent youth," I shrugged, and Takami slipped a bit, snarling as she swung at the impromptu ashtray in front of her, sending it careening off the table.

"Don't give me that lip!" she snapped, making it all the way up in her seat as she glared down at me, before finally grimacing and sinking back down. "So. Why did you come to Shin Tokyo? How did you find out about our connection? Is this all some kind of infiltration plot? Who is Kiritsugu working for?"

"Kiritsugu is dead," I told her, sighing. When someone like that disappears, it's no surprise that most of the time people rightly assume that they're just biding their time or faking their death to escape some heat. "He was buried in the graveyard outside the Kotomine parish in Fuyuki city, nearly a decade ago now." I maintained my composure, letting myself slip into battle mode a bit to help keep my cool.

It seemed that just like with Higa, Takami was starting to finally see the pieces, and even if she had found a way to make them fit, it still wasn't the real picture the puzzle was supposed to reveal.

"And no," I continued. "I had no interest in MBI, nor knowledge of any of its on goings, and quite frankly if it wasn't for two things that have come up since I came back to Japan, I wouldn't care one bit about the company. I have better things to do, most of the time."

"And those two things…" Takami prompted raising an eyebrow as she pulled a small plate over to take over for the now broken wine glass. A few of the serving staff looked like they were about to approach her, but she glared and held up her MBI identification as though it meant something. From how quickly the staff changed course to start cleaning up the ash and glass, I guess it did.

"The Sekirei and the Jinki," I said bluntly. Takami sighed, pushing back her hair and lighting a new cigarette, apparently having expected that answer. "Takami, do you have any idea just how dangerous both of those things are?"

"As dangerous as a man who'll use explosives to assassinate a CEO of a major international conglomerate before storming their facility and stealing one of them?" she grunted. "They can't be too dangerous if that man is using them on himself."

"No," I disagreed, letting the assumption that I was dabbling in the Jinki myself slide. "They're so dangerous that someone who knows enough about them to risk using them on himself felt that it would be better to assassinate a CEO and destroy his company rather than let him have one." I narrowed my eyes. "Especially after he was brazen enough to attempt to blackmail me with my own family."

"And if they're so dangerous that you have to keep them out of unscrupulous peoples' hands, just what makes you think that someone who would kill for them would be a better one to have them?" Takami just seemed tired at this point. I think she had been building up to this conversation probably since the day she had watched me walk away from the Higa building.

"That depends," I asked her. "You've been studying them for a lot longer than I have. You must know enough about them to just start handing them out," she snorted at the jibe, a not so subtle reminder that as dangerous as I am, her company was the one throwing the Jinki away like first prize medals. "Is there a safe way to destroy them completely?"

"Destroy…?" Takami shook out of her bad mood to stare at me. "What are you…?"

"Miya doesn't believe that there is one," I continued, watching my mother closely. "She thinks that even if they were destroyed, their destruction would have potential negative consequences on anyone with Sekirei DNA in them nearby in a pretty far radius, and since there are apparently a lot of those, destroying the Jinki isn't a safe plan. So far, I haven't been able to prove her wrong. Can you?"

Takami stared at me, the hand with her cigarette poised half way to her mouth. I don't think that was quite what she was expecting me to ask her. Maybe something more along the lines of 'can you help me figure them out?' or 'hey, you know how to make these things make me a god?' or something like that.

I really don't have any stock with my family. My sister thinks I'm a lecher with a slave fetish, and my mother thinks I'm a megalomaniacal assassin.

Sad part? I really can't blame either of them for coming to those conclusions. My life sucked sometimes.

Still, even if I didn't want this conversation to go like this, if I had been hoping for a friendlier final meeting, that wasn't going to happen. In the end, this had just become one more fight, but that was fine. In this fight, there might be a chance to do something I hadn't really thought possible…

There was no reason that Takami had to be my enemy, after all. In fact, if she did have some of that vast knowledge of Sekirei that MBI had accumulated, or access to any of it either in whole or in part, than if I could get her to JOIN me on my plot…

"They can be broken…" Takami muttered, staring at me so hard that if it was Musubi I would have already been laser-beamed. Slowly she took another drag on her cigarette. "Theoretically. However, if it did happen there would be consequences."

"What kind of consequences?" I pushed, leaning forward eagerly now. Could it be? Even if this hadn't been a bonding moment, if I could find some way to end the Sekirei Plan completely, to destroy the Jinki, than I could just have that bonding moment later! Maybe at a victory celebration with Takami and Yukari, maybe with some of the other oddball characters that I had gotten to know over the last few months…

"The kind that turned Miya into a widow in the first place," she stated bluntly. "Takehito was one of our best, and he had been working directly with the Jinki for a while. However, even though he thought he had figured out a way to safely start using them…" She stopped for a moment, before shaking her head, her tone unusually somber. "It was bad. Miya was lucky she never got to see it herself."

I closed my eyes, sighing. So that was it. Well, I should know better to hope by this point. Hope doesn't win battles, planning and ruthlessness did that.

I never realized that it had been the Jinki that were responsible for the death of Miya's beloved husband. I wondered if she even knew the specifics of it. If she did, I doubted she would be so calm having three of them in her home.

"I see," I finally concluded, leaning backwards, opening them as I pasted a composed expression on. "Is there anything else you can tell me?" I asked, only halfheartedly. If there was no way to destroy the Jinki safely, then my current plan was still the best and that meant I wouldn't be here much longer.

"Well," Takami began slowly, before trailing off for a moment. "There isn't anything I can tell you now, but there is a way for you to learn more…?"

"And that is?" Well, looks like I still might get a chance of getting something besides a pain in my chest from this meeting.

"I was leery at first," Takami began, still watching me carefully. "But it looks like I underestimated your character. Tell me, Shirou-kun," she paused, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and continued. "How would you like to work for MBI?"

I stared. "What?" I demanded flatly.

That I had most certainly not been expecting.

"You have one of the strongest forces in the city, besides us," Takami continued slowly. "Plus you have your… unusual upbringing," she grimaced. "You've already proven to be effective at planning and pulling off operations. All that and several of MBI's scientists have been howling to try and get you in on the research side, considering your accomplishments with certain other… dead end projects," Takami glanced at Akitsu meaningfully, reminding me that I had winged the supposedly unwingable. Yeah, that had got the attention I was aiming for. "Because of all that, the Director had approached me to approach you about coming to the company."

I was so off-guard by all this, that it actually took me a moment to realize what was happening.

Not the job offer. That was obvious. No. This was something else.

I had been so focused on trying to get Takami on my side, it never occurred to me that she might also be trying to do the exact same.

Takami was trying to recruit me! Not for MBI. No, she had said she wasn't going to do make the offer originally. But when she had changed her face after I had mentioned my desire to destroy the Jinki…

It looked like my mother might not be as complacent to MBI's plans as I had assumed. Or that she was content to just let it play off with a disgusted sneer.

If only things had been a little different, this right here could very well have been the option I had been playing the waiting game on for most of the Sekirei Plan.

Too bad I already had found an answer. And even with this new option, it didn't change the fact that the one I had found was just more likely to have a better success rate. Besides…

"I refuse," I shook my head at the chance. Takami grimaced, but pressed one anyway.

"And whys that?"

"Because MBI has done the Sekirei nothing but harm since they found them," I listed. "Because MBI obviously has some sort of higher plan or scheme going on. Because MBI is handing out potentially genocide inducing alien artifacts without any concern for the safety of humanity. Because I don't want to be around Karasuba for long periods of time," I grimaced at the thought. It was difficult enough keeping her from going on a killing spree in my presence as it was, much less if we were to be working together. "And also, I just don't like Minaka."

"All good reasons," Takami muttered, sighing as she put out her cigarette. "Especially the last one."

With that, the silence between us just grew. I couldn't really think of anything to say, that much was for sure. I'd already run out of topics which weren't littered with landmines, and there wasn't much to add even with the deliberately dangerous ones. I couldn't exactly press to try and convince her to come to my side. It would just put her in more danger. If there wasn't some way to destroy the Jinki completely than that meant that I would still have to leave at some point. If I tried to get Takami involved any further than she would either be a target when I left, or have to come with me.

Somehow, being on the run with my mother included with my alien harem just seemed a recipe for disaster.

"I need to be getting back to work," Takami finally announced, putting out the final cigarette in her chain session. I watched the last wisps of smoke rise as she got up, settling her lab coat on her shoulder as she did so. I wasn't sure if it was because she was in a bad mood, or if she was just in a rush, but she didn't say anything else before striding past me and making her way to the door where Akitsu was still patiently waiting.

"Goodbye, Mother," I told her, but it didn't look like she heard me as I used the permanent expression of farewell with her.

This was probably the last time I would ever see her, well, in person or on friendly terms, if that was the kind of terms this meeting had anyway.

It was fine though.

Takami was tough. She'd been living in MBI for years now, and she could take care of herself. Just associating with her any further could just make it harder on her when I left.

She would be fine…

Strange how just saying that over and over again really didn't seem to help as much as it used to.

*Scene Break*

It wasn't until I was outside the restaurant, Akitsu falling into step with me that I finally called Homura on her spying.

"I know you're there," I called out, ignoring the stares that I was getting. It was sad, but I was just too used to the looks Akitsu tended to get when she was out in public with me to pay much attention to a few odd looks. It didn't even embarrass me any more to be seen in the company of what could easily be mistaken for a fetish model. "Would you please come down here?"

I didn't want to make it an order, considering Homura's typical reaction to receiving orders from me and my promise to avoid doing so, but I definitely was strongly implying that refusal wasn't really a choice right now.

I was in a bad mood after that disaster of a meeting, and I wasn't so noble that I could keep from taking a bit of it out on someone who had been spying uninvited on it.

"Here, Shirou," that her voice came from behind me was a bit of a surprise. I was generally pretty aware of my surroundings, after all, and I was positive I hadn't seen her coming up on me from behind. She sounded like she knew that she was in for a lecture at least, sounding embarrassed with herself.

"What did I say about following… me…" even as I turned to lecture her I found myself trailing off, unable to not gape at what I was seeing.

"Do you have to stare?" Homura muttered, blushing to the roots of her hair as I took in her appearance.

It actually took me a second to confirm that yes, Homura really was wearing a dress.

"Homura… you…" I found myself honestly at a loss for words as I took in the knee length white sundress that the flame user was in. It was held up by thin straps, displaying her shoulders and even a bit of her cleavage, and judging from the peak of something lacy beneath one of the straps I realized that Homura had went as far as to put on a bra. She was even wearing sandals with small heels of all things.

"It wasn't my idea!" Homura snapped, still blushing as she folded her arms uncomfortably. I wondered if she realized that doing so just pushed her breasts up more, emphasizing that bit of cleavage. "It was that lascivious witch, okay? We all agreed that someone had to be nearby in case MBI tried something, but we didn't want to give ourselves away, so when Kazehana suggested that I go in disguise…" She had started speeding up as she hastily defended her new outfit, before finally she practically wailed, "I don't like this at all!"

"Uh," I finally managed to string together two thoughts, and realized that any impulse to scold her for spying had strangely died.

I couldn't help but feel she had been punished enough at this point.

"Calm down," I finally sighed, reaching out to pat her shoulder gently. Homura started taking deep breaths, though she did shiver a bit when my hand came down on bare skin. "It's alright. Just breathe, okay?"

"How do the others move in something like this?" Homura whined, glaring at the hem of her dress. "No matter how you jump you always end up showing your panties…" She froze, and it was my turn to twitch as she revealed that she had even gone so far as to wear those as well. "I didn't want to do this!" she declared again, still blushing. "It was all for the sake of the disguise! Shirou, you believe me, right?"

"I believe you, I believe you!" I quickly reassured her, holding my hands up and backing away slightly as heat started to pour off the embarrassed fire user. I had the impression that acting any other way might be too much for the beleaguered newly female alien to handle at the moment, and the last thing I wanted was to be chased down the street by an embarrassed fireball throwing extraterrestrial in a sundress.

"Good," Homura glared, still blushing before she looked away in embarrassment. She seemed to realize how much of a scene we were making at this point, and blushed harder at the way we had started to gather a crowd.

I could only imagine how it would look. A guy with two girls, one of them angry and embarrassed and the other in revealing clothes; this kind of had the earmarks of a two timer being caught by his girlfriend with the girl of lesser repute. Homura seemed to realize that too, and with growl she grabbed my arm so she could pull me away from the whispering crowd, Akitsu following after.

For a while we walked in silence, Homura focusing on getting us away from the onlookers more than anything else. I could tell that she was having trouble limiting herself to normal modes of transportation: several times I saw her look at a low outcropping or roof and tense as though she was about to jump. However, every time she did she would flinch and the hand not grabbing my arm would flutter down to pull at the skirt of her dress and she'd stop.

I was content to just walk quietly. I had a lot on my mind after the meeting with my mother, and I didn't mind the chance to gather my thoughts. However, as time went on I could see Homura giving me quick looks, the fire user nearly opening her mouth to speak a few times before she seemed to think better of it.

Finally, it looked like she gathered enough courage to breach the subject she really wanted to.

"Kiritsugu Emiya," Homura began the conversation. "Was it true, what Takami said about him?"

I sighed, before nodding my head. "Yeah. I loved my father dearly, but that didn't change what he used to do."

"So like father like son," Homura sighed. She seemed resolved, but strangely enough at the same time relieved by the revelation. "It does answer some questions," she admitted. "I'd been worried about how it was that you were so good at things like…" she shrugged uncomfortably, "like what happened with Higa, but if you were raised by a magus killer then I guess it makes sense that you would be good at that kind of thing."

"Kiritsugu wasn't a magus killer," I sighed. "He was the Magus Killer. And he never really taught me anything but the most basics of magecraft. I picked everything else up on my own." I knew that Homura didn't mean anything by it, but still, even if dad was an irredeemable killer I still felt the need to defend him.

"What do you mean?" Homura prompted, eyes narrowed as she kept a close eye on me.

"I mean that he was the first person to ever hold the title 'Magus Killer'," I explained. "He was the one who even made the title common." I shrugged, and ran my free hand through my hair as I tried to figure out how to explain just what Kiritsugu really was. "He was a freelancer," I finally decided on, "a magus that didn't join the Mage Association. His specialty was tracking down Sealing Designates, but he was also known to take on mundane jobs as well, which is why even those who don't know about magecraft like Takami still were able to recognize his name. He was famous for being able to complete any job, even the most well hidden or defended target weren't safe from him. Those who weren't associated with magecraft claimed that it was almost like magic how good he was. They started calling him the 'Magus Killer' because of that. The name stuck with the Mage Association because it was so accurate, really."

"That sounds…" Homura trailed off uncomfortably, probably not sure what to say. It was obvious that I loved my dad, so she couldn't just denounce him as a killer, but it wasn't like she could offer words of praise for someone so blood stained either. She finally settled on, "What was he like?"

"He was a man who walked the Path of the Shura," I admitted, thinking back to my brief time with Kiritsugu. "He firmly believed in saving people. But he also knew you couldn't save everyone. So in order to help the majority, he would do whatever it took, no matter what that meant to the minority." I snorted. "He probably killed hundreds, but saved thousands by doing that."

"So what happened to him then?" Homura prompted. She sounded uneasy, giving me little looks from the side as she took in the conversation.

"Well, in the end, he was approached by one of the magi families responsible for the Grail War," I sighed. "He thought it would be the way he could finally save everyone, not just the majority. He went into the Fourth War prepared to do anything to win and get his wish. He," I sighed, "he did terrible things."

Saber never did like talking about Kiritsugu. Even when I did manage to get her to talk about my father, she tended to trail off, or go silent half way through a story. Usually she would quickly change the subject, talking more about how Kiritsugu was with his wife then how he was in the war.

It was a telling sign from the noble King. Though she never did say just who he was married to either…

"And then after the war he took you in," Homura concluded, still sounding uneasy. "And taught you how to be an assass- , a Magus Killer," she stumbled as she tried to find the best word to describe me. She didn't seem happy to use the first title, and it sounded like she was starting to dislike the second one too.

"Not quite," I shook my head immediately, still wanting to defend my father, despite knowing what he was like. Even if he had been a monster, he had been gentle with me, given me a path to follow, a new life.

He had saved me, after all.

"Remember," I continued, giving Homura a gentle nudge. "In the end, the Grail was corrupted. It couldn't save anything, couldn't grant him his wish. In the end, it could only destroy." Homura's eyes widened as she remembered my explanation of the Heaven's Feel. "In the end, after everything he did, after all the terrible actions, he had to destroy the Grail. And when he did, a fire spread…"

"The fire that you were found in," Homura came to the conclusion easily enough, eyes narrowed. "Shirou, that means that the one who hurt you so much, that he…"

"Yeah," I nodded again. "After the Grail War ended, he tried to find anyone that he could save, anyone he could keep alive. He had tried so hard to save everyone, but all he had accomplished was killing so many. No matter how hard he searched he couldn't find anyone. Well, anyone but me."

I started as the sound of a clanking chain came from my left, the only warning I had before my left arm was wrapped in something soft. I realized that Akitsu had wrapped her arms around mine, the snow woman blank faced as she tried to comfort me. I wondered just how bad I looked or sounded if even Akitsu was trying to calm me down.

"It broke him," I finished the story. "He adopted me after, gave up the life of the Magus Killer, tried his best to just raise me and give me a normal life. But I didn't want a normal life by then. I begged him to teach me magecraft, and he finally gave in. He died from the wounds of the Grail War after a few years, but in those years I learned a lot from him, about how hard it is to help people, how you can't always help everyone. But it doesn't change the fact that I wanted to help people anyway."

"And now here you are, just like him," Homura muttered. "Shirou," she began, before trailing off. It looked like she really didn't know what to say.

"Not just like him," I corrected with a sigh. "If Kiritsugu was here, he would have already ended everything."

"You mean he would have already gotten the Jinki?" Homura supplied, but paused when I shook my head.

"No," I declared firmly, voice distant. "Kiritsugu wouldn't have come up with a plan like that. He would have already tracked down and killed every Sekirei, and then destroyed MBI too just to make sure." Homura gaped at me, unable to believe what I was describing. I gave her a dry smile. "Kiritsugu wouldn't have taken the chance that anyone gets the Jinki. If there was even a chance of them being used, he would have come down on them with no mercy."

"But… that," Homura began, her unease growing.

"I loved my father, but the man was a monster like that," I told her, and she shuddered.

"So why are you trying to be like him?" she demanded, exasperation and worry in her tone.

"Because I want to be a hero that saves people," I told her directly. She snorted, grimacing as she did so, most likely thinking I was being flippant.

I wasn't. It was the reason.

I wondered sometimes if ending up like Kiritsugu and Archer was the only path for those who wanted to help others. If it was the inevitable conclusion that all who struggled towards this ideal came to in the end. If after all the failures, all the hard choices, after having to make the hard decision who would get your help and be saved and who would be killed to ensure their safety it was impossible for the heart not to harden and the resolve to turn sharp.

Well, if it was, I haven't reached that point yet. I would try my best to save everyone, just like I had promised my father and Archer. I haven't given up yet. I didn't plan to give up anytime soon.

"You really aren't normal, are you Shirou," Homura didn't sound like she was asking a question, more like she was just coming to a realization. I shrugged, not really having anything I could say to that. I had warned her, after all.

Still, even as we began to drift off in silence as the conversation died, a new voice interrupted.

"Kagari-san!" It was a strangely familiar voice, once that I couldn't quite place but I sort of recognized. Even as I tried to puzzle out where I had heard it before, beside me Homura stiffened, turning white.

"Oh god, no, anyone but him," she whimpered, freezing. She palmed her head with one hand, her tone slowing down to muttering I couldn't quite make out.

"Kagari-san!" the voice was louder and closer now, "and is that Emiya-senpai too!"

Emiya-senpai…?

Suddenly, I remembered where I had heard that voice before, just as I managed to turn around enough to make out Yasaka as he jogged towards us from down the block. I couldn't quite keep a gape from forming as I stared at him.

I had honestly completely forgotten about my tentative friend and underclassman. Did that make me a bad person?

"I didn't know you two were getting along so well," Yasaka panted as he made it to us, leaning forward to rest his hands on his knees. It looked like the host didn't really have much in the way of stamina for jogging. "And Kagari-san! Where have you been?" The host turned accusing eyes on the fire user, Homura glancing away awkwardly. "And what are you wearing! Kagari-san," he gasped, eyes flicking back and forth between Homura and me. "You mean you two are… all this time… like that…?" he began to trail off as he came to an obvious albeit wrong conclusion, and I was just about to inform him that no, we really weren't like that when he broke in again in a confused voice. "You're not Kagari."

"Uh," Homura began, blinking as she finally pulled her hand away from her face. She flushed when she realized that Yasaka was staring at the small but visible cleavage that her dress showed off. Suddenly, Homura stiffened, before nodding furiously. "Yeah," she declared. "That's correct. I'm Homura, Kagari's twin sister."

What?

"Oh," Yasaka just nodded his head, buying the ridiculous lie as though it should be obvious. "Oh, where are my manners?" he suddenly declared, his expression changing while he casually swept a hand through his hair in practiced motion. "I'm called Yasaka," he introduced himself. "Tell me, when did a lovely young flower like yourself come to Shin Tokyo? It seems a crime that we haven't had a chance to meet yet."

Okay, again now. What?

"Oh," Homura seemed a little on edge, but she smiled politely at the other man. "I've only come to town recently, in order to be with my boyfriend, Shirou-kun."

"Ah," Yasaka sighed, though he maintained the charming smile as he gave a knowing look between Homur and I. I realized that Homura never had let go of my arm after dragging me off from the restaurant. In fact, at some point she had actually gotten closer, her arms wrapped around mine much the same way that Akitsu's were. As though prompted by the thought, Yasaka gave Akitsu a quick look as well, apparently noticing her closeness to me as well. "And you are…?"

"Ah," Akitsu began slowly, and Yasaka perked, before looking confused as Akitsu trailed off. Just when he was about to say something again, Akitsu finished, giving a small nod. "Akitsu, my master's sex slave."

Yasaka froze at that, blushing, before apparently shrugging off the ridiculous declaration. I was surprised that he was able to recover so quickly, but I guess maybe having worked in a host club might have gotten him familiar with some of the more peculiar relationships that people might form.

"Emiya-senpai is amazing," he instead shook his head, awe in his tone. "Have you ever thought about being a host?" he asked me casually, and again I blinked.

Okay. Let me see if I got this straight.

Yasaka just showed up out of nowhere, hit on Homura who he thinks is Kagari's sister and got shot down when she declared that we were dating, then the host changed targets to Akitsu who also shot him down by claiming to be my sex slave, and then the host realized that apparently I was on a date with both of them simultaneously and tried to convince me to become a host.

"You know, it's still not the most awkward day ever," I muttered softly, "but I'll be damned if it's not getting close." Homura was apparently close enough to hear me, and she snorted once, obviously suppressing a laugh at my circumstances. I gave her a dry look, before turning back to the still awed Yasaka. "I haven't seen you in a while," I greeted him, deciding to pretend the last five minutes hadn't happened as I gave him a smile. "How have you been, Yasaka-kun?"

"Oh, you know how it goes," said, reverting to his more normal speech patterns now that both the females present had been marked off the market. "I haven't seen you at the cram schools for a while, Emiya-senpai."

"Oh yeah," I nodded, blinking as I recalled what most would be students would be up to at this time of year. Even if the official cram schools, the ones that issued entrance tests, haven't reopened yet, there were still plenty of unofficial schools for the serious students to attend. "I guess my new job has been keeping me busy."

"Oh?" Yasaka fell into step with me as we began to move. It looked like he was heading to the train station that was on the route the three of us were taking, either that or he just wanted to talk for a while. "So you did get a job then? What do you do these days, Senpai?"

I pursed my lips, before shrugging. "Running counter terrorism operations against an evil international company that has brainwashed aliens to do its bidding." Still holding my arm, I felt Homura tense as she stared up at me in shock that I had actually said that. "That and repair work," I concluded. After a pause I shrugged. "Mostly the repair work at the moment."

Yasaka stared at me, before he finally started laughing. "Oh, Senpai. I'd forgotten what a weird sense of humor you have." Homura relaxed, giving a somewhat strained laugh as she glared at me from the corner of her eyes. It wasn't my fault that my life was so ridiculous that no one would believe me even if I told them straight up.

"How about you," I prompted, feeling relaxed as I chatted with my old friend. It had been so long since I had talked with anyone who wasn't swept up in the world of Magecraft or the Sekirei Plan that I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a normal conversation. Even if Yasaka could be a little weird at times, he still counted as normal. "Are you still at the host club?"

"Yeah," he perked up giving me a grin. "Ever since Kagari stopped working, I've been trying to step up! I have to work hard to keep his clients coming until he gets back!" Yasaka seemed firmly convinced that yes, someday his esteemed other Senpai would return.

"Not likely," Homura muttered, giving her changed body a dry look. She seemed more resigned than anything else about her change at this point. I remembered her confession about not really minding the change in the end, but it still made me a bit uncomfortable privately.

"Oh?" Yasaka seemed to have heard her statement despite its quiet tone, and turned quickly to give Homura a pleading look. The fire user flinched back, looking uncomfortable as Yasaka gave her a wide eyed and pouty look, begging her for more information about his idle. "Ah, Homura-chan, did your brother say anything about when he's coming back? Is he okay? He did say something about having to quit for his health."

Homura twitched at the suffix attached to her name, and gave me a pleading look. I shrugged, not really sure what to do in a situation like this. It wasn't like I could just come out and say that this was Kagari right here. I mean, yeah, I could, but I wasn't sure how to explain Homura's transgender situation without making things very awkward for everyone involved.

"Please?" Yasaka pleaded earnestly. "It's just, well, the city has changed recently, you know?" he shrugged uncomfortably. "Before, it seemed like such a good place. Now we have armed soldiers in the street, and checkpoints, and, well, I'm just really worried about him. What if he somehow got in trouble or something?"

Homura looked very uncomfortable at that, and even I felt like tugging at my collar nervously. For all Yasaka's strangeness, he was still a good guy. And he was spot on, after all. Homura was in trouble, for being associated with me, heck, even just for being what she was.

"He's alright," Homura suddenly declared, grimacing as she did so, giving me a quick look. "He's just left on a journey of self-discovery."

"He did?" Yasaka and I echoed, me blinking as the fire user suddenly spouted something so cliché even I had trouble believing she had just said it. Homura nodded, looking like she had come to a decision.

"You see, it's all because of Shirou," she added, clutching my arm as she did so. Yasaka blinked as she continued. "Kagari, he really didn't approve of our relationship. He and Shirou used to argue so much, and one day they got in a fight."

"Emiya-Senpai!" Yasaka glared at me quite fiercely as it was revealed that I had had an imaginary fight with his idol. "I didn't think you two got along, but actually attacking Kagari like that!"

"Oh no," Homura interrupted, waving one arm quickly as she did so. "It was Kagari who started it. But Shirou was very strong, and afterwards Kagari decided that it was alright for us to be together." She actually squeezed my arm at this point, though I had no idea if it was to help sell this story or just an unconscious action on her part. "Afterwards, Kagari decided that he needed to think about his life, and decided to take a trip to decide on what he wanted to do."

"Oh," Yasaka was still glaring at me, but he seemed strangely moved by Kagari's decision. "I see. Do you think," he paused, "do you think he might ever come back?"

"I don't know," Homura declared solemnly. "But if he ever does, he'll be a changed man." Okay, now I think she was actually having fun with this crock of bull. "It might be best for you to just go on, and do your best to live up to his expectations."

"Oh!" Yasaka seemed fired up for some reason, and nodded enthusiastically. By this point we had managed to make it to the station, and the host realized that it was time to split up so he could get his train and we could continue on with our walk. Ever since MBI had taken over the city it had certainly been harder to get around in a timely fashion. The MBI soldiers allowed Ashikabi on to certain trains, the ones that were confined to circuits in the city, but it never seemed a good idea to let MBI get a good idea of my moving habits. "It was nice meeting you, Homura-chan," he declared, giving a more natural goofy grin rather than his host one. "And Emiya-senpai, see you in class soon!"

I would have waved back, but with Akitsu and Homura still latched onto me the best I could do was give him a smile and a nod. As soon as he was out of sight the smile vanished.

"We're never going to see him again, are we?" Homura asked quietly, a contemplative look on her face.

"No," I admitted softly as well. As soon as MBI made a move, it would be time for us to disappear. It was probably a miracle of chance, as Musubi put it once, that that this meeting had happened in the first place. "I had honestly almost forgotten about him," I felt a little guilty admitting.

"Me too," Homura sounded like she echoed my sentiment. "Still," she continued, tone becoming resolved. "He'll be fine."

I nodded, agreeing with the statement. There were no more Sekirei to wing, so Yasaka wouldn't ever end up getting drawn into the Sekirei Plan, and with MBI keeping a careful lid on things the host would likely never even realize just what was happening in this city.

Still…

"So what was with that story?" I asked Homura, genuinely confused as to why she had come up with such a cockamamie tale of clichés. The fire user blinked, and then blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"Shut up," she grumbled at me with a sigh. "Rumors and stories like that are what the host industry run off," she explained. "Next time Yasaka has a shift he'll be able to get probably twice the tips from my old regulars. I swear, sometimes I thought that half of our customers just show up to get updates on the drama associated with the industry."

"Huh," I grunted, not sure how to take that but deciding to accept Homura's words. She was the one who had been a host herself after all. "So how long are you going to be keeping this up?" I decided to change the subject shifting my arm slightly to indicate where she was pressing it to her chest.

It was a little awkward, all things considered.

Homura blinked, taking a moment to figure out what I was referring too, before her eyes widened and she shot down to stare at where she was holding me against her. With a yelp like she was being burned she immediately threw both her arms back and hopped away from me, face red. It looks like she didn't even realize she had been touching me until I pointed it out to her.

"I," she stammered, putting her hands in front of her as she stared at them, the blush growing to a pretty impressive state. "I didn't realize… that is…" Finally it looked like she couldn't figure out what to say and just shouted, "I didn't like that at all!" before turning and leaping up to take to the roof and escape.

"Wait, Homura," I shouted, blushing as she fled, the skirt failing at giving her the normal amount of modesty that she was accustomed to. If I had any doubt about Kazehana having set this whole thing up those doubts were silenced when I got an eyeful of just what type of underwear the former host was wearing. It looked like Homura was another member of my flock that passed up on the plain white type like Musubi usually wore, instead having put on something red, satiny, and skimpy. "People can see your panties!"

"Shut up!" she shouted again, already disappearing. "You're not supposed to look!"

"Isn't that Tsukiumi's line?" I muttered, still blushing as the fire user disappeared out of sight. Beside me where she was still attached to my arm Akitsu shifted.

"Ah," she began slowly, staring after Homura. "Those were my favorite panties." She blinked slowly. "I thought I was wearing those…"

Already knowing where this was going I just pulled her along, not giving her a chance to check to see if she was wearing any underwear via direct visual confirmation.

"I swear you all do these kinds of things on purpose," I muttered, resigning myself to the long walk home. I should probably take my time to give Homura a chance to calm down after all she had been through.

*Scene Break*

It was getting close to late afternoon by the time we made it back to the neighborhood of Izumo House. By now Homura had had plenty of time to get changed and calm down, so I was willing to pick up the pace a bit. I had finally managed to finish the repairs to the dining room just yesterday, and Miya had grudgingly allowed that they were passable enough that she would stop interfering with my time in the kitchen and I was in the middle of planning dinner when I froze.

"No," I said, as though by voicing the word I could deny what I had just realized. At my side, Akitsu paused, watching me sharply. She had grudgingly released my arm part way through the walk home, and was once more in her usual spot at my left. She tensed at the suddenness of my stop.

"No, no, no," I said again, swallowing as I did so. This should be impossible. There was no logical way that this could have happened…

After the destruction of my workshop and the revelation of my magecraft I had decided that I could finally extend some basic wards around Izumo House in general. Initially I had been worried that the Sekirei living within might be able to sense the wards or disrupt them in some way. Miya in particular had never had any problems in entering my workshop despite my protections.

So far I had left stuck with my bastardized version of Ath nGabla, seeing as it was my strongest protection at the moment, but during my time teaching magecraft to Matsu I had started to experiment with a few variations and new ideas. Some of them were probably close enough to completion for me to actually attempt, including one that I had actually set up designed to give me more sensitivity to powers inside the house. It had been in the testing phase, and with so many readily available power sources in my flock I had started making some progress in being able to more accurately judge the prana of those in the field.

And right now, now that I had gotten close enough to the bounded field to be able to receive its sensory data, it revealed to me two all too familiar sources of power that were within it.

But they couldn't be here! How had they found me?

No, wait, more importantly, if those two were here, and in Izumo House…

Oh god, this could go beyond bad so fast it was seriously not funny!

"No, no, no," I chanted, and started sprinting, giving up any attempt at subtly or caution as I determined that just getting to Izumo House right now before anything happened was worth even Reinforcing myself to shave off a few seconds. Akitsu actually lagged behind for a moment, so surprised at my sudden sprint that she needed a second to judge bring her own speed up to mine.

I nearly threw the front door of Izumo House off its hinge as I slammed it open, not even bothering to remove my shoes as I just kept my mad dash to the dining room. That door also got slammed open, revealing a scene which was quite possibly out of my worst nightmares.

My entire flock was there, even Homura who was back in her more normal clothes. Matsu had her glasses off and sitting at the head of the table. Kazehana was off to the side, lounging around indolently with a glass of sake, but her eyes were sharp as knives. Tsukiumi and Musubi were both at the table themselves, the water user also glaring though the shrine girl just seemed confused by the tense atmosphere. Kuu was sitting between the two, arms folded as she gave a childish pout. Homura was standing, leaning against the wall, her earlier embarrassment already gone in the face of what was before her. Even Miya seemed tense, the landlady in the middle of placing a cup of tea down on the table when I made my entrance.

It could have been a normal scene, minus the tension everyone was showing, if it wasn't for the other two that were in the room.

"My, my, Emiya-kun," the petite women with long black hair and wearing a red long sleeve shirt, a long dark skirt, and glasses declared, her tone droll as she appeared to not have a care in the world, sipping the tea provided by Miya casually. She was kneeling casually, looking perfectly at ease despite the hard looks she was getting all around. It was only long experience with both her posture and her tone that let me see just how upset she was. "What a rude way to make an entrance."

"Indeed, Shirou," the young looking blonde girl with her hair done up in a severe bun agreed, her tone calm but strong. She was wearing a long sleeve white blouse and a long blue skirt. Whereas the other woman seemed relaxed, this woman sat with deliberate poise, back straight and with a hint of tension that seemed to give her the mixed impression of either regality, or a sword about to be drawn.

"Rin," I gasped, mouth dry as looked at my two lovers. "Saber."

"Oh," Rin tittered, "I just know I'm going to love hearing what all this is about," she waved at all the other females present, and I confirmed with a dropping stomach that I just might be about to engage in the hardest battle of the Sekirei Plan, no, that I have ever faced.

Keeping my flock and my girlfriends from killing either each other, or me.


	39. Thirty Ninth Wing

In Flight: Thirty Ninth Wing

_Author's Notes: Yeah. A lot faster than my recent update speed, but honestly, I've been waiting for this myself the entire time_

_I do have a plan for the next few chapters. This really has been something that I've had in mind the entire story. Whether or not I can pull what I had envisioned off and still have readers who look forward to the next chapter, that I'm not too sure about. _

_Never mind that though. I've always said that fanfiction is how I sharpen my teeth for when I go out and write my own work. I guess this is just one more test._

_On to reviews._

_A lot of tension building up, and a lot of reviewers who have a lot expectations. Not much to say there. The next arc is going to be difficult to write, and I'm going to do my best to deliver my absolute best in return. The last chapter ended in a cliffhanger so that I could properly deliver scenes, and this chapter also ends kinda early so I can keep with that. I can only hope that I'm managing to keep the story in lines with expectations, so that's where I'm gonna leave this part of the reviews._

_On to the potential spoiler section..._

_*Spoiler alert!*_

_This chapter was tricky. Quite frankly, there were a lot of ways the initial confrontation between Rin and Saber and the Flock could have gone. I wanted something that would allow for initial anger to give way to focused rationality to be reasonable._

_Still hoping I got that right._

_Anyway, I wanted to set a baseline here, the groundwork for the next chapter where things heat up more, while still allowing the hard core Rin and Saber fans to get a glimpse of their heroines not just caving over to join the harem. _

_God, I get kinda tired sometimes at harem fics. Considering I'm writing one, that should be a sign. People don't just roll over and join the pile of fun. _

_That would be stupid._

_Anyway. More to unfold as shortly as I can manage it. Special emphasis on the difference between human, Sekirei, and magi thinking was meant to be hinted here, and more on that tract in the future._

_*Spoilers end*_

_And here it is, the next chapter._

_Still not really able to hit the forums, but still gonna post at thread there. If readers want to debate their own predictions, well, at least it gives them a spot to do it._

_For general thoughts on the topic, give a review._

_And as always, dear reader, enjoy._

*Story Start*

It was the kind of scene which would inspire dread in any man.

On one side, there was the former girlfriend, or girlfriends, in this case: two women whom I had had a serious and long term relationship with, a relationship that hadn't ended under good terms, a separation that had been forced due to necessity rather than the genuine end of mutual feelings.

On the other side, the, well, I guess girlfriends is the best term for them, the new girlfriends: the women that I had gotten to know over the course of several months, whom I had come to know and care for each in their own way, but women who were also aware of the ambiguous end that my last relationship had come to and had were now being confronted by the former girlfriends.

I wasn't the most well versed in relationship etiquette, seeing as I didn't really have much experience in dating in general, but even I could tell how badly this could go.

And that wasn't taking into account magecraft, Noble Phantasms, super strength, psychic bonding rituals, and innate element control.

"Alright," I began nervously, running a hand through my hair nervously. "Now, I know that we're all a little high strung right now, so why don't we all just take a deep breath and…"

"Emiya-kun," Rin interrupted me in a perky and chipper voice that sent a shiver down my spine. I had been with Rin long enough to know what that voice meant. It was typically a sign that she was upset.

Upset, as in she was most likely charging a gem under the table at this very moment.

"I do believe that I'm waiting for an explanation," Rin continued, cocking her head to the side. She had long ago abandoned the twin tails of her youth, instead switching to just letting her hair fall back normally. "I'm sure that there must be a very good one for why after you've been away from your lovers for so long you would gather such an unusual number of housemates."

"Well," I hedged, frantically trying to find any way to keep this scene from escalating. I gave a hopeful look at Saber. Typically, whenever Rin got this worked up about something it would take both of us to calm her down enough to have a reasonable conversation. That hope was dashed when I found Saber casually nodding her head in agreement with the magus, eyes closed and poise maintained. "It's a really long story?" I offered, wincing as I already knew that wouldn't be nearly enough at this point.

"Ahhaha," Rin tittered, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as she politely giggled. "I'm sure it is, Emiya-kun," she agreed, prompting another wince. She'd switched over to calling me 'Shirou' a long time ago. She only brought out the 'Emiya-kun' when she was upset with me. "I'm sure it is a long story, if it involved you managing to end up with six strange women." She only then seemed to notice Akitsu as well and her eye twitched noticeably. "Seven strange women," she corrected herself. "And one of them a child as well! My, how low have you fallen, Emiya-kun?"

"Indeed," Saber spoke up, still nodding along with Rin. "This situation seems most unchivalrous."

"That's right, Saber," Rin agreed, back to smiling politely. "It must be a long story, because if it was a short story that ended up like this, why, I would be very, very angry."

"So you're not very, very angry now?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course not!" Rin assured me happily. "Right now I'm just very angry."

"But why would she be angry?" Musubi asked, confusion obvious in her tone as she put a finger to her mouth. "Shouldn't she be happy that she got to meet up with Shirou-sama again?"

"Quiet, you dolt," Tsukiumi hissed at her friend, having apparently gotten used to Musubi's unusual interpretation of how love should work in the real world. The water user was keeping a sharp eye on the two interlopers, though judging from the way she was chewing on her lip Tsukiumi was definitely not happy at the moment.

"Eh?" Kazehana chimed in, sipping her sake. Despite her impressive focus, her voice sounded more catty than anything else. "Seems like someone doesn't like the fact that they weren't able to keep their man."

Rin twitched at that too, and I desperately wished that Kazehana would just shut up. I mean, I could understand why she would say something like that. She was a Sekirei, after all, and she was being faced with two potential threats to her relationship with her Ashikabi. Even if everyone here was just a normal human, I'm sure that a woman like Kazehana would have some harsh words for the competition.

That didn't change the fact that the chances of this ending up badly just ratcheted up from 'extremely likely' to 'time bomb ticking the final seconds'.

"Quiet, whatever you are," Rin shot back, her voice losing some of her unnatural chipperness. "The important people are talking."

Kazehana blinked, pausing mid sip as Rin casually called her on her lack of humanity. It seemed that she hadn't expected Rin to realize she wasn't human at all.

"You were able to tell right away, just like Shirou-sama," Matsu noted, in her serious mode with her glasses nowhere to be seen. "Is that a trait of all magi?"

And now it was Rin's turn to pause, giving the hacker a cautious look. It seems she didn't expect the group to know about magecraft either.

"Hoh?" Rin muttered, getting a speculative look. "So you're not just a group of layabout espers. Demons? Monsters?" She shook her head, dismissing the sudden moment of academic curiosity. "Whatever it is, do be quiet while I finish my discussion with Emiya-kun."

"You don't seem at all nervous about being surrounded by demons or monsters," Homura noted, eyes narrowed as she peered at Rin cautiously from the wall. She was in her work clothes the dark suit and face mask, and with the mask up I couldn't make out her expression completely.

"She doesn't need to be nervous," I interrupted, holding out my hands as I tried to play peacemaker. "Because nothing is going to happen, right?" I was promptly ignored by all.

"Why would I be nervous about dealing with a few stray cats?" Rin demanded, her eye twitching again. "Now, you all can either shut up or get out, before I shut you up or put you out." Rin was starting to lose that pleasant false air she held when she was pissed off around people and didn't want to show it.

"Big words from such a small girl," Kazehana smirked, shifting in such a bit in a way which showed off her considerable bust. It was pretty obvious that she wasn't referring to Rin's height with that last comment. "But you know what they say about small dogs and large barks."

"Seriously," I hissed at the bottle fairy, "Kazehana just shut up!"

"Strange that a bitch like you would call someone else a dog," Rin snapped back, glaring as she dropped her nice act completely.

"Hey!" Musubi puffed her cheeks angrily. "Don't be meant to Kazehana-san!"

"Indeed," Tsukiumi also seemed upset. The water user seemed to be extending the same general protectiveness that she usually had with Musubi to the rest of the flock as well.

"Alright, seriously," I tried to interrupt the eminent conflict that seem to have all the ear marks of what could only be called a 'catfight' from happening. I seriously doubted would be as gentle as a normal catfight would be though. "We all need to calm down and…"

"Shut up Shirou!" Rin and Homura snapped at the same time. Even the former host was starting to get heated up, surprisingly. I had a weird moment where I wondered if this was some sort of manifestation of the link that all the Sekirei had through me that Matsu had described before.

"Don't bully Shirou-sama like that!" Musubi declared, still with puffy cheeks, completely missing that Homura had done the exact same thing at the exact same time. Beside her Kuu nodded vehemently, before sticking her tongue out at Rin.

"I might say the same to you," Saber interjected, now giving a hard look at Homura. The King of Knights was still maintaining the same pose, but now she had her eyes open and a glare out. Was even Saber starting to lose her temper?

"Oh?" Kazehana gave Saber a lidded look. "And who are you to try and give out orders? Why don't you kids hurry up and leave, and let the adults take care of things here."

Okay, I can see how Saber looked very young, and how she could be mistaken for a fourteen or fifteen year old, but did anyone here remember that she was actually a Heroic Spirit, nearly a decade older than she looks, before she died anyway, and had run an entire kingdom at one point?

"Alright," Rin finally declared, giving another glare at Kazehana as she insulted saber. Saber didn't seem to pay it any attention, but Kazehana's taunts seemed to have gotten to Rin. Slowly she began rolling up her sleeve, eyes closed as she gave a scary smile as only Rin Tousaka could give scary smiles. "I've had about enough of this."

Kazehana looked like she was about to take another shot, but she froze, dropping her cup as Rin's arm began to literally glow, traces of faint blue green luminescence that outlined twisted whirls and jagged lines all up and down her forearm.

"Rin, stop charging your Crest," I snapped, no longer able to try and calm down the situation with words. If Rin was preparing to use the culmination of her family's research, it meant she was being deadly serious.

Well, words weren't really working too well anyway. I tried to think of anything I could do to stop this fight from happening, some strategy or tactic that would let me to force these two very angry groups to calm down, or to at least put them down quick enough that I could keep them from killing each other…

I wasn't quite sure what happened next. Honestly, I only had an impression of something white and purple, a swishing noise, and then sudden pain in my forehead that left me seeing stars.

"What the…?" Rin yelped, and as I blinked through the sudden pain I realized that the one person in the room who hadn't been pulled into the argument was standing calmly in the center of the room by the table.

"Now, now," Miya said, smiling gently as she held her impromptu in her hand, tapping it into her palm thoughtfully. "None of that."

"Is that a ladle?" Rin muttered, rubbing her head, staring at the alien dressed as a priestess. "Where did that come from?"

"Rin," Saber hissed, eyes narrowed, the swordswoman half raised from her kneeling position. The blonde was giving Miya an incredibly wary look. Did even Saber just get hit? It was hard to tell, but it looked like something had set of Saber's instincts. It was too late for that now though…

"Most of you here should already know this," Miya chided gently, "but violence in Izumo House is…"

"Wait, Miya!" Kazehana began looking very nervous as she started to scurry backwards, the rest of my flock already flinching back as they too realized what was about to happen.

"Prohibited," Miya murmured the last word of her aria gently, but the sudden manifestation of malice made that gentleness a lie as her mask came into shape. It seemed to form directly around her, a conglomerate of hundreds of scowling faces, the Hannyas glaring as blood dripped from their eyes and the hellish chorus of the damned joined the myriad smashing wood blocks.

The results of the avatar of hate's presence were pretty typical.

"Now," Miya's voice cut through the audio delusions like a knife, silencing them in an instant as the masks vanished just as quickly. "I understand that many here might be upset, but that's no reason to violate the rules of Izumo House."

"U-understood, Miya-sama," Matsu muttered. She was still sitting at the head of the table, but she was twitching periodically. Musubi and Tsukiumi had latched onto each other like normal, and between them Kuu had managed to hide her face by grabbing both of their skirts and pulling them over her head. Homura was steadfastly looking away, but judging from the shifting of her mask she had developed a nervous tick in her eye. Kazehana had stuck the bottle in front of her, either to use it to hide or to maybe use it as an offering to appease the malevolent thing. Even I was shaking a bit, though I managed to keep my composure better than the rest. Though I had my own, that technique still was unnerving.

"W-what the hell was that!" Rin demanded, a quaver in her voice. She had handled her first exposure to the Hannya rather well. She had apparently jumped into Saber's arms, wrapping her own arms around the King of Knights' neck.

"Such a thing," Saber murmured, still tense. She seemed less effected than most, as in she wasn't a quivering ball of terror, but even in the half crouch she had risen to I could make out a slight shake of her shoulder.

"Thank you, Asama-san," I muttered, never as a glad for the presence of Izumo House's disciplinarian as then. Seriously, I was wondering if it was appropriate to build a shrine to her somewhere.

"No, I mean it!" Rin demanded, shakily pointing at the innocent looking landlady. "What was that!"

"Why, I have no idea what you mean," Miya declared, an innocent look on her face while she tapped her cheek thoughtfully.

"But! That!" Rin frantically looked around the room as though to find some explanation for what she just saw, and found only that the rest of the room had been equally affected by it. "Shirou! Explain that right now!" When she gave me a pleading look, her anger from earlier apparently set aside in the face of such horror, I just gave her a small shrug.

"No idea what you're talking about, Rin," I told her in as close to the same tone as Miya's as I could manage. Rin sputtered at me, before giving Miya one last long look.

"Can I see it again?" she finally asked in a small voice. Several in the room winced, and Miya narrowed her eyes at the question.

"It must be a magus thing," Homura muttered, palming her forehead as Rin repeated my own reaction to the Hannya the first time I saw it. "Being crazy, that is."

"Can't you stop those now, Lover-kun?" Kazehana muttered, giving me a slightly betrayed look.

"Yeah," I nodded, before narrowing my eyes. "But considering what all of you were about to do, do you think I should have?" Kazehana winced, looking away guiltily away as she did so. Since she had been one of the most direct instigators she had better be feeling guilty.

"Now," I continued, deciding to take advantage of the forced cessation of hostilities to try and take charge of the meeting before the tension started ratchetings back up. "Why don't we all take a seat for a minute while I catch you two up to what's going on?" Rin started to scowl, no doubt not liking that I was getting in the way of her warpath. "Please?" I nearly begged her, trying to give her a pleading look though it most likely came out as a grimace. "Things are a lot more complicated than they look."

"Fine," Rin huffed, before realizing that she was still being cradled in Saber's arms and blushing a bit before she climbing off of the petite girl. Saber let her down, the swordswoman still focusing most of her attention on Miya, only giving the rest of the room cursory glances. "But this better be one hell of a story," she snapped. "If it doesn't involve something like aliens, or long lost family, or the end of the world or something along those lines, than I'm still going to be angry."

"You know," I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Actually…"

*Scene Break*

I explained what I could about the Sekirei Plan, mostly telling the story as it happened to me. I had to skip over some parts, because they really didn't have much to do with the actual overlying situation, but I managed to hit most of the highlights. It did have the added effect of allowing me to introduce most of my flock, and explain how I met them as well.

Honestly, Rin reacted pretty much like I thought she would.

"Let… let me get this straight," Rin stated flatly. "You managed to stumble across a hidden tournament which involved partnering up with aliens super weapons and fighting until there was only one left for a some kind of all-powerful prize, which involved you saving a whole bunch of those aliens and causing you to take them on as familiars in a bonding ritual which is there species equivalent of marriage, and are now fighting a secret battle against the forces behind the conflict in an attempt to try and keep the innocent from being involved. Is that pretty much right?"

"Familiars?" Matsu repeated softly, cocking her head to the side as she started to type rapidly at her doohickey, once more finding herself researching a strange term referring to magecraft.

"Well, yeah, that's a good way of summarizing it," I nodded with a sigh. I had taken a seat at the table too, opposite Matsu so that my flock was on my left and my lovers were on my right. It was a position I had chosen mostly due to it being open, but if things went bad it also meant I could get between both sides relatively quickly.

"And not only that, but you also managed to find, through complete and absolutely blind luck, that you still have biological family around," Rin nodded to herself, still speaking flatly. "As in you actually have a sister and a mother."

"That too," I agreed, nodding in resignation. I could already guess what was going to happen next. The last time I had seen Rin like this had been at the end of my most awkward day ever, when I had had to sheepishly explain just why I had come home looking like I had.

For several moments Rin just gave me a flat, direct stare. Then her body began to shake slightly.

"Rin," I began, and several of the Sekirei began to tense, no doubt expecting another explosion like earlier. That lasted until they heard the first of Rin's snorts. Finally, she couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Bwahahaha!" Rin began to laugh shaking with how hard she was giggling. She started to point at me. "I-it! A-again!" She tried to get words out between her snorts, but it was a losing battle. "W-wait! I have to prepare myself first!" She collapsed onto the table, wrapping one arm around her head and slapping the table top with the other one as she lost the ability to make actual words.

"It's not that funny," I muttered with resignation.

"I agree," Saber nodded, and for a moment I felt hope that she was coming down on my side, before she unleashed a stern, disapproving look at me. "To find out that while you were away from my presence that you would once more be involved in such a churlish event is indeed disconcerting." She wrinkled her nose in a contemplative look. "That your luck is so bad is indeed an event which borders on humorous."

"And now even Saber is laughing at me," I muttered.

"That counts as laughing?" Musubi asked Tsukiumi in a voice she probably meant to be quiet.

"Indeed," Tsukiumi nodded imperiously. "Can't you see the way she is smiling?"

"How is any of that a smile?" Kazehana actually leaned over to get a closer look at Saber's expression, and the blonde swordswoman drew back, an affronted look on her face at having so much attention directed at her.

"Y-you! A sister!" Rin was finally starting to come out of her laughter induced seizure. "Please tell me she's a brocon!"

"Yukari isn't a …!" I began, flushing a little before I was interrupted.

"She's a brocon," Matsu nodded. The hacker actually smiled a bit, still typing away at her tablet.

"Totally a brocon," Kazehana agreed, grinning behind a cup of sake.

"What on earth is a brocon?" Tsukiumi muttered, looking confused. It didn't surprise me. This was the girl who didn't know what a tsundere was, after all.

That was enough for Rin to fall back into the arm she still had on the table, and though she had managed to cut down on the audible laughter her entire body was still shaking.

I sighed. "You guys," I muttered, but even as I grumbled I finally started to relax. With Rin's attack of uncontrollable laughter most of the tension in the room had begun to seep out as the two groups united behind a common cause: picking on me.

If that was what it took to keep the two groups off each other throats, then I had no problem being a target.

"Well now," Miya began, covering a small smile with one hand, relaxing as threats of future violence dwindled. "It seems that there are even more targets forEmiya-kun's horrible perversity and unslakable lusts…"

"Et tu, Asama-san?" I grumbled. The landlady continued as though I hadn't spoken.

"Oh, what would Takehito-san say if he knew how far his beloved inn has fallen into debauchery?" she bemoaned the horrible fate of having me as a resident.

"That you are horribly repressed and that the two of you should go take a second honey moon to work it out of your system?" I suggested dryly. Miya actually blinked at my come back, and both Matsu and Kazehana snorted in amusement themselves before both finding other places to be looking at when Miya turned to glare at them. It was my turn to chuckle as I managed to turn the teasing around on the lavenderette.

I glanced back at Rin to find that her laughing had finally died off. Strangely, Rin was staring at me with an odd look on her face, one which was part shock and part disbelief. It looked like she was finally starting to take the situation a bit more seriously, her teasing having come to an end.

Even Saber seemed startled by something, giving me a concerned look with her usual poise.

"So anyway," I tried to put the conversation back on topic. "That's the general gist of things right now."

"I," Rin began before trailing off. She shook her quickly and started again. "I see," she finally allowed. "Still, the situation isn't so bad," she continued, apparently focusing back on the details of the Sekirei Plan. "Even if you've taken some unusual familiars, it's not like this tournament stacks up to the Grail War," she reasoned. "It's not like anything too dangerous can happen here. They even have regulators that are actually doing their job. The whole thing is probably just some attempt by, who were they again? MBI? An attempt by MBI to wipe out the rest of the aliens so they can claim the spoils as their own." Rin shrugged as she casually came to the same conclusion I had long ago, and Miya narrowed her eyes, probably surprised at how quickly Rin had reached the same hypothesis I had. The magus continued, casually flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Why haven't you left already?" she asked me, starting to frown as she narrowed her eyes. "Staying here for too long… you know how stupid that is, with the Clock Tower after you."

Some of the tension started coming back to the room as Rin brought up my own hunted status, but now it had less to do with the two factions attacking each other and more to do with the general danger in my life.

"Matsu," I began tone somber. "Bring down the Jinki."

"But Shirou-sama…" the hacker began, giving Rin and Saber a concerned glance. I had spent a lot of time impressing how dangerous it would be for magi to have access to something like the Jinki, so it made sense she would be nervous about it.

"It's fine," I told her. "I trust Rin."

Matsu hesitated for another moment, before finally nodding her consent, getting up to make her way up to her room. Rin rolled her eyes, though at what in particular I wasn't too certain of.

"So," she began, making herself comfortable. "Just what Type are these?" she gave a casual wave at the Sekirei present, and Homura blinked, giving me a quick look as she remembered our first meeting.

"None," I answered Rin's question, and she paused, giving me a curious look. "They're extra-solar. Actually, they even had a spaceship." Rin's eyes widened in surprise at the revelation.

"Like an actual UFO?" Rin demanded, looking intrigued by the very idea. "So then MBI's new inventions…?"

"Derived out of their technology," I nodded.

"Why is having a spaceship so strange?" Tsukiumi ventured, looking miffed at Rin's surprise. "How else would aliens arrive?"

"The last two just kinda appeared via some form of matter transference," Rin told her absentmindedly, still contemplating the novelty of aliens actually having a space ship. "That or they just traveled through space on their own."

"Really?" Musubi sounded curious, and Rin shrugged.

"It's hard to tell, seeing as both the original aliens slaughter anything that approaches them out of hand," she admitted. "It makes the research a little tricky."

"Speaking of tricks," Kazehana spoke up, frowning slightly as she gave Rin a measuring look. "Just what was that one with your arm earlier, Tattoo-chan?" It seems Kazehana had settled on a nickname for Rin. I found myself very grateful that it wasn't something as hostile as Yukari's 'Washboard-chan'.

"Oh?" Rin grinned smugly, giving the drinking Sekirei a superior look. "You mean my Magic Crest?" As though to show off, Rin proudly pulled her sleeve back, and again the whirls of eldritch energy began to glow beneath her skin.

"Pretty," Kuu exclaimed, before she began to clap excitedly at the trick. Musubi joined in a moment later with a cheerful agreement.

"That's the Tousaka Thaumaturgical Crest," I explained as Rin basked in the awed gazes of my flock. "Since most magecraft is passed down through the family, it's customary for the head of a family to graft some of their own magic circuits onto their heir, using them as a way to store or archive the research they accumulated over their own lifetime. Each circuit grafted that way acts as a sort of precreated spell that allows the owner of the crest to use the magecraft just by activating the crest by the crest with prana."

"So it's a fancy cheat sheet?" Homura supplied, eying the lit of magus carefully. It was probably a wise caution. Generally speaking, a magus with an activated crest had the same threat equivalent as a fully loaded gun with a hair trigger, the hammer cocked, and the safety off.

"Cheat sheet?" Rin sputtered, glaring at the former host. I winced.

"The Thaumaturgical Crest is the most cherished treasure of a magi lineage," I explained carefully. "It's the result of generations of research, and represents all the accumulated knowledge of the entire blood line. It has to be physically grafted onto the next inheritor, a painful process with high chance of death or injury in both the owner and the inheritor. It's almost like having an organ transplant really."

"Like a second liver, or a third arm?" Miya hummed, giving me an amused look. I blinked, then remembered the analogy I had used to describe what having Avalon returned to my body felt like.

"Something like that," I acknowledged.

"So do you have something like that, Shirou?" Tsukiumi asked, narrowing her eyes as she contemplated the still glowing crest on Rin's arm. It wasn't like the magus to show off that much normally, but I had the impression this had less to do with just trying to look cool and more to do with emphasizing just how good Rin was as a magus.

I was getting better at spotting that kind of subtle one-upmanship. I guess having a harem causes you to develop a keener sense for spotting those kinds of maneuvers.

"No," I shook my head. "My father never wanted to pass it down to me. Since I wasn't his blood relative, he probably couldn't have even if he tried. In the end I count as just a first generation magus."

"That is no reason to look down upon yourself, Shirou," Saber spoke up calmly. "Even as a first generation, you have acquitted yourself admirably with your craft."

"Yeah," Rin grinned. "You're the best Faker ever."

"Faker?" Kazehana repeated, frowning slightly as she did so. It looked like she thought that Rin was making fun of me.

"'Faker' is the title for someone who specializes in Gradient Air," I explained, holding up my hand and tracing a sword as I did so. Kuu's eyes lit up and she promptly abandoned her place between Tsukiumi and Musubi so that she could disappear under the table. "Basically, anyone who specializes in matter recreation through the use of magecraft."

"Though most Fakers tend to graduate up to using stabilized Ether instead of just using their own od," Rin reminded me, giving my sword a cursory look. "When it comes to creation, Shirou probably really is the best."

That seemed to relax Kazehana a bit, the Wind Sekirei returning to her drink. I opened my mouth to continue the conversation, before I felt a tug at my leg. Glancing down I caught sight of Kuu as she tried to sneakily crawl up my leg, little hands reaching for the sword slowly as though I wouldn't notice that she was already half way in my lap. With a snort I let the blade disappear.

"Fuuuuu!" Kuu growled glaring at me before she decided to give up for now and just crawled up onto my legs, flopping down with a huff as she folded her arms and glowered.

"The little one seems quite taken with you," Saber noted, raising an eyebrow as she took in the scene. Rin scowled, though it looked like she wasn't quite sure how to take the sight of me with a little girl sitting in my lap. "It is unusual to see you taking care of someone so young." The swordswoman cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "You mentioned having to rescue this one at some point?"

"Onii-chan saved Kuu-chan!" the Green Girl declared, nodding her head furiously as she took it upon herself to tell the tale of her rescue. "The bad lady was there, and then onii-chan came and he was like 'Foosh'! 'Swish'! And then the bad lady went away!" She emphasized her story by waving her hands dramatically before folding them again and leaning forward as though she was about to share some great secret. "Onii-chan has swords!"

"Indeed he does," Saber smiled slightly at the younger girl, and Kuu blushed, happy at having impressed my most important attribute to the new girl.

"That is just adorable," Rin grinned. "You know, if babysitting was your thing we could have always set something up back in London."

"You," Homura cut in, ignoring the conversation as a whole. The former host had tensed and was staring at Saber as though she had only just realized something.

"Me?" Saber asked coolly, giving Homura an equally cool look. Homura didn't seem to notice.

"You," she repeated, one hand coming up to shakily point at the swordswoman. "You're King Arthur."

Saber blinked, apparently not having expected that particular response. Several of the other Sekirei perked up as well, Tsukiumi and Miya most noticeably, as they realized that for all her human appearance the being sitting in front of them was in fact a Heroic Spirit given physical incarnation, a creature of the past so well known that its very legend has power.

"Indeed," Saber finally nodded, her expression turning curious.

"You're… King Arthur," Homura said again, and I had the impression she was wrestling with the knowledge that this petite and innocent looking girl-child was in fact a legendary king who had fought wars and ruled a kingdom.

"And what does this knowledge mean to you?" Saber prompted, patiently waiting for some other response from the former host.

Homura's eyes flicked between Saber and I, and here was the part where I was pretty sure she was also coming to terms with the fact that the blonde swordswoman and I had been intimate in the past. Finally, she slumped a bit, and seemed to come to a decision.

"Can I have an autograph?" she sheepishly requested, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. Saber blinked, and Rin snorted at the very thought.

"Ah," Saber began, getting a familiar flustered look on her face as she was put on the spot with the most unusual of requests. "I mean, if that is what you desire then I am not averse to doing so," she hedged.

"I'll be right back," Homura declared, making her way to the door with undignified haste. Rin snorted again, and Saber gave her a small glare.

"Looks like someone has a fan," Rin teased, and Saber folded her arms with the grace of a king, ignoring the way she was blushing slightly at the unexpected attention. "Still, if you've set up shop here, I would have thought you'd have a workshop set up by now," she turned back to me, again apparently trying to catch up with what I've been doing since I left. "Have you been making any effort at your magecraft at all or have you just been playing around?"

"I did have a workshop," I declared indignantly, "I was even working on permanent magical enhancements and enchantments!"

"Well, where is it?" Rin prompted, sounding as though she was actually curious. As my former master, she did have a vested interest in my progress as a magus. "And what have you been enchanting? Have you started on a Mystic Code?"

"Code?" Musubi raised one hand slowly, the other tapping on her lips as she tried to follow the conversation and ended up getting lost. Judging from the way Tsukiumi was pressing her lips together she was much in the same boat.

"A Mystic Code is an item enchanted and used by a magus, mostly for battle," I explained, before I winced. "And well, I kind of had to blow up my first magus to stop a Fraga a while back." I winced even more, promptly looking away and trying to seem innocent and unnoticeable. "And no, it wasn't really a Code, per say…"

"A Fraga?" Rin scowled at that. "You mean you've actually been tracked and you still haven't left yet? And stop trying to dodge. Shirou, what were you making?"

"I couldn't leave, and the Fraga are well known for their separation from the Mage Association," I reminded Rin, before finally sighing. "And I had been making a magical washing machine, until it got blown up too."

Rin sat there for a moment, giving me a blank look as she tried to digest the absurd thing I just said.

"A magic washing machine?" Miya blinked, sounding equal parts amused as perplexed. "Why on earth would you do something like that, Emiya-kun?"

"Mostly so I could try out a whole bunch of different types of enchantments designed to accomplish a wide variety of different effects under numerous different environmental situations," I defended the washing machine, may it rest easy in the rubble out back. "Also, well, I thought it would help cut down on the electricity bill."

"You," Rin muttered, actually holding up a fist in front of her as she closed her eyes and grit her teeth. "You really tried to… How stupid… I mean, how utterly incredibly stupid…"

"It sounds as though it would have been an effective measure of training your craft while simultaneously contributing to the well-being of the household," Saber noted calmly. "A noble effort, Shirou."

"Saber…" Rin growled. "Stop… encouraging… the stupid."

"I'm back," Matsu announced, before pausing at the doorway, taking in the sight of the newly enraged Rin. "Uh, Ashikabi-sama," she began slowly. "Is it really alright to show them?" She gave the fuming Rin a careful look. "She doesn't seem particularly… stable right now."

"It's fine," I told her, waving away Rin's tantrum. "Go ahead."

Actually, I was kind of hoping that the Jinki would serve as distraction enough to keep me from dodging potential onslaught of Gandrs.

Carefully, Matsu unwrapped the bundle in her arms, revealing the three Jinki we had managed to acquire, gently placing them in front of the quivering Rin. The magus opened her eyes at the approach, glaring at the hacker and giving the items in front of her a cursory glance.

"And?" she growled, folding her arms as she gave them a once over before dismissing them. "Are these supposed to be important or something?"

"Use structural analysis on them," I told her, keeping my own gaze firmly locked on a corner of the room away from the Jinki.

"Are you serious?" Rin demanded, sounding like she was building a head of steam up again.

"Please, Rin," I told her firmly. I heard her sigh, and then the sound of clinking as she picked one of them up.

"Strukturanalyse," Rin muttered halfheartedly. Rin tended to use German most of the time for her Arias, and in this case it was close enough to English for me to understand that she had followed my request. I waited patiently for her to respond.

And waited.

And waited.

"Rin," I glanced over at Saber to see the blonde swordswoman giving the magus a concerned look. "Are you alright?"

I risked a glance of my own, and found that while Rin had picked the Jinki up, she had it down far enough away from her face for me to ignore it while focusing on her.

And Rin was out. Her eyes were glazed, her jaw slack, and I swear I could make out the beginning of a bit of drool starting to come out of the corner.

"Why is she…" Musubi began, sounding confused, but Matsu interrupted.

"Just like when Shirou-sama looks at them," she confirmed, and I nodded with a sigh.

"Onee-chan looks silly," Kuu declared with a huff.

"Shirou," Saber gave me a concerned look. "Do you know what this is about?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Just a sec." I leaned over the table, taking care not to squish Kuu-chan, and managed to get my finger between Rin and the Jinki before snapping loudly.

"Inverse ultracompact counter-crystaline purple!" Rin squeaked, blinking rapidly as she shook her head, the sudden noise interrupting her trance. "I mean…" she started to pant, finally remembering to breath. "That… I… what was that?" she finally got out, her voice weak as she shook her head hard enough to whip her hair around.

"The reason I can't leave Shin Tokyo yet," I declared, drifting into battle mode.

"I got it!" Homura declared, slamming the door open. "I had to dig a bit to find the copy," she began, waving a copy of 'The Once and Future King' in her hand for some reason before she paused as she took in the once more tense scene. She narrowed her eyes, and even with her face mask on I could make out the scowl she was wearing. Finally she palmed her head, growling as she did so. "You really do wait until I'm out of the room on purpose!"

*Scene Break*

Again, I found myself explaining everything I knew to Rin, this time focusing on Jinki and what I'd managed to uncover about them.

She didn't end up laughing this time.

"And you say there are eight of these?" Rin muttered. She had hunched over, still peering at the three Jinki in front of her, though since she wasn't engaging in magecraft she wasn't turning into a drooling wide eyed mess. She was in a familiar pose though, with one hand up and half covering her face while she looked between her spread fingers, the other hand supporting that arm at the elbow. It was her usual thinking pose, and I had little doubt that the many, many wheels in the small magus' head were turning pretty quick at this point.

"According to Asama-san," I agreed, and Rin gave a quick look at the landlady. The lavenderette had taken a seat at the table as well, choosing an open seat which put her between Saber and I and making her the only Sekirei that had taken that side of the table.

"Yes," Miya nodded, her eyes in her normal lidded position as she sipped tea. I honestly wasn't certain how it happened, but Saber somehow took a sip at the same time, and I couldn't help but notice how similar the King of Knights and the zero one of the Sekirei looked at that moment. They both had an unconscious grace, and yet even while just sitting they had a natural, eye catching pose which seemed to hint at their regal natures.

Weird.

"If you don't mind me asking," Matsu cut in, still typing away at a hurried pace, though she was looking away from the screen so she could keep an eye on Rin. "Just why is it that both of you are so disturbed by the Jinki? I understand the danger behind them, but both of your reactions seem extreme. And for that matter, why do they effect Shirou-sama so much stronger then you?"

"Because they're unnatural, unearthly, and utterly impossible according to the logic and laws that govern all life on this planet. And I actually have to concentrate to use Structural Analysis," Rin muttered, only giving the hacker half a mind as she continued to glare at the shards of the apocalypse before her. "Shirou over there does it unconsciously, almost constantly. I almost have to qualify it as some sort of Mystic Eye condition for him."

Matsu started to turn to me, but I was already explaining. It gets kind of old, having to wait for someone in the group to repeat whatever new confusing term they come across before giving an explanation.

"Sometimes people will be born with unusually active circuits. It tends to happen in the eyes quite often, and those people will develop some sort of psychic ability based around their vision," I explained. "If it happens in the other parts of the body they can develop other capabilities too. We call those types of people mutants or espers typically."

"So Shirou-sama is better than yourself at sensing?" Matsu turned back to Rin, and the magus probably didn't even notice that Matsu was probing her for information.

"Shirou is a freaking blood hound when it comes to sensing," Rin muttered in return. "I swear, he can sniff out magecraft at like a hundred yards. The Enforcers loved having him come along on Apostle hunts."

"Is that why Shirou-sama can smell Sekirei?" Musubi asked, blinking innocently.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Rin shrugged, before sighing leaning backwards. "I can definitely feel all of you, but Shirou probably can even get impressions as well." Rin only then seemed to realize that she was admitting deficiency in any way, and promptly snapped her mouth shut.

"So that means you can't tell anything about us," Matsu nodded. Rin looked uncomfortable, but knowing she was trapped she just shrugged.

"Sensing comes in different ways for different people," I already started the explanation. "I interpret it as smell, but Rin typically feels it as pressure. She can't really differentiate too much unless she's actually touching something and concentrating." I gave Rin a wry look. "If you want to try something else disturbing, try touching Asama-san."

Miya blinked, giving me a sideways look, but Rin just glared at me, before rising to the challenge and reaching out to poke the lavenderette. Rin promptly jerked, eyes widening as she snatched her arm back instantly.

"Oh my," Miya sighed, giving me frown. "Was that really necessary, Emiya-kun?"

"Fairs fair," I told her, giving Rin a careful look. I hadn't recommended that just to yank her chain. Rin still didn't seem to realize just how much potential for violence the Sekirei were capable of, and the best way to get that through her stubbornness was to rub her nose in it.

I definitely didn't want Rin starting something later just because she was underestimating the potential fallout.

"That's rather impressive," Rin muttered, now turning that focused look that she had been using on the Jinki to the rest of the room. Kazehana grinned impishly back as Rin spent an extra few moments glaring at her in particular, the wind Sekirei taking the chance to deliberately flounce her chest again. Then Kazehana blinked as instead of getting jealous Rin instead took the opportunity to give her a terse once over before moving on to the next target for study.

Rin was firmly in her magus persona at this point. Earlier, during the confrontation, Rin had been using her more public persona, and maybe then a little taunting might have gotten to her. Now though, just like with me in battle mode, there was no time for things like embarrassment or personal grudges.

"Indeed," Saber agreed, her eyes closed as she took a sip of tea. "Though earlier my judgment might have been too clouded to see, it is obvious that Asama-san is quite skilled." Saber seemed to have picked up on what I had to clue Rin in on earlier, most likely after Miya had managed to startle her with the ladle.

"Why thank you, Saber-san," Miya smiled politely at the blonde sitting next to her, and Saber smiled back. I entertained a momentary thought of what it would be like to see the two of them have a sparring match, but decided that suggesting even simulated violence might not be the best course of action right now.

Maybe if I had a bunker or something to wait out the fall out though…

"So your plan is to recover as many of these, these Jinki," Rin stumbled over the unfamiliar word, but quickly recovered, "and separate them from the rest?"

"Yeah," I nodded, letting myself slip into battle mode. It was time for a good old fashioned strategy meeting. "We're still not sure what MBI might have in mind for them, but frankly it's likely that they'll need either all of them or a majority of them in order to do it."

"In that case, wouldn't it be better to wait until you had at least half?" Rin proposed, and I nodded.

"Yes, but there's also no telling how long it would take to gather them," I countered, Rin nodding as she got my point instantly. "There's always the possibility that MBI has a timetable, and taking too much time might be playing into their hands."

"True," Rin acknowledged. She frowned roughing her own hair as she considered the situation. "But even if you leave, there's no guarantee that one of the other, Ashikabi was it? One of the other Ashikabi might be able to utilize them."

"I've already taken steps to eliminate the more problematic competitors," and at the end of the table Matsu frowned at the casual mention of just what I had done to Higa. "And it's my hope that with the Plan delayed due to my escape MBI would be forced to step up to maintain the status quo here in Shin Tokyo while trying to retrieve them. It most likely wouldn't fit into whatever scenario they have to let things get too out of hand until they have all the pieces in control again."

"What about destruction?" Rin proposed easily, and I shook my head.

"A possibility, but there's no way of knowing the potential consequences," I explained. "It's just as likely to accidently trigger the Jinki as not. There's no way of estimating necessary containment procedures either."

"This would be easier if we could just get more information," Rin complained, scowling as she contemplated all the new info I was giving her.

"I've been having Matsu try to get into MBI's databases, but they have some good protection," I admitted. "And most of the key personnel are too well guarded to simply abduct and interrogate."

"Is anyone else a little disturbed by just how well those two are getting along?" Homura muttered from the side. Tsukiumi and Kazehana nodded, scowling as they watched Rin and I quickly shoot ideas back and forth, and I swear I saw Akitsu nod as well from the corner of my eye.

"How is she getting the information?" Rin asked, drumming her fingers on the table as she pursed her lip and gave Matsu a dubious look. "She doesn't seem the infiltrator type."

"Oh," Matsu narrowed her eyes at the casual distain Rin was showing her, before she got an evil smirk of her own. "I've been hacking their system via the internet."

I blinked, and even though we had been discussing a serious matter I felt like sighing and smacking my head. I could already see just why Matsu had spoken up. She was probably anticipating another reaction like mine at the mention of cyber space. I don't think she realized that the response she was going to get was gonna be quite different.

"What kind of net?" Rin cocked her head to the side, obvious confusion setting in. "Is that some kind of spy ring or something? It's probably not the kind a net you'd use for fishing anyway."

Dead silence settled in the room, and Matsu actually gaped at Rin.

"What?" Rin asked, blinking at the sudden change in mood. She seemed to realize that she had said something everyone else found unbelievable, and two spots of red started to form on her cheeks as she started to get embarrassed. "W-what?"

"I might not have mentioned this in the past, but most magi don't have much to do with technology," I sighed as I gave the explanation to the rest of the group. "Honestly, I'm probably one of the few who even know what a cellphone is."

"What phone?" Rin gave me an odd look, before seeming to realize that she was only digging her hole deeper. "I mean, what do I need technology for!" she quickly snapped, folding her arms and turning her head up to the side as her flush grew a bit. "I'm a magus, not some repair man or something! I-it's not like I need things like that!"

A sudden motion at the wall brought my attention to Homura. The former host had started, standing up straight as she stared at Rin, one hand coming up to half point at her. Then, I watched as she turned both her attention and her finger to Tsukiumi.

"Shirou," Homura hissed, giving me a quick look. "You mean she's… like…" the fire user gave a jerk of her head to Rin, then to Tsukiumi in each of her pauses. I sighed, already knowing just what Homura had managed to lock on to.

Homura had a lot of dealings with Tsukiumi, after all, not to mention had spent a lot of time in a job that pretty much resolved around relationships. She was probably pretty used to picking up certain verbal cues and being able to interpret them for insight into a person's character. It looks like Homura had figured out just why I had been able to oust Tsukiumi as a tsundere so quickly.

"Yeah," I muttered. "I suppose I'm used to them."

Homura stared at me, and then quickly snapped a hand up to cover her mouth, though that was probably unnecessary considering she was still wearing her mask. She started to shake silently, and internally I was grateful that she was apparently a lot better at holding back laughter than Rin was.

"Homura!" Tsukiumi snapped, glaring at her longtime rival. "Just what do you find so funny!"

"I-it's nothing," the former host told the water user, and a few snorts managed to escape before Homura managed to get them under control.

"It certainly doesn't seem like nothing!" Tsukiumi stood, hands on her hips in her usual pose as she pointed at Homura accusingly. That only seemed to set Homura off harder, and she started to shake more, the other hand coming up to help cover her mouth.

"You at least know what a computer is, right?" Matsu demanded of Rin, more focused on the woman who had pretty much admitted to being completely ignorant of everything that the hacker stood for.

"Aren't those just like giant calculators?" Rin snapped back, arms still folded as she glared at the redhead.

"Wow," Musubi blinked, looking at Rin. "That's kind of sad."

For Musubi to be the one who said that, well, I suppose I was lucky Rin didn't know her better. I don't think the magus would have been able to survive that kind of dismissal from someone who was, quite honestly and with no ill intention meant, not that bright.

Rin was still sharp enough to realize that she was being dismissed though.

"Feeee!" Rin managed to make a noise that reminded me either of steam escaping a tea pot, or Kuu when she was starting to get upset, one hand coming up in a shaking fist. "You think I don't know when I'm getting looked down on!"

"Rin," Saber interrupted the magus before she could really get started in her new tantrum. "Calm down. There are more important things to be concerned about for now." Rin gave the Heroic Spirit a glare, but did settle a bit. "For instance," the swordswoman continued, turning to give me a piercing look. "Shirou," she began, before a new sound echoed through the room, a loud, low, rumbling.

It was Saber's turn to find herself the center of attention, and she began to blush slightly, though her expression didn't change in the slightest besides that as everyone looked at her stomach, wondering how something so small could make a noise that large.

"Shirou," Saber continued as though her belly hadn't just given her away. "When's dinner?"

I sighed, but despite myself, I couldn't help a smile from showing. Saber blushed a little brighter at it.

"Right away, your majesty," I told her, getting up to make my way to the kitchen.

It looks like things wouldn't blow up too badly now. Hopefully a little food would also help calm everyone down.

That and it had been ages since I'd been in a kitchen.

*Scene Break*

"Well," Miya began as she came into the kitchen. The landlady stayed near the door, perhaps an unspoken gesture of her lack of intent to interfere with my time cooking. I let my grip on the knife in my hand loosen as well. "It seems that your harem has grown again, Emiya-kun," Miya smiled warmly at me.

"Don't call it a harem, please," I muttered at her. "Especially not where Rin can here you." I gave a semi-nervous look at the door leading out of the kitchen. I had left it open so that I could keep an eye on the rest of Izumo House's residents and guests. So far the two groups seemed to have come to a hesitant peace, but that wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to leave to chance.

At the moment, Rin was apparently getting to know Musubi and Tsukiumi.

"You mean you actually have a whiteboard for a schedule?" Rin demanded, staring at aforementioned object, gaping at the complex mix of names, some scratched out as schedule adjustments happened, sometimes the names just having arrows pointing to various positions on the board where they were supposed to be moved to. Honestly, I couldn't make heads or tails of it, but my flock always seemed to know who's turn it was for what, so I left it to them. Since today was Monday, Tsukiumi currently had both the table, and it looked like she was going solo tonight when it came time for bedtime.

"Yup!" Musubi declared happily, though Tsukiumi at least had the grace to look mildly embarrassed at having to explain their scheduling method to an outsider.

"So you were really King Arthur," Homura was by Saber, along with Akitsu, the former host standing while the other two knelt calmly. I wasn't sure when Akitsu had moved to sit opposite Saber, but the two of them seemed to be engaged in some kind of staring contest or something.

"The two, Rin and Saber," Miya continued also giving a measured look at the room, keen eye out for any sign of impending violence herself. "They seem to be adjusting quite well."

"Is that what you see, Asama-san?" I asked, grimacing as I did so. Miya paused, giving me a glance as she tried to understand why I seemed less certain of the two groups getting along.

"What do you mean, Emiya-kun?" Miya prompted me, cocking her head to the side as she waited patiently for me to go on.

"I mean that Rin is a magus, and that Saber was a king," I told her. "Saber's used to remaining calm, no matter how upset she is. And Rin, well, magus," I pointed out to her.

Back in the room, it seemed that Matsu had reappeared, brandishing a tablet in front of her as she confronted Rin.

"Behold!" Matsu declared, glaring at the other women. "Let me show you just how great computers really are!"

"It seems that Shirou has managed to acquire a formidable squire," Saber finally noted, and whatever she was looking for in Akitsu she apparently found as she gave the other woman a brief nod. Akitsu blinked slowly, before raising a finger to point at herself as though to imply the question, 'Who? Me?'

"And what does being a magus have to do with this?" Miya asked, narrowing her eyes as she gave Rin another measuring look.

"Magi are pragmatic, and they're not afraid to study the situation completely before making a move," I explained the nature of those who use magecraft. "When they do move though, they can be absolutely ruthless, doing whatever it takes to accomplish their goals."

"And is that what Rin is doing now?" Miya pursed her lips, taking my words in slowly. "She seems to be quite relaxed," she pointed out, watching as Rin tried to puzzle through how to turn the tablet on. "If anything, she seems to be making friends quite easily."

"Oh?" I shook my head with a snort. "Don't let yourself be fooled. Rin in particular is especially good at keeping up appearances. She had the entire school tricked through all of high school."

"That seems to be a rather harsh thing to say about your lover, Emiya-kun," Miya scolded, but I just shook my head.

"I love Rin," I admitted quietly, "but that doesn't mean I don't know what she is. She can be as manipulative as she needs to be, and if the time comes she can be cold as ice as well. I might be a magus, but I'm only third rate at best. Rin, well, she's first rate, one of the best in the generation. She can use all of the elements, and has some of the best grasp of magic theory in her classes at the Clock Tower. She has probably four times the amount of raw power that I have as well. More importantly, she thinks like a magus."

"And what does a magus think like?" Miya looked like she was taking me seriously at least, her expression uncertain as I laid it out for her.

"A magus would spend the time immediately after having been reunited with his two lovers trying to figure out what those two lovers are up to rather than just being happy," I told her with a grimace.

It was the truth, after all. Even me, as a third rate, could see that there was something going on here. Even though I was glad to see Rin and Saber again, it didn't stop me from asking the most important question to myself:

Why were they here?

Rin wouldn't just come to see me on a lark, not with me having a Sealing Designation on me. It was just too dangerous for all of us, the threat of the Clock Tower finding out too real and ominous to risk it casually. Rin had come here for a reason, some kind of objective of goal causing her to brave the dangers a reunion had.

And Saber had agreed with it, whatever those goals were. The King of Knights took her duty seriously, and she had sworn an oath as a knight to protect Rin and I. There must be something here, something even Saber thought was worthwhile to risk both of our safety for.

And I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't puzzle out the reason that Rin and Saber were here right now.

Well, I had a suspicion anyway, but no way of knowing if I was right or not.

"I see," Miya nodded slowly, and I wondered if maybe she did see. Magi didn't think like normal people, they were fundamentally different in how they considered the world. They saw the world, studied it, dissected it, and circumvented it through the use of mysteries. They held their bloodlines important, had great pride in both it and their own research as well, and would do just about anything at times for those two. To be a magus was to walk with death, and people who could deal with that truth were set apart from the rest of the world.

Miya, she might not have ever met a magus before me, but she had probably dealt with people like that. She had been there when MBI first discovered the Sekirei, and companies like MBI don't get as big as they are now as quickly as they did without someone with their own touch of ruthlessness backing them.

"Wait," Rin's voice drifted through the kitchen, sounding amazed as she stared at the screen with wide eyes. Matsu seemed immensely proud of herself, both hands on her hips as she gloated. "So you can use these to look up all the information you've gathered instantly? I mean…" she fiddled with the screen a bit, before her jaw dropped at something in particular. "But that would save hundreds of hours trying to find books or scrolls! It could… this could revolutionize magecraft as a whole! And Shirou has something like this?"

"That's right!" Matsu had put her glasses back on at some point, and she had switched back to her cute persona. "That's what Matsu has given Shirou-tan!"

Looks like the hacker had decided to go for the big guns when it came to impressing Rin with her chosen tools. She most likely remembered how much a digital workshop impressed me and decided that if it worked with one magus it could work with another.

"I must have one!" Rin declared passionately, a greedy look in her eyes as she hugged the tablet to her chest as though she would never let it go.

"Rin," Saber spoke up, a small frown on her face. "Do remember that that belongs to Shirou." It looked like she was going to say more but stopped, glancing to the side in surprise as Kuu tugged at her blouse sleeve lightly. The young Sekirei was staring up at her with wide unblinking eyes. Saber seemed unnerved for a moment, before finally prompting the young Sekirei. "How can I help you, little one?"

"Onee-chan is pretty!" Kuu declared, before promptly sitting herself down in Saber's lap. It looked like the Green Girl had fallen victim to the King's innate charisma.

"Ah!" Saber made a startled noise, and started to blush in embarrassment at having been claimed so quickly by little Kuu.

"Though I understand your concern," Miya finally declared, giving the mingling girls a measured look. "Are you certain that the two have not accepted the circumstances?"

"Oh, they might have accepted the circumstances as a whole," I admitted. "Both of them know how dangerous the situation is with the Jinki and MBI. Neither one of them would do anything to make things worse, and they might even be willing to help. But the circumstances between me and my flock?"

I trailed off, shaking my head. Rin and Saber would have no problem working with the Sekirei in the face of danger. After Saber had been stolen and Archer had betrayed her, Rin had instantly homed in on the necessity of getting Berserker on our side, even if his Master, Illya, had tried to kill us on our first meeting. Later, when Lancer had been willing to give us a hand both Rin and Saber had been willing to rely on him, despite the fact that he had nearly killed me twice. When it came to necessity, Rin could easily put aside her personal feelings to do what it took to acquire victory. Hell, she had even been willing to use her virginity as a tool to help us get that victory at the end of the Grail War for that matter.

But even if she had been willing to go that far, it hadn't made her less embarrassed or irritated with me for losing my control during our first time. It hadn't made her less suspicious of either Illya or Lancer while we were working together.

Saber too. She was good at concealing her feelings, a legacy of her time hiding her gender and ruling a kingdom, but that didn't mean she didn't have those feelings. It just made it harder to know what they were.

"This is troubling," Miya sighed, putting a palm to her cheek as she did so. It looked like she had understood just how much tension remained, and it worried her.

"Wait," Rin demanded of Matsu as the hacker continued to show off how amazing the internet is. "What does this do…" She cut herself off, her eyes getting even wider, and suddenly a flush appeared on her cheeks.

"Oh!" Matsu grinned sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "Matsu forgot she had left that in there for Shirou-tan to find…"

"What is the matter, Rin?" Saber frowned, before rising to go check on her Master. Kuu refused to let go of the swordswoman, and Saber clumsily put an arm under to help support the younger girl as Kuu latched onto her neck in a hug. "What is… my word!"

Saber took one look at the screen before a blush of her own appeared, and her free hand instantly came up to cover Kuu's eyes. The girl squirmed briefly, grumbling as her sight was blocked.

"Ah," Akitsu seemed to realize what was happening and quickly, well, quickly for her anyway, rose to go check on the screen. "That is my favorite one," she nodded.

"That's why Matsu kept it," the hacker admitted proudly.

Miya and I shared a glance, and then both of us sighed. I turned back to the stove, even as Miya made her way out to the room again.

"Matsu," the landlady began, and suddenly Matsu didn't seem quite as proud. "Corrupting two innocent newcomers to Izumo House is prohibited!"

Even as the madness that was everyday life of Izumo House continued, I bit my lip.

I had the impression that things wouldn't stay like this for very long at all.


	40. Fortieth Wing

In Flight: The Fortieth Wing

_Author's Notes: Right. Here it is. Number 40. Honestly, this should have been done like three days ago. I was pounding this chapter out like no one's business, but there reached a point where I realized I had wrote three pages of crap, that my eyes were bleeding, and that I didn't know what day it was, so I stopped, took a deep breath, and let myself calm down to really finish it._

_Well, reach a good stopping point. Finishing will be next chapter._

_On to the reviews. _

_So, mixed reviews here. Doesn't surprise me. I figured out a long time ago that this arc, Saber and Rin's return, would most likely be a flash point for most readers. It's been a lot of time, and a lot of anticipation has built up. Most readers have expectations, and there's no way I'm going to be able to please everyone._

_That being said, eh. I had this planned nearly from the very beginning. In Flight has always been coming here. If you don't like that, well, I'm not going to lose any sleep. This is my story, and it will go like I planned it._

_So all of you who were happy with Rin and Saber's first meeting with the Flock, and expect more light hearted highjinks..._

_Yeah. Sorry._

_So, without going any further, this is the point where I_

_*Spoilers alert*_

_I've been trying to emphasize, aiming for subtle but not sure I pulled it off, what it means to be a magi. To put it bluntly, a magus will sacrifice their second daughter to a worm ridden monstrosity which will torture her endlessly, eventually leaving her a broken shell meant for nothing more than breeding and unable to live without the semen of men. And a magus would think it a move well played._

_Thank you, Tokiomi, for illustrating that point quite clearly. Is there any wonder Kariya wanted out?_

_I've always wanted the harsh and dangerous views of the type-moon world's mages to come into conflict, to actually have the chance to confront the much more idealistic version of reality that Sekirei had to offer._

_Just hope I pulled off a genuine clashing of ideals, and didn't end up falling into writer-wank territory. That will be up to you the readers to decide._

_Points to note, well, there's a lot of them. This entire chapter is something I've been nervous about for a while._

_Briefly listed, there's Rin revealing her magus side. Didn't want to go overboard there, but I want to emphasize it. _

_Also, Homura having an emotional breakdown. I suppose this is the final hit to the poor flame alien's biology as she finally hits the cliche and goes all the way in her dedication to her Ashikabi._

_Finally, the end. A while back... A LONG while back at this point, I realized that the Clock Tower would have to have a strong presence in Shin Tokyo. Even though I had labored through a whole lot of errata to make it, the idea that I needed a strongly identifiable magus presence in this story struck me as necessary. _

_Honestly, once I thought, "hmm, how about Rin and Saber?" like a third of the story was set right then and there._

_Still not sure if this will work. I know what I imagined in my head when I first conceived this story, and I know where I'm going with it._

_But please, don't hesitate for a second to review or comment on my forum. This is one of those things where I really want to know your honest base opinion. _

_*Spoilers end*_

_And here we go. _

_Just want to make a comment? Throw out a review. Want the chance of a response, or even to just talk about the story with other readers? Forums. And as always..._

_Enjoy, dear reader._

*Story Start*

"My," Miya at least seemed at little disturbed as she took in the sight before her. "You certainly have quite the appetite, don't you Saber-san?"

"Both kingdoms and armies are run by their stomachs," Saber declared solemnly, not even pausing as her chopsticks made steady trips between the plate in front of her and her mouth. "Meals should not be turned down when the chance to eat is presented."

"That and it's been a while since you had any of Shirou's cooking," Rin teased, grinning as she took in the sight of my flock staring at Saber. I had been prepared for the swordswoman's appetite, and had cooked accordingly, but it looks like none of the others had been ready for the sheer amount that Saber was able to consume.

"Where does she put it all?" Homura muttered. The former host in particular had been keeping careful watch on her new idol and was even now staring in awe at the still eating woman, though it looked like even the revelation of Saber's gluttony wasn't enough to diminish the former host's awe.

"Amazing," Kazehana also nodded respectfully. "And it doesn't appear to affect her figure at all."

Rin just grinned, apparently enjoying watching the aliens be confounded, before she turned back to Matsu. "So, biologically speaking, just how different are the Sekirei? I assume you all have comparable organ structures."

"Mm," Matsu nodded, also shaking herself free from the spectacle of Saber, who didn't even have the grace to blush as she continued to polish off significant portions of the heavily laden table. "There are no major differences in our structure," the hacker admitted, plucking away at her doohickey before holding it up to show off some sort of diagram. Matsu had been making sure to use her tablet as much as possible, probably still trying to impress Rin with the usefulness of her natural abilities. "Actually, even Matsu thinks it's a little strange how similar Sekirei and humans are."

"Could it have been your adjusters who were responsible?" Rin proposed, but Matsu shook her head slowly. Rin and Matsu had spent most of the meal, and even the time before it, talking back and forth like this. I think Matsu had been impressed by just how insightful Rin could be. Even if Rin hadn't even known about the Sekirei until an hour ago, already the magus was throwing around words like 'adjusters' as though she had been studying the species for months.

I was sure that Matsu was aware that Rin was most likely fishing for as much information about her species as possible, though why the hacker had a reason for indulging the other girl.

"No, Matsu has checked MBI's databases in the past," the hacker admitted. "Though Matsu is curious about the similarity of Sekirei and humans regarding magic circuits. Where do humans have them?"

Just as Rin had been fishing, so had Matsu. Both seemed to be smart enough to know that a little give and take would get both of them a wellspring of information that they were curious about.

Frankly, considering just how much Rin was picking up with just this conversation kind of made me feel a little inadequate as a magus. I hadn't even thought to question the potential differences in Sekirei and human bodies. Rin was probably picking up as much about Sekirei in this one meal as I had in the months I had lived with the other species.

Even as the two frighteningly intelligent women talked, most of the house seemed to have settled down to something resembling normality. Most of my flock had settled down, the calm fashion in which Rin and Saber were handling things apparently easing some of their worries regarding what my two past lovers were planning. If anything, it almost felt like they were making moves to integrate the two into the normal house shenanigans, if Matsu's earlier faux passé with one of her porn traps was anything to judge by.

I wasn't sure if this was just another aspect of the species as a whole, considering that there was always the potential chance that just by having their Ashikabi wing them it increased the Ashikabi's chance of attracting more partners, or if my flock in particular was just used to having more people added, seeing as I had gathered quite a number of the species rather quickly.

Still, even as Saber finally started to wrap things up, the tiny swordswoman having succeeding in ensuring that there would be no leftovers of this feast, the rest of Izumo House seemed to be gearing up for the rest of the evening. Even with Rin and Saber's presence there was still the enforced habit of the nightly customs to see to.

"Time to clear up the table, Shirou-sama," Musubi chirped, happily starting to gather some of the pots and pans from off the table. Beside her, Tsukiumi began to help as well.

"I will not be the one washing tonight," the water user declared, causing Musubi to give her a curious look.

"But Tsukiumi always washes," she reminded her friend, causing Tsukiumi to glower. "Because Tsukiumi is the one who makes the water."

"And as I keep saying," Tsukiumi declared, exasperation obvious in her tone. "That is discrimination because of my power! It's not fair that I should always be washing the dishes, or cleaning the baths…"

"Don't worry, Tsukiumi-san!" Musubi cheered as the two made their way to the kitchen. "This time I'll be the one to heat up the water!"

"No!" Tsukiumi snapped instantly, hastily moving to cut the bear Sekirei off. "No lasers in the kitchen!"

"Lasers?" Rin cocked her head to the side, giving the departing duo an odd look. She sighed, shaking her head as she did so. "Why do I get the impression that I don't want to know?"

"Because Rin-tan is a smart woman?" Matsu suggested, having already started to add her customary suffix to the magus' name.

"Let me, Sa-nee-chan!" Kuu declared, having bounced over to where Saber was sitting, the young Sekirei already starting to collect the King's dishes. Saber blinked in surprise over having been assigned a nickname of her own, before smiling gently at the young girl.

"It's fine, little one," she told Kuu, moving to gather her own dishes, but Kuu just shook her head quickly, her long blond hair flouncing around as she did so.

"Kuu-chan is helping!" she declared emphatically, putting her hands up in the air at the childish proclamation. The sight made Saber smile even more.

"Now, now," Miya interrupted the two, her eyes lidded as she smiled down at Kuu. "It wouldn't be proper to make the guests have to clean up. How would you and Tousaka-san like to make use of the baths first?"

"It is no trouble," Saber began, before Rin cut her off.

"Actually, if that's okay, we are a little tired from traveling," the magus declared, turning away from her conversation with Matsu. Rin gave an apologetic smile to the landlady, one that twitched ever so slightly as she did so. "That is, as long as going first isn't prohibited or anything."

Yeah, I think Miya had made quite an impression on the magus. Getting Hannya-ed twice in rapid succession already definitely had put Rin on edge around the landlady.

"Rin," Saber began, hesitating, before she met Rin's eyes and nodded. "Indeed," she agreed. "If it is acceptable, than we shall proceed first."

"Oh! Me too!" Musubi declared, poking her head out of the kitchen excitedly. "Let me wash your backs, Saber-san, Rin-san! It's my specialty."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Rin assured the other Sekirei, and I nearly missed the moment when her eyes flashed to meet mine.

Even though it had been nearly a year since we'd been in the same room, I found that I still could instantly read that look.

"Why don't we go ahead and finish the dishes first," I suggested, giving Musubi a reassuring smile. "Afterwards, you can join them, alright?"

"Okay," Musubi capitulated, before yelping as Tsukiumi appeared, grabbing her by the ear and pulling her back to the kitchen.

"No getting out of work!" the water user declared, before spinning and pointing at Homura. "And you! Hurry up and get in here so we can heat the water!"

"What?" Homura blinked, obviously not having expected to be singled out. She had always been a rather distant figure among the flock, and it seemed to surprise her when she found herself being drafted into chores too. "But I…"

"No excuses!" Tsukiumi declared. "I've been lax on you too long! As a rival, it's your duty to help with the chores too!"

"But just to heat up the dish water…" Homura seemed to find the mundane use of her power every bit as distasteful as Tsukiumi did.

"Well, perhaps if someone were to start paying rent again…" Miya mused, and Homura realized that the landlady had somehow appeared behind her. The former host started to sweat slightly at the implied threat before she sagged, capitulating.

"Fine, fine," she declared. "I'm coming."

Actually, strangely enough, I was rather happy with that turn of events. I had always felt that Homura was a little too isolated from the rest, though she had a pretty good reason with that, what with once having been a man and then having to keep her slow change of gender a secret.

"Have fun," Kazehana waved at the fire user, already reaching for a bottle of sake, before she caught Miya's expectant look. With a sigh, the Wind Sekirei didn't even bother to put up a fight as she pushed herself up, starting to head towards the kitchen as well. "I guess I'm drying," she sighed.

Matsu on the other hand just gave Rin, and then me a slow look, before nodding slowly. I realized she had caught the glance that Rin and I had exchanged and managed to guess what it meant. "Matsu will help too," she finally declared, nodding firmly as she did so.

"There you go," I told Rin and Saber. "We should only take about fifteen minutes," I told them. "Then you two should have a little company in there."

Rin gave me a brief sharp smile, before putting on a more genial expression.

She wanted a chance to talk to Saber alone, and with so many people in the house this was probably going to be the best chance for her to do that. A part of me wondered if it would really be safe for me to give Rin a chance to plot without me knowing, but when she had given me that wordless request I had just done it on instinct.

A legacy of the time we had spent together master and apprentice, maybe? Or maybe the time as lovers?

Whatever the case was, Rin and Saber were outnumbered here, and unprepared for the situation. It seemed fair to give the two of them time to digest the situation out of sight.

Not too much time though. There was still the very real chance that Rin was plotting something, and if that something was some kind of revenge on me, the less time she had to prepare meant the less embarrassing and potentially painful that revenge would be.

Though the fact that it was Miya who had made the move to set this up was also worrying. The fact that Matsu agreed even more so.

*Scene Break*

"There," I declared, wiping my forehead with the back of one hand after having tucked away the last of the pots into the cabinet.

Even though so much time had passed, even as tense and dangerous the situation was, and that was including both the mounting Sekirei Plan and Saber and Rin's appearance, it was still good to be able to get back in the kitchen.

"We're going ahead then, Shirou-sama," Musubi declared, waving as she left the room, trailing after Tsukiumi, Kazehana, Matsu, and Kuu as the group made their way out of the kitchen and down the hallway, heading towards the bathroom.

"Have fun," I waved back, hoping that Rin and Saber had had enough time alone but knowing there wasn't much I could do to prolong it at this point. With this many people living in one place alone time was hard to come by on occasion. I blinked, realizing that though most of the group had decided to avail themselves of the bath, two of my flock seemed inclined to decline. "You can go too if you want, Akitsu."

At my side, my first Sekirei shook her head slowly. "Ah," she began softly. "I would rather stay with Master."

I blinked, before slowly turning more of my attention towards the snow woman. It had been a while since she had called me that, and the fact that she had now made me pay closer attention to her demeanor. Akitsu was standing a closer to me than she normally did, nearly brushing against me with her proximity. Nothing else in her posture seemed any different, but I had been around the Sekirei for long enough for me to decently guess at why she was here.

"Akitsu," I sighed, before wrapping one arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a hug. She didn't resist, and after a moment her arms came up hesitantly to lightly clutch at my shirt.

It was obvious that Akitsu was worried. No, it was obvious that everyone was worried. They were Sekirei, after all, creatures that existed solely to devote themselves to their Ashikabi. But Ashikabi were human, and now two people that I had already admitted to loving, who had been my lovers for years, which were also human, well, had been human in Saber's case, had shown up.

Anyone who thought that that kind of worry would be settled just because of a ladle and an admittedly frightening mask was an idiot.

And the sad part was, I had no idea what to do to alleviate that worry.

Rin and Saber being here… I had no idea what to do. I had managed to bull through so far, to keep things from getting violent, but those two being here…

I didn't know what that meant: for me, for my flock, for Saber and Rin themselves, for the Sekirei Plan, for the Clock Tower.

I didn't like not knowing. I didn't like not being able to do anything. I didn't like having to wait and see. It felt like back at the beginning of the Sekirei Plan, when my only option was to wait and hope against hope that something would change, that I would find a way out of the Plan without having to hurt dozens of innocent victims.

Somehow I doubted waiting would be nearly as effective in this case. But what could I do now? I couldn't go back to Saber and Rin, not with the Clock Tower out there, not with my flock here, not with the Sekirei Plan happening. But, if the two asked me, I wouldn't be able to turn my back on them either, not after everything that we had had.

I felt paralyzed, unable to properly think, unable to properly plan.

I also felt like one of those annoying harem anime protagonists, the wimpy indecisive kind that always ends up leading on like a dozen different girls.

Well, at least it wasn't likely that this would head toward erogame protagonist ground, the part where the protagonist ends up sleeping with all the girls, sometimes simultaneously. That had to count for something.

At least, I hoped things wouldn't end up like that.

Still, the hug at least seemed to calm Akitsu down a bit, and after a moment when I let her go she drifted back to her usual position. Relieved that I was able to do that much, I glanced around the kitchen one final time to make sure everything was back in its proper position, before something else occurred to me.

"Where did Homura go?" I muttered, not recalling when the Fire Sekirei had disappeared. She hadn't headed to the baths with the rest, but that didn't surprise me. She probably still wasn't comfortable with exposing herself too much in company. Even if she was biologically fully female now, it still wouldn't make it any less awkward to start bathing with other women. Homura tended to prefer cleaning up alone, a habit even from back when he had been fully male.

Still, regardless of her circumstances, if even Akitsu was feeling upset by all this then I would bet that Homura was also dealing with some stress. I doubted she'd need a hug, but maybe a quick talk might help. With that in mind, I started trying to track down the former host.

I was heading to her room, expecting that she would probably be in there, maybe with her newly autographed copy of 'The Once and Future King', when I picked up some soft voices coming from the room where Miya kept her shrine for her husband. At first I thought that maybe Homura and Miya were just talking about something, but my eyes crinkled when I realized that one of those voices was apparently Musubi. A second later, I heard Tsukiumi as well.

Pursing my lip, I wondered if maybe they had decided to skip the bath after all. Curious at what the two were up to, I headed towards the shrine room instead of Homura's.

Right before I opened the door, I was surprised when I heard even Kazehana speaking. With apparently a large number of my flock having either skipped out on the bath or been delayed, I decided to just go right in. I pushed the sliding door open, calling out as I did so, "I thought you all were going to the baths…?"

I trailed off, blinking in surprise at the scene I had come across. Musubi, Tsukiumi, and Kazehana were not, in fact, present at all. Instead, I found a startled Homura, the fire user leaning against a wall with her arms folded under her breasts, and a calm Miya, who was kneeling at a table upon which rested a rubber duck of all things.

"Shirou," Homura gulped, giving me a nervous look. "That is…" she trailed off, giving the duck an equally nervous look of all things, "this isn't what it looks like."

"Oh my," Miya just sighed, putting a hand to her cheek. "I hadn't thought you would arrive, Emiya-kun."

"Just what is going on…" I began, only to be cut off as a new voice cut in, coming from the rubber duck of all things.

"Thank you, Musubi-san," Saber's voice declared, sounding pleased. "You are indeed quite skilled at washing backs."

"It's my specialty!" Musubi's voice followed shortly afterwards, slightly crackly as it emerged from the duck.

"Did she sneak a grope in there?" Rin's voice also emerged, the magus sounding disturbed by something.

"Relax!" Matsu apparently told her. "What's a little skinship between friends?"

"Is that a speaker?" I puzzled, pushing the rest of the way into the room, staring at what was apparently some kind of radio. "And why is it a duck?"

"Why Emiya-kun!" Miya sounded innocently aghast. "It seems you've found out the truth. Mister Duckie so loves to tell other people's secrets."

"Apparently it links up to some of Matsu's bugs," Homura at least had the grace to sound sheepish. "Miya tends to like using it to help keep track of some of Izumo House."

"Kuu-chan! Make sure to wash your hair," Kazehana scolded, laughing at something that was happening in the bathroom.

"Kuu-chan doesn't wanna!" the Green Girl declared.

"Now, now," Saber chided gently. "It's unseemly for young girls to be dirty."

"Uhhhh," Kuu groaned, but apparently she was already charmed by Saber enough to give in.

"What is it with you aliens and your inability to grasp the word 'privacy'?" I wondered, giving an exasperated sigh as Miya just smiled innocently at me. Somehow, it didn't even surprise me. Miya always had seemed to know a little too much about what was going on in Izumo House, like when she had known that I had Matsu collecting portfolios and other things like that.

"Now, now, Emiya-kun," Miya still had that innocent look on her face. "It's my duty as the landlady to make sure that nothing prohibited is going on!"

"So that's why you let Rin and Saber go ahead," I snapped, ignoring Miya's justification. I wasn't going to get anywhere trying to call her on it. "So you could spy on them…"

"Why, I wouldn't call it spying," Miya dodged the issue, but her eyes did narrow briefly. Miya had disappeared shortly after she had sent Rin and Saber ahead. She must have been listening in on them when they had thought their conversation would be private. Since the landlady didn't seem to disturbed, I imagine whatever they were talking about hadn't been too outrageous. At least, not something that would affect Izumo House as a whole anyway.

"You're right," I nodded, deciding that not to ask Miya what the two had discussed. Instead, I felt a smile start to form as I gave the lavenderette a wide, innocent smile of my own. "Why, if I had to put a word to something like this, I would have to go with 'peeping' myself."

Miya winced, and at the side Homura's eye's widened, before she quickly turned aside, one hand coming up to cover her mouth, much in the same way she had after she had figured out Rin's personality.

"Che," Rin's voice sounded annoyed. "It sure has gotten crowded in here."

"Now, now!" Kazehana laughed heartily. It sounded like she had already gotten a head start on the evening's drinking. "Don't be like that! Let's have a nice chat amongst ourselves naked, as women!"

"Emiya-kun," Miya sounded slightly pained at the word I had chosen for her bad habit. "I wouldn't use that word myself…"

"Now, now, Miya," I interrupted blithely in a reassuring voice. "Just because you have a peeping habit isn't bad. I mean, Matsu had one too, and look how she turned out." I imagined my words as invisible arrows, and the way Miya flinched at having been compared to the perverted hacker indicated that those arrows had struck home.

"Emiya-kun…" despite my words, she didn't seem to have any kind of counter argument prepared. It looked like Miya might have a bit of a guilty conscience, knowing deep in her heart that I spoke only the unvarnished truth of her dirty habit.

"Why does the chat have to be naked?" Rin sounded exasperated. "Try to think of what the other side feels! What would we have to talk about naked that can't wait until we're clothed, anyway?"

"Well, Shirou-tan for one thing," Matsu supplied, her tone cheerful. It sounded like the lascivious witch was in full blown 'perverted old man' mode at this point.

"Why," I continued, still beaming a smile at the shrinking landlady, "you could even ask Matsu for help. I'm sure she could keep you supplied on all the latest peeping trends!"

"You're going to make me mad, Emiya-kun," Miya told me, though it was in a tone that distinctly lacked heat.

"Oh?" Rin sounded amused by the hacker's choice of suggestion. "And just what about him would we discuss?"

"Like what the hell is wrong with Shirou-sama," Matsu answered back, and I paused in teasing Miya. That was Matsu alright, but not the playful Matsu. That was Matsu without her glasses for sure.

"Wrong with him?" Rin sounded less amused then earlier, more cautious now. "The blockhead was fine, last time I saw him."

"That was not what I was referring to when I asked what was wrong with him, Rin-sama," Matsu answered, her tone cool. Miya managed to perk up from the slump my verbal brow beating had put her in, and even Homura paused where she was suppressing laughter, focusing her attention on the little duck.

"Shirou-sama deliberately stays behind to continue with the Sekirei Plan, despite being pursued by members of your organization, even after he had been found," Matsu continued, still sounding like she was in non-glasses mode. "He pays no mind to his body while in battle, going so far as to even impale himself to defeat an enemy, and his entire method of sword fighting deliberately puts himself in lethal risk. He doesn't hesitate to even use his sister as bait, and yet still clearly cares for her. He performed magecraft which caused swords to erupt from his body, and he payed them no mind. Everything he does puts himself at danger, and despite all that he continues."

Matsu's tone had gotten harsher and harsher as she continued the list. "He talks about 'walking the Path of the Shura' but he only seems to do so for the sake of others. When asked, he simply states he is used to it and continues on without hesitation. Again and again, he just keeps taking the problems of all other, never once trying to find help for his own problems. And despite all that is wrong with him, all the terrible danger he puts himself through, he doesn't notice. He doesn't even notice how dangerous it is to him, doesn't notice his own pain, doesn't even notice that he is not alone and that his actions worry those who love him.

"So, I ask again, what the hell is wrong with our Ashikabi!" Matsu's last sentence was emphasized by a sudden splashing noise, as though she had struck the water of the bath. Silence greeted her final proclamation, a silence I could understand all too well.

When Matsu finally snapped, it was hard not to be unnerved by it. Like right after she had pinned me to the ground and slapped me silly, I found myself frozen, unable to properly think of a response to such a passionate declaration of worry.

"So," Rin finally said softly. "You had noticed." She chuckled slightly, sounding amused. "If you hadn't, than I wouldn't have hesitated to take him away from you."

A silence so sharp that if it were glass it would cut settled, not just in the bathroom, but in the shrine room as well.

"What did you…" Tsukiumi began, but Matsu cut her off, the normally easy going hacker speaking with a solid note of authority in her voice.

"So there is something wrong with Shirou-sama," she declared, sounding like she wasn't surprised. "And you are already aware of just what it is."

"That's right," Rin declared easily, splashing noises coming from the duck. "He's distorted." She chuckled softly. "I'm honestly surprised any of you picked up on it. I guess you aren't all just a bunch of empty headed aliens after all." Just like with Matsu, Rin's voice had changed as well. Gone was the easy going conversation, the perfect student. Her tone was clinical, calm, and with a hint of ice in it.

It looks like both the hacker and the magus had gotten serious.

I had the feeling that this, even more then the tense scene right at the beginning, was the true confrontation that had been waiting between my flock and my lovers.

"It's hard not to notice," Kazehana chimed in, still sounding teasing, but with an edge there herself. It was a tone fitting for a former member of the Disciplinary Squad. "Lover-kun isn't very subtle."

"Distorted?" Musubi chimed in, though despite the tension everyone else was apparently feeling she sounded as cheerful and oblivious as always. If anything, she actually sounded curious at having the word I had used to describe her repeated in front of her.

"So?" Rin continued, "Why are you coming to me? Shouldn't you just go to the source and ask him?"

"I've tried," Matsu admitted. "However, Shirou-sama doesn't even notice. When he tries to take everything on himself, when he forgets that he isn't alone, or when he starts talking about that 'Path of the Shura'…"

"As though Shirou should ever think such ridiculous things," Tsukiumi declared, sounding annoyed at me being willing to commit myself completely to helping the majority, even if I can't save everyone. "With me, the strongest of the Sekirei beside him he doesn't need something as ridiculous as the 'Path of Shura'!"

"'The Path of the Shura'," Rin hummed, sounding as though she was tasting the word before she sighed, so softly the microphone barely picked up on it. "Do you have any idea how hard it was maneuvering him into that way of thinking?"

I froze.

What?

"What did you say?" Matsu also sounded like she hadn't been expecting that confession, and I heard several sets of sudden splashing, followed by the bathroom going quiet.

"I said that I was the one who set him on that path," Rin admitted freely, tone still clinical. "Mostly through minor suggestions, offhand comments, occasionally by just pointing things out, but eventually, I was able to get him to follow that way of thinking."

"You," Kazehana no longer sounded even remotely playful. "Why would you ever think of doing something like that!"

"Because it was better than the way he used to think!" Rin snapped back, tone just as sharp. "Frankly, anything was better than the way he used to think!"

"What do you mean?" Matsu again, still sounding agitated, but with a note of caution as she waited for Rin to explain herself. The bathroom was silent for several long moments, before Rin finally sighed.

"I assume Shirou told you about the Grail War?" she began, and apparently got some sort of acknowledgment. "I am a magus," she continued, splashing noises accompanying her words. "I was raised since birth knowing that. The knowledge, the lifestyle, all of it: ever since I was a child I'd grown up knowing what it meant to use magecraft. When the Grail War started, I was prepared for the worst. I knew how dangerous it was; my father had even died in the last one, and my mother…" she trailed off, her voice tight, before she changed the subject. "I thought I was ready for the War."

"I hear a 'but' coming," Kazehana murmured, tone still tense. The Wind Sekirei didn't seem quite as willing to wait for Rin to come to the point as Matsu was, but still hadn't attacked the magus outright at least.

"But then there was the attack on our school," Rin went on as though the other girl hadn't interrupted her. "One of the Servants, Rider, had some sort of bounded field. It dissolved and digested every living creature in it, like a stomach, in order to give her their prana. She was stopped before she could finish it, but even then the people inside didn't get out unharmed. The students, our classmates, some of them looked like they had been dipped in acid. Their eyes had melted out, their flesh falling off their bones, fingers and limbs melted and stuck together." There were more splashing noises, probably from my flock as they tried to imagine the scene. "When I saw it, I just, I just froze," it didn't seem easy for Rin to admit that, but she bulled through anyway. "I couldn't do anything but just look at them, telling myself if I had just been a little faster they wouldn't have died.

"And then Shirou just walks up to them as though it were a day at the park, takes one look, and announces that they weren't dead. Shirou, who was back then a complete amateur, who couldn't even get his magic circuits to activate right, who could barely get even the most basic of magecraft to work, who wasn't even raised as a proper magus, just walked through that hellish scene without being the least bit affected. At first, I couldn't understand why, but as we worked together I started to understand. He could be unaffected by something like that because he was used to it, because he had already been through worse."

"The Fourth War," Matsu murmured, recognition warring with growing discomfort in her tone. Rin gave a dark chuckle.

"I used to think he never brought up what happened to him because it made him uncomfortable," the magus continued. "Then, one day I worked up the nerve to ask him and found out that the reason he never brought it up wasn't that he didn't like talking about it, but because he simply didn't think it was important. A word of advice? Never ask him about the fire. He'll tell you."

"And why wouldn't we want to know about our husband's past?" Tsukiumi declared, that same uneasiness that Matsu had in her tone despite her strong words. Rin snorted, but apparently it wasn't worth the effort to call Tsukiumi on her title for me.

"Because he'll tell you things worse than what happened to students that happened to him and everyone else, and he won't even flinch. He doesn't even realize that if something like that happened to anyone else, they'd probably break down at the thought of it." Another splashing noise as Rin continued. "When it happened, something happened to Shirou. It did something to him up here. It twisted him, left him wrong: distorted, like I said."

"What do you mean by distorted?" Matsu pressed, focusing in on the term Rin preferred to use when talking about my personality.

"I mean he just can't understand how wrong his way of thinking is!" Rin snapped, before she seemed to get control of herself. "Shirou goes around weighing the lives of everyone around him, trying to save or help whoever he can, but back then when he weighed lives he never included his own in it. He'd charge in to anything, no matter how hopeless, no matter how impossible, and he did it without even hesitating, without ever even once worrying about whether or not he could survive it. That way of thinking is wrong! You can't just measure lives on a scale and not include your own in the calculation. Your life is the heaviest thing on the scale; no it is the scale itself! If the scale breaks, than that's it, it's all over."

"So?" Kazehana countered, voice tight. "Just because Lover-kun got in over his head trying to help people, so what? If that's the kind of thing he likes, than what's wrong with doing it?"

"It is not so simple, Kazehana-san," this time it was Saber who spoke up. Unlike Rin, her tone was normal, none of the changes in personality that Rin and I favored when we were shifting modes. I suppose, for Saber, there was really only one mode for her, one state of mind that she ever used: that of the King.

"Why isn't it simple?" Matsu interrupted, her tone cautious and probing. "If it was just something like a messiah complex, or maybe some sort of survivor's guild…"

"It's different from a messiah complex," Saber's voice was accompanied by small splashing sounds. "In a messiah complex, even if the one with the complex is acting similar, while doing so they get some kind of joy from their actions, a sense of satisfaction or even accomplishment. Similarly, for survivor's guilt there would be some sort of negative emotion attached, guilt, remorse, shame, or something similar. Shirou does not feel anything: no joy, no regret, no satisfaction, no remorse. For Shirou, saving people is simply as natural as breathing, an unavoidable reaction. He doesn't pause to consider what gain he might have from helping someone, he simply does so." Saber paused for a moment, and when she continued her tone had a hint of something bitter. "It would be admirable, if it wasn't so discouraging."

"So?" Kazehana still sounded confrontational though a bit more subdued. She didn't even try to argue Saber's conclusion. "So your lover needs help, and you think the best thing to do is put him on the path soaked in blood?"

"When the Grail War ended, I promised myself that I would find some way to get Shirou to like himself," Rin spoke softly, tone still cool. "I swore that I would get him to value himself. Originally, I thought the Path of the Shura would be just the first step. If I could get him to consider his own safety, even if only in regards to how many other he could save, at least it would be a step in the right direction."

That… that was actually disturbingly Rin right there. It was a methodical plan, one which had a logical step by step course, however callous it might be to the target, and disregarded all of the damage it would do to everyone besides the target along the way.

How very magus like.

"If this was just supposed to be the first step, than why didn't you take the next one?" Matsu asked, tone still probing. "Why is Shirou still so obsessed with the Path of the Shura."

"I tried!" Rin snapped, before pausing for a moment. "I tried, but the thing is, Shirou doesn't see it as a bad thing, so he doesn't want to change. And tell me, have you ever tried to change Shirou when his minds made up on something?" A splashing noise happened, and when Rin spoke again he voice was slightly amused. "Not so easy, is it?"

"Hmph," Tsukiumi snorted. "This is all irrelevant, anyway. If our husband decides to follow such a course, then it is our duty as wives to help him. If he will not consider his own life, than we will simply consider it for him."

"It's not that simple, Tsukiumi-san," Matsu began, only for the water user to cut her off.

"Yes, it is," Tsukiumi declared resolutely. "We do not need to worry about whatever our husband has been through, because now he has us."

"Well said, Panty-Flasher-chan," Kazehana murmured, sounding pleased with her fellow Sekirei. "Mah," she continued, sounding much more light hearted than earlier. "I suppose if Lover-kun could melt even my old love, than it's up to us to make sure he is happy too, neh?"

"Yeah!" Musubi chimed in cheerily, unlike the rest of the group apparently completely unaffected by the news of my unusual nature. "Love is the answer!" I could hear Kuu making humming as well, apparently joining in with rest.

"Oh?" Rin snorted, still sounding bitter. "Not going to back off now that you know how damaged Shirou is? You've only known him for a few months, after all. So sure that you're really in love with him?"

"Yes," Matsu declared solemnly. "It seems you do not understand what we Sekirei are. That's not too surprising," she admitted. "Even Shirou-sama sometimes has trouble understanding, and he's been around us for a lot longer."

"Really?" Rin sounded dismissive, probably not believing a word that the rest of my flock was saying.

"Yes," Matsu affirmed, her voice absolutely confident. "We Sekirei are beings of love. We cannot live without our Ashikabi. Our first thoughts in the morning are of him, and our last thoughts at night. When he laughs, our hearts can't stop beating frantically, and when he's sad it's like we might die. We exist only for our Ashikabi." Matsu's voice turned hard. "And we will not give him up. Not for anyone."

"How can you just…" Rin began, before cutting herself off. When she continued her voice had a note of calculation in it. "Your bond. That's it, isn't it? That's why you can say something like that, how you can claim to be devoted, even if it's only been a few months, even to someone as distorted as Shirou."

"That is correct, Rin-sama," Matsu acknowledged. "He is our Ashikabi, and we will do anything for him."

"And it doesn't matter if Shirou-sama is distorted," Musubi declared afterwards, still sounding happy. "After all, he said Musubi was distorted too, so that can't be that bad a thing!"

"Shirou said that you were distorted?" Rin snorted. "What, were you caught in a fire and hideously scarred mentally, leaving you unable to function like a normal person for the rest of your life?"

"No," Musubi sounded confused before she brightened. "But I was kidnapped when I was a child, and experimented on! They cut me up, and drugged me, and hurt me so much that I almost died before Yume-sama saved me!"

"M-Musubi!" Tsukiumi gasped, sounding horrified at the Bear Sekirei's declaration. I could only imagine how the room as a whole must be looking at Musubi after that declaration. Most of them didn't even know what she had been through, and probably never even suspected that someone so bright and friendly could have gone through something like that. Even someone like me felt a tightening in my gut as she so casually admitted to something so horrifying.

Was that what it felt like for others when I talked about the fire?

"Well crap," Rin finally swore, sounding unnerved. "Oh god, there just might be two of them."

"Musubi-san's past aside," Matsu didn't sound as horrified as the others most likely were, probably because she was the one who had researched just what had happened to Musubi right after she was kidnapped. She had been the one to find the files and pass them on to me, after all. "The question now, is what are you going to do about it, Rin-sama?"

I had the suspicion that Matsu had been planning this confrontation; probably from the moment Rin and Saber had arrived. It was so like the hacker. When she needed information, when there was something that she thought was necessary, she would go to unbelievable lengths to get it. Hacking files indiscriminately, bugging and monitoring all of Izumo house, hell, this was the Sekirei who would even go so far as to force her Ashikabi, the one who she loved more than anything else in the world, to reveal his secrets by manipulating him, consequences be damned.

A silence settled over the room, and even though I wasn't there I could imagine the tension that must be present. Finally, Rin snorted again, a harsh noise.

"Actually," she began, her tone cold, hard, but with a sense of reason to it. "I'm going to support you."

"What?" Matsu sounded absolutely surprised, no doubt having expected something a little more antagonistic out of the magus.

"Rin," Saber murmured, but she didn't sound outraged at such a sudden surrender. If anything, she sounded resolved.

"What are you talking about?" Kazehana for once sounded completely unnerved, none of the teasing or flirting that she usually used present. It didn't surprise me. For Kazehana, a Sekirei almost as devoted to love as even Musubi was, the very idea of encouraging the competition, of not doing anything to protect her love and maybe even endangering it, must be unthinkable.

"Rather," Rin corrected herself, "I'm going to use you all as a chain around Shirou's neck."

"What do you mean?" Matsu sounded on edge after that last statement.

"You see, just like before, what I want for Shirou is for him to value himself," the magus continued. "The Path of the Shura managed to get him to consider his life, even if it was just in relation to others. But now…" Rin trailed off for a moment. "Your bonding. Let me ask you this: if Shirou were to die, what would happen to all of you?"

"We cease to function completely," Matsu admitted slowly. "All of our consciousness, even our bodies, would stop."

"Well," Rin declared, sounding satisfied. "Now if Shirou doesn't take care of himself, it's not just him that will suffer. Now, before he does something reckless, he'll have to realize it's not just his life on the line: all of you will die too." Rin sounded grimly amused at that. "So what do you think that will do to him calculating his own self value?"

It struck me like a knife, how true Rin's words were. Ever since that first time, when I had winged Homura, ever since then, it was no longer just my life in danger when I fought. Homura, Musubi, Matsu, Tsukiumi, Kazehana, little Kusano, and even Akitsu after I had managed to bond with her:

If I died, so would all of them, my flock, my strange girls who had come to hold a place in my heart.

Had I ever really considered that? I tried to think of even one time when I had considered just what the consequences of me being reckless might mean to my flock, and I realized that I had never truly realized it, never had the moment where the thought had fully conceptualized in me.

That Rin. Even now, after having been apart for months, even without me being in the same room, she still managed to make me feel like a moron so easily.

"Y-you," Tsukiumi sounded absolutely horrified at Rin's words, unable to fully believe that Rin say something like that.

"You're going to use us as blackmail," Kazehana noted flatly. "Blackmail in order to make Shirou take better care of himself."

"It might work," Matsu was the only one who seemed able to hear Rin's explanation and not be upset by it. "In a way, it might be the next step to push Shirou-sama away from the Path of the Shura." She started to chuckle, though it was bitter. "Still, I had always thought Shirou-sama was exaggerating, when he talked about magi. It seems I was wrong again. You're a scary person, Rin-sama."

I didn't blame her for saying it. It was something I had known for a long time. Rin had shown up, not knowing anything of what had been happening in Shin Tokyo, and in a matter of hours had managed to find a way to use the situation to her advantage. She had gone from being about to unleash her Magic Crest on my flock to using them as a way to accomplish her goal, regardless of her personal feelings.

It was the ruthlessness of a magus that I had come to expect.

"How dare you," Tsukiumi hissed, outrage starting to appear in her voice. "How dare you try to…"

"Settle down, Panty-Flasher-chan," Kazehana spoke up. The perpetually drunk Sekirei had an edge to her tone, a sort of voice that belonged on a former Disciplinary Squad member. She seemed to have managed to come to terms with Rin's plan, though she didn't seem to like it. She was someone who believed in love for love's sake, not for manipulating others. "Still, it's surprising, Tattoo-chan," she continued, addressing Rin again. "Why, it's almost like you're admitting that we can do more for our man than you can."

It was obviously a dig at Rin's femininity, much like her earlier one about not being able to keep me happy. I wasn't sure if she was honestly trying to get a rise out of Rin, or if she was just trying to get a response that would help explain why Rin was willing to do something so alien to the wind user's own views on life.

"Though it shames me to admit this, as both a woman and a knight," it was Saber that actually spoke up after that, "but you Sekirei have already done more for Shirou than what we were able to."

"What?" Kazehana didn't seem to know what to say, sounding honestly surprised that her dig was not only getting an answer, but one that clearly spelled out that she had been right with her taunt.

"Earlier today," Rin declared, her voice a cold growl. "Shirou. He laughed."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Matsu asked, sounding honestly confused at the observation's relevance.

"We have been with Shirou for many years," Saber spoke softly. "And not once during those years have we ever heard him laugh."

I blinked, not having expected that. What did they mean, I never laughed? Surely, at some point when we had been living together, something must have made me laugh before? I tried to think back, to remember a time where I had laughed, and I wasn't sure if it was because I just couldn't recall it at the time, or if they were right, but I realized I couldn't think of one time when it had happened.

"Like we said before," Rin seemed to have calmed down, the growl disappearing. "No matter what that blockhead did, he felt no satisfaction. Saving people, killing monsters, it didn't matter. For Shirou, he only did things because that was the way he was. He never was happy with a victory, or satisfied with helping. For him, it was just a state of being, something that didn't even deserve to be recognized. In a state like that, even if something funny or good happened, there was no need to express any emotions that related: they were still just things that had happened and he had responded to. No matter what we tried, no matter what happened, Shirou always just went on as though it were to be expected."

"But Shirou-sama laughs all the time," Musubi pointed out innocently, and I heard a splashing noise happen in response. "What?" Musubi seemed confused by something, Rin probably having not reacted happily to her observation.

"The bond," Matsu murmured, sounding as though she were deep in thought. "It works both ways." She didn't explain what she meant by that, but my thoughts flashed back to when we were discussing how my magecraft's improvement probably happened as a result of me having winged the psychic Sekirei. "Perhaps, perhaps Shirou-sama is receiving more from us that I had thought."

"So not only do you force Shirou to have to take better care of himself, but you also help him respond to emotions normally," Rin noted, and I heard several splashing sounds from around the room. "You managed to do more for him in just a few months than Saber and I could do for him in two years. I couldn't help him get better, no matter what I tried. And I can't get him to value himself like any of you can." Her voice was bitter. "I even thought about getting pregnant once, just so Shirou would have a reason to take better care of himself, but I bet even if I did he'd just say something like 'the child will be fine with Rin around', and go off and do stupid things anyway."

Actually… I recalled saying something similar to Miya not to long ago. Rin was probably right, actually, even if finding out that Rin had been thinking about having a kid just to manipulate me did unsettle me a little.

"Rin-sama?" Matsu sounded cautious, nervous about something that was happening.

"I want you all to know that I hate you," Rin declared in her cold magus tone. "All of you. I will never forgive any of you for this. If I thought I could get away with it, I would immediately report your species existence to the Clock Tower, and I'd make sure I was on hand personally for when they experiment on you. But if I did that Shirou… he would…" Her voice trailed off, a hitch appearing in it.

"Rin!" Saber's voice was slightly louder than normal, and I heard splashing again, the King of Knights most likely going to her other lover. There were several long moments of silence, nobody seeming to have the will to speak.

"If you ever do anything to hurt him," Rin declared softly, the cold in her tone fading to resignation, "anything at all, I will do just that. Do you understand?"

"Of course!" Tsukiumi seemed to have come to some kind of decision, and I heard splashing again, no doubt as she assumed her usual pose. "We will never do anything to cause our husband harm! If ever we were to do so, than we would deserve no less, Rin-sama!"

"Of course," Matsu agreed, though she sounded nervous. Maybe she was remembering the time she had manipulated me and hoping that particular event would never, ever come up around the wrathful magus.

"A love so strong, that it would even stand aside," Kazehana's tone had something like respect in it as she sighed wistfully. "It's cruel, but sometimes love is like that."

"Right!" Musubi declared, and as was her norm she sounded like none of the harsh words or dramatic revelation had affected her in any way. "So, when are Rin-san and Saber-san going to go on the whiteboard? There's still one day left!"

Musubi's innocent question drew several sputtering noises from the other occupants of the bath.

"W-what are you saying?" Rin demanded, apparently so utterly surprised by the declaration that she even slipped out of her magus tone for a moment.

"Musubi, you dolt," Tsukiumi declared, sounding embarrassed by her friends poor sense of mood.

"Well, Rin-san and Saber-san both love Shirou, so naturally they should be on the board," Musubi reasoned as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"What on earth makes you think that I would stay around, just so I could join a harem?" Rin declared, outrage warring with disbelief as she spoke.

"Because you love Shirou, and want to be with him, of course," Musubi sounded like she was starting to get confused by the lack of positive response to her statements.

"Forget it," Rin declared flatly. "I might love the blockhead, but don't think for a second that I'm going to do something as outrageous as sharing him." She paused for a moment, before her tone got slightly amused. "With anyone other than Saber-chan that is."

"Rin!" Saber's voice sounded a little strangled. "Don't do that in the presence of company!" I had the impression that Rin's hands might have gotten a little wandery at that point.

"But you love him!" Musubi declared, her own voice starting to rise as one of the few things that truly affected her continued to be discussed.

"I might love him, but I have my pride," Rin declared, losing the playfulness from when she had made an allowance for Saber. "And love isn't enough for me to throw that out."

And it was the truth. Rin had her pride, in her ability, in her intelligence, in her magecraft. Even if she cared for me, it didn't change the fact that she wouldn't throw her own pride aside just to be with me. There was no way she would ever join my flock, no way would she ever demean herself to join a harem. This was reality, not some eroge where the protagonist just kept gathering more girls willing to share.

She would only see that as demeaning, as lowering herself to the level of these aliens always attempting to catch my eye or one up the other. For Rin, the option was either her alone, well, her with Saber, or not at all.

Saber too would feel that way. She was a King, after all, and she had her own pride as such. More than that, though, she had her own bond with Rin. They were Master and Servant, but also friends and lovers too. She would support Rin, no matter what.

"That's not right!" Musubi snapped, and again the very thought that someone might look down on love, might be willing to walk away from it after telling her that it wasn't enough, was enough to make even the easy going Sekirei angry. It was just like with Karasuba, all over again. "You can't just turn your back on love!"

Another silence settled on the group before Rin finally spoke. "I think I see," she declared, voice still a little cold, but a note of curiosity there. "I think I see why Shirou says you're distorted."

Trust Rin to pick up on just why I considered Musubi to be like me. Maybe if Musubi herself hadn't mentioned my conclusion earlier Rin might not have noticed, but with knowledge of the fact Rin was able to lock in on Musubi's own irregularities.

"Huh?" Musubi sounded confused again, her earlier anger vanishing.

"Never mind," Rin declared, and suddenly, her tone had changed completely. Gone was the magus, and she sounded just like she had back at the kitchen table, like a curious young woman of college age. "Anyway, I've been in here long enough," she declared, splashing around again. "I suppose I'm going to get out."

"Ah, ah, ah," Kazehana's voice was sing-songy as she tutted. "But we haven't had a chance to really talk as women yet!"

"Talk as women?" Rin muttered in disbelief? "And just what does that mean?"

"Saucy stuff!" Kazehana declared giddily, and I sighed.

"Oh! Yeah!" Matsu's tone had changed as well, becoming lighter and more affectionate as she returned to glasses mode. "For instance, Rin-tan and Saber-tan are lovers right? Matsu is curious about what being with another girl is like!"

"T-that is hardly an appropriate topic!" Saber sounded genuinely embarrassed about having her relationship with Rin brought up, but I heard Rin start to chuckle.

"Oh, it's great," the magus declared, and I heard Saber yelp at something. "For instance, she always gets so embarrassed when I do something like that in public!"

"Rin!" Saber sounded like she must be bright red at this point. "There is a child in the room!"

"Jiiii," I heard Kuu hum, the sound she makes when she's staring at something extra hard.

"Oh?" Rin seemed amused. "Well, she would have to learn sometime, right?"

"Oh! Matsu likes the way Rin-tan thinks!" the hacker declared before giggling. "Fuhuhu, fuhuhu!"

It looked like the serious talk was over at this point. Both sides had said what they wanted to say, and now just like before the veneer of everyday life reappeared as both sides pretended everything was alright. With a sigh, I reached over to the duck to turn it off before I could hear more about just what actually happened in the baths when there was no man around. There were some things a guy just shouldn't know too much about.

"Well," I declared as I turned the duck over finding a little off switch on the bottom. "Enough peeping for now. You might have to go in there soon if you don't want things to get out of hand, Asama-san," I reminded the landlady, turning to give her a look as I put the duck back. "Rin can go a little over board at times…"

I trailed off, blinking.

Miya was watching me, her eyes open and narrowed as she looked at me as though she had never seen me before. At the wall, Homura had her arms still crossed under her breasts, but her fingers were clenched so tightly that her arms were actually shaking. Behind me, Akitsu stood, stock still like normal, however she was an alabaster statue with a small ring of ice around her, mist forming in the air near her as her powers manifested unexpectedly.

I realized that the room seemed a little tense, and shrugged uncomfortably. "What?" I asked, not understanding the change until finally it hit me. "Oh."

They had been listening into that conversation too, after all.

"Emiya-kun," Miya began, before trailing off, glancing away as she did so. It looked like Miya honestly had no idea what to say for once.

"It isn't true," Homura spoke up, her voice low. She glared at me angrily, and the air around shimmered with heat. "What those two said about you. It's wrong. Right, Shirou?"

I paused, tilting my head to the side briefly as I considered what Rin and Saber had said about me. Finally, I nodded. "No," I disagreed with the fire user's proclamation. "I never thought of it that way, but they seemed pretty accurate to…"

I was cut off as Homura flung her arms to the side, angrily slamming her fists into the wall behind her and cracking the wood slightly as she pushed off, leaning towards me. "I said they're wrong, god damnit!"

For a moment I glanced at Miya, wondering if she would have something to say about the fire user's assault on her inn's walls, but Miya was just watching me still. She must be pretty out of it if she would let the damage to Izumo go un-chastised. Finally, I sighed, turning to face Homura directly.

"I told you when we first met that I wasn't normal, Homura," I repeated gently. She glared at me, the shimmer around her increasing.

"No! Don't you dare brush this off like that. I thought you meant that you could fight, or that you used to be with two people," Homura growled. "I thought you meant that you were a magus, or that you just had a dangerous job. But something like this…" She slammed a fist back against the wall again. "And you knew about it too!"

"Of course I knew about it," I admitted calmly. "I knew since I was a child that I was strange. It's no reason to make a deal out of it."

"Since you were…" Homura parroted, before cutting herself off, shaking her head quickly. "And even the others… Kazehana, Tsukiumi, Matsu… they all had figured it out too?"

I blinked, uncertain of what she was saying before it struck me like a bolt of lightning.

Homura had never figured out that there was something wrong with me. Maybe it was because she had used to be a he, or maybe because she had been more focused on her change, or maybe it was just because she had always been a bit distant. Whatever the case was, Homura was only now realizing her Ashikabi's distortion.

"Homura-san," Miya finally spoke up, giving the fire user a quick glance. "Please do not damage my inn anymore." It was unlike her to say something like that so politely and without her usual Hannya, but Homura shot her a glare before leaning backwards, refolding her arms as she turned that glare back on me right after. She seemed to be taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself before she did something foolish. Miya nodded before turning back to me.

"Emiya-kun," she began, before pausing. "Shirou," she started again. "What happened in the fire?"

The very thing Rin had warned the others against, and the landlady went right to it. I didn't know why Rin had made such a big deal about not asking me, though. I had never had any problem talking about the fire. Then again, maybe Rin, as an outside observer, might be right.

Maybe I should be a bit less open about it this time, just in case…

"Well," I began, scratching the back of my head. "Well," I said again, "I guess I died is all."

"'Died is all' he says," Homura hissed, hunching her shoulders. I grimaced, and tried to find a way to explain what had happened to me back then, before Homura accidently recreated the scene via uncontrolled bursts of his own power.

"You know how magi go around classifying phenomena?" I tried to begin. "How they classify certain things and situations in order to help understand them? Well, I believe that one such phenomenon is that no one dies until the accept it."

"I imagine many people are never ready when they die," Miya noted, eyes tracking over to the shrine of her dead husband, before returning to me.

"No, I don't mean that situations where people die don't happen unless they initiate it or anything," I corrected myself, scratching my chin. "I mean that once a person is in that situation, they won't die unless they accept it. Like how sometimes people with grievous injuries sometimes don't pass away, or how sometimes the opposite happens, how people who should recover from something don't." My voice had become a bit clinical as I tried to explain. "Even if a person has taken some incredible damage, as long as they keep trying to live, as long as they fight as hard as they can, sometimes they can last long enough to get first aid, for a doctor to fix their bodies enough for them to recover. However, sometimes people see their wounds and they realize to themselves 'these are lethal, these should kill me', and because they know that they should die, they do."

"The acceptance of their death is what leads to it?" Miya repeated, eyes narrowed as she took in my words.

"Yes. You hear stories sometimes, of like how after one member of a married couple passes away the other loses the will to live and dies soon after," I continued, explaining my train of thought. "It's like that with most deaths, I think. There are stories of those who don't accept their deaths, and live through terrible things only to recover afterwards. But there are those who do accept that they should die, and pass away. Maybe they're just in too much pain, and decide that death would be preferable. Maybe they realize that even if they did live they would be scarred crippled, and decide to accept death instead. Sometimes they just might be surprised, something happening that kills them so suddenly that they accept death as a reflex. Whatever the case, until they acknowledge their own death they might still live."

"And the fire, Shirou?" Miya prompted softly. "During the fire, did you accept your death as well?"

"Eventually," I nodded. I could see Homura's jaw clench, and could hear her teeth grind. Chains clinked from Akitsu's direction. "At the time, I just wanted to live. All around me I could see people dying or dead: corpses so burnt they were black, other's in the same condition still alive, the wreckage of buildings with limbs sticking out, some of them still moving because their owners were still alive, others just looking like that due to the heat. I was just a child and I couldn't do anything to help them, and they were already gone and couldn't do anything to help me."

"Shirou," Homura began, so tense she was quivering, before finally she slackened, chin falling to rest on her chest as she slumped. I gave her a sympathetic smile.

"It's not your fault, Homura," I told her gently, remembering the time she had confessed to being guilty of using fire. She just shook her head slightly, staring at the ground in front of her.

Miya's eyes closed briefly, and I could see her imagining the scene. For all I knew, maybe she had seen something like it before.

Maybe she had been the cause of such a scene too, considering her past.

I didn't know, but the scent of regret hung fiercely over her at that moment.

"What happened next?" she prompted, finally opening her eyes. She seemed determined to have me finish my story, so I continued.

"I knew that no one would be able to save me," I admitted, "so I tried to save myself. But at the time I couldn't move, couldn't take a step. It was too frightening, there was so much wrong, that I was paralyzed by everything I was feeling. So in order to take a step, I had to stop feeling. If I was too scared to move, I had to stop feeling fear. If I was too sad to move, I had to stop feeling sadness. If I was too angry, then no more anger. I tried to escape, and every step I took was a piece of me I had to give up in order to take that step."

And so, bit by bit, I had tried to leave that inferno, trailing parts of me all along. It had been hard at first, but as I gave up more and more of myself it had gotten easier. I didn't remember much of the fire itself, not all of it. Sometimes it felt as though I had been walking through a dream, or that I had been hallucinating. Sometimes in my memory I was looking up and seeing a crimson moon reflecting the fires below, and other times I would see a gaping black sphere. It was hard to tell if what I did remember was real, or just something my mind had spun together afterwards or hallucinated during. Still, even if my memory of the specifics were vague, I remember what it felt like to get emptier and emptier, trying to escape while killing pieces of myself until finally…

"Finally, in the end, I just didn't have anything left in me to give up, so I laid down to die," I concluded. "Even if my body still was pumping blood, even if I was still breathing, there was nothing left of me. I had accepted my death. That was the moment that I, that Minato Sahashi died."

"You always insist that your name is Emiya," Miya sighed softly. "Is this why?"

"In part," I admitted with a shrug. "That was when I met my father, Kiritsugu Emiya. I didn't know who he was, at the time. I didn't know that he was responsible for the fire in the first place. All I remember is him appearing above me. He was… he was crying," I smiled softly at the memory. "He had been searching the fire, looking everywhere, trying to find anyone still alive. In the end, he only found me, but he was so relieved that he had that he was smiling, ecstatic because he had managed to save someone, even if it was just a breathing corpse. Back then even though I was empty, I couldn't look away from that smile. When I saw it I was able to feel something again. I was curious, wondering just why the man was so happy to have saved someone. And I was also jealous of his smile. I thought, 'What would it be like to smile like that?'"

"I see," Miya murmured. "And now you save people, just like you were saved."

"I try," I admitted. "After it all, he adopted me. I was able to relearn how to be a normal person again, mostly. I know that I can't save everyone, and that sometimes I will fail. But I will always continue to try and understand that man's smile."

"And that is why you are distorted," the word came easily to Miya, her eyes closing as she sighed softly. They fluttered back open, and she gave me a cautious look. "Even if you managed to remember the things you lost…"

"Not remember," I corrected the landlady. "Relearn. I was completely empty by the end of it. Afterwards, I was like one of those people who have to recover from a stroke, relearning things that they used to do." I sighed briefly. "Honestly, I'm not sure how much of it was just mental trauma, and how much of it might have been genuinely physical as a result of smoke inhalation or something, but the first couple of years I was pretty awkward. Kind of like Musubi still is, honestly."

I had at first thought that it was just Musubi being silly when she didn't know basic things, like 'modesty' or 'discretion'. But once I had made the connection, I began to realize that she honestly did not understand so many things, much like I hadn't back then. Being raised in a lab after her own trauma probably had only contributed to her oddities. Someday she might relearn enough to be able to react like a normal person, to be less dense in the face of emotional conflict, but like me and 'salvation' she would most likely always hold closely to 'love' more than anything else.

"'And these three things now abide: faith, hope, and love,'" Homura spoke up, lifting her head to give me a flat look. "Shirou, don't tell me you were empty. Tell me you had at least those three." It wasn't a request. It was an order. Homura seemed to want me to deny what I was saying, even if I had to lie about it.

"Was that First Corinthians?" I muttered, blinking in surprise at the fire using alien as she quoted the bible at me. Somehow, the thought of an alien reading the manuscript of one of the most widely followed religion seemed strange to me, especially considering what that same faith would have done to her species if they had found them first. Letting the thought slip, I shook my head. I wouldn't lie about this. This was the truth, my truth, was what happened to me.

Lying about it would be like pretending it never happened. I could never do that. It would be like denying all the pain, all the desperation, everything the victims of the fire had gone through. I couldn't do that, even if it would set my Sekirei at ease. My fellow victims, the ones who hadn't been as lucky as me, they deserved to be remembered, not shunted aside or disparaged.

My mind wandered back to the fire. "I suppose… I suppose I lost faith when that building collapsed on that one man who was kneeling and praying," I pursed my lips. "And I would have lost love when I saw that mother run back into the flames after her already dead child. And hope, well, I probably lost hope when there was nothing left to lose."

A bang echoed through the room as Homura brought a fist back against the wall, widening the cracks that she had already put there. She glared at me, her expression contorted with anger.

"How can you say it like that?" she demanded, her eyes flicking up and over me. She seemed to be looking for something, and her glare got fiercer when she didn't find it. "You… you should be angry! You should be sad! You… you're treating it just like that girl said! It's like you don't care what happened to you… You, you really are treating it like its normal! It's not normal! That Rin, she's right! You shouldn't be living like this, as though you're less important than others, as though helping others is more important than living your own life! That way of living is wrong!"

I stared at Homura for a moment. She looked enraged, but I could see tears forming at the edges of her eyes. Maybe the others have had time to get used to the idea, had realized something was different about me and were able to deal with it better. But it looked like all of this was too much to pile on Homura at once, and now she was struggling to deny it, to deal with it.

It reminded me of another time, long ago, during the Grail War. It had been back when Rin had first labeled me with the title 'distorted'. She had said something like this then too.

Now, I gave Homura the same answer that I had given her.

I smiled. "It is never wrong to want to help people," I told Homura gently.

She flinched back, staring at me with wide eyes. The glare vanished as she closed her eyes, and grit her teeth. She straightened, and her eyes snapped open.

"Now you listen to me, Shirou Emiya," she growled, pushing off the wall and stalking towards me. I wondered briefly if she was about to attack me, but held my ground. "I don't care how you used to live, but that changes now, do you hear me?" Even though I had half expected something, when her hands darted out to grab my shirt they moved so fast I couldn't react in time. I grunted as she dragged me down so we were face to face at her level. "From now on, you're not allowed to suffer any more. If something is going to hurt you, than I swear I will burn it first. Anything that would cause you pain will be turned to ash."

She shook me with each declaration, and I felt a wave of vertigo for a moment, wondering if Matsu had been giving lessons when I wasn't watching. Homura had tears freely leaking now, though I think the flush on her cheeks had more to do with anger than any other emotion. This close, I could feel the heat of her breath on my nose, even more heat pumping off her due to her powers as well.

And despite myself, despite knowing that Homura was once a guy, that she was still dealing with her unexpected change, knowing that I shouldn't…

I realized that Homura too was beautiful, as a woman.

I… I had no idea how to react to that revelation. Part of me felt revulsion, and another part of me, a large part I realized with concern, felt attraction. I… I think I need to sit down now.

"The Guardian of Sekirei is now your guardian, Shirou," she continued, thankfully not noticing my distraction. At least, I was thankful until she pulled me again, slamming her lips into mine. Her wings erupted from her back again, and I caught sight of Miya making a quick move to protect her husband's shrine as the limbs of flame swept across the room. The kiss lasted for several moments, and I realized that Homura wasn't just putting her lips on mine but was actually kissing me. I realized I was kissing back a second later.

Finally, Homura pulled away, panting as she did so. "Forever and ever," she declared, and I blinked, realizing that was the first time she had ever said those words, unlike the rest of her kind that did so immediately on winging.

Uh. What just happened here?

Homura seemed just as confused as me for a moment, her eyes flicking over my face, taking in my features. She kept panting even as her wings faded away, still keeping my face close. She swallowed hard for a moment.

"I," she began, her earlier anger seemingly vanished. She sounded confused, like she wasn't sure how she had ended up in this position. "I didn't like that," she whispered, then without warning she dragged me back down for another kiss. This one was even longer, and maybe it was the confusion of having Homura, HOMURA of all people, moving her tongue against mine, but the next thing I knew I had my arms around her, pulling her tight as we continued our deep kiss.

I honestly wasn't sure how long the two of us were at it, before Miya's voice cut through the haze that had settled in my head.

"If you two continue much longer, I am afraid I will have to chastise you for lewd displays in Izumo House." The landlady sounded as though she was amused, despite herself.

Just as suddenly as it happened, Homura pushed me on the chest, separating the kiss and putting some space between us. I hoped I didn't look nearly as confused and conflicted as she did, but if I had to guess I would say that I probably did. For a moment, Homura and I just stared at each other, and I think what she had just done finally hit Homura completely.

"I," she swallowed, trailing off. "I didn't like that…" She swallowed again before adding, "at all."

"Uhhh," was all I could get out, so it wasn't like I was going to compete with her for any prizes on elegance at the moment. Homura flushed brightly, before quickly turning and darting out of the room. A few moments later I heard a door, probably hers, open and slam quickly.

"What just happened?" I finally managed to get out, honestly having no idea just how to react to what had just happened.

"I suspect if you don't know already it would be a waste to tell you," Miya sighed, before glancing around the room where Homura's wings had struck several objects. "If you don't mind, Emiya-kun," the lavenderette still seemed to be focused on the events that had happened before Homura's unexpected melt down, "I would like to straighten up in here, and then spend some time with my husband." Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the cracks that the scene had left on the wall. "I shall have to speak to Homura-san about those tomorrow."

"Oh," I blinked, and then rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Sorry, Asama-san," I apologized, starting to make my way to the door.

Only to be brought up short by the final occupant of the room.

The trail of power around Akitsu had faded, leaving the snow woman standing as she always was, watching me like a statue. I opened my mouth, wondering just what I could say after everything that had just happened, but Akitsu cut me off.

"You were broken just like I was," she declared softly, and I stilled slightly. She had skipped her customary pause, a rare occurrence. "But we will fix you, just like you fixed me, Ashikabi-sama." She punctuated her statement with a slow nod, before turning and exiting the room before me. I watched her go, unable to puzzle out the meaning behind her statement.

After all, I wasn't broken. I didn't need to be fixed.

Didn't I?

I shook my head, forcing the thoughts from my head. Instead, I went to pick up the tablet left in the dining room when everyone had departed for their baths. I would need to take it to my room for now.

I had something to do, after all.

*Scene Break*

It wasn't until a few hours later, that Rin and Saber came into my room. It was dark by this point, and late. After the confrontation in the shrine room, I had secluded myself in my room, making use of the portable workshop that Matsu had put together for me. I had heard some commotion a few times from down stairs, though judging by the fact that there were no screams or sudden spikes of Hannya induced dread I was able to guess just what was going on:

My flock certainly did love to party, and with Rin acting the part of the perfect student once more it wouldn't surprise me if she was letting herself get dragged in as well.

Still, a combination of prior experience already letting me know that if I interrupted the party things would probably degenerate to the point where Miya was scolding for lewdness and the fact that I really did have something I needed to do kept me from going down to join in.

I had suspected that Miya would most likely have a room made up for Saber and Rin that night, seeing as I really doubted that the two would consent to sleeping with my flock. Thus, I was surprised when instead of Tsukiumi showing up for her turn when the door finally did opent it was to let the magus and the King of Knights in instead.

"Oh?" Rin sounded cheerful, though that could mean anything with her, "is this where you've been hiding, Emiya-kun?"

For a moment, I almost asked them, 'What are you two doing here?' before even someone as dense as me realized just how stupid that would be. Instead, I settled on, "How was the party, Rin?"

"Not bad," the magus admitted, grinning. "The drunk alien knows her booze pretty well."

"Indeed," Saber agreed as she walked into the room casually. "Kazehana-dono has excellent taste."

The two entered the room without any hesitation, Rin shutting the door behind them as they did. I had been sitting, leaning back against the wall directly under the window. Saber moved immediately to sit herself as well, kneeling opposite me with dignified grace. Rin on the other hand started to roam around the room, poking at various knick knacks that had gathered before moving to take a peek into the closet.

"So why didn't you show up?" Rin continued, brazenly reaching in to start flipping through some of the clothing that my flock had accumulated. They mostly tended to wear their normal outfits during the day, so most of the gathered clothing was meant for bed. "Didn't want to risk having a catfight break out over you? That's pretty arrogant, Emiya-kun."

"Actually," I gave her a small smile, "I needed to get some research finished," I casually held up the tablet as Rin gave me a confused look. Her eyes lit up when she took note of the object of her earlier greed.

"Oh!" Rin's attitude flipped from teasing to excited in a heartbeat as she abandoned her roaming and hurried over to plop down next to me, already reaching out to pluck the doohickey out of my hands, eyes locking on as she tried to spy on my magecraft. "Let me see!" It only took her a moment before her eyes narrowed in confusion. "Why isn't it showing anything?" she demanded.

"Well, it is password protected," I pointed out to her, and her eyes narrowed.

"A password? Do you really think that would stop any magus worth their salt?" she demanded, glaring at me. I could see her face illuminated by the light from outside, so close to mine.

"Well, give it a shot," I swallowed, trying to keep my heartbeat normal. "If you ask nicely, I'll even show you how to pull up the password screen."

"You actually have to do something to even get to the password?" Rin tsked, and without waiting she immediately began to try and fiddle with the tablet, scowling as she started turning it over looking for some sort of button or switch.

I let her fumble for a moment, my mind already elsewhere.

It was the first time in nearly a year since Rin, Saber, and I had been alone together. Even if Rin seemed determined to keep up her act, I could see the small smile Saber was wearing. Honestly, I could feel a smile of my own as well.

Even if I had come to care deeply for my flock, it didn't change the fact that the three of us had been together for years, and had endured many troubles during those times. Even if a year had passed, having just the three of us in the room was still familiar, still comforting to me.

It seemed that time, distance, and even an alien harem wasn't enough to keep us from clicking, just like we used to.

"Rgg," Rin started to growl, glaring at the doohickey as she failed to figure out the method of getting it off of screen saver mode. "It seems I underestimated the defenses of your Workshop after all. There isn't a magi alive that…"

"Rin," I interrupted her, closing my eyes and leaning my head back against the wall. "I missed you. Saber too."

Rin cut herself off, and a silence settled on the three of us.

"I missed you as well," Saber acknowledged finally, her voice soft. I could imagine her as well, eyes closed and bathed in moonlight, a small smile on her face.

"Fine," Rin snapped, sounding churlish. "I missed you too, you blockhead!"

I could imagine Rin as well, though she wouldn't have her eyes closed. She'd be looking to the side, keeping an eye on me out of the corner of her eye, daring me to open my eyes and see her embarrassed blush at having to admit something like that out loud.

Saber and I had long ago learned to give her plausible deniability in times like this, hence the closed eyes.

"Though you couldn't have missed us that much if you went out and got an alien harem in the meantime," Rin added after a second, and I sighed. She sounded genuinely annoyed at my situation, and I couldn't really blame her.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, uncomfortable but not sure what else I could do. "I didn't mean to. It's just situation after situation happened…"

"And all those situations were the kind you couldn't just leave alone," Rin interrupted me, though she sounded more resigned than upset at this point, sighing just like me. I kept my eyes closed as I felt a weight against me, her shoulder and she leaned against mine. "Only you, Shirou," she muttered. "Only you."

"Though it is unexpected and disheartening, your companions seem to be good people," Saber murmured. "And though their relationship with you is unsettling, it does set me at ease to know that you have comrades to help protect you." She honestly did sound pleased that I wasn't without protection against the dangers of the world.

We were content to sit quietly together after that. Rin's shoulder was a comforting weight on mine, and the quiet sense of Saber nearby was soothing. I actually found myself being lulled to sleep just having the two of them around, and I had to shake my head quickly to wake myself up.

"What is it?" Rin asked, actually sounding a bit sleepy as well.

"Just staying awake," I admitted softly. "God knows what Tsukiumi would do if she were to walk in and see all three of us sleeping like this."

"The blond one that does a mean fountain impression?" Rin asked, sounding amused by something. I could make a few guesses. Tsukiumi tended to get a little showy after she's had a few sips of sake. "Well, you won't have to worry about her coming up tonight. She already told the two of us that she'd let us have her day, just this once." She sounded annoyed about something. "I just can't stand that girl's attitude for some reason."

It took a moment to properly digest that information, but when I did my eyes shot open and I turned to gape at Rin's close face. The magus seemed to recognize my shock after a moment, and she squirmed slightly, looking annoyed.

"What?" she demanded.

"Tsukiumi actually gave up a day?" I had to repeat that, honestly shocked. "But… do you have any idea how big a sacrifice that is for her, for any of the Sekirei?" Tsukiumi, who had been planning on the two of us having our first time tonight, who had been trying to get me alone when we slept since the first time I had intercourse with any of my flock, just giving up another of her chances, and to two outsiders who weren't even Sekirei at that?

Rin seemed annoyed for a moment, but then she pursed her lips as she seemed to take my question seriously. I'm sure she was thinking back to Matsu's proclamation about the nature of Sekirei, and finally her expression relaxed and turned pensive. "Actually, I think I might," she admitted. She gave me a look from the corner of her eyes. "Still, I'm sure passing up a chance to get laid even once isn't that big a deal. It's not like it's her first time or anything."

"Actually, it is," I confessed, and Rin gave me a sharp look at that, even Saber opening her eyes to study me. "What?" I demanded, feeling a bit embarrassed at their scrutiny. "It's not like I just jumped into bed with them the moment they were winged," I defended myself, not quite sure why the two seemed so surprised by the revelation. "I didn't even realize it was a mating ritual until after I had winged four of them," I muttered. "I was trying to take it slow."

Rin kept looking at me for a moment longer, and then finally snorted. "Only you, Shirou." Still, she seemed more at ease after that. "Only you would have an alien harem and not take advantage of it."

"It just wouldn't be right to try that kind of thing without getting to know them first," I muttered. "I wasn't going to just order them all to have an orgy with me or something."

"Well why not?" Rin grinned, her tone suggestive as I flushed. "What's the point of having a harem if you aren't going to use it? After all, I had had plenty of fun with my harem pretty quickly."

"Rin!" Saber and I snapped, both of us starting to blush at the implication that we were in fact nothing more than the magus' harem, and then the swordswoman's and mine eyes met, and I found myself recalling several times when Rin had been a bit insistent in the past…

"What's the matter?" Rin's grin got wider. "Is my harem going to get started without me, just so I can watch? Maybe I should break into that closet over there. I think I saw some leather straps, and having my harem in bondage gear might be fun for once…"

I slapped my forehead, knowing that Rin was teasing, but still embarrassed. It looks like she found some of Akitsu's favorite sleep wear, and I wasn't certain if I should curse the snow woman for leaving that out where someone like Rin could find them or curse Yukari for ever buying that stuff in the first place.

"T-that would not be appropriate behavior for a King!" even though she should know better, it seemed that Saber was actually taking Rin seriously.

"I'd even let you call me queen, Saber-chan," Rin assured the other girl, and I noted that if the swordswoman blushed any more she might spontaneously develop luminescence. "All the while with Shirou giving you a nice, hard, mana injection…"

"Stop teasing Saber, Rin," I ordered her bluntly, rolling my eyes at the magus' wicked grin. "And stop using mana injection as a euphemism for sex," I added a second later, knowing that particular demand would be ignored just as it had so often in the past. "Honestly, it's disgusting, like somehow using crustaceans or something," I muttered. Honestly, there were some euphemisms for intercourse that just shouldn't exist. Seeking to change the subject, I brought up something I was actually wondering about. "Though I am curious. How have you been providing Saber with extra prana?"

"I'm studying at the Clock Tower," Rin rolled her eyes, treating me as though the answer should be obvious. "I have access to some of the best resources in the world, and if I list it as part of my experiments I can get away with some outrageous requests. I've been having apprentices practicing storing prana in external sources giving up some of their failures. Saber is a spirit, so eating the mana storage devices to get the power isn't that outrageous for her."

"Though it is a necessity, I truly regret some of the things that I have been forced to ingest," Saber muttered, a testament to just how much the King of Knights hated having to eat poorly prepared meals that she was able to get the interjection out through even her embarrassment. It would have been funny, but I suddenly wasn't in the mood for that anymore.

I don't think she meant to, but Rin brought up the one thing guaranteed to kill any enjoyment for me: the Clock Tower: the organization that was actively seeking me in order to perform brutal and unending experiments on me.

The organization that Rin still admitted to belonging to.

"Rin," I began, and I felt the magus touching me still as my tone turned serious. I prepared myself to ask the question that had been haunting me since I first laid eyes on the two sitting at the table in the dining room. "Why are…"

I was cut off as she closed the distance between us, her lips sealing mine shut as she kissed me. I froze, and Rin took advantage of the moment, sliding over more, until she was sitting in my lap, her hands coming up to cradle my face. I could still taste the traces of alcohol on her tongue as it traced mine. By habit, my hands came around her to cradle her slim frame against mine.

Finally, she pulled back, eyes lidded as she grinned lazily at me. "Shirou," she whispered huskily, and I felt a shiver go down my spine. I knew that tone of voice anywhere. It only came out when the creative magus in my arms was about to do something which would most likely end up with both Saber and I being either completely embarrassed or totally satiated. "What makes you think I'm teasing?"

She turned that look on Saber, and the still embarrassed King of Knights started to shrink down, as though to make herself small enough for the magus to overlook her. It didn't work, and one of Rin's arms snaked out, latching onto the ribbon on the modestly dressed blondes blouse, pulling her forward with a startled yelp so that Rin could fasten her mouth on hers too. As I had many times in the past I got a close up view as the two girls kissed, Saber squirming slightly before going slack in Rin's grip.

It was still as hot as it was the first time I'd seen it, and I had to shift to try and adjust a growing issue as the two continued. Rin seemed to have realized that growing issue, and broke off to give me a wicked grin as Saber panted.

"Saber," Rin ordered, finally letting the other girl go. Saber seemed far too out of it to make good on an escape at that point. "Go get that outfit out of the closet."

"Yes, your majesty," the still panting blonde immediately capitulated, making me wonder if maybe this particular kink had come up before.

Then Rin was kissing me again, and I had other things to think about.

*Scene Break*

That night, for the first time in a year, it was the three of us together again.

Despite how long it had been, or maybe because of that, it felt different than it used to. It felt somehow both more intimate, and also more intense. When it was finally done, all three of us panting as both the magus and the King of Knights curled against my sides, the three of us content as we let ourselves drift off to sleep, I didn't think of the Sekirei plan, or of the Clock Tower, or even of my flock, no doubt sleeping by now in the other room.

Just for that moment, it was just the three of us again.

Even though I knew the moment wouldn't last.

*Scene Break*

"Are you sure that the two of you have to leave so soon?" Miya asked, sounding politely disappointed. I wasn't sure if that was truly how she felt, or if like so many had these last few days she was masking her true feeling.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Saber politely. Sometimes, it was a little disconcerting to see her act with such dignity, especially after having seen how different she could be while in the midst of passion. "However, there are other matters that we must attend to."

"Leaving so soon?" Musubi sounded disappointed. "But…"

"Let it go," Tsukiumi cut off her friend, the blonde folding her arms under her breasts as she watched on. It was the next morning, just after breakfast, and Saber and Rin had already announced their intention to leave. The house had shown up to see them off, the two standing by the gate and the rest by the doorway.

It was an unusual scene, even by the standards of Izumo House. Musubi seemed sad that there wouldn't be any more additions to the whiteboard. Tsukiumi on the other hand looked unusually solemn. I wasn't sure if she was feeling some regret over having allowed the two to take her place that night, or if she was genuinely sad to see the two going. She had seemed particularly impressed with Rin the night before. Akitsu was her usual silent self, though Homura as well seemed unusually quiet, the fire user standing closer than she normally did, still leaning against a wall but nearer to both me and the rest of the flock.

I carefully did not think of how our last meeting had ended.

Kuu also seemed sad, standing closer to Miya than normal as she watched her new nee-chan prepare to leave. A somber air seemed to have settled on most of the group. Well, most of the group. Kazehana and Matsu both seemed unusually happy, the two of them sticking close to each other, exchanging whispers even as they watched Saber and Rin prepare to depart.

For a moment, I wondered if the two of them were just happy to see the competition gone.

Then I remembered all the recording devices in my room, and decided that it would be better not to think about whatever it was they were discussing.

"Come on, Saber," Rin declared, grinning as she tossed her hair to the side. She seemed unusually chipper today, having displayed none of her usual zombie-esque traits when she had woken up. "Time to go."

I watched, as my two lovers made their way down the path to the edge of Izumo House. I felt… calm. I waited until they had both cleared the threshold.

"Oh!" I declared suddenly, sounding as though I had just remembered something. "Saber, Rin wait up a moment!" I started to jog over, moving before my flock had a chance to really react. The swordswoman and the magus but paused, giving each other a look so brief that if I hadn't been watching for it I wouldn't have seen it.

"What is it, you blockhead?" Rin asked casually, cocking her head to the side as she followed my approach.

"This," I declared, crossing the threshold as well, before spinning, one hand coming out to trace the air quickly in precise shapes. As though my finger were some sort of marker, a flicker of flame like light appeared, following my moves and leaving glowing tracery on the gate. It only took me a moment, but once I was done the air directly around the runes I had inscribed on the gate shimmered, a sign that my wards had indeed been properly adjusted.

"Shirou-tan?" Matsu was the first to speak up, curiosity in her tone. A moment later, she grunted, and her tone turned worried. "What was that? Why can't I…"

"What is this?" Tsukiumi also demanded, sounding confused. "Why can't I move forward?"

"Emiya-kun," even Miya seemed uncertain. "What did you do?"

"I added to my wards," I said over my shoulder, keeping my attention focused on Rin and Saber. The smile had faded from Rin's lips, her expression cautious, and Saber also seemed more aware as she watched me.

"Was that some kind of geas?" The mage asked, her eyes narrowed. She had been there with me when I had started studying runes, had actually been learning as she taught me for that matter, so it seemed she was able to recognize some of what I had inscribed.

"Yes," I admitted, settling back so I could lean against the gate of Izumo. The same calmness from early was still present. "It should only last for a few hours, but while it's up no one within the bounded field may make any attempt to leave."

"Interesting," Rin murmured, giving the field a professional look. Her expression had changed, the cold eyes of a magus taking in a mystery present. "If it could be extended it might be useful. It seems you might have found a new specialty." She snorted. "Too bad about innate magic resistance. If you could find some way of overcoming that, it might actually be useful someday."

"What is a 'geas'?" Musubi raised one hand, looking confused again. She was the only one of my flock that seemed relaxed. Tuskiumi was already biting on a thumb, her eyes flicking back and forth between Rin and I. Kazehana and Matsu seemed equally attentive now, the wind user standing still even as Matsu was already tugging at her ever present tablet.

"It's an old Irish word for an obligation, sometimes a mystic compulsion," Homura snapped, and I could see her grit her teeth as she struggled against the new rule I had imposed on her. Near her I could see Akitsu practically thrumming as she tried to force herself to move, the snow woman tensing only to find herself unable to follow through with her own will. "Shirou," she snapped, anger warring with nerves making her tone sharp, "What are you doing?"

"There are better ways to show off your talents, Lover-kun," Kazehana laughed, nerves also present. She flapped her hand at me idly. "I can think of several ways you could use this in the bedroom!"

"Normally I just use it to force death matches," I admitted, voice quiet. "Using it for other reasons has only recently propped up." I had to give Matsu credit. Without her electronic Workshop, I never would have been able to create this new spell so quickly. I still hadn't been sure if it would work properly until I tried it."

"But why would you…" Tsukiumi growled, before she froze, outrage and fear appearing. "Surely you don't mean to go with them!" The same thought seemed to have already occurred to the rest of my flock, the worry that maybe I had chosen my two human lovers over them no doubt crippling.

"No," I said softly. "I just didn't want any of you to attack them."

"Why would they have cause to attack us, Shirou?" Saber asked quietly, her face unreadable.

"Rin, Saber," I began softly. "Why are you here?"

"Oh?" Rin began to grin, a mischievous look appearing. "What's the matter? Didn't you want to have a reunion? Last night you seemed…"

"Last night you cut me off the moment I tried to ask that question," I interrupted her quietly, closing my eyes in resignation. "The entire day, you deliberately dodged the issue. And right now, you're trying to distract me. Both of you know better than to look for me. If the Mage Association were to find out that you had, they would judge that you had been helping me with my research. They would have arrested you in a heartbeat, and then slapped both of you with Sealing Designations yourself." I opened my eyes, and met Rin's once again expressionless gaze with my own. "So. Why are you here?"

I didn't really need to ask, but I did anyway. I already knew the answer….

Again, Rin and Saber exchanged looks, this time openly, and finally Saber closed her eyes and nodded in resolution. Rin snorted, and finally a sharp smile split her face.

"You've gotten more perceptive, Emiya-kun," she noted, the hard voice of a magus present. "Then again, it should be obvious, after all." Drawing herself up, she folded her arms. "Shirou Emiya. As representatives of the Clock Tower, we have come to capture you. You will be remanded to the appropriate research facilities, and studies as is appropriate according to your Sealing Designation."

The only reason Rin would have approached me without worry about alerting the Clock Tower was if she had approached me as an agent of the Clock Tower, after all.

"What?" Matu's voice came like a whip, and behind me, trapped by my geas in Izumo House the scent of my Sekirei's power grew like a tsunami as the truth behind Rin and Saber's appearance came out. I had little doubt that if I hadn't set up my ward first then the violence I had feared between the two groups would have happened then and there. "You two know what they'll do to him and you're here to take him back anyway?" Matsu had abandoned all pretense of cute, and her outrage and shock couldn't be missed.

"Rin! You would actually…" Tsukiumi's fury was equally obvious, the betrayal in her tone thick.

"Settle down," I ordered, quietly but firmly.

"Shirou!" Homura shouted, "Get away from them! And you," she growled. "You were supposed to be a King!"

"I said settle down," I said louder, but just as firmly. I turned back to Rin. "Well?"

"Well what?" Rin repeated, still smiling. She didn't seem the least bit concerned by the Sekirei, not paying them any attention as she kept her eyes on me.

"I know you," I couldn't stop a crooked smile. "What's the catch?"

After all, Rin wouldn't be doing something like this, not if she hadn't already planned it out. I knew her too well to think that this supposed betrayal was anything like it appeared.

"Why, the catch is that I'm the appropriate research facility," Rin declared something outrageous.

"What do you mean, Tousaka-san?" Miya spoke up politely, and I gave her a quick look. The landlady was standing very still, eyes opened as she regarded the magus with calm calculation in her eyes. She had made no move to approach, and for that I was thankful. The number zero one had always had a way of simply ignoring my wards, being able to enter my old workshop without any complications, and I honestly hadn't been certain if the geas would be able to stop her if she had decided to intervene.

"It took me a while to get enough lords to approve," Rin explained casually. "Lord El-Melloi the Second's assistance was definitely helpful, and eventually I even managed to get that woman to put in her support," she sneered briefly at the mention of 'that woman', a likely sign that aforementioned woman was probably the other party of 'The Incident' that had ended with Rin living with Saber and I, "I had to blackmail a few others, and I still owe some favors, but in the end it was decided that the Sealing Designee Emiya would be remanded to my study and my study alone."

"Is that so?" I murmured, dissecting the story that she had presented in my mind. I began to see the shape of it. "And that study would include?"

"Shared living quarters to study whether any habits might have contributed to the development of a Reality Marble," Rin listed, ticking off her fingers. "Exposure to various combat elements in order to judge aptitude and type of the Marble. Oh," she smiled a little wider, "regular studies of prana exchange capabilities."

"In other words, I would have lived with you, gone out on trips with the Enforcers, and had a lot of sex with you and Saber," I summed up, murmuring softly now. "Pretty much the way everything was before the Sealing in the first place."

"Precisely," Rin nodded. I gave her a look, before palming my head.

"You did it," I told her, unable to keep a note of awe out of my voice. "You swore that you would find some way to bring me back, and you actually managed to do just that."

She had declared she would, back when I had had to flee London. I had never thought she actually would be able to do it. I had thought that I would never be able to be with Rin or Saber again, and had tried to move on, and all that time she had been working hard to keep her promise. And despite all odds, despite everything that should have kept her from succeeding, she had managed to do just that.

"You are unbelievable," I told her, as once again Rin proved that when it came to manipulating the world to fit her liking there was no equal. Then my eyes narrowed. "But when you managed to track me down you found… this."

It clicked. If Rin had originally come to pick me up, she would have just said it upfront. But she had instead concealed her reason, had studied the Sekirei, and in the end had almost left without ever admitting why she had come.

"You and I both know what would happen if the Clock Tower were to find out about the Sekirei," she pointed out, smile slipping. "There wouldn't be anything left of the species as a whole afterwards. It wouldn't matter to me," she shrugged carelessly, "but there would be no way that you would let the ones bonded to you go through that. And if I showed up with both you and them, they wouldn't have the protection that I had gotten for you. Not to mention…" she trailed off, and I nodded, already knowing what she was thinking of.

"The Jinki." Rin nodded at my declaration.

"Shirou," she declared, tone hard. "The Clock Tower must never find out about them. If they're as dangerous as you say, and some arrogant little noble decided that they knew better, or if they thought that would give them access to the Akashic Record…"

"They would experiment on them without hesitation," I finished her sentence. "There's no telling what might happen. It could be the Grail War, all over again, only eight times worse." The Grail had been an apocalypse in the midst of being birthed when we managed to stop it. Each Jinki, all eight of them, there was no telling what they might be able to unleash.

"So in order to protect the Jinki you decided to abandon your attempt to recover Shirou-sama," Matsu seemed to be following the situation, her tone still tight but less outraged then earlier. "Even if it meant you wouldn't be able to take him back, you did what was best for the safety of the world."

"Rin-sama," Tsukiumi seemed relieved, that her earlier estimation of the magus was accurate. As a whole, my flock was losing its tension, the murderous air disappearing as they realized the sacrifice that Rin was making. The magus had the chance to take their Ashikabi from them, and had passed it by, letting them keep their love. It wasn't for them, no, both Rin and Saber were more concerned with the safety of the world than with my flock as a whole, but it was still a choice for both of them to give up on their love for the good of others.

"So what will you tell the other magi?" Miya inquired, though she too looked less tense than earlier. "That you were unable to locate Emiya-kun?"

Rin and Saber were both silent. I answered for them, already having suspected the truth.

"They're not going back to the Clock Tower," I sighed, closing my eyes. "Rin must have staked her future on retrieving me. If she were to return now, after having met me and not bringing me back, all it would take is for enough lords to decide that she had been in league with me from the start, and had participated in Reality Marble research. At the least, she would be cast out of the Mage Association. But she has Saber. Saber is a Heroic Spirit being incarnated into a human form. That would be enough to warrant a Sealing Designation of her own. Saber, Rin: you were planning on going into exile."

"Of course," Rin declared, sounding careless. "We would have had weeks, maybe even months, before the Clock Tower realized what had happened. Plenty of time to gather our resources and disappear."

"Wait," Musubi chimed in, still sounding confused. I opened my eyes, giving her a look from the corner of my eye.

My flock in general seemed frozen in place, even without my geas. Tsukiumi's thumb was taking some serious damage, and Homura was scowling, arms folded though she seemed more relaxed. Matsu was giving a cool look at Rin and Saber, no doubt going over their story carefully. Kazehana had adopted a pose much like Homura, the romantic Sekirei's eyes lowered as she took in this story of love and loss without any of her usual glee. Akitsu didn't seem affected at all, the snow woman still straining as she tried to come to me regardless of what was going on. Kuu had latched on to Miya, probably not understanding all of what was going on but understanding enough to be upset.

Miya, the landlady just seemed resigned. I realized suddenly just what Rin and Saber had been discussing before my flock interrupted their bath, that she already knew what the two had planned.

"So if you two can't go back, why don't you just stay here?" Musubi continued, finger at her mouth. Even though she still seemed confused, she was starting to smile. "You can stay with Shirou-sama after all! Together, with the one you love, forever and ever!"

"Musubi," Tsukiumi muttered, but this time she didn't seem like she thought it was a bad idea. "That is true," she hesitated before she admitted. "If the situation is such as this, than there would be no shame in welcoming them."

Rin gave the Sekirei a flat look, focusing on Musubi as she did so. She turned enough to look at me from the corner of her eyes. "Where on earth did you find this one?" she muttered at me, shaking her head. Raising her voice, she addressed the flock directly. "Sorry, but I've said already. I have my pride. I have no interest in sharing with anyone but Saber."

And that was the crux of Rin: her pride. Her pride as a magus, her pride as a person; even if she couldn't go back to the Clock Tower, even if she had nowhere else to go that didn't mean she would join this group. For Rin, the Clock Tower had been a part of her life, the resources there the only thing that would allow her to progress as a magus. Without it, her magecraft would suffer. Even her lineage was at risk now. Even if she had a child to pass her Crest on to, there would be no guarantee that the Clock Tower would allow it. They would take it on even the off chance that it was part of the preservation of Saber, thus effectively ending the Tousaka line. Just like the Archibald, Rin's heritage would be ended.

Even though joining up with my flock would help keep her alive and her magic safe, if staying with me meant she would have to bend her pride, then she would leave.

"So?" Rin gave me a crooked grin, still in her magus mode. "Anything else you need? If not, then Saber and I need to be going."

I was silent for a moment. It made sense; the plan. Rin had made a wager, a good one, to be able to bring me back. There was no way she could have known just what was waiting for her when she found me, that I would be involved so deeply in something so potentially cataclysmic. So once she saw that returning just wasn't possible, she had weighed the odds just like any magus would, and found the best way for her to come out ahead: the Jinki would be protected by myself and my flock, my flock would be there to protect me, and I would have more reason than ever to keep myself alive and well like she wished. She might be a target for the Clock Tower now as well, but just like me she would be a low priority one. I doubted any but the most desperate would go after her either: Rin was a genius after all, and one of the strongest magi alive even with her circuits being tied up preserving Saber, and Saber herself was a Heroic Spirit, one with an 'A' class immunity to magecraft at that. I almost pitied the fools that might try to go for her bounty. Almost.

They would be safe, I would be safe, the world would be safe.

There was no reason for me to say what I did next.

"There's a way," I told her. "For you to be able to go back to the Clock Tower without being Sealed."

Rin paused, eyes narrowing briefly as she most likely tried to discern the loophole I had apparently thought up. She raised an eyebrow finally, a silent urge for me to continue.

"We fight," I told her, and her other eyebrow rose to join the first. "If we were to fight and I were to win it would prove that you were simply unable to capture me. The Clock Tower would be unable to punish you for that, not without setting a dangerous precedent that might be used against their own Enforcers later on."

"A thrown match?" Homura reasoned, and I could make out her nodding slowly as she thought it through. Rin's head was moving too, but she wasn't nodding.

"That wouldn't work and you know it, Shirou," Rin told me bluntly. "There's no way the Mage Association would buy that outright, and if they decide to interrogate me than they would find out."

"I know," I nodded. "Which is why we don't stage it. We fight for real."

Rin was quiet for a moment more, before sighing and giving me an aggrieved look. "Shirou. If we fight for real, there's no guarantee that you'll win. And if you lose…" she paused a moment, giving the still blocked Sekirei a measuring look. "If you lose, than I will take you back with us," she emphasized the 'will' letting everyone present know that she meant everything she said.

"Rin-sama," Matsu had narrowed her eyes. "And what of your plan for using us?" It sounded like the hacker was trying to appeal to Rin's earlier scheme to get her to back down. "What of the Jinki?"

"I guess I'm not that noble a woman, to pass up a chance like this," Rin shrugged evenly. I understood what she wasn't saying. Even if she had been willing to duck out, that didn't mean she had to like it. And now that she was getting a chance, there was no way that she would pass it up. She'd find some other way to deal with the problems that might crop up, and I didn't doubt they'd be just as efficient as her earlier solutions.

There was no reason for me to go through with this match. The Path of the Shura meant measuring lives, and making the hard choices that would preserve the most of them. Even if it meant making Saber and Rin a sacrifice, it was the smart move.

Screw the smart move.

"I know a place," I told the two, agreeing to Rin's terms.

"Husband!" Tsukiumi gasped, sounding betrayed. "You can't mean to…"

"No!" Homura snapped as well. Her frustration made her voice harsh as just the day after she made her oath to protect me she found herself unable to do so. "Shirou, don't you fucking dare!"

"Why?" even Matsu sounded emotional, confused and angry because of that. "Why, Ashikabi-sama!"

I was silent again for a moment, considering my answer.

"Maybe I have been changing," I said softly. "Things like taking pride in my swords, or being able to laugh. I wouldn't know. But the day my father died, he told me that you can't save everyone. That all you could do was chose who you would save, even if it cost someone else. The Path of the Shura, that's just a way to choose who I save. But I guess when I weigh lives, you two are lot heavier than others," I told Rin and Saber.

"I-idiot!" Rin declared, and even in magus mode she flushed slightly, looking away awkwardly.

"Shirou," Saber also seemed affected, taking a sudden breath, one hand coming up to her chest inadvertently.

"I know that you can't save everyone," I admitted freely. "But that doesn't mean I can't try. Rin, Saber," I looked at both of them, slipping into battle mode as I did so. "I have no intention of losing. I will save you, both of you."

Rin managed to recover from her earlier surprise at my declaration, and her face too went blank as she fell deeper into her magus persona. The air around us felt heavy as we eyed each other, not as lovers but as soon to be combatants. "I have no intention of losing," Rin declared evenly.

"That's fine," I answered back in the same tone. "Neither do I." I turned to glance at my flock. "I'll be back soon, so make sure you do your chores," I reminded them.

"This is insane!" Matsu hissed, though she seemed reassured by my words.

"Why?" Musubi just seemed confused, though the anger she only got when love was endangered was there. "Why are you two fighting? You love each other!"

"There really is no logic in love," Kazehana answered back, her eyes closed as she grimaced. Near her, Akitsu was still shaking in place as she wordlessly tried to follow me only to be brought to a halt by my runework.

"Shirou! Don't you dare do it!" Homura was shaking too as she imitated Akitsu, probably without even realizing it.

"Onii-chan," Kuu was clutching onto Miya's legs, shaking slightly. "Will onii-chan come back?"

"Promise," I managed to give her one last smile, before slipping back into battle mode and starting to turn away.

"Emiya-kun," Miya spoke up, and I paused. The landlady had returned to her earlier calm, he lidded eyes and small smile back. "Do make sure you return. Rent will be due soon. Please don't make me have to drag you back with a rope around your neck."

I eyed her carefully, not sure if she was trying to encourage me or if she was being serious, before finally turning back to Rin and Saber.

"Follow me," I told them, and began to lead my two lovers to where we would soon be fighting with all our power.

Wordlessly, they did so.


	41. Forty First Wing

In Flight: The Forty First Wing

_Author's Notes: Well, here it is, chapter 41. Typically, the first part of my notes is the review response, and that's pretty easy to handle in this case. _

_Either you loved the last chapter, or you hated it so much you'll never read In Flight again. If you're in the later, well, you're not going to be seeing this author's notes, are you?_

_Anyway, no surprise there. I already knew the direction I would take In Flight in would get some pretty hot reactions. A lot of people have strong feelings about the story. Several very old and faithful readers have admitted on the forums that they would be giving up the story, but they gave their reasons, and I respect them. A story is meant to be enjoyed, and if you're not enjoying it, there are other things to read. Good luck and good will to them, and thanks for being this far along with me. A lot of other readers had positive reactions, and to you, thanks as well._

_Now, on to the spoiler alert section._

_And just for the sake of redundancy._

_*Spoiler Alert*_

_This is it. This chapter was always meant to be the emotional climax of In Flight. I went in to the story with this confrontation planned pretty much from the first, and I did it for a reason. IF was always a way for me to seriously examine the harem genre with the darker overtones of a more serious universe as highlights. I wanted to give a serious and realistic presentation of a genre which normally just ends up being a wanking ground for readers to just enjoy some happy escape from reality moments. Much like with Homura, I wanted to give a serious take on some mostly abused themes._

_Whether or not it worked or I was just deluding myself is up to you the reader._

_As for specific scenes:_

_The fight between Shirou, Saber, and Rin. I wanted it to be fast and dirty, and painful for everyone involved. No happy words, no sudden deus ex machina. Just a hard end to a hard situation. I wanted this fight to be a pretty much iconic scene of 'you can only hurt those you love'. As in, swords and magic hurts, not just emotional pain. They all knew each other, they all knew the best way to hurt the other, and they all would gladly do so if it would let them help the other after._

_The next scene. I wanted to try and emphasize how badly damaged Shirou was after the fight. Part of it was to help cut away from Shirou's pseudo status as untouchable. He has so far managed to win every fight, mostly with good planning and judicious use of magecraft, but he's come off as having no real antagonist, no real threat he had to overcome that could seriously challenge him. I wanted to take that perfect image, and shatter it. He made it out, but it cost him an arm and left him damaged and broken afterwards. _

_Also, at long last, the ever present running gag of 'the mask' proves that it was never a running gag at all and was instead Chekhov's gag! An important element of the plot that would let him overcome one of his most desperate opponents at the last moment through serious application!_

_Also, Shirou finally hitting Karasuba with a projectile was another one of those scenes that had been with me from the beginning. _

_Finally, Shirou and Kazehana. I said long ago, that I kept Kazehana in the line up for a reason. This is it. Kazehana was always supposed to be a revelation to Shirou, a final means of understanding to him about the true nature of the Sekirei. Kazehana, a mature and sexual creature who meets Shirou's somewhat cold and methodical approach on life, and how it affects him. She was supposed to be his epiphany of what physical love meant._

_Maybe I just take my stories way to seriously, but like Homura I thought Sekirei took several themes which could really have been meaningful and disregarded them for genre antics. The Sekirei's bond was something that I thought if played properly could be just as interesting and meaningful as any of the endless tidbits of lore that the Nasu-verse had in it._

_*Spoiler End*_

_Anyway, just to clear up a bit of confusion._

_I seemed to have put out a bit in my Author's Notes earlier that some people seemed to interpret as this being the last chapter. It isn't. I meant this was the last chapter of the 'Rin Saber' arc._

_There is one last story arc planned. Should be three chapters, planned at this point, but if I have trouble fleshing out scenes, have sudden inspiration, or just find a really good cliffhanger point that I want to use, it might be extended a bit._

_Yeah. I really like cliffhangers!_

_Anyway, In Flight is drawing to a close, no matter how much I tease my readers with nerve-wracking breaks._

_So for this chapter in particular, as always:_

_Questions or concerns? A forum chapter will be up as soon as I post this chapter. Just want to make a comment? Reviews are read. And as always, dear reader:_

_Enjoy_

_*Story Start*_

"I see you've been here before," Rin noted idly, taking in the massive crater and shattered trees which marked Osaka Park. "This doesn't look like your usual aftermath though."

"Musubi did the crater," I admitted. We had arrived, and even though we should soon be leaving our own scars here I had to admit that the damage in the light was even more impressive than at night. "And Tsukiumi was the one who did the trees."

"I see," Rin muttered, still looking around. Her eyes narrowed at being shown proof of some of the capabilities of the Sekirei as a whole.

"There is a bit of an Archibald buried around here somewhere," I admitted, scratching my head idly. "And I'd be careful of that spot over there. I had to dispose of some mercury there."

"An Archibald?" Rin frowned, giving the area I indicated a level look. Suddenly, she grinned slightly. "Waver did seem pretty happy about something a few months back. I guess I should pass on his thanks."

"So this is your chosen dueling ground," Saber noted, calmly looking around the clearing with a practiced eye. She dug her foot into the ground, feeling the consistency of the earth even as she started marking various obstacles that appeared. The King was preparing herself for the fight.

"So just how many traps have you set up?" Rin asked casually, sounding for all the world like she was curious and not probing me for information.

"Oh, a few," I shrugged, just as casually lying back to her. Honestly, the only magecraft I had ever used on this area were a few runes to encourage people to avoid it. I didn't want to leave a minefield for someone with an unusually strong will that really wanted to take a walk in this crappy park to stumble on. But that didn't mean that I couldn't make Rin a little cautious. Her taking a moment to second guess a position might make the difference later on.

Conversation trailed off after that, the three of us silent as no one was quite sure what to say. I had separated from the two, instinctively putting distance between us as I automatically prepared for the fight. Rin had put Saber between me and her, allowing the swordswoman to take point as she assumed the best position for a magus in this battle. The silence grew for a few moments, before Rin finally sighed.

"Well," she declared matter-of-factly, "Let's get this over with then."

"Right," I nodded as well, before facing Saber directly. "Arturia Pendragon!" I snapped, my voice raised but firm. "I challenge you to a duel!"

Saber stiffened, her eyes flashing, and then she started to smile ever so slightly. "I see," she murmured, sounding pleased. "Well planned, Shirou."

"Why so formal?" Rin began, putting a hand casually on her hip as she did so, and then a moment later her eyes widened as she realized something. "You," she muttered, glaring at me. "You have gotten more perceptive."

"Stand forth and fight, King of Knights," I declared, deciding to make the challenge as formal as I could. "Let us test our valor and courage, in honorable single combat."

Eye of the mind, true: a skill brought about by experience, the ability to perceive even the smallest chance of victory, and to greatly increase the chance winning even in hopeless situations.

And a hopeless situation was pretty much exactly where I was.

The fact of the matter was that I was outclassed, in nearly every way possible. I had made a lot of strides in my magecraft since the first time I fought against Rin in the Grail War, but then again, Rin hadn't been standing still either. She was a genius in every way, and two years in the Clock Tower studying, experimenting, and growing had probably helped her advance even faster than I had been able to. If it came down to a fight, I might out match her physically, and I was probably better at combat in general, but Rin had her own mysteries, and no magus ever shares all their mysteries; not with their apprentice, not with their coworkers, not even with their lovers.

Combat with Rin would come down to me being able to close quick enough to stop her from preparing one of her longer Arias, and even then it might not be enough. After all, she did have the Tousaka Magic Crest: every one of those little glowing lines on her arm was a mystery, one that was already prepared and just needed to be activated. Not to mention there was no way of knowing just how many of those empowered jewels she had on her at this point. Every one of those had been prepared, carefully charged with od over the course of months, even years, and most of them were charged enough to be considered 'A' class, a magnitude of power that would even be able to affect Saber despite her innate resistance.

And that wasn't including Saber herself: a Heroic Spirit of the knight class. Just by her vary nature she was inclined to surpass me in nearly every physical trait. Add on to that the immense skill that she had as a Servant of the Sword, not to mention her Noble Phantasms, and it was a fight which I had only the slimmest chance of winning. Her magic resistance meant that any type of true magecraft that I might even bother to attempt would be brushed aside, leaving me only my sword techniques and she had been the one who had helped me develop them in the first place.

Alone, either one of them would be an enemy that I might not be able to beat. Together, my loss was nearly assured.

If it is an opponent you can't match in real life, first beat it in your imagination. And as a Faker, I was very good at imagining. Maybe that was the source of my eye of the mind, true.

The first step to being able to win was to make sure that I was fighting them one at a time. And there was no way Saber's pride as a King and a Knight would allow her to pass up on a direct challenge. Now I just had to beat a pseudo-divine spirit of swordswoman whose legendary skill with a sword had caused her name to be echoed for centuries in one on one battle.

Well, it was a start I guess.

"Saber," Rin declared giving the Servant a quick look. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to turn that duel down?"

"Rin," Saber answered her Master calmly, giving the magus a blunt look. "You know that chivalry demands I meet his challenge. Do not request me to do something so dishonorable again." It was unusual for the swordswoman to take such a blunt tone with the magus, and Rin sighed, palming her forehead as she accepted the fact that she wouldn't be able to stop Saber from fighting me alone.

"Well played, Emiya-kun," she murmured, eyes narrowed as she began to back up, distancing herself from the two of us. "I guess this won't be as easy as I thought."

Well, I had succeeded in the first part of my plan. I had had most of last night and the trip over here to go over strategies for facing Rin and Saber. It looks like things were going as expected.

"Shirou," Saber began, turning back to me. "Before we begin, I wish to tell you something."

"And that is?" I asked politely, slowly backing up as I tried to put some distance between us. When the duel started I would need every inch I could get.

"Though I understand the need for you to remain, that does not mean that I approve of it," she told me. "As a King I too have had to make choices such as this, the needs of the many against the needs of the few. And as a King, I approve of your choice to try and preserve as many lives as possible."

I had little doubt that she did. In a way, Saber and I were alike in that regard, two self-sacrificing fools who could do nothing more than try to help all around us, regardless of what it cost us.

Even as she spoke though, the air turned heavy and I could sense the cool rush of od in the air as Saber gleamed, light flashing over her. It only lasted a heartbeat, but once it was done the plain blouse and skirt were gone, and the Saber I had grown familiar with in the Grail War stood before me, looking regal in her blue armor and skirts. In her hand, already held low and ready, the Sword of Promised Victory gleamed.

"However," Saber continued, a scowl appearing on her face. "Like Rin, it seems I too have limits to my nobility in regards to your presence. I will not hold back in this match. I will do all that is in my power to bring you back to us."

Maybe I wasn't the only one changing over time, if even Saber would admit something so against her nature. Still, I understood her intent. Challenging her honor alone would have been enough to have her fully commit to this fight, and she wouldn't have held back on me, one warrior to another, but if she was motivated as a woman too that would only make this fight harder.

Still, I needed her off guard. Every second will count in the upcoming match.

"Were the things you had to eat to regain prana really that bad?" I asked her, trying to sound casually curious.

"Yes," Saber grimaced, her eyes closing only for a moment as she probably recalled something particularly foul.

It was in that moment, when her eyes were closed, that the hammer in my head went down. In both hands I was holding steel, Kanshou and Bakuya already firmly locked in my thoughts. Besides the two in my hand, another set of the same swords appeared behind me, launching towards the grimacing King even as they shimmered into existence.

Despite attacking while she wasn't looking, despite the speeds that the first set of my swords were moving, in the space of one second and the next she blurred. Almost as though she had already known where the attack would come from Excalibur flashed, a golden arc as the light and dark blades were deflected. They were sent spinning away, careening through the clearing, and then Saber was moving.

There was no way this would have been a normal fight, regardless of me calling it a duel. Saber had spent two years beside me as I learned how to fight, and she knew my style inside and out. Not only would she outmatch me physically, she would be able to anticipate my every move. More than that, she also knew my magecraft. She had been there when I had developed the 'Body of Swords', and she knew better than to allow me time to line myself with steel. So she charged, kicking off clouds of dust as she covered the ground between us at frightening speed.

I managed to force od into my body, Reinforcing it to move fast enough to react. Saber had made it halfway between us by the time I got the set of Kanshou and Bakuya in my hands up, launching them at her. Just as easily as she had the first time, she brushed them aside, before twitching slightly as the first launched Bakuya cut through the air beside her. There was no way she could have seen that coming, but like me Saber also had an eye of the mind, though hers was false.

The false eye of the mind was nearly the exact opposite of mine, the ability to instinctively just know the flow of the battle without having to analyze it. It reminded me of the pre-cognizance that always seemed to let my Sekirei escape injuries that they couldn't have seen coming with no other damage to them but their clothes.

Even as she dodged, I felt prana focus on her, and between one instant and the next her speed nearly doubled. Prana Burst, the ability to simply take power and force it into her body, increasing her abilities tremendously. In a way it functioned much like my Reinforcement, though it was much more efficient. Saber knew of my Crane Wing Three Realm technique, and it looked like she was trying to prevent me from having time to prepare the final two blades I needed for it.

She was nearly in striking distance when her eyes widened. I could imagine the sudden intake of breath when she saw the weapon I was forming

The sword that was forming in my hand was not another set of Bakuya and Kanshou.

I had considered several different strategies for fighting Saber. I had toyed with the idea of using Fragarach, but decided it would most likely be ineffective. The Sword of the Gorging War God was only truly dangerous when it was countering an enemy's strongest move. Unless Saber was willing to use Excalibur as a Noble Phantom, an unlikely occurrence, it would only be able to release a 'D' class counterstrike. With the degradation that happened in traced weapon, that would have ended up more 'E' class than anything else. Saber would probably have been able to just shrug it off. The same was true for many of my Noble Phantoms. They would either be ineffective, or like in the case of Gae Bolg, too effective for a match where I didn't want to kill my opponent.

However, there was one weapon I knew, or perhaps, one swordsman I knew of, that had been able to match Saber, to even stop her in her tracks not just once but twice.

Monohoshizao, the Laundry Drying Pole, once wielded by the Servant Assassin, Kojirou Sasaki, shimmered into existence. Too late, Saber realized that she had fallen into my trap.

It was no surprise. Even the thought of using Monohoshizao probably never even occurred to her. The enormous nodachi wasn't even technically a Noble Phantom. It was just a sword that had once been wielded by a skilled swordsman. It didn't have any special property or true ability. What had made the sword dangerous had been the swordsman who used it, who had perfected a skill so godlike that it even surpassed that of what Servants could accomplish.

There was no way Saber would have anticipated me of using this weapon. A year ago, it would have just been a lump of steel in my hand. However, that was before I had found my magecraft miraculously boosted by the affection of no less than seven psychic aliens.

I focused hard, driving my mind into the fifth and sixth step of tracing: sympathizing with the experience of growth and reproducing the accumulated years. I felt like something in my brain was burning as I forced my comprehension to grow, to remember how the sword had been held, how it had been wielded. My body moved, unconsciously reproducing a stance. Yes… it was held like this… and then it was moved in just this fashion… But only when the ground was flat…

Monohoshizao glimmered where I held it by my head, both hands on the hilt. "Hiken! Tsubame Gaeshi!" I shouted, and the sword moved in the path of the 'Concealed Sword: Swallow Reversal', sometimes called 'The Swallow Cutter' in modern texts. It was a skill so perfect that it transcended the concept of space and time, momentarily imitating even the Second Sorcery, a blow reflected through dimensions to become three simultaneous cuts.

Well. It should have been. In the hands of the original user it had been an inescapable technique. For me though, just like with all my other swords, it was just a fake. My body was too slow, too clumsy, and even if the sword knew the path, I wasn't able to follow it, not completely. Instead of three inescapable strikes, I only managed two, and my mortal body failed to match the speed and strength that the Heroic Spirit who had utilized the technique could handle. It would most likely still be too much for any modern swordsman to block.

Against Saber, it just wasn't enough.

The moment she saw the sword, saw me settling into my stance, her speed increased yet again. She knew just what this technique did, just how dangerous it was. Even if I was an amateur with it, she reacted instantly, focusing her full attention on stopping the blow. She darted in, stepping closer and low as one of the strikes went high, and Excalibur was up to block the second.

Then she countered.

Maybe it was just her experience with Tsubame Gaeishi prompting her to strike seriously, or maybe it was her false eye of the mind prompting her instinctively to lash out at a weak point, but all I felt was one quick hot lance of pain as Excalibur bit into my left arm just above the elbow, the sharpness of the legendary blade barely slowing in my human flesh, and then it was through me, my arm severed and tumbling through the air.

I ignored it. It didn't matter. What did matter, was that in that one moment where I was using the Swallow Cutter, all of Saber's attention was on me, her full focus on surviving the legendary technique.

She was so focused on it, that she didn't even notice the first copy of Kanshou that I had launched returning until it struck, burying itself into her back, cutting through her spine.

She grunted, eyes widening but still focused as she lost the ability to control her feet. Heroic Spirits were spiritual creatures, true, but even if they were mystic in nature their bodies still reacted like a normal human. The blade in her spine had the same effect on her that it would have on a normal human, paralyzing her below where it had cut. She tumbled, the speed of her charge sending her careening to the ground as she no longer could control herself, passing me by even as I took the step necessary for the Swallow Cutter, the two of us crossing in one swift movement like something out of some samurai drama.

Even as Saber tumbled, I grit my teeth, forcing myself to move. I had stopped her with that move, yes, but only for now. As a Heroic Spirit she would be able to use prana to heal, and if she got the sword out of her quick enough she could be back on her feet in a matter of moments. The healing would be costly with Rin normally being the one who provided mana, but we had been together last night and I had, er, dedicated generously at the time just like I used to. She would have more than enough power to pull herself back together.

I twisted, the hand I still had gripping Monohoshizao tightly, and I caught sight of Saber rolling through the dirt. She had been moving so fast that she hadn't finished tumbling, but as she fell the hand not holding Excalibur was reaching for the part of Kanshou that had come out through the front of her armor. She was even now starting to push it back out.

She managed to get it a quarter of the way free before I got close enough to lay the edge of Monohoshizao against her neck. She froze, eyes darting up to meet mine.

The arm she had cut off made an audible thump as it finally hit the ground, the only sound in the silence which had settled on the clearing.

The two of us stared at each other, and I noted distantly that I was panting. Even if the entire match had literally lasted only a matter of seconds, I still felt a surge of exhaustion hit me like a hammer. My head ached, and I wondered clinically if maybe I hadn't managed to damage something up there while trying to replicate Tsubame Gaeshi. It didn't matter, it would heal later.

We both knew each other too well, and I was too outmatched to make this a fencing battle. I had only had one chance, to win on the first move using an unexpected tactic before she was able to wear me down and beat me. It had cost me my arm, but considering who I was fighting I would have to say the price had been cheap.

Finally, despite the fact that she had just cut off my arm, that I had just impaled her, Saber smiled at me. It was strangely gentle, yet proud.

"Well done, Shirou," Saber complimented me. "You've come a long way since the boy in the dojo."

"Thank you," I told her, remembering those early days, when Saber had chastised me for ever thinking of facing a Heroic Spirit in combat before starting to teach me how to handle a sword. "It's thanks to you."

"Not me," Saber disagreed, eyes closing briefly. "You have done well." She had always been a little disappointed that I had started imitating Archer, even back then, rather than follow her own style. Finally, she sighed briefly, opening her eyes again and giving me a look that was somehow still majestic, even smeared with dirt, and lying on the ground, and with a sword sticking out of her. "I surren…"

Mid word, something struck me hard, a concentrated force similar to the impact of a bean bag shot out of a gun. Nausea struck me, my head spinning with gut wrenching speed, a haze of red settling on my sight. My stomach churned, bile rising in my throat, and my limb ached, a vicious brutal pain that seemed to spread through me like lightning.

Then two more impacts happened, and everything bad just got worse.

I fell, the force knocking me sideways, and even before I hit the ground I was heaving, vomiting. My head was spinning so hard I could barely think straight, the confusion so debilitating that I couldn't even brace myself, Monohoshizao disappearing as I lost the ability to focus enough to keep the blade in existence. I couldn't be sure, but I think my convulsions were so strong that I lost control of my bowels.

I hit the earth, and with eyes so blurry I could only barely make it out I found myself looking at Rin, where she had circled the battle. Her Magic Crest was bared, and the arm it was on was lifted so she could point at me.

"Well," I heard her declare, tone cool. "Maybe it will be as easy as I thought."

I was still heaving, but I managed to stutter out between the wretches. "G-gandr?"

Gandr: an old Scandinavian curse cast by pointing the finger at the target. It had the effect of worsening the targets condition, making sickness spread and strengthening any illness already present. It was one of Rin's specialties, her skill with the curse so strong that she could effectively make it physically damaging and cause a victim to sicken even when they were otherwise healthy, a level of the technique sometimes known as 'Fin Shot'.

And apparently, I realized through the cotton and glass now stuck where my brain used to be, I had just been hit by it three times.

"Rin!" Saber snapped, and I think that the blade in her back was gone, just like Monohoshizao. The swordswoman had pushed herself up, still not able to properly move her legs as she struggled to an upright position. "How dare you!"

"I waited until the duel was over," Rin announced, already striding over to where the two of us were laying on the ground.

"That is true," Saber bit her lips, giving me a tight look. "But was it necessary to strike with such force?" I twitched, still heaving, but there really wasn't anything left in me at this point. I scrabbled at the ground, trying to get back up, but fell back over as I lost my balance.

Right. I only had one hand. The thought only seemed a distant curiosity, something that just drifted through the malaise of my existence.

"You're one to talk," Rin shot back to the swordswoman as she glared at Saber. Despite her tone, she reached down, one hand coming to rest on the wound in Saber's stomach. Saber twitched, but then she started to move her legs as the magus gave her the energy she needed to heal. "You cut his arm off!"

"That was a duel! It would have been disrespectful to fight with less than my utmost strength," Saber sounded defensive, glancing away sharply. "I would have supplied Avalon with prana later to heal it!"

"And he'll get over the Gandr just fine with enough time," Rin threw back at her.

I could barely follow their words. My body twitched and shook as I tried again to push myself back up. I managed to make it to all fours, all threes I corrected myself deliriously, but a particularly strong convulsion shuttered through me, and I collapsed back down on my face. The ground was muddy, a mixture of vomit and blood from my wound making the dirt viscous and splattering over my clothes.

"Are you still trying to get up?" Rin demanded, pulling the now fully healed Saber to her feet. "I forgot how stubborn you could be sometimes."

My consciousness was fading, but I managed to lift my head, and even if my vision was blurry I think that the magus looked exasperated. It was getting harder and harder to think as the curse continued to eat away at my thoughts, replacing them with just more feelings of illness. I… what had I been doing? Why was I trying to get back up?

"Another one will put you out for sure." The blur in front of me raised the blob that should be an arm. "Don't worry," she reassured me. "When we're back in London I'll make it up to you. I should have a nurse outfit somewhere." I listed, nearly rolling over but managing to at least stay in position at the last second. That didn't sound so bad. Maybe it would be alright if I were to lie down after all. I… it hurt to be awake. Those two… I knew those two. They would take care of me…"I'll even see about arranging visits to those aliens of yours sometime," she added, her tone grudging. "I guess I owe them that much. You'll see. Everything will work out fine."

'Those aliens of yours'. The words hit me, slashing through my vertigo like knives. I grit my teeth, and forced myself with the concentration only those who have trained to wield magecraft could pull up. My flock. Their faces flashed through my mind, all of them, and panic struck me with sudden clarity.

If I left now, then there's no telling what my flock would do. They'd try to get me back, and that wouldn't end well. MBI would never let them out of the city, would kill them for sure. So would the Clock Tower. I had to keep them safe, had to protect them, had to save them. I couldn't lose here. Not with what was at stake! No matter what!

Even as I heaved, I grit my teeth and looked up. It hurt to focus, but I was used to hurting, so that didn't matter. I forced myself to meet Rin's eyes, the glow of her crest casting shadows over her face, a sphere of something black and spherical, a Fin Shot already forming on her finger aimed at me.

"Rin," I rasped through an aching throat. "Premature gloating… is prohibited."

Something formed behind me, something dark and terrifying. Rin flinched back, the shock of seeing my Asura projection so great that her arm jerked. At my side some of the foul mud splashed, a smoking crater where her last Fin shot had missed me digging into the ground. The sheer shock of seeing the manifestation from me of all people caused both the magus and the King to freeze as something they had no way of being prepared for blindsided them.

I always knew that would come in useful someday.

I tried to launch myself at Rin, but my body was still barely functioning. I managed to lurch myself upright, but after that all I could do was stumble on the unprepared magus, my remaining hand flailing drunkenly. I managed to grab her, my palm striking her face, but after that I just barreled into her, knocking both of us to the ground. I spasmed, barely able to keep myself on top of her as we hit the ground. Rin yelped, and instinctively struck out at me, her elbows digging hard into my side as she unconsciously found herself resorting to her martial arts training at the sudden contact.

I grunted at the blows, her well-aimed attack striking at my floating ribs. The pain was nearly unnoticeable, seeing as just about everything hurt at this point. I forced myself to ignore it, forced myself to focus on my hand, still clutching her face. My finger moved, traceries of light on it as it scratched at her forehead, and I realized I was mumbling as I traced runes…

There. It was done.

One moment Rin was pounding on me as I lay on her, then I felt her body stiffen. Another shudder went through me, though this time it had nothing to do with the magical sickness ravaging my body. I flailed, feeling Rin under me doing the same, and finally regardless of my will or my condition, I violently pushed away from her, flopping face first back onto the ground.

"Rin! Shirou!" Saber sounded panicked, the swordswoman darting to both of us. "Are you alright?" I felt gentle, cool hands lift me from the muck, supporting me as I managed to make it to a sitting position. I heaved for air, grateful for the aid. The ground around us had grown muddier and muddier and that last spurt had taken more out of me than I think I could manage again soon. I very well could have ended up drowning before I would be able to pull myself out.

Behind me, I heard several strangled choking noises from Rin, but I didn't look.

I couldn't look.

"Rin, what is the matter?" Saber demanded, giving a worried glance behind me, though she didn't move away from supporting me. She glanced back at me, before her eyes went down to the stump of my arm. It was still bleeding, no one having had time to do anything to treat it in the rush of confused events. I could make out Saber biting her lip worriedly, before I felt one of her hands reaching out to cradle my new stump. The cool feeling of prana entering me nearly made me shiver, but it was enough to stop the bleeding at least. It seemed Saber was returning some of the prana I had given her last night, flooding it back into Avalon as the sheathe started to do what it was made to do, it's true owner once more with it.

"I," Rin got out, sounding frustrated, nervous, and a little frightened. "I can't talk to Shirou!" she yelped, sounding surprised. "I can't talk to Shirou but…" she trailed off again, another strangled noise coming out. She trailed off into silence for few moments, and then she spoke again, tone clinical as she apparently came to a conclusion. "Saber, ask Shirou just what the hell he did a second ago?"

Only a few seconds, and she already managed to find a loophole. Stupid, brilliant Rin. It was almost enough to make me jealous at times.

"Why can you not just ask him yourself?" Saber demanded, her head flicking back and forth between me and the magus behind me.

"I just can't," Rin responded, frustration obvious.

"Saber," I began, voice still raspy as I shivered. "Tell Rin that it was a geas." Saber looked confused, not understanding why I was addressing her instead of Rin directly.

"Saber, tell the blockhead I already figured that out," Rin didn't even wait for Saber to relay my message. "Ask him what type of geas is it? And how the hell he managed to make it stick!"

"Ah," Saber began, sounding confused. She looked cute like that, I noted deliriously. No wonder Rin always teased her so much. "Shirou, what type of geas have you cast?"

"I've made it so that Rin could never deliberately seek me out, or attempt to contact me," I told Saber. I felt… tired. Not just in the sick way, but emotionally. I think that might be the first time since the fire that I had that feeling. "Now the Clock Tower won't be able to force her to come after me again, or punish her for failing." I closed my eyes, and swayed. I nearly fell backwards before Saber reached out to catch me, but instead I felt my back come to rest on something else. Rin's back, I realized a moment later, and jerked away instinctively. "And I made it stick the same way I make my death match stick: by casting a geas on myself. So long as I never do the same, both of us will be affected."

Geas were complicated things. Most of the time, they could only be made temporary, but there were a few conditions which could change that. If a person agreed to allow a geas to be cast, then something more permanent could be enforced. However, if a magus was willing to impose an equally stringent condition on themselves, than they could empower the one they cast on another.

Cu Chulainn had been famous for using those kinds of geas, but there had been other cases of it I had drudged up while reading up on his legend. Saber had also mentioned the identity of the Fourth War's Lancer, Diarmui Ua Duibhne, and when I had read his legend I had learned that geas had been used on him too, geas strong enough to force him to betray his lord and permanent enough to last the rest of his life. Figuring out how had been the very basis for my Workshop's defenses.

Really. Matsu's search engine might work a little too well. It had only taken me a night to manage to design two full new mysteries, albeit mysteries very close to ones I had already developed.

And so in order to save Rin I just had to force myself to never be near her again.

I felt sick. It wasn't just the Gandrs, either.

"He did it," Rin muttered, shock in her tone. "He said that he would save us, and he actually managed to do it." She laughed bitterly. "Unless you're willing to grab him, Saber? It shouldn't be that hard to take him back after those Gandr. A baby could probably beat him now."

"Rin," Saber murmured, sounding uncomfortable. She glanced down, eyes scrunching shut. "Even so, he did win our duel," she reminded the magus. Her honor as a King and Knight would not allow her to betray the result of the duel.

"Thought so," Rin muttered, still laughing bitterly. "Well, I guess I should have you congratulate him, Saber." Her tone hitched at the end, and this time Saber did move out of my line of sight, one hand still supporting me while the other presumably went to comfort Rin. I wished I could do the same, but that wasn't possible anymore.

For a moment, the tableau held. Then I heard a rustling sound behind me.

"Saber," Rin's voice was calm, professional sounding. There was no trace of hitch in her voice now. "Tell that blockhead that I love him, and I want him to be happy." Immediately after she finished talking, I heard footsteps as the magus began to walk away. "And tell him to pay more attention to ley lines," her voice growing distant. "Honestly, it's just like before, with me. Rude, stubborn blockhead."

"Rin," Saber's voice was pained, and I didn't want to imagine what Rin looked like right now. For all that she could pretend to be strong, that she could hide her feelings better than most, I knew Rin well enough to hear the finality in her voice, the resignation. She had lost, and now, her pride demanded that she at least lose with dignity. Saber came back into my line of sight, her jaw clenched tight as she gave me worried look, as though unsure of what to do. "Shirou."

"It's alright, Saber," I told her softly, before a wracking cough hit me. I shivered, wondering if I had a fever, before deciding muggily that the very fact I had to ask myself that after taking three Gandr was probably a sign of just how sick I was. That didn't stop me from smiling at the swordswoman. Even though she was contracted to Rin, Saber had always considered me her first Master, her true Master. "Go with her," I told her. "Look after her. I can't anymore."

Saber hesitated for only a moment, before her expression changed to resolution. "Yes," she nodded firmly, and then she too was gone, her cool fingers disappearing from my back. I slumped to the side, listening until I couldn't hear them anymore.

I was alone.

Saber and Rin were safe from the Clock Tower now. Rin would be able to follow her life calling as a Magus, her lineage preserved, and Saber would be there to protect her and stand by her. I would be able to stop the Sekirei Plan and protect both the species and the planet as a whole by safeguarding the Jinki.

All it took was me never being able to see either of them again.

I was missing an arm. I was covered in blood, and vomit, and mud, every bit of my body aching and in pain. I realized that yes, I really had soiled myself, and from the way my stomach was churning it might not be a singular instance.

Yeah. That was how a victory like this should feel.

*Scene Break*

"I never wanted this for you," an unexpected voice said gently.

"Wanted what?" I gasped out, stumbling. I tried to reach out to brace myself, but I realized too late that I was trying to brace myself with arm that wasn't there and stumbled, my stump striking the wall and scratching against it. I grimaced, more lances of pain shooting through my body to add reinforcements to the already legion agonies I was feeling. It was so bad that I swear I actually heard something scraping, and I wondered if I had just ground my bone against the brick wall I nearly collapsed on.

It had taken me nearly all my concentration to force myself to my feet and leave Osaka Park. I had almost forgotten to retrieve my arm before I left, but I had remembered to grab it at the last second. I didn't want to leave something like that lying around where someone could find it and report it to the police. I had also almost forgotten to use a rune to try and make myself unnoticeable too, for that matter.

Then again, maybe I didn't need to. I couldn't even imagine how I looked, covered in so many bodily fluids and mud, holding one of my own limbs, probably so sickly that I had long since passed 'death warmed over'. I knew my own countrymen well enough to know that when someone looked like as much trouble as I did, the first inclination was to look somewhere else and hurry away quickly.

I wondered if this was how Akitsu felt, way back when I first found her?

"This," the speaker continued, and I glanced blearily over to where Kiritsugu was standing. He looked sad, but resigned, just like the night he had died, and was wearing his familiar scruffy too long coat.

Great. Now I was hallucinating.

"Gotta be more specific than that, dad," I muttered, lurching back to my feet and continuing to force myself to put one foot in front of the other. I left a stain of red on the wall behind me, and I felt as new drops of blood started to leak from my arm after the sudden pressure jostled whatever healing Avalon had managed to do to it back open.

Great. Now I was talking back to my hallucinations, I blearily realized. It felt vaguely amusing to me for some reason, so I started giggling.

Great. Hysteria.

"I never wanted you to suffer," Kiritsugu, or the delusion of Kiritsugu, explained. "When I found you back then, I just wanted to save you, to give you the chance to live the life that you wanted to lead."

"This is the life I want to lead," I told my father, before I had to clutch my stomach as it heaved again. My throat was already burnt from all the stomach acid that had gone through it, and it hurt again as more came up.

"I know," Kiritsugu nodded. He was walking beside me, eyes distant as he gazed at the horizon before him. "Even though I wanted you to lead your own life, when you told me that you would be a super-hero in my stead, I couldn't help but feel proud despite knowing what it would put you through."

"You were right," my eyes stung as sweat dripped down into them. I tried to scrub them clean, but ended up poking myself with the fingers of my severed hand as I forgot that I was still holding it. "It is hard when you grow up to be a hero. No matter how much I try, I can never seem to save everyone."

"You knew that, even back then," Kiritsugu chided me gently. "In the end, you have to choose."

"But it's so hard to decide, sometimes," I felt like I was back on the porch almost. Like it was just the two of us having a moon viewing, just like in the old days.

"Maybe," Kiritsugu agreed. He started to drift behind me, though it couldn't be that he was having trouble keeping pace with me. A toddler could probably keep pace with me. I stumbled again, and this time I just grit my teeth and kept propping myself on the wall with my stump as I forced myself to move. "Sometimes, it's easy. Just choose what will make you happy."

"Happy?" I repeated, not sure why that word in particular stuck with me. I swear, that grinding noise was getting louder. I wondered if maybe I should just call a cab, before remembering that I didn't have my wallet. Or my phone. And that no cab in the world wouldn't take one look at me and change directions from 'home' to 'nearest medical or police facility I can find'.

I couldn't have that. Even as my head throbbed and my throat twisted, I knew that I couldn't have that. I just had to make it back to Izumo House. Just keep thinking about Izumo House, and my flock. Homura and Akitsu must be worried by now, and I didn't want to break my promise to Kuu. If I wasn't there, Musubi and Tsukiumi might slack off in their chores too, and god knows what Matsu or Kazehana might get up to…

I grit my teeth, the thought of my flock helping me concentrate, helping me focus. Just had to keep moving.

"Happy," Kiritsugu was behind me now. Or his delusion was behind me. Or I had just stopped the visual and skipped straight to purely audio hallucinations? "Like you are there."

The word 'there' just brought more images of Izumo to mind, and I shook my head, trying to focus. Just think of one foot. Think of putting it in front of the other. Focus, Shirou.

"You aren't here," I told my father. This, this whatever it was, was just distracting me. "You're dead."

"So is Minato Sahashi," Kiritsugu's voice sounded wrong, too soft and high pitched.

I grit my teeth. I couldn't spare any more attention to him. Even if Minato Sahashi had accepted his death, Shirou Emiya hadn't yet. The voice behind me faded, disappearing.

It was blessedly silent for a bit. No delusions, no hallucinations. Even the sounds of Shin Tokyo seemed strangely muted. The only thing I could hear was my harsh breathing and that weird scraping noise as I dragged my stump along the wall, using it to keep me up. I pitied whoever would be responsible for clearing off the large smeared trail of blood I was leaving in my wake.

It was silent, until the one voice I most certainly did not want to hear, not in the best of conditions much less the way I was at the moment drifted to my ears.

"Well, well," Karasuba said from behind me. "Isn't this a pleasant surprise?"

Maybe, I thought to myself hopefully, this is just another hallucination?

"It looks like you've been having quite a good time lately," the Black Sekirei continued, sounding like she was closer this time. I tried not to shudder, but my fever made the effort a lost cause. She seemed to notice the motion, and I heard her soft laughter.

Alright, probably not a delusion. Maybe if I just kept quiet she wouldn't notice me? She might mistake me for some poor bum or something, and walk right on by. Yeah. That might happen.

And the fact that I actually just entertained that thought seriously was even more so than earlier probably indicative of how poor my mental state was at the moment. Though the hallucinations should have been proof of that too…

"Oh?" Karasuba was still laughing gently. "Ignoring me, Minat-"

"Emiya," I snapped blearily, reacting automatically as the damned alien just kept screwing with me, my remaining hand lashing out and throwing what it was holding at the walking genocide, even though I knew she would only end up dodging…

The thought was interrupted by a strange smacking noise, and I looked back, putting my back to the wall to support myself as I half turned around to see what that strange sound was.

Yes, it was Karasuba, I noted through the haze in my vision; or at least a particularly specific delusion of her. The Black Sekirei was in her uniform, grey coat hanging off her shoulders like normal with one hand on the hilt of her nodachi, but for some reason she seemed surprised by something, eyes open and actually blinking in bewilderment as she stared at something on the ground in front of her. Also, for some reason she had a strange red patch on her forehead…

"Did you just throw your own severed arm at me, Shiroi-chan?" she finally asked, sounding as though she was honestly confused. I blinked and looked down, realizing that I had forgotten until she pointed it out that the thing I was holding was exactly that.

"Huh," I rasped out. "And it worked too. Who would have thought it'd be that easy?"

Karasuba blinked one last time, her eyes coming up to meet mine, before she suddenly snorted gently, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as she closed her eyes and began laughing. It was a surprisingly nice sound, not like her usual chuckle but an honest noise of amusement, and I realized that she was actually kind of cute, when she wasn't being a bloodthirsty murderess.

Man, I must be even sicker than I thought if I was actually thinking of Karasuba as cute.

"Oh," she finally trailed off, her expression returning to a more normal one for her, her eyes lidded and her benevolent smile a little wider than usual. "Oh, only you, Shiroi." Casually, with the hand she had used to cover her mouth she reached down picking up the limp segment of arm. She didn't seem the least bit concerned over handling a disembodied portion of another person's body, but then again she probably dealt with that kind of thing a lot.

"Whatever," I sighed before pushing back up, propping myself against the wall and turning to continue my journey home. Karasuba apparently didn't know a dismissal when it left a blood trail behind it, and I caught sight of her from the corner of my eye as she pulled even with me, walking slowly so she could maintain my pace.

"My, my, my," she instead tried to start up a conversation. I wondered blearily if the next time I had to vomit I could aim it at her. "It looks like you've had quite an adventure," she sounded casual, completely at ease. "What have you been getting up to, Shiroi-chan?"

I considered telling her that my old exes had been in town, but decided against it. She did work for MBI, after all, and word might get back to Takami if I did. At least, I think that was the reason that I didn't tell her the truth. It seemed like the best one I could come up with at the moment, anyway.

"You know, I can't really remember," I instead told her. "After the thirteenth shot, it's all just a big blur. I do remember the bartender saying something about fishes, though why he would tell me to 'get trout' I just don't know. Or maybe it was 'get out'…" I shrugged, trying to feign obliviousness, but the move affected the stump on the wall, and I staggered, nearly falling before I managed to right myself.

"Really?" Karasuba seemed amused by my ridiculous story, but didn't pry any further into it. At least, I thought she wasn't until she continued. "You know, this might surprise you but just a half hour ago or so MBI had another issue with their satellite cameras."

"Do I look like I would even begin to care about something like that right now?" I muttered, feeling another heave in my stomach coming. I tried to decide if aiming it at or not at Karasuba would be the best move, but it ended up being a false alarm.

"It's strange," the Black Sekirei continued as though I hadn't spoken. "But it seemed to be centered around this one particular area. One 'Osaka Park'."

I didn't have a smart mouth return to that, but my stomach flip-flopped again, this time metaphorically. Matsu. She must have done something, probably interrupted the footage like I had had her do before when the Fraga had attacked.

"So, naturally, when they dispatched me to go check it out, imagine my surprise when I find my dear Shiroi-chan in the area." Karasuba shook her head, still smiling but trailing off after she voiced her suspicions.

"Wow," I said bluntly. "What a coincidence." I tried to focus, to straighten my thoughts out. It was hard, even harder than earlier when I had managed to place the geas on Rin. I was definitely getting worse. I had to make it back to Izumo, and fast.

"Yes," Karasuba agreed with a nod. "Coincidence." I tensed, waiting for the first move, but none came. The two of us were still, me needing all my concentration to stay upright for a sudden attack, no longer walking forward, but nothing happened.

"Aren't you going to attack?" I finally asked, peering suspiciously at the still calm Sekirei beside me.

"In your present state?" Karasuba smirked. "I think I'll pass. It wouldn't be any fun right now."

"You should have used a lance," I told her, thinking back to just how similar Karasuba and Cu Chulainn were at times. The Black Sekirei just raised an eyebrow at me, not voicing her confusion but a question obviously on her mind. I ignored her, and turned to try and continue my trip.

I made it one more step, and then one of my legs went out on me. It just didn't have anything left in it. I stumbled, and would have ended up face first on the ground, but a strong hand found the bicep of my good arm, gripping me firmly but gently as it supported me.

"Well," Karasuba smiled at me as she caught me. "This won't do at all. You just won't be any fun like this. I suppose I better bring you back to MBI. I'm sure Takami would be able to cook up something to get you back in shape to play with me again later."

"No," tried to snap, but it came out a gasp, and I shook again as another fever shiver hit me. I tried again with moderately better success. "No hospitals! No MBI!"

My head was spinning, so fast that it for some reason made me think of my old washing machine… why would I come up with that kind of comparison? No, focus! Even with me concentrating all the skills of self-control a magus needed to survive, I was still starting to slip into true delirium. Despite my growing disconnect from reality, I knew that I couldn't go to a hospital or to MBI. The reason I couldn't was fading in and out, but I knew it.

"Take me to Izumo house," I ordered, before shaking as more lung wrenching coughs settled on me.

"Oh, I don't think that would be the best idea," Karasuba seemed amused by my reluctance, before she paused. "Then again…"

I felt her fingers touch me, trailing across my stomach where the wound I had gotten in the Third Match had disappeared from. It sent a shiver through me, or maybe that was just the fever. I tried to brush her away, but when I didn't touch anything I shakily remembered that I didn't have that hand anymore.

"Stop tha…" I tried to tell her, though despite my attempt at being stern I found myself slumping against her more. Karasuba didn't seem to mind. Though her eyes sure had gone wide for some reason…

A grip like a band of iron, nowhere near as gentle as the one on my remaining arm, clamped around my stump. I groaned, but the Black Sekirei ignored it.

"Well," she murmured, sounding intrigued. "Well, well, well." The painful grip vanished, and Karasuba grinned like that one cat, the one whose name escaped me, the one from that book…

What was I thinking about again? I forgot.

"You know what," Karasuba declared, and I struggled to look up at her. "I haven't seen Musubi for a bit. Tell you what, Shiroi-chan. Double the tarts you owe me, and it's a deal."

"Deal," I agreed, trying to offer my hand for a shake, before realizing that it was still missing.

*Scene Break*

I didn't remember much about the trip back after that. I was fading in and out pretty hard by that point. I think at one point I might have vomited on Karasuba. Or maybe I didn't. It's hard to tell. She doesn't seem like the type to take that kind of thing lying down, and since I was still breathing when we finally reached the gate to Izumo House maybe I had aimed somewhere else.

"You!" The voice that lashed out like a whip was enough to jerk me back to semi-awareness. I glanced up as best I could to see a number of blurs in front of me. They seemed familiar, but it took me a moment to get their names again. That one, the one who just spoke. That was Miya I think. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"Oh? Just returning a lost puppy," Karasuba. That's the one who was speaking now. I came a bit further back, and managed to take stock of my position. At some point the Black Sekirei had draped my good arm around her shoulder, one hand grasping my wrist and the other my waist as she half supported half dragged me along. She didn't seem to be having any trouble with it, so I guess that's good. "Why don't you come over here and take it, Musubi-chan?"

"Shirou-sama!" Musubi, I identified her as the pink blob slowly. "Karasuba-sama! Musubi wants too, but she can't at the moment! Can you bring him in here?"

"Can't?" Karasuba sounded dryly amused by the response. "Why not? And no, I can't come in. Miya already said she wouldn't let me, and I'm not here to pick a fight today."

"Oh yeah," I tried to say, but I think I slurred the two words a bit too much to be recognizable. I tried again with moderately more success. "Lean that way."

It was easier not to make full sentences. I felt my body sway, when I was close enough I swept with my stump, striking the section of the gate where I had inscribed my runes earlier. I swear, I heard another one of those scraping noises. It seemed louder this time.

A half second later, something soft and warm hit me. It jingled, the sound of a chain being shook, and was familiar, but it pulled hard and it made me dizzy.

"Akizu," I slurred, not able to properly pronounce the name of the snow woman as she yanked me away from the Black Sekirei. "Not so hard…"

"Shirou!" Another one… that one used to be a man! Kagari… or was it Homura? I'll figure out which one it was later. "My god, what happened to you?"

"Where are Rin and Saber?" Tsundere demanded. Wait. That wasn't her name, was it…

"It's official," I managed to get out. "We broke up."

"He's burning up," something white with glittery things on top declared. "We need to get him to a hospital!"

"No! No hospitals!" I tried to get that out, but wasn't sure how much success I managed.

"You should listen to him," Karasuba, I could still identify her at least. "In this town, a hospital is probably the last thing he needs like that."

"What is that?" someone hissed, and I heard exclamations I just couldn't associate with names from a lot of the blurs around me.

"Well," Karasuba declared, sounding satisfied. "I'll just be heading off now."

Someone was touching me, but suddenly in one of those fits of fever clarity I realized something.

"Karasuba!" I snapped, managing to prop myself up as reality managed to come into reasonable focus. My flock was around me, Akitsu having taken over Karasuba's former position of holding me up. I could make out Musubi and Tsukiumi in front of me, and Kazehana to the side. The water user and the wind user were pale, both of them looking at my stump with nervous expressions. Musubi looked a bit upset, but seemed to be handling it better than the other two. Behind me I could hear tapping, so I assumed that was where Matsu was. I couldn't see Kuu at all.

The Black Sekirei paused. It looked like she had been turning around to leave. She hadn't taken even a step onto Izumo property, and directly in front of her, blocking the entrance were Homura and Miya. The fire user was wavering, and I thought it was just my magical plague causing it before I realized it was most likely her fire power. And Miya was clutching in a draw position…

Wait. That wasn't a sword. That was a broom. Weird.

"Well, Shiroi-chan?" the Black Sekirei prompted me, smiling innocently all the while. I struggled, and managed to push myself up, off of Akitsu. I heard a few gasps, but managed to make it to where Homura and Miya were standing sentinel.

Well, make it as in I ended up staggering until I fell on Homura. She felt hot for a moment, but when I fell on her the heat disappeared, and then she felt cool.

"Damnit, Shirou! Don't move!" Homura growled, but I focused on Karasuba.

"Give it back," I tried to order her, but it came out more like 'gi'I'ack'. Still, she seemed to realize what I was asking for.

"Oh?" She sounded genuinely amused at the order, her smile widening. "Give what back?"

I tried to glare at her, but it was probably pretty pathetic at the moment. I didn't have much energy left in me for playing games, so instead of arguing I just reached over, and clumsily took Miya's broom. The landlady resisted for a moment, and then seemed to realize that it wasn't a sword she was holding, and quickly let me take the broom. I swear, I think she might have been blushing for a second. I took the newly purloined cleaning implement and tried to throw it at the Black Sekirei. It flopped down pathetically a few feet in front of her, rolling as it landed until it tapped the edge of the amused Karasuba's boots.

"Emiya-kun," Miya groaned, a hand coming up to press on her forehead, though whether it was in embarrassment for threatening someone with a broom or embarrassment at my pathetic attempt at an attack I couldn't tell.

Karasuba on the other hand looked at the broom for a moment, and then gave Miya a sly look. She reached down with one hand for the pathetic projectile, the other reaching behind her and beneath her coat.

"I suppose that's a fair trade," she admitted casually. "Takami probably wouldn't have liked me holding on to this." With a shrug, she tossed my severed arm that she had been holding onto so that it would land at my feet as well. Beneath me, Homura hissed, her body heat increasing dramatically. "See you soon, Shiroi-chan."

"You," Homura growled, and I think I might have seen Karasuba's coat start to smolder. However, that was it.

I was back in Izumo House. I could rest now.

I think I heard a few more shouts, but the darkness took me too quick to understand any of them.

*Scene Break*

I don't remember much of what came next. I remember being hot, and then being cold. I think I remember a spoon, and the taste of soup. I do remember vomiting a few more times. A few times, I thought I saw Kirei, that crooked priest leering at me, other times, Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes ranting.

I think I thought I saw that cat too. The one from that book I couldn't remember…

Then, as though a switch had been flipped, suddenly everything snapped back into clarity. My eyes shot open, only to close again as I groaned, the light in the room hitting them like daggers even though there really wasn't much of it.

"Freaking Gandr," I muttered, trying to reach up to massage my head with both hands. One of them made the trip, the other just jerked, being brought up short. I managed to crack my eye open to check on it, and found myself staring at bulge being covered by a white sheet that was significantly smaller than I remember my arm being.

Oh, right. Stump.

"That's going to take forever to heal," I muttered, tugging at my damaged arm, frowning as I realized that it was apparently being restrained underneath the white sheet draped on it.

"Oh?" a new voice interrupted my thoughts, and I blinked again, trying to peer out from beneath half closed eyes as I took stock of the situation. "Are you awake, Lover-kun?"

"Kazehana," I muttered, letting my head sink back on my pillow. "Tell me I don't look as bad as I feel."

My body wasn't in pain anymore, but it ached at the memory of the feeling. A normal Gandr can make anyone feel weak. It was a curse meant to worsen a person's condition. One of Rin's Gandrs could put the healthiest of specimens down. Three of them?

Might as well just infect me with smallpox, the black plague, and malaria simultaneously. What the hell had she been thinking? That would have been enough to kill just about anyone on the planet.

Well, not me, as evidenced by the fact I was still breathing. But the vast majority of the population would probably have been undone by that much concentrated magic illness.

"Ashikabi-kun," the wind user's voice sounded relieved, but still restrained. I managed to crack an eye open, only to find my vision dominated by soft brown as I looked up into the entirely too close eyes of my Sekirei. "How are you feeling?" I felt soft fingers pressing against my forehead, and I almost sighed at the gentle touch.

"Better," I admitted, before trying to push myself up on my elbow to a sitting position. I was intercepted before I had made it more than an inch up by another touch, this time firm as Kazehana moved her hand from my forehead to my chest and pushed me back down. For a moment I tried to resist, to force myself up, but I was still feeling weak from the Gandrs and Kazehana seemed willing to use some of her Sekirei strength to keep me lying down.

Finally, with a sigh I gave in to the inevitable and let myself be forced back. Since it didn't look like I was going to be getting up anytime soon, I instead decided to try and take stock of my surroundings.

I was in my room, that much was obvious. It was dark, a little light coming in from the window though none was turned on, so it was a safe guess that it was night out. I was in my futon, the sheets having originally been pulled up though they had fallen down when I had tried to move, exposing my bare chest. I realized that I was wearing some pajama bottoms, but nothing else. The room had a lingering scent to it, one of sweat and sickness, but I was clean at least. Kazehana was kneeling next to my futon, but behind her were a few pillows that she had most likely been leaning on. Beside her were a set of ever present bottles, the scent of sake coming from a saucer near them, and a little to the side of that was a large bowl with several towels next to it. I realized belatedly that there was a cool weight on my forehead, and with my good arm I reached up to touch it: another towel.

"Stop playing with it, Lover-kun," Kazehana ordered, her tone not ungentle. "You have a high fever." Despite her words, once it was proved I was able to use complete words and sentences again the Sekirei sat back, reclining on the stack of pillows and reaching for her sake again. It was dark, but I could make out a sharp look as she watched me closely.

"Not anymore," I corrected her, tugging the moist towel away, running my fingers against my forehead to verify what I was saying. I was never too good at judging temperature just by touch, but I felt normal, at least to me. "Illness caused by magecraft generally don't last longer than the curse, and it looks like this one has finally run its course. I should be fine now."

Kazehana relaxed almost imperceptibly at the words, though I found myself wincing as I spoke them. The hand with the towel came down to lightly probe my throat. It was sore, probably an after effect of too much gastric acid coming back over it. Even if the illness itself is gone, it would still probably take me a day or two to recover back to full health. Especially with my arm…

Speaking of my arm; I lifted my left arm up as much as I could, pulling it tight against whatever was holding it down. I could only get a few inches of clearance from whatever it was that I was strapped to.

"Why am I tied up?" I grit out, and I realized my voice was scratchy, and it was hard to raise it.

"So that when you woke up I would be able to take advantage of you without you being able to escape," Kazehana purred, leaning forward as she did so as she struck a playful pose, and even in the dark it was enough to make me blush.

"Er," I managed to get out, looking hurriedly around the room for something to distract myself with. I found it almost instantly. "You'll wake up Akitsu and Homura!"

It was a testament to how out of it I was that I only now realized that yes, it wasn't just Kazehana and I present. Akitsu was kneeling in the corner, her back to where the two walls met. She had her hands on her knees, and for a moment I thought she was carefully watching the entire thing like she normally did, but then I caught sight of her bowed head as it swayed lightly and I realized something.

"She can sleep in that position?" I muttered, wincing at the thought. By the time she woke up her legs were going to be so numb that moving would take at least a half hour. Beside the snow woman was Homura. She was leaning with her back against a wall, one leg pulled up so she could wrap her arms around it, and her head was down, forehead to knee, as she too seemed to be sleeping.

"Oh?" Kazehana sounded delightfully scandalized, though she kept her tone low, presumably to not wake up the other Sekirei. "You want them to watch? You naughty boy!"

"What?" I blushed a little harder at the implication, before scowling. "I thought that was your particular kink. Tsukiumi still hasn't forgiven you for that time."

"I was reacting!" Kazehana frowned, and I was happy to note that it was her turn to blush slightly as she remembered the time she had peeped on Tsukiumi and I, peeped and even done other things as well. "Ne, that was all your fault for being so irresistible, Ashikabi-kun! Besides," she leered playfully, "if you two had just kept going I might have been able to slip in halfway through! See what you lost for being prudish?" She flaunted again with admirable skill. Cleavage that deep should not exist in reality.

"Urk," I turned away, deciding that it was safer for me to focus on the missing body part than the two very real and very tempting ones being presented. "How long was I out?" I asked, letting my attention fall on other less savory matters.

"It's been four days, Shirou-kun," Kazehana's voice also got serious, and I heard her next gulp of sake clearly. "No matter what treatment we tried, you just wouldn't get better. We were getting very worried, you inconsiderate man."

I winced at the gentle chiding, knowing how hard that must have been for them all. I had walked away from them, going to a fight which I might not return to them from, only to show back up on the arm of one of our most dangerous enemies, missing a limb, and stricken by plague.

Yeah, I deserved that title right now.

"So are you all taking turns watching me?" I asked, realizing that it wasn't coincidence one of my flock had been there right when I woke up. "It's your shift out of the three?"

"Not quite," Kazehana admitted, and I felt something warm settle near me. I glanced over to see that Kazehana had abandoned the pillows so she could sprawl out beside me, close enough for me to feel her warmth but not touching. It put us at an intimate distance, and I felt something tight in my gut form as I swallowed. "It's my turn out of the rest. We were all looking after you at first, but finally Miya put her foot down. We've been taking turns. But those two wouldn't leave, no matter what Miya did."

Her voice was softer than before, gentler, and I felt for all the world like I was having pillow talk with the alien next to me, not checking up on my alien harem after having engaged in potentially lethal combat.

"Those two," I sighed, giving Akitsu and Homura another look. I expected that kind of thing out of Akitsu, honestly, but that Homura was doing it too now…

"You really worried them Shirou," Kazehana used my name without honorific rather than one of her nicknames for me, and I swallowed again, finding myself completely unable to identify the reason for the way of address.

"Worried enough that you tied me down to keep me from escaping?" I tried a joke, jerking my stump again. Rather than joking back, Kazehana shook her head seriously.

"You were thrashing sometimes," she explained, reaching over my body for the cloth on my stump. It meant parts of her brushed against parts of me, and I swallowed again. "We didn't want you to hurt yourself any more."

"Hurt myself more?" I began, but when the Wind Sekirei pulled the cloth concealing my left arm away my eyes widened, then narrowed. "Oh."

My arm was being restrained, a leather cuff having been secured to the bicep and then bolted to the floor in a move which must have pissed Miya off something fierce. However, it was the stump itself which caught my eye.

Jutting out of the flesh where it had been cut off were the gleaming tips of dozens of swords. Some of them were longer than others making the stump an irregular field of sharp tips, and lacing between and around some of them were strands of dull red, muscles and flesh I realized, growing back around the foundation the blades made.

It was a disturbing, but not unexpected sight. I had always known that having a Reality Marble was a mark of being abnormal. After all, it was at its very nature a perception so alien from reality that it could alter the world around it. For a human to develop something most common in elementals, demons, and the most ancient of Dead Apostles, it was a sure sign that there was something wrong with them, something different.

In the end, having a Reality Marble meant I didn't think or perceive the world as a human. Seeing my body like this, the proof of my strangeness manifested physically…

Maybe my Sekirei weren't the only ones who deserved the appellate Not Human.

"Well, this is a bit new," I finally allowed, and as I watched one of the blades quivered, before extending out from the rest by a half inch. The part of the blade that had been even with the rest was red as it pulled more of my recovering flesh forward, advancing the healing state of my arm just a bit more. I raised an eyebrow, and despite the twisted nature of what I was seeing I couldn't suppress a twinge of magi curiosity. This was obviously some mixture of both my Reality Marble and Avalon's presence in my body. I'd never seen a wound heal like this before, but then again this was my first dismemberment. I wonder if all lost pieces would recover like this…

I shook my head quickly when I found myself contemplating removing a finger or toe later to double check. I wasn't that dedicated a magus, after all.

"We were going to take you to a hospital," Kazehana had pulled her arm back, and was using it to sip from her cup while she propped herself up with her other arm, looking at my arm with a measured gaze. "But Karasuba was right: if we took you to a hospital like this, there would be no way that MBI wouldn't find out about it. And if they did…"

"Yeah," I nodded letting my recovering stump fall back to the ground with a sigh. "They'd probably chalk it up to something Sekirei related, but that might be even worse, all things considered." Then another thought hit me, and I shuddered. "And god knows what Takami would do…" I trailed off, yet another thought topping the previous one. I must still be a bit out of it if I missed it when Kazehana brought it up. "Karasuba saw?"

"Mmhm," Kazehana wrinkled her nose a bit. "There was no way Crow-chan could have missed it. They were pretty obvious, even then. When you undid your magic, you had enough pointy ends to even cut the gate."

So that was what the weird scraping noise had been when I had been using my stump to support myself. I was actually curious just what anyone who came across blood stained scratches trailing down several streets would think, finding something so gruesome.

"What did she do?" I asked, focusing less on my wandering thoughts and more on the fact that Karasuba, the Black Sekirei, had seen with her own eyes evidence of magecraft. And on me of all people! "Has MBI started to move?" If she reported this to her superiors…

"No," Kazehana shook her head. "Matsu has been keeping an eye on them, and so far there's no evidence that they have any idea what happened."

"That…" I trailed off trying to understand why the chief enforcer of the Disciplinary Squad would keep something so important from her bosses. All the answers I came up with set me with even more chills. "That's pretty damn ominous."

Karasuba knew that I could grow swords out of my freaking body. She might not know how and why it happened, but for a swordswoman obsessed with violence and who had already targeted me in the past, I didn't think she was keeping a secret out of the goodness of her heart.

The next time we fight would probably be a lot less pleasant than the first time, and considering that she almost killed me with one hit the first time, my chances of making it through that battle without having to resort to my magecraft were dwindling to the point where even eye of the mind was having trouble coming up with a way to victory.

"I bet Crow-chan is going to flirt extra hard, next time she shows up," the tipsy Sekirei managed to sum it up pretty easily, though she was pouting as she did so. "Why doesn't she go get lovey-dovey with her own man?"

"Because her Ashikabi is gay," I supplied for Kazehana, and she rolled her eyes at the blunt statement.

"Then she should of thought better about passing up on her first chance," she declared. Then she paused, and when she spoke again her tone was softer. "But I suppose she wasn't the only one passing up on their firsts."

I went quiet at Kazehana's choice of words, and even someone as oblivious as me could understand that we weren't talking about Karasuba anymore.

I had been selfish. I had had a chance to let things go, to let them resolve themselves in a way that everyone could live with. And instead I had risked it all, put myself in a position where I might lose, where I probably would have lost if things had gone even a little differently. And my flock new it. They knew that I might have gone to a place where they wouldn't be able to follow anymore, had had to struggle with the thought that maybe I might have had to go with Saber and Rin, my human lovers. Maybe they had even had the idea that maybe I would lose on purpose, that I would deliberately chose my past loves over them.

Even more than when I had first found out about the nature of the winging ritual and lashed out at them, I had probably hurt my flock profoundly, for my own ignoble reasons.

"How bad is it?" I asked Kazehana quietly. She raised a delicate eyebrow at me, and I forced myself to elaborate. "The others. You too. How are you all doing?"

"You spent the last four days delirious, and had your arm cut off, and you ask how your Sekirei are?" Kazehana sighed, taking a sip of her sake. "Well, Lover-kun," she continued, her tone taking on a teasing note as she winked at me. "We were all a bit upset at first, but Matsu managed to hack MBI's satellites in time. It was much harder to be angry with you after seeing that."

"You didn't let Kuu watch?" I asked, worried about the younger Sekirei being exposed to that kind of violence.

"If we had known how it would have turned out, we would have covered her eyes," Kazehana admitted sheepishly. "But it was all over so quick that we didn't have time." She sighed. "Poor thing cried, but she got over it. After all, things are alright now."

"I'll have to make it up to everyone," I decided, wondering how I could try to make things right. I opened my mouth to continue, but froze when Kazehana put a finger on my lips, silencing me.

"Ashikabi-sama," Kazehana began, her voice gentle but stern. "There's no need to make things right." I raised an eyebrow, unable to believe that things were really well. "We watched you strike down your old lover, and then attack the other. Then we saw you crawl, bleeding and sick, to come back to us. That is all the proof we need." She took a deep shuddering breath, and I had to look away and blush at what it did to her bust. When she continued, the blush only deepened at the sultry tone her voice had taken. "Oh, Ashikabi-sama, you have no idea what that means to us."

I couldn't help shaking my head at her words. If I had pulled a move like I had with my flock on Rin and Saber, there was no way they would be nearly so forgiving afterwards. Then again, I was starting to understand the Sekirei more. For them, I suppose the way they saw the fight was probably just as Kazehana summed up.

Not Human. Then again, right now I didn't feel much like I could point fingers at them at this point. I felt something twitch in my arm, and wondered if that had been another sword growing out of me.

"We should be asking you if you're alright, Lover-kun," Kazehana continued, pulling her finger away as she reached again for her cup. Her eyes were searching as she studied me.

"Well, another day or two and my body should be back up to normal," I hummed, closing my eyes and shifting as I tried to judge how much damage the sickness had done. I isolated a stinging in my side, and realized that at some point before they had tied me down I had probably scratched myself with my recovering arm. "I've never lost an arm before, so I have no idea how long that will take, but after its finished Avalon should be able to work on the rest of me quickly enough."

"I wasn't asking about that," Kazehana sighed. She gave me a gentle look, her gaze sympathetic. "Was it hard, Shirou?"

"Was what hard?" I asked mulishly, pretending I didn't realize the underlying question. Kazehana seemed to understand my reluctance, but asked again anyway.

"Was it hard, leaving your first loves?" I closed my eyes briefly, but when I opened them Kazehana just continued to smile. "You know, Shirou, that if you had just let them go, you would have been able to see them again someday. Even we, your Sekirei, could see how much you all loved each other. We wouldn't have begrudged you, if you were to meet up again. It would have been so romantic, both us and them on the run, spending just a few moments being reunited with each other, only to have to separate soon, and spend the time until you next met longing for each other!"

"Kazehana," I sighed, wondering yet again just how she could make everything that happened to her sound like something that came out of a romance novel. She was even squirming a bit at the thought, yielding again to her childish joy of all things romantic.

"But you didn't do that," she continued after one last gushing sigh, her tone serious yet again. "You chose to make the separation permanent, to give your old love closure and let them move on."

I didn't know what to say to that.

She was right, after all.

It could have been like she said. I didn't doubt that after my flock and I managed to escape Shin Tokyo with the Jinki that I wouldn't have been able to find Saber and Rin while on the run. We wouldn't have been able to stay together for too long, not without making ourselves too tempting a target for the Clock Tower or bounty hunters, but we could have been together for a bit before separating again. Tsukiumi, arguably the most jealous of my flock had been willing to share, and even Rin when she thought she had won had seemed willing to let me spend time with my aliens even if I would be spending most of the time with her and Saber in London.

"They deserved better than that," I muttered. "It would have been selfish, to make them live their lives like that. It would have been selfish to make you all have to live like that too."

In the end, this wasn't some damn eroge or manga, no matter how much my life tried to be like one or how much my sister relied on them. There's more to life than just love, no matter what the Sekirei as a species might feel. There were duties, and obligations, and choices in life that sometimes mattered more than just who or how many you could be with. Rin and Saber had more to their lives than just me, and if I was going to hold them back from that then it would be better to leave completely.

I guess I understood those wishy-washy harem protagonists a lot better now, though. It was painful, making a choice to end things.

But I guess I was familiar with making painful choices. You can't save everyone, and love isn't enough, in the end.

"It will get better," Kazehana supplied, and I shot a look at her, wondering how she knew what I was thinking. Her smile was a touch bitter. "Sometimes you'll think of them, and it will all come back. But as more and more time goes on, you'll think of them less and less. Finally, there will come a day when even if you think about them, it won't hurt anymore." She sipped her sake again. "Trust me, Shirou. I know."

"I suppose you do, don't you," I murmured. It was easy to forget sometime, beneath all her flirting and light heartedness, that this was a Sekirei who had chosen an Ashikabi before, and been rejected by them. For a species devoted to their Ashikabi, it must have been the most painful thing that could happen to her. She had spent years afterwards, drinking to help ease the pain, though I guess nowadays it was more drinking out of habit than anything else.

Still, her words did make me feel a little better. I smiled at her, thankful for her comfort, even if it still hurt. "Thank you, Kazehana."

She closed her eyes, a shudder going through her frame. When she opened them again, they were lidded, and piercing, and the look in them made me swallow. I was suddenly very aware of just how close the two of us were, and how similar are conversation was to pillow talk.

"I love it when you say my name," she whispered, her voice throaty despite that. "Let me tell you something else, Shirou: sometimes the best way to get over a lost love is to find a new one. But then again, you already have."

"Kaze-" I cut myself off with a sharp breath of my own as the mature woman next to me rolled, closing the distance between us until there was none. She propped herself up on her hands so she could hover over my torso, but her legs and hips pressed against mine.

"Say my name again," she moaned softly, her hair falling like a curtain around us, another shudder going through her. I swallowed, and my tongue was suddenly too thick for me to follow her order. She didn't seem to mind, her eyes bearing into mine with an intensity that made feel like a small animal before a predator. "You worry about us, protect us, and even chose us over your first loves," she whispered, a hand caressing my cheek. "We Sekirei need someone like you." She smiled, starting to close the distance between our faces. "But then again, perhaps someone like you needs us Sekirei, too."

"Kazehana," I whispered, and she shivered again. "We shouldn't be doing this right now. Akitsu and Homura are here…"

"And if they wake up they can watch," she interrupted me. "For now, it's Friday, and Matsu already said you could be mine for the night."

I wasn't really able to say anything else after that.

*Scene Break*

I thought I was familiar with sex. I'd had it before. Yeah, I hadn't had as many partners as some, but I had been pretty frequent with them back before the whole being hunted had limited my options. Even after I had made a freaking harem, though I hadn't been too quick about it I had had a little, and the two experiences had shown me a bit of diversity in just how sex could be.

Not to mention how persistent Matsu had been in trying to expand my repertoire of technical knowledge of fetishes. I had no idea so much porn existed, but it was the internet, after all.

All of that had left me pretty certain that I knew what sex was.

Then I was with Kazehana, and I learned that I had no idea why some people used the term 'lovemaking' before this day.

I was still pretty weak from having spent four days on my back, and one of my arms wasn't in any condition to contribute, but I think even if I hadn't been Kazehana would have still taken control like she did. I tried to contribute, to use some of the experience that I had garnered over time, but she would have none of it.

Our mating was slow but deliberate We never even fully stripped, Kazehana simply pushing any obstacles to the side before she began. I was used to having, well control I guess would be the best word for it, of couplings. It had been my nominal duty, after all, to be able to read my partner and time our climaxes back when I had been perfecting the art of tantric rituals.

Kazehana would have none of it. She set the pace, and seemed to delight in not letting me take the lead. She moved on top of me, and this time it was me who had someone who seemed to know my body better than I did as she found ways to drive me. She didn't seem to care that I probably wasn't giving her as much pleasure as she was giving me, in fact she seemed to get pleasure simply from giving me pleasure.

When I climaxed so did she despite the fact that all my experience told me she shouldn't be near that point. It was as though she climaxed because I climaxed, as though just the fact that I did so was enough to set her over the edge.

And then, both of us gasping and trying to keep from making too much noise and waking up the sleeping sentinels in the corner, Kazehana having collapsed on top of me at her own orgasm, despite that that should have been the end of it she managed to start it again.

It came to me as an epiphany almost, after she managed to coax me three times before she was finally satisfied, laying on top of me with the two of us still joined as she succumbed to sleep. It was a metaphor, almost, for what it meant to be loved by a Sekirei.

The love of a magus was a measured, cautious thing. There was always a distance, a gulf brought about just by being a magus, from having to constantly measure the world around you, analyzing everything no matter the situation. It was still love, but it was a distant kind of love. The love of a King was like that too, I suppose: always maintaining dignity, always standing above others, looking down on them. Even if it was still love, it was the love of someone who was used to being distant, an objective sort of love that might be echoed in how a King felt for their kingdom as a whole.

Sekirei though, the love of a Sekirei was all consuming. When they loved they gave away everything, a devotion so thorough that it had frightened me in the past. It still left me in awe, even now, but it was also… comforting almost, in a way.

I think maybe that was what Kazehana had meant, before when she told me that someone like me needed the Sekirei too. Rin had thought so, when she had decided to leave me to my flock, and Saber had agreed as well. They had been willing to let me stay here despite our relationship because they thought that my flock was helping me in some way, changing me.

I still didn't think that there was anything wrong with me, but maybe they were right.

In that fight, there had been a moment when I had been willing to give up, to go with Saber and Rin again. But then I thought of my flock, and had found the strength to finish it.

I suppose in the end, I had made a choice. I sleepily thought of the hallucination of Kiritsugu. Maybe my subconscious had already known.

I was happy here.

With that last thought, I let myself fall asleep. Tomorrow would be busy, so best to rest while I could.


	42. Forty Second Wing

In Flight: Forty Second Wing

_Author's Notes: Well, here it is, the next chapter of In Flight. There was a bit of a delay for a number of reasons. First, I ended up getting promoted at work, and training for the new position sort of screwed my schedule all kinds of up. More money is good though. More money is always good._

_Second, I FINALLY got someone to lend me a psp long enough for me to play Fate/Extra, and consequentially ended up marathoning it every chance I could so I could get as much of the game finished as possible before the loan was up. I got the Saber and Caster routes done, but I didn't really mind missing out on Archer. The new characters with their new plots was more important. Also, the part where Assassin compares Tamamo to Daiji and she flips out on him was awesome. Someone should make a Servant spread for Daiji.  
_

_Anyway, the biggest delay was the fact that I had to rewrite this chapter like three times. It just wasn't flowing the way I wanted it to, and I kept having to change it until I got something more natural._

_Anyway, on with the review response._

_For obvious reasons, the reviews were pretty diverse after the last chapter. That didn't surprise me. I figured that chapter would be pretty controversial. Trying to address so many different responses would take a whole new chapter all of its own, so I'll just move on to the next part._

_Now, here we go..._

_*SPOILER ALERT*_

_This chapter has a lot going on in it. I'd been working several different themes, as well as subplots, and finally they all merge together into something which is hopefully both surprising and yet properly foreshadowed at the same time. Let me know the general consensus in reviews, would ya? Is it the kind of thing that makes sense in hindsight, or is it as completely unexpected and arbitrary as Gilgamesh's first scene?_

_The first part of the chapter is something of a breather. I had considered having a full on breather episode, but found that unless I was going to spontaneously create a new subplot or something I just didn't have enough material to make a whole chapter like that, so I ended up making this just a long chapter._

_Originally, it was going to cliffhang right after Minaka's reveal._

_Which is the second part I want to address. It was always planned that Minaka would be a part of the Clock Tower. I had tried to hint at it, subtly, but I didn't want to make it too obvious. Similarly, I didn't want to make it come completely out of left field, hence the hints in the first place. _

_Basically, when I first started I thought that the Clock Tower always needed a larger presence in the story. The few random encounters were enough to remind everyone that the Mage Association existed, but not having a final confrontation with them would just waste their potential. But on the other hand, having them show up without background was equally unbalanced towards the story._

_Hence, those long few chapters in the middle which ended up explaining large portions of the world of magi. In particular, without Matsu and Shirou's 'date' scene, I would have been frantically lumping all the information about the CF and the CG mid confrontation between Shirou and Minaka._

_Guess the importance of pacing was one of the things In Flight helped me figure out. _

_Anyway, with the grand reveal finished, next chapter is the dramatic conclusion, followed by what will no doubt be, in my idiom, a distant epilogue. Almost there folks!_

_*SPOILER END*_

_So here we go. As always, if you have something you just want to say, go ahead and throw out a review. Any desire to discuss or hope for direct answers, the thread will be started, though honestly I very rarely make it to my forum anymore. Still, there's a chance I might arrive, and worse comes to worse you might just find someone else there to talk about the story with._

_And as always, dear reader, enjoy._

*Story Start*

"Has there been any progress, Emiya-kun?" Miya asked me, watching with concerned eyes as I finished wrapping my arm back up. Besides her I was alone at the moment, and feeling something like an intruder in the room which housed her shrine to her husband.

"Well," I hedged, shrugging ruefully. "I have fingers again. Sort of." To illustrate my qualifier, I held up my concealed left arm and flexed it. I was just finishing wrapping it up with three full rolls of bandages, needing that much cloth to fully conceal the limb. Despite my claim of having regained my digits, I had made sure to wrap all my fingers up in one bundle, an end result that looked vaguely like a mitten.

Miya raised an eyebrow, but when I curled my hand and bent my elbow, she winced as a sound like nails on a chalkboard screeched out of the bundled limb. It was enough to make me grimace as well, and I noted several places where I could feel the first layer of bandages saw and pluck against portions of my arm.

I made a note to try and keep my arm as straight as possible. I'd been going through bandages fast enough as it was the last few days.

"I see," Miya sighed, and she most likely did.

It had been three days since I woke up at this point, and so far Miya had been the only one who had been present for most of my wrapping sessions. I wasn't certain if my flock was avoiding me in those sessions because it made them uncomfortable to see my arm as it recovered or if they avoided me because they knew it made me uncomfortable to be seen like this.

Consequentially, the landlady had been the one who had been giving me a hand whenever I had to rewrap myself. Judging from how many times I saw her staring, she was finding the recovery process to be an educating experience.

"I had thought the healing process to be most uncomfortable in the past," she sighed, coming over to kneel at my side in a graceful movement. Without comment she gently took the last of the final roll from me so she could finish the last few inches. Even as she finished she held the end of the bandage against my arm, reaching for the safety pins I had been using to keep the gauze in place. "However, this does seem like it would be even more discomforting."

I grunted, letting her work as I held my arm straight. "It doesn't really hurt," I admitted. "It just feels odd. Like the area is numbed but has something sticking in it anyway."

"Which is an accurate description," Miya pointed out, giving my coverings a gentle tug before judging it sufficient. She stood, fixing the skirt of her hakama as she did so. "So you have no idea how much longer it will take before its full healed? Or if…"

"Or if it will heal at all?" I supplied for her, sighing. "I have no idea," I admitted, giving my arm a measuring look, grimacing as I did so. "I've never lost a limb before. Honestly, all things considered I'm lucky that there's any healing in the first place."

"Oh?" Miya raised an eyebrow, but offered me a hand to help me stand up. I took it gratefully, and she pulled me up with casual strength which would have been unusual from someone her size if you didn't know what she was. "I would have thought you more familiar with that level of injury, seeing as you seem to have a tendency to hurt yourself," she noted chidingly. "You seemed perfectly certain that stabbing yourself would have no negative long term affects." She still hadn't let up on that, though to be fair it had been a bit of a dramatic move. "Your countermeasures have proven effective so far. Why would they fail you now?"

"I said before that if a creature or artifact is powerful enough then it wouldn't heal completely," I reminded Miya. I stretched my legs, happy to have them feeling stronger. Avalon had been busy the last few days, and it still hadn't had an opportunity to look at some of my other injuries. It looked like I would be recovering the old fashion way from my prolonged illness. "Considering what had cut my arm off in the first place, I'm lucky that Saber was there to help."

"One might argue that if she hadn't been there you would not have needed to heal at all," Miya pointed out, but she did it without rancor. She didn't seem to have any lingering dislike for either Rin or Saber, or for my injuries. She seemed to treat it with an almost diffident curiosity, her familiar stance of non-involvement with the world extending from the Sekirei Plan to my personal dealings. Still, she did seem concerned with my recovery at least. "Though why would you think this particular incident might be different from the past?"

"Because my arm got cut off by Excalibur, the strongest Noble Phantasm in existence," I reminded her dryly. "If Saber hadn't returned some of her prana to Avalon, I might not have recovered anything at all."

"Oh dear," Miya's eyes opened slightly as she took in my explanation, giving my arm another measuring look. "Was your wound really so precarious?" She didn't seem like she doubted my explanation, more that she was just curious. At some point it seemed that Miya had come to accept my explanations of magecraft as information coming from a reputable source at least.

"A Noble Phantasm gathers its power from its legend," I told her as the two of us left the shrine room. Miya gave her husband's memorial a brief look as she did, but it wasn't her usual time for prayers. "There are people who don't know the shape of King Arthur's table, who can't recall any of the adventures of any of her knights, but they still know what Excalibur is. There probably isn't any other weapon more famous in existence."

"I see," Miya nodded her understanding, before pausing and giving me a dry look. "Emiya-kun, where do you think you're going?"

"Me?" I started to point at myself, but the shrieking noise gave me another wince, and I switched hands for the gesture. That would take some getting used to. "Why, I was just thinking of making lunch…"

"With one hand, Emiya-kun?" the landlady noted, raising one eyebrow at me as she tapped her foot.

"Er…" I trailed off, scratching my head as I did so. I gave my wrapped hand a measuring look, before shrugging. "Can I cut the vegetables at least?" I lifted the limb up hoping that we could at least find a compromise.

"Go to the living room," Miya sighed, though she had one hand up to conceal a smile and her tone had exasperated amusement in it.

"It was worth a try I guess," I gave in, cursing the string of events which conspired to keep me from my favorite past time.

*Scene Break*

"But Tsukiumi," Musubi protested sounding like a child whining to their parent for more candy. "I'll share with you on Thursday! Why can't we…"

"No means no, Musubi," the aforementioned water user declared, stomping her foot at the declaration. "I've already said that tonight Shirou and I will be alone!"

"But why?" Musubi seemed honestly confused at the declaration. "If we're both there, we can both share…"

"No!" Tsukiumi blushed a little, but otherwise remained firm. "My first time will not be with anyone but Shirou!"

"The first time, maybe," Kazehana chimed in with a suggestive lilt. "The times after that though…"

"T-that remains to be seen!" Tsukiumi stuttered a bit, but held true to the crumbling pillar of her proud demeanor.

I hesitated at the doorway. For some reason, my instincts were telling me that maybe it would be better if I didn't get involved in this conversation. I shook my head, wondering just when my intuition had evolved simply from a tool for combat to a way to navigate my flock's conversations.

Still, throwing caution to the wind, I braced myself and entered the room proper. Let it never be said that Shirou Emiya took the coward's way out.

Luckily, it looked like the three arguing Sekirei were too involved in their conversation to notice me immediately.

Musubi and Tsukiumi were standing in front of the white board, naturally, and it looked like the water user was defending it from the shrine girl. Musubi had a dry erase marker in hand, and appeared to be trying to reach behind Tsukiumi to make an addition to the schedule while Tsukiumi had placed herself before the board to physically defend it. It wasn't hard to deduce what the two were arguing about, seeing as today was Monday, and the only thing written in the 'sleep together' slot was a large blocky notice proclaiming 'ME AND ONLY ME', and signed 'Tsukiumi'.

Kazehana was verbally involved with the debate, but that seemed to be only for the sake of riling up the situation. She had placed herself with a bottle of sake at the table, along with Kuu. The younger Sekirei had some sort of game in front of her; something involved removing stacked blocks without knocking down the rest. Kuu had her tongue out childishly as she slowly tugged the newest block away. When the tower began to tilt her eyes shot wide and she reached out to try and stop the fall in what was probably a clear violation of the rules.

Kazehana beat her to it, raising a finger to point at the tower. Kuu's hair began to flutter around her, and I realized that the wind user had employed her element to shamelessly cheat. Kuu grinned, and despite the fact that this get around wouldn't last long, she began to pluck the next block out.

The only other member of the room was, surprisingly, Homura. The flame user didn't seem interested in joining the conversation, and had instead placed herself at the edge of the room near the door which opened out to the yard. She had a book in hand, something I'd seen her with a lot more in the last few days. In fact, I had seen a lot more of Homura in the last few days than I could recall seeing of her for weeks at a time in the past.

I wasn't sure if it had been the change which had left her keeping herself apart and now that her gender had fully settled she was just more active, or if she had finally decided that in order to avoid always being the last person to know something she had just decided to spend more time with the others in general, but whatever the case, I was happy to see Homura spending more time in company.

"But if we share now, than we can share twice," Musubi pointed out, still trying to get her friend to let her in for the night as well.

"And I've waited long enough, and I won't let anything stop me this time!" Tsukiumi stamped again, finally reaching the limit of her patience as she reached out to try and take the marker from Musubi. Musubi jerked it out of the way, and when Tsukiumi tried again she started to laugh as she turned to run, still holding the marker. Tsukiumi growled, and prepared to leap after her when Musubi stopped, catching sight of me.

"Ah," she began, cheerfully waving the hand with the marker. "Shirou-urk!" Tsukiumi didn't realize that Musubi had abruptly stopped, and had tackled her from behind without meaning too. They both tumbled to the floor in a confused heap of squirming limbs.

"Oh?" Kazehana purred, and Kuu yelped as the wind user stopped helping her cheat and the tower came tumbling down. "Well good morning, Lover-kun," she greeted, beaming up at me. "Ready for round two yet?"

"Not in front of Kuu-chan," I reminded her, smiling back. It was a little hard to be embarrassed by gentle teasing after we had finally been together. And that didn't even count as teasing anymore, considering some of the things she had done the last few days.

It probably shouldn't be a surprise, but the day after we had woken up Kazehana had been positively glowing. She hadn't even tried to make excuses when we were woke up the next morning to a cracking noise as Akitsu kept Tsukiumi from overreacting again, and she hadn't been shy at all to start going over the details at embarrassing volumes with the rest of my flock. Not even Miya cutting her off with a Hannya had been enough to wipe the smile from the wind user's face. More than that, Kazehana hadn't been shy about propositioning me almost immediately for another session.

I had always known that there would come a time when I wouldn't be able to fend off my harem, and god it still felt embarrassing to think of them like that, and I couldn't help but think that time might be here. I had already slept with most of my flock that was of age and properly interested, and Kazehana definitely didn't seem like she'd accept the encounter being a one time or occasional thing.

I think I might be the only guy in the world that would even complain about having a gorgeous, mature, and willing woman eager to sleep with him again. In fact, even I couldn't even think of a reason to complain.

Well, except for how soon it had been…

I shook my head, banishing those thoughts. What was done was done. Kazehana was right. It might still hurt now, but it would get better with time, and I did have them with me now.

Kazehana seemed to understand where my mind had gone, and her smile grew gentle. For a moment anyway, and then it turned wicked as she leaned back, adopting a sultry pose. I gulped, and the pose had even more affect than before seeing as I now knew exactly what was beneath her purple dress.

I think Kazehana took it seriously when she said that the best way to get over an old love was to find a new one, and she seemed determined to put that statement into practice as much as she could.

I was pulled from the disturbing train my thoughts had been starting to board when I felt a tugging at my arm. With a sigh, I lifted my left arm until it was at shoulder height.

"Kuu," I chided the little blond who had snuck up on me, and was now jumping up and down to try and get her little hands on my recovering arm. "Stop," I chided her gently. "You shouldn't play with sharp things; you might cut yourself."

"Sharp things, he says," Homura grumbled, not looking up from her book. "And I'm not even disturbed by a sentence like that. I think my corruption is complete. Who needs common sense, anyway?"

"Jiiiiii," Kuu continued to stare at my arm with wide innocent eyes, still trying to get her hands on it.

Homura had taken the last few days pretty hard. She had not been happy with me when I woke up, and had let me know that quite clearly. I didn't want to be the one to tell her, but I honestly think I saw some sort of darkness gathering when she had been yelling at me, something which reminded me vaguely of what Miya and I were capable of spawning. I think the chance that she might be developing her own mask might have either unhinged her or encouraged her to pursue that avenue.

Still, after she had gotten it out of her system, Homura had, well, for lack of a better word, taken to hovering. She reminded me a lot of how Akitsu was, back when I had first accepted the ice user as my Sekirei. The fire user tended to follow me, not as closely as the snow woman, but just as persistently. I had even seen her hesitating when I had went to take a bath, as though she was trying to decide whether or not she was going to follow me in. Homura had also taken to watching me, though she seemed to alternate between staring at me intently and realizing that she was staring and forcing herself to look elsewhere.

"Kuu-chan," I began, and sighed as I moved my arm again. The Green Girl had actually retrieved a cushion from the table and put it beneath me so she could get a few more inches of height in her quest to latch on to my arm.

"Fuuuuggh!" Kuu glared at me, crossing her arms and huffing. Kuu had been, well, peculiar I guess would be the best way to put it, the last few days. I was honestly worried for her when I first woke up. She had watched as I had taken some pretty serious injuries, and I was worried that was the kind of thing that might scar the girl. However, I didn't take in to account that Kuu had always been, well, a little different.

For all that she was a young girl, she always watched eagerly as Musubi and Miya sparred, and the only one who reacted as strongly as her whenever she saw me fight was the battle maniac Musubi.

I couldn't help but wonder if the only thing that was really keeping Kuu's appearance as an innocent was her age. What would Kuu had been like if she had been older, and not the last and youngest of her species? I also couldn't help but wonder what she would be like when she grew up: she was constantly surrounded by violence, and the biggest influences in her life besides myself was my flock.

With role models like Kazehana, Matsu, and Akitsu for that matter, just how would Kuu be in a few years?

I banished the thought. There were enough scary things out there without looking for more. Maybe Miya's influence would be enough to even the scales.

"Onii-chan!" Kuu demanded, and then the little sprite latched onto my leg, glaring up at me as she held me in biting distance. "Show Kuu-chan your swords!"

"Oh, that's just so adorable!" Kazehana laughed, and I winced at the double entendre the child had inadvertently used. God, I hope that wasn't foreshadowing or something.

"Kuu," I began, before deciding that maybe distracting the girl might be the best option. "Here," I told her, tracing another bunny doll for her. Kuu's eyes narrowed, and I gulped, wondering if maybe the ploy of distracting her with fuzzy things might have run old.

Then, it hit me.

"How about this?" I suggested, and this time I traced a big, floppy stuffed sword. Kuu's eyes widened in delight, and she snatched it eagerly. I sighed, happy at having found a compromise.

"Onii-chan," Kuu demanded again, and I wondered if my relief had been too soon. I saw her holding her arms out to me. "Pick Kuu-chan up!" she ordered imperiously.

"Uh," I managed, before giving in and kneeling down to lift the girl in my good arm. Kuu happily threw an arm around my neck, and then walloped me one with the stuffed sword upside the head. Giggling, she seemed to deem me punished enough for denying her the opportunity to fiddle with my arm, and began to waive the sword at other, more imaginary foes.

"You shouldn't spoil her," Tsukiumi snapped, having managed to separate herself from Musubi and regained her footing. She didn't seem to realize that at some point the marker had met skin and she had a big black line going down her cheek. She huffed, and then seemed to realize she was talking to me directly. Instantly, she flushed, and looked away, shrinking down a bit before sending me a look out of the corner of her eyes.

Tsukiumi had been like this the last few days as well. It seemed that Kazehana's interpretation of how a Sekirei would react to my fight with Rin and Saber had hit particularly hard for the tsundere. The water user was having trouble talking to me directly without blushing, and sometimes she would stumble or drop something if I entered the room. Added on that I think she was determined to have her first time no matter what tonight had only exasperated the condition.

It reminded me of the way Rin would…

I forced the thought from my mind. Damnit.

Anyway. I had experience with tsunderes so I knew enough to not call attention to her slips. She'd settle down eventually.

Still, even as the usual madness of Izumo House continued to unfurl, I felt comfortable. It was hard to remember when this stopped being unusual and started being the norm, but whenever it had happened it had. My everyday life with these alien girls had become something I'd come to expect, something I enjoyed even.

It would not last forever. But it would last long enough.

"Shiroi!" I blinked as Kuu chirped, and for a moment I wondered why Kuu was using my name and not her nickname for me. She did it again, sounding excited for some reason as she returned to poking my head, with her free hand and with not the stuffed sword this time. "Shiroi! Shiroi!"

"What?" I asked her gently, giving her a patient look as I prompted her to tell me why she had the sudden need to call my name, but she ignored me, still pushing her fingers against my head.

"Lover-kun," Kazehana suddenly took a startled breath, eyes widening slightly as she climbed to her feet quickly. She paced closer, giving me a cautious look, and I wondered at what had caused her sudden change in mood. "Your hair."

"What about my hair?" I asked, feeling utterly lost at this sudden chain of events. When Tsukiumi's eyes suddenly went wide, and her thumb drifted up to be gnawed at, I scowled and made my way to the turned off TV, leaning forward to peer at the blank surface and my reflection therein.

It was my turn to suck in a surprised breath, as even in the somewhat distorted image I could make out the speckling of white that had appeared in my otherwise red hair. It wasn't much now, just a thin spreading of the color, but once it had been pointed out there was no way to deny that I was starting to go grey at just over twenty years.

For one surreal instant, I imagined Archer looking back at me from the reflection on the screen, and I felt a wave of vertigo hit me. I nearly stumbled but managed to maintain my balance.

"Is it stress?" Homura muttered, and I looked up to see her much closer than she had been before. "Or was it the injuries…" I could catch sight of her narrow, worried eyes from over my shoulder as she leaned in, one hand coming up to reach for my hair before pausing as she seemed to realize that she was about to violate my personal space.

No, I realized. Not Archer. I looked around, from Homura to Tsukiumi, Kazehana with Musubi, and Kuu. Even if they weren't in the room there was Matsu and Akitsu too.

That man, Archer, had lived his life alone, with no one who could understand him to be near him. He had never had the lives and loves of these strange, infuriating, and beautiful creatures.

The dizziness left me, and I found myself smiling. I wonder what Archer would say, if he could see me now?

"Neither, I think," I responded to Homura's question, giving her a reassuring smile and refocusing again on the sight of the white, this time calmer. "It's hereditary. Takami was about this age when she started to go white too." I glanced at Kuu, briefly. "I used to play with her hair so much back than it was why she started calling me 'Shiro' in the first place. It's where I got my current name from."

"Oh?" Kazehana relaxed, a smile returning as I told a story from my childhood. The knowledge that the whitening wasn't a result of anything malign was the cue for the others to relax as well. "It looks like little Kuu-chan is just like her onii-chan then!"

Kuu giggled, still pointing at my hair as she searched for new patches of white to identify. She was joined by Musubi, both of them continuing their chant of, "Shiroi! Shiroi!"

"Hmph," Tsukiumi folded her arms, returning to her usual haughty airs. "Going white so early," she muttered. "It wasn't like I was worried or anything." She turned away, though she gave me a glance out of the corner of her eyes. "It actually looks a bit distinguished," she murmured, flushing slightly.

"Anyway," I announced, brushing aside the change in my physical features. I did have other things I needed to accomplish. Since Miya wouldn't let me cook though, I would just have to move on to the second thing on my list I needed to look into. "I need to go see Matsu for a bit," I told the group at large, before giving Kuu a smile. "It's time for me to put you down."

"Fugghhhhh," Kuu grumbled, pouting. As I moved to set her down, the little imp reached out and grabbed a strand of my hair, plucking it out petulantly.

"Ouch," I muttered, and she stuck her tongue out at me, giving me one more whack on the head with the stuffed sword.

Seriously, I think I was nervous about just how that girl would grow up.

*Scene Break*

"Ley lines?" Matsu blinked at me, giving me a curious look as she obediently brought up a map of Shin Tokyo as I flicked idly through my workshop. The search engine had brought up what little information I had that on them that had survived my older workshop's destruction. "What are those?"

"They're kind of like magic circuits for the world," I told her, flicking through the digital grimoire. "Just like the way od flows through the body in set paths, mana tends to move through nature in certain streams as well."

"Od and mana?" Matsu repeated, before holding a hand up to cut me off. "Never mind," she told me. "Matsu will look it up on her own. By why is Shirou-tan so interested in these lines now? Shouldn't he be focusing on the escape?"

"What escape?" I muttered, shifting awkwardly as I tried to manipulate the doohickey with one hand. "MBI has to do something before we can make an escape."

"They have been unusually quiet," Matsu agreed, frowning as one of the many monitors in her system flickered up with information from my database. "Which is good, since Shirou-tan is still recovering. But it keeps us from being able to get away for now."

"Trust MBI to do nothing when we want them to," Homura grunted from the door. She had followed me up to Matsu's room, though she refrained from taking a seat, instead leaning against the wall near the exit. The fire user was definitely taking over some of Akitsu's habits. Actually, it was a little disorienting, seeing as while she had taken up the snow woman's tendency, Akitsu herself had actually been up here in Matsu's room for most of the day. I wasn't quite sure why, but the former Scrapped was kneeling quietly in a corner of the room, a doohickey of her own held in her lap as she watched it intently.

I had never pegged Akitsu for the studious type, but since she seemed to have gotten a hobby I couldn't help but feel that was a good development.

"It was something Rin said, before she left," I told Matsu, and a brief look of discomfort showed on her face at mention of the magus. "When she was leaving, she mentioned that I should be keeping a better eye on them." Even if I had been slipping into delirium at the time, her words were so unexpected that I didn't forget them after I woke up.

"Well," Matsu cocked her head to the side, curiosity obvious as she prompted me. "Why would she do that?"

"Honestly, I don't know," I admitted, starting to scratch my head before the grinding noise reminded me that using my recovering hand for something like that might be dangerous. "Ley lines are only really useful for rituals, or as a method of powering long term enchantments. Neither of those are really my style of magecraft." It just wasn't relevant to my style which resolved around using my own od to create weapons. "Besides that," I shrugged again, "I don't really know where any of the local lines are. There are maps of those kinds of things, but mostly you get those kinds of things from the Mage's Association. I could try to track them down myself, but, well, I don't really know how."

"Well, then why would Rin-tan have mentioned them?" Matsu prompted me, and with a frustrated sigh, I gently tossed the doohickey aside.

"Like I said,I don't know," I repeated. "But she must have had some kind of reason for it." She had to have known that I didn't have any practical use for them, but she had deliberately mentioned them anyway. They had to have some kind of meaning that I was missing.

"Well, at least it will give you something to do while we wait for MBI," Homura pointed out. Everything else aside, we still needed to focus more on escaping with the Jinki than anything else. Now more than ever, truthfully. With Rin and Saber returning to the Mage Association, there was an ever increasing chance that someone there would be able to track their movements during their trip and locate me.

Shin Tokyo was becoming more and more dangerous with every second. The longer we stay, the more likely that an Enforcer or Freelancer would find me, or any of the Sekirei for that matter. But if we tried to leave without something to throw off MBI, than evading their forces was close to impossible.

For all the halcyon days seemed to continue, we were actually trapped between a rock and a hard place, and both of those were getting closer and closer with every second.

Looking for something to distract me from my morbid thoughts, I turned to Akitsu. The snow woman hadn't moved at all throughout the conversation, and her attention seemed to be locked entirely on the doohickey she was holding. Curious, I leaned forward to see what it was she was staring so hard at.

And promptly felt myself blushing to the very roots of my hair.

"What the hell is this!" I demanded, staring at the screen. Akitsu jumped, and glanced up at me.

"Ah," she began slowly. "Ashikabi-sama. I didn't notice you're arrival." She began to blush slightly as well, and I gawked at her.

"You didn't notice?" I demanded incredulously. She had been watching… that… so intensely she hadn't even noticed me come in?

"What is it?" Homura asked, her curiosity apparently enough to draw her over to where she could see the screen that had prompted me to react so strongly, and when she caught sight of it she started to blush as hard as I was. "That is…"

"Fuhuhu, fuhuhu," I couldn't tell if Matsu's giggle was perverted or ominous, but decided either one would sit the situation fine. "Does Shirou-tan like?"

"You," I gulped. "You made porn of me!?" I couldn't quite look away as I watched the recording of Kazehana and I from a few days ago. In front of my disbelieving eye the view changed, moving from a general shot to, of all things, a close up of… specific parts of us… at a different angle. "With close ups and editing?"

"Matsu's cameras are top grade!" she announced happily. "She's made one of each of Shirou-tan's experiments!" She paused before scowling. "Except for Akitsu-tan's. Matsu was never able to get cameras in Shirou-tan's workshop." She huffed as she adjusted her glasses, apparently taking the fact that she hadn't chronicled all of my relations completely. She brightened a moment later. "Matsu also made the soundtrack herself!"

"Sound…track?" I had trouble pronouncing the entire word at once, needing a moment to steady myself halfway through. In a spectacular example of attempted helpfulness failing, Akitsu thumbed a button, apparently taking the video off mute. Sounds of Kazehana and me in tryst filled the room, as well as a slow techno song that sounded sleazy somehow.

"Why?" I demanded, not sure what else to say at this point. I was too busy trying to come to grips with the fact that I had now unknowingly made an unofficial debut as a star of indecent cinema.

"Matsu likes watching them for ideas," she declared shamelessly. "She especially likes the one with Rin-tan and Saber-tan the most."

"Even them?" I demanded, voice going high pitched. Oh god, if the two of them ever found out, Rin would find some way to overcome my geas probably through sheer embarrassment and then she would hunt me down to end me in earnest.

"Kazehana-tan liked that one too," Matsu nodded at her words.

"And you're showing them to others!" I felt quite light headed at this point. "I… I need to sit down."

"Ah," Akitsu began, giving me a shy look. "It's okay, Ashikabi-sama," she told me slowly, trying to reassure me I think. "I had already seen it."

"Already…" I was definitely having trouble finishing sentences as the implication of what the snow woman had told me sank in. "Wait. You were awake?"

She nodded slowly, admitting that she had physically watched and not done anything when Kazehana had seduced me. Her blush grew slightly.

"So was Homura," she added a moment later as an afterthought. My head whipped around to stare accusingly at the fire user, and found her flushing as well, deliberately looking away and coughing into a fist in embarrassment.

"I didn't like it or anything," she muttered so low I barely heard her. I could only stare at her for a moment, before finally coming to a conclusion.

"I am so uncomfortable right now," I declared in a shaky voice. When I heard Musubi calling out that dinner was ready, I latched onto the chance to escape before Matsu could say anything else which would further contribute to my attempt to spontaneously combust through sheer embarrassment.

*Scene Break*

In a twist of irony, seeing as I had originally wanted to focus on Akitsu's doohickey to get my mind of the subject, I found myself focusing on the ley line mystery throughout dinner in order to get my mind off of Matsu's new perverse hobby.

I mean, what if Miya ever found out…

No, I shook my head fiercely, willing myself not to blush as I forced my thoughts back to the ley lines.

Still, as I helped to put away the last of the dishes, most of my flock already having gravitated towards the living room, there was something about the ley lines which was making me uneasy, and I wasn't sure why. Rin wouldn't have mentioned them without having a reason.

Well, maybe it had less to do with ley lines themselves, and more to do with something associated with them? Even if Rin had a purpose, it didn't mean she had to be direct about it. It wouldn't be unlike her to want me to have to work for what she was getting at, if only to make it harder for me on purpose.

I went over what I knew about them in my mind. Conduits for natural prana, used for rituals, mostly mapped by the Association, and when there was enough of them…

I froze as I made the connection.

'Honestly,' Rin had said. 'It's just like before, with me.'

Cold went through me as I realized what she had meant by that.

When there were enough ley lines in an area, the Mage Association would designate it as 'Spiritual Land', geography that was exceptionally useful for large purpose magecraft. Fuyuki City had been one such location, the sheer magic energies present enough to empower even something as ridiculous as the Grail War. And when the Mage Association had a place like that, they would designate a lineage, the Tohsaka line in Fuyuki City, as a supervisor called a 'Second Owner' responsible for the administrating supernatural activity in that area.

It was the responsibility of any magus that wanted to set up shop in those areas to seek permission from that supervisor before setting up residence. I hadn't officially done that until the start of the Grail War, when Rin had confronted me immediately after I had summoned Saber.

If I was right, if I had properly guessed what Rin had implied, than the Mage Association didn't need to search for me:

They were already here.

But that was impossible. If a magus was here, then there would have been no way that they wouldn't have noticed the Sekirei by now, not unless they were blind idiots anyway. They wouldn't stand by and let a species as new and unstudied as the Sekirei by, wouldn't let the Sekirei Plan evolve without…

Without involving themselves.

A horrifying realization went through me. It wouldn't be hard for a magus to acquire a Sekirei at all. MBI was deliberately spreading them around. All they would need to do is track one down, wing it, and then pretend to follow the plan. They wouldn't care about MBI at all, would most likely just make plans for hypnotizing them or circumventing their control. Hell, if worse came to worst, they would probably not have any problem just pretending to follow the plan until their Sekirei were eliminated, and not care too much about the loss of a curious specimen.

More and more, pieces began to click in my head, my hypothesis evolving with each second. If there was another magus in Shin Tokyo, they would probably try to acquire as many as possible. Each of the Great Ashikabi would be prime suspects then. Even dead Izumi Higa would have fit the role if I hadn't already defeated him. Any of the other Ashikabi would be suspect, truthfully. Even if they only winged one Sekirei, they could just go out of their way to capture and experiment on another's.

I went over the list of Ashikabis in my head, trying to guess from what I knew of them just which one could be a possible suspect. I started formulating a checklist of common magi traits: if they were a supervisor they would have a long genealogical lineage in the area, and most likely have respectable financial resources. With those two traits in mind, they would most likely tend to prefer an elaborate wardrobe: back when I was at the Clock Tower you could almost always tell which magi came from long lines by how fancy their outfits were, like how expensive the suit the Archibald had been wearing.

So far, just about everything I was coming up with would indicate the Ashikabi of the South, Mikogami Hayato. His profile fit, and he tended to favor elaborate suits from the pictures I've had collected on him, and he had gathered quite a number of Sekirei. He was a bit young, but age wasn't always the best indicator of potential lethalness with magi. Illya had been young too, but she had been absolutely ruthless the second time we met when she unleashed Berserker on Rin and I.

But beyond fitting the profile, I had no other way to confirm my suspicion. I had never even interacted with Mikogami, so I had no previous incidences to review to help confirm or disprove my theory. If I had talked with him, or seen him in person, he might say or reveal something which would reveal…

Just like that, as though a switch in my head had been thrown my thoughts froze.

There was someone else who fit the profile: someone who I had spoken with, someone who had twice before made references to something that could indicate knowledge of magecraft.

"Shirou-tan?" Matsu's voice brought me back to the present, and I realized that everyone in the room was watching me with concern in their expressions. I realized that I had slipped into 'battle mode', but made no effort to come out of it. "Is Shirou-tan still thinking about Matsu's videos?" the hacker asked, a note of forced joviality present as she no doubt tried to figure out why I had suddenly changed moods. "If so, he could always help Matsu make a new…"

"Matsu," I cut her off, voice cold. "I need to call Hiroto Minaka."

"What?" Matsu blinked, nonplussed at the unexpected demand. "But Shirou-tan, why would you…"

"I need to talk to him," I cut her off again. "I need to do it right now. I don't care what you have to do, get him on the phone." Without waiting for a response, not even caring if it would be necessary or not, I put my hand behind her head and pulled her into a kiss. She squeaked slightly, and several in the room made sounds of surprise as her wings erupted. I kept the kiss brief enough to supply her prana before pulling back. "Do it," I ordered her, "now."

"Y-yes, Ashikabi-sama," she stuttered, still reeling from the unexpected Norito. Her eyes fluttered briefly before closing.

"Shirou," Tsukiumi scowled, hands on her hips. "Just what is going on?"

"I need to confirm something," I told her shortly, focusing more of my attention on the doohickey in Matsu's hand. The screen flickered, briefly shifting to a series of numbers as the hacker's powers flowed into it. It would do better than my phone for what came next.

"Emiya-kun," Miya was scowling lightly. "This is unlike you."

"I need to know," I stressed the word 'need'. I needed to know I was wrong, that this crazy idea wasn't true. I had to know right now, because if I was right…

"Here, Ashikabi-sama," Matsu declared in a breathy voice, holding up the tablet so that I could face it directly. The screen flickered, and then shifted.

"…and with the project's progress, we can expect our stocks to rise by five to ten percent over the course of the next sixteen months," a familiar voice came through, and my eyes narrowed as I heard my mother in the background. The screen was focusing on a bored looking Minaka, though the Director of MBI hadn't noticed me yet. It looked like Matsu had managed to connect me to the Director in the middle of some kind of meeting, probably through a tablet like the one I was currently looking at. "Shareholders are expected…"

"Hiroto Minaka," I interrupted, and the man I was addressing blinked in surprise, jumping slightly as he searched for where the unexpected voice had come from. He caught sight of me in a moment, and after another blink he started to smile, beaming at me.

"Shirou?" I heard Takami's voice rise in surprise. "What are…"

"Ah!" Minaka interrupted her, clapping his hands happily. He didn't seem the least bit put out to have me pretty much forcing my way through his systems without warning. "Wonderful! You always cut me off before we can finish speaking!" He seemed genuinely pleased to have the chance to continue our conversations. "Tell me, have you reconsidered the offer I had Takami-kun make you? Because if so, we can have you onboard in no time! We even have some spare uniforms…"

"Hiroto Minaka," I cut him off, swallowing around a dry mouth. "I have come to request permission to create a workshop from the Second Owner of these lands."

There. Suitably vague enough that if I was wrong, I could brush this all off without having revealed anything. Minaka practically owned Shin Tokyo, so the title 'Second Owner' could fit him well enough, and no matter how important a workshop was to a magus, non-magi still used the term…

Minaka stared at me for a moment, and then he smiled.

It wasn't his usual grin. It was a slow, reserved smirk. He reached up, and tugged off his glasses, and his entire body posture changed, no longer his usual manic cheer as he leaned backwards in his chair, his demeanor changing to cold arrogance.

"Well," he declared, still smiling. "It certainly took you long enough, Sealing Designee Emiya."

I felt a cold form deep in my gut.

"You're a magus," I confirmed. Above the screen, I heard Matsu stifle a gasp, a sound the rest of the room had less success in concealing.

"Shirou," Takami spoke up again, leaning forward so that I could catch sight of her on the screen as well. Her eyes were narrow, and she had a cigarette in her mouth. "Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded, obvious anger warring with confusion in her voice. "How did you contact this line? What are…"

"Takami-kun," Minaka interrupted her, one hand coming up to turn her chin towards him. She resisted, before turning a glare at him. "Sleep."

Just like that, my mother's eyes rolled back in her head, and her legs went out from beneath her. Minaka slowed her fall, slightly, but in a moment she had slipped out of the screen.

Hypnotism. If there was any chance of it before, any lingering doubt, that ended it. I heard a screeching noise, and realized that I had clenched both hands, including the recovering one, into fists as I saw the man in front of me so casually exercise his will on the woman who had birthed me.

"Impossible," I heard Homura choke out as she realized that the man she hated more than anyone else in the world, the man she actively blamed for the indignities her species went through, and who she frequently tried to convince me to kill, proved that he was a mage.

"I hope you forgive me if I make sure this conversation remains private," Minaka addressed me casually. "Takami is a fine woman, and a wonderful administrator, but I prefer that she remains ignorant of our way of life. You understand, of course?"

"Yes," I told him bluntly. Even if I didn't like the thought of him using magecraft on my mother, the thought of her getting involved was even worse. I noticed the way Matsu's grip seemed to be getting shaky, and reached up to relieve her of the doohickey. It wouldn't do if this conversation got interrupted due to her dropping it. I made my way to the table, picking my way through my frozen flock before placing it on the table and taking a seat. "Your glasses," I noted, nodding briefly at them. "Your trigger?"

"Indeed," he confirmed my guess about his mnemonic device for switching between his public and magus persona , his smile stretching slightly. "I considered using my hairstyle in tandem, but decided it would be in bad taste."

"I'm afraid I don't understand your meaning," I apologized, and he sighed.

"Never mind," he declared. "It was a bit before your time, and I doubt you have an appreciation of classic anime." I was honestly confused by his reference, but in the background I heard Matsu and Kazehana groan, and despite the fact that Miya was looking as serious as I'd ever seen her, even she palmed her forehead for some reason.

"Well," Matsu muttered. "At least his sense of humor is still the same." The hacker had pulled off her glasses, and had taken a seat where she could see the screen, staring with an intensity that assured me she was giving this revelation all of her attention.

"If you don't mind me asking," Minaka continued urbanely. "What gave me away? I was certain that you hadn't managed to discover my affiliation."

"A number of things," I admitted. I wasn't going to admit that I would never have figured it out if Rin hadn't clued me in. "You have the same fashion sense as many in the Clock Tower," I nodded at his pure white suit with its sweeping collar and cape. "Not to mention that you've twice mentioned the Age of the Gods." I had thought he was just being grandiose, an unaware who happened to enjoy dramatics. It hadn't even occurred to me that maybe he was referencing that era purposefully. "You certainly have the position of influence necessary to function as a Second Owner. I had thought it strange that the Sekirei hadn't been discovered by any of the organization that keeps track of the supernatural, but if you were using your influence to cover up their existence it would make sense."

"You have no idea how much effort it took to keep some of the nosier ones away," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Especially when a Sealing Designee decided to settle here. Thankfully you know how the Association is with the orient. I have had to deal with some of the more persistent freelancers personally." He smirked slightly, giving me an amused look. "Of course, there were also the more prominent searchers. But you handled them yourself quite well."

A chill went down my spine. Freelancers were generally tough and ruthless. They had to be to hunt down the dead apostles or Sealing Designees on their own, but they worked outside the bounds of the Clock Tower, so no one in the Association would care if a few of them disappeared. If Minaka had managed to put down people like that it meant he wasn't a minor talent. And it would explain how someone like the Archibald, or even Rin and Saber had managed to find me. The Archibald's were a powerful bloodline, and it might have raised suspicion if Minaka had openly moved against them. On Rin's behalf, she had managed to gain enough support to have even the typical fate of a Sealing Designee put aside, so moving against her directly would have brought just as much attention to him.

And after I had handled them, permanently in the Archibald's case, the only report the Clock Tower would have received was whatever Minaka felt like telling them. No wonder there was never a follow up after I had dealt with the Archibald and the Fraga.

"Thanks for that," I told him, concealing my unease behind my blank expression. Even if it had been for his own purposes, he had made my life a whole lot easier than it could have been.

"It wasn't for you," he told me, narrowing his eyes. "If the rumors about you are true, Emiya, than you would understand: nothing is unforgiveable in the defense of your workshop."

The cold in my stomach grew. "Of course," I agreed with him. "I'll be sure to avoid yours appropriately."

"That's rather impossible, I'm afraid," Minaka told me. "After all, this whole city is my workshop."

"My apologies then," I told him. "You've been unusually lenient with my presence."

"You were rather important to Takami," he admitted, shrugging briefly. "And she is rather competent. I would prefer not to have to get rid of that kind of talent. It would have been hard to replace someone with her experience, both in the business and with the technology."

"Honestly, that was the thing which threw me off the most," I told him, keeping this conversation civil as best I could. I'd had some experience dealing with magi back in the Clock Tower, and I knew better than to lose my temper so early. Most magi see that as a sign of weakness, and considering my position I could absolutely not be seen as weak. Not right now. It was hard though. My teeth clenched at the casual way he mentioned considering having disposed of my mother: a somewhat familiar feeling of familial protective rage. "Our first meeting: the very thought of a magus chiding someone for being bad with technology is ridiculous."

"Oh, I've always been rather progressive," Minaka's smile grew. "This may seem a little unexpected, but I was always a bit of a fan of the Magus Killer in my youth. The way he could accomplish so much using mundane methods…" he trailed off, shaking his head as he gave a low chuckle. "Kiritsugu Emiya was truly amazing in that way."

My jaw clenched noticeably at the reference to my father. I relaxed almost immediately, but the way Minaka's smile grew briefly let me know he caught the slip.

"So you admired my father?" I asked, and Minaka's eyes flashed briefly for some reason. His eyes briefly narrowed before he caught himself. It was my turn to enjoy a small moment of triumph, though honestly I had no idea why that comment in particular had thrown him off. "I'm certain he would have been thrilled at your success."

"Oh?" Minaka raised an eyebrow at the comment. "Really?"

"No," I admitted, shaking my head. "Actually, he would probably have killed you by now. But it didn't seem polite to say that outright."

"Your courtesy is appreciated," he told me dryly.

"What are the two of you doing?" a new voice interrupted our conversation, and I glanced over to confirm that it was Homura who had spoken up from behind me. The fire user had narrowed eyes, and the air around her was wavering with an intense heat. "Shirou, why are you having a civil conversation with that man?" Her gaze was furious, and she was glaring at the screen with unnerving intensity. I realized that most of my flock had gathered behind me so they could see the screen as well.

"Oh," Minaka spoke up. "You seem… different, Homura-kun." He leaned forward to better judge the fire user, and then he smiled wider. "It seems that your bond has had an interested effect. Congratulations."

"Shut up," Homura snapped at him, her arms coming up as though to conceal her breasts from the man. She looked disgusted, as though even the thought of the man she hated complimenting her was repulsive.

"That being said," it was Miya this time who spoke up. I glanced at the number zero one, and was not surprised to find her eyes open and her posture ramrod straight. "Homura-chan has a point." She had assumed a position at my side, where she would be visible to the screen. Minaka didn't seem the least bit concerned by the arrival of the most powerful of the Sekirei. "This hardly seems the time for idle banter. Minaka," she addressed the other man directly. "Is it true?"

"Of course," he confirmed. "While I would have probably found it amusing as joke, do you really think that I would have been able to get Emiya-kun to play along?"

"You neglected to mention your unusual talent when we first met," she pointed out, eyes narrowing as she did so. Years ago, she had made a deal with this man, after all. If she had never known his nature, had never even suspected at the existence of magecraft until it nearly cut her in half, than that meant he had managed to deceive her for decades.

I got the impression that she was definitely not happy with the fact that his betrayal and manipulation of her species had extended even further than she had ever guessed.

"Of course not," he snorted slightly. "If you suspected, it would have made things so much harder to properly study you." He put his elbow on the arm rest of his chair, propping his chin up on his open palm. "Your species is quite interesting, by the way." His smile widened. "Especially those artifacts of yours, the Jinki. Quite interesting indeed."

And that was the crux of it. That was why I had absolutely had to know if my suspicions about Minaka were true or not.

I had been so worried about what would happen if a magus were to learn about the Sekirei, about what they would do to them. I had been even more concerned about what one might do with the Jinki.

And all this time, a magus had already found the Sekirei. He had had access to them from when they were nothing more than fertilized eggs for god's sake. He had been able to study them at every stage of their development, had by their invitation even been involved in modifying them.

And he had had years to study the Jinki.

This was the worst case scenario. No, this was so far beyond the worst case that it made the worst case sound like a picnic in the park.

"And for what purpose did you keep this secret?" Miya requested. Despite her even tone, I could tell that Miya was very likely considering something drastic at this moment: the scent of her power, the scent of blood, it had grown until it was nearly overwhelming.

"What purpose?" Minaka seemed amused by the question. His gaze drifted from Miya to focus back on me. "Surely Emiya-kun has already explained why I would want to study a species as unusual as yours. It's the same reason any other magi would."

Miya glanced at me briefly, a look which demanded that I explained. I didn't meet it. I was kept all my focus on Minaka.

"The Akashic Record," I named the goal of all magi, the ideal that many who use magecraft endlessly strive for, the accomplishment that they would commit any deed no matter how foul to have.

"The what?" Musubi repeated curiously, again showing herself to be the one least affected by the dramatic revelations around her. Tsukiumi was nibbling her thumb again, Kazehana was drinking from the bottle directly, Akitsu was an alabaster kneeling statue at my left, and Homura was still shimmering. Well, Kuu was just looking back and forth between the screen and me, looking confused. Musubi's question seemed echoed by most of them, a reminder that I had only ever discussed some of the more intricate aspects of magecraft with Matsu.

Despite that, Miya reacted like she understood my meaning, and I remembered Mister Duckie and the landlady's own peeping habits. If the situation wasn't what it was, I might have been offended at having what amounted to a date between Matsu and I being spied on.

"Exactly," Minaka nodded, his tone picking up. Despite the reserve he had been showing ever since he switched to his magus persona, his enthusiasm was rising, a glimpse of his passion for his research. "Not only a new species, one with the ability to manipulate prana so effectively, but more than that: one which had interbred with humanity in the past, to such an extent that there are so many who have inherited some form of genetic information from them!"

"There are dozens of different creatures that have interbred with humanity over the years," I pointed out, leaning forwards at Minaka's excited declaration. If he was willing to discuss the fruits of his research, I might be able to get some glimpse as to the exact nature of his plans. "It's not that uncommon, especially in Japan."

"Ah, but Emiya-kun," the magus' smile grew. "Very few to the extent as the Sekirei have. Most bloodlines specifically bred to cultivate the traits of their progenitors, and thus the numbers of hybrids were purposefully kept low. The Sekirei descendants had no such goals. They simply spread, their genetic information diversifying and diminishing over the generations. But even if their descendants slowly lost their abilities, the genes remain. And they remained active, no matter how diminished."

"How can you make a claim like that?" I countered, trying to egg him on.

"For one, only those who have Sekirei descendants are capable of acting as Ashikabi," he told me. "And just look at how easily the modern Sekirei were able to find those who had that legacy? But if that wasn't enough, MBI has had its own way to check."

"MBI," I repeated, the focus on his company rather than his own research catching my attention. My eyes widened involuntarily as I realized what he was implying. "Your products!"

The very reason that I had encountered Tatami was that buggy machine designed to read DNA from nothing more than a breath. It was to be used in every airport in Japan, after all. I imagine for someone like Minaka it wouldn't have been hard to incorporate some way to check for Sekirei heritage. And how many other of MBI's products were out there? They were one of the foremost producers for medical technology. They could have unobtrusive testing methods at nearly every hospital in the world at this point.

"Exactly!" Minaka slapped his free hand down on his arm rest. "The percentage of those who have some Sekirei heritage is far higher than you suspect. And having had pure members of the species available has made it easier to identify those who have been interbred."

"Even if that's true," Miya spoke up, eyes still hard as she studied the man who had betrayed her, time and time again. "How is it your intention to use this information to achieve your goals?"

"Now, now, Miya-kun," Minaka slipped back to a more reserved expression. "Surely Emiya-kun has explained a magus' stance on mysteries, hasn't he?"

I grimaced, knowing that for now I wasn't going to get anything else out of him. It wasn't uncommon for a magus to willing share a bit of their research. After all, that was part of what the Mage Association was created for, as a method of expanding the magi's knowledge of the world. However, a magus' research and what they could accomplish with it were two different things entirely. Not even torture would be enough to get Minaka to reveal his mystery, the culmination of his research that he had obvious confidence might even be enough to open the way to Akasha to him.

"All that aside," I spoke up, willing to take the conversation in a different direction. It wasn't his mysteries I was worried about, it was his intentions. "Just what do you plan to do now, Minaka? Even if you have a way of claiming Akasha, it's meaningless if you don't have a way to defeat its guardians…"

I had meant the probe as just a way to maybe get the other magus to accidently slip and maybe reveal a bit more of his intentions, but even as I began, I froze again. It was as though just the knowledge of Minaka's nature was that missing piece of a puzzle that I had been trying to put together for months now, and now that I knew all of the pieces that had confused me for so long were starting to fall into place, the picture they described getting clearer and clearer.

"Minaka," I whispered, teeth gritting as one of the more frustrating mysteries was revealed. "You son of a bitch."

"Oh," Minaka smirked. "I had heard that you were rather dim, nothing but muscle that the Enforcers had been hoping to recruit. It seems you can be unexpectedly perceptive at times though." He must have realized that I had already figured out a piece of his plan.

"What is he talking about, Emiya-kun?" Miya prompted, eyes narrowed as she switched between looking at me and at the tablet. It looked as though she had resigned herself to not being able to lead this conversation, too unused to the diverse and exotic topics that we as magi were familiar with. Instead, she was relying on me to be able to explain just how twisted this maze of a conversation had become.

"The true reason behind the Sekirei Plan," I told her softly, face rigid as tried to mask my growing rage with my 'battle persona'. At my side, Miya stiffened, and I heard Homura and Matsu suck in a sharp breath. "It was never a matter of finding the strongest, or destroying the species, or anything like that. The whole time, it was never about the Sekirei at all: it was about the Counter Force."

"Well done," Minaka congratulated me congenially at my deduction. He looked oddly proud, as though he was pleased to have the chance to show off just how thorough his preparations were.

"The Counter Force works by aiding someone with the capability of stopping the threat," I went on. "It finds, empowers, and directs that person, whoever it may be. There's no way of telling who, or where, or even how they'd be empowered though. So in order to identify anyone who could be a threat to him, Minaka simply made and directed the best chance to stop him himself."

"But that doesn't make sense," Homura protested, and I felt the heat coming off of her as she ground her teeth in frustration. "It's like setting yourself up to fail! That's crazy!"

"No," I disagreed, reflectively tracing a copy of Bakuya and Kanshou. "The Counter Force only empowers enough to be a match, not enough to guarantee victory. And as long as you know where the blow is coming from, you can prepare for it, plan for it. You can overcome it."

I had to suppress a bitter smile. That principle was the very reasoning behind my sword style, after all. Did this count as irony, to have the same principle wielded against me? It was almost enough to inspire awe in me at the other magus' move; how brazenly reckless!

"Whatever the case might be," Miya broke in, voice colder and harder than I had ever heard coming from her. "The machinations of wizards are meaningless to me. My question is this: why did involve my feathers in this madness?"

I had the impression that depending on Minaka's answer, the number zero one might choose a response from many different potential reactions. I also had the impression that depending on his answer, those responses might be very bad for his upcoming health.

If Minaka was aware of the thin line he was treading, he gave no indication that he was concerned by it. Instead he just looked at me, and beckoned with a hand as though encouraging me to continue.

"Because the Counter Force can only affect things of terrestrial origin," I explained, never taking my eye off of him. "If his plan was to line up any potential threats to his goal, than the Sekirei were wild cards. There was no way of knowing how they'd react if they found out, or if they might be able to stop his attempt. So the best way to keep something you can anticipate in line was to just attach them to something you could see coming."

Miya's eyes narrowed, and she understood.

The first two aspects of the whole Sekirei Plan had been to get all the Sekirei winged, after all. Each and every member of the species, to have them attach themselves to a human, to find their mate. Minaka had even gone out of his way to ensure that they all found an Ashikabi, going so far as to send freaking text messages to known Ashikabi's if it looked like there might be some issue like he had with Kusano. When enough of them were winged, he had sealed down the city, making sure that every Sekirei, every potential threat, was confined in one area, the place where he could watch them, and the human's they had bonded themselves to, where he could make sure that their movements were tracked.

And now, the only member of a species which represented one of the biggest threats to his attempt at Akasha was sitting beside me, quivering with growing anger, and even then I doubted it would be enough. Minaka had to know how powerful Miya was, had to have anticipated that he might not be able to leash her so easily. There was no way he hadn't spent however many decades this had been going on without having thought of some way to neutralize her.

Without anyone knowing his goal, without anyone being able to stop him in time, he had effectively ended the threat of the Sekirei before they had even known there was a danger.

"Minaka," Miya murmured, and in that word I could hear all the frustration, all the betrayal, all the pain that she had been forced to endure all these years coming to a head. To me, the word sounded like the proclamation of a death sentence.

"Now, now, Miya-kun," Minaka repeated, 'tutting' softly. He definitely had some sort of plan, if he would risk sounding that condescending to a creature like her. "I have given you exactly what you bargained for: your feathers are free, and protected. They all have their Ashikabi, and can be with them without fear of hurting them. I have done exactly what we agreed on."

"You have used and manipulated every one of us, from the very beginning," Miya rebuked, and rather than be offended Minaka just shrugged.

"Well, that too," he admitted casually. "But I still followed through, regardless." He nodded towards me, still smiling. "And look, if you still feel you have cause to complain, I have even given you the method in which to avenge yourself. Feel free to join the Plan, and perhaps you might get that chance."

Miya's jaw tightened at the provocation, but despite his goading made no other move. I was thankful for that much: put aside the somewhat disturbing implied course of Miya of all people getting winged, by me nonetheless and all the consequences something like that might have, as it stood right now she was still the only Sekirei fully free his machinations.

My mind was already turning over how that might be used, but only in part. Most of my thoughts were focused on something else.

"Minaka," I began slowly, interrupting the magus' taunting of the alien, "you seem to have put a lot of thought into this. If you've gone so far as to prepare a counter for the Counter Force, than tell me, have you prepared for what would happen if the Force was stopped?"

The Counter Force was only the first of the defensive options available to Alaya, after all. It was the second one that worried me: the Counter Guardians.

When the Guardians moved, nothing was left behind.

"Them, " Minaka sighed, frowning slightly. "Now they, they are a bit trickier," he finally admitted. "But yes," he continued. "I believe I have prepared for them. My countermeasures should be able to deal with them."

"Them?" Musubi repeated, still sounding confused. Most of the room seemed equally unsure of just who Minaka and I were talking about, but Matsu's face was grim as she called to mind our discussion on the Guardians.

"Should?" I repeated sharply, not liking that qualifier. "And what do you mean by 'should'?"

"One in three," he admitted with a shrug. I stared at him, unable to believe what he was saying.

One in three? That was the best he could do? I mean, even coming up with a chance of stopping the Guardians was unbelievable, they were empowered by the spirit of Humanity itself…

"The Jinki," I whispered. It was the only thing that made sense, the only possibility. The Guardians were powerful, but they were of the Earth. If there was anything that could stop them, it had to be something not of the Earth.

"Precisely," Minaka agreed. He shrugged again, unconcerned as he elaborated. "All things considered, there is a chance that all this was unnecessary," he waved a hand as though to indicate Shin Tokyo, the Sekirei Plan, all of his preparations. "After all, so much of this resolves around the Sekirei. It was entirely possible that Alaya wouldn't be able to intervene at all; she does nothing in regards to the Dead Apostles, after all. Still, better safe than sorry."

"'Better safe than sorry'?" I parroted, unable to believe the cavalier way this man was dealing with the potential intervention of the Guardians. Didn't he know what they did?! No, there was no way he truly comprehended what it meant for the Guardians to move.

"The Guardians destroy everything related to the crisis, Minaka," I snapped at him, leaning forward and letting my swords disappear so I could slap my palms against the table in front of me in an effort to get across how dangerous the situation was. Around the room, many of my flock flinched at the sudden sound. "Don't you understand that? Everything! And you're still going to go through with this, even though the best you can manage is 'one in three'?"

"They would destroy all of Shin Tokyo," Matsu whispered, disbelief in her voice as she recalled my explanation of the level the Guardians operated on. "Millions of innocent people, the Sekirei…"

"It's not just that," I interrupted her, still glaring at Minaka as my voice rose. "They destroy everything related to the threat, not just the place. If the Counter Guardians ruled that the threat resulted from the existence of Sekirei descendants, than they wouldn't just target Shin Tokyo, they'd kill everyone that even has even a drop of Sekirei blood in them!"

It was a very real possibility, and just the thought of it was enough to terrify me. The Counter Guardians were Alaya's final solution, the indiscriminate destruction of all that might threaten humanity. Without mercy, without restraint, they destroyed. But worse than that was the way they manifested, as a natural disaster. It was bad enough to think what might happen if they decided that just destroying Shin Tokyo was enough to end the threat, but if the worst case scenario happened again, and they decided to target everything related to the Sekirei as well, than what would happen? Minaka had just finished describing how widespread the bloodlines really were, so how would the Counter Guardians manifest if they had to destroy such a large part of the population?

This wasn't just the about the destruction of one city; this was potentially an act which would affect all of humanity, worldwide. And if they did that, the destruction might occur in a way which might affect even the purely human populace as well, much like Vesuvius hadn't distinguished between magi and innocent when it had erupted.

If the Counter Guardians manifested at such a level, than it could mean more than just genocide, it could potentially end up as an extinction level event.

"Now, Emiya-kun," Minaka began, remaining calm in the face of my growing fury. "I'm sure that's a worst case scenario…"

I interrupted him, not willing to listen to whatever excuse he had prepared.

"No, it isn't!" I snapped at him. "I've met the Guardians before! I know what they do, I've seen it with my own eyes!" Memories of Archer flashed through my brain, searing my forehead with images of destruction and death. "Have you even considered just how bad this could be if they intervene?"

I trailed off, nearly panting with rage and fear as I demanded an answer from the other magus. Minaka waited a moment, politely checking to see if I had finished my rant.

"Yes," he finally admitted once he was sure I was done. "I have considered it."

"And?" I demanded as he stopped at that, needing to hear his response.

"That is a possibility I'm willing to accept," he informed me, calmly announcing his decision to gamble on the lives of millions, maybe even billions, in his quest for Akasha.

His words should have inspired rage, or hate, or fear, but in the face of that calm pronouncement, I could only feel a sweeping sense of calm settle over me, an epiphany that robbed me of any other potential response.

"You're insane," I said out loud my tone somewhere between disbelief and resignation. "You are really, truly, and inexcusably insane."

"Some would say so," he snorted, obvious dismissal in his tone at my accusation. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to wake up my head geneticist and continue a meeting. Is there anything else?"

"I'm going to kill you," I told him bluntly. He snorted again.

"Well then, do your best in the Plan, and maybe you'll get the chance," he told me, already reaching for his glasses as he prepared to slip into his public persona. He paused when I shook my head.

"No," I told him, still being blunt. "I'm going to kill you tomorrow, at noon, at MBI headquarters."

This time his eyes narrowed, and his expression hardened as he took in my announcement. Then he smiled, cold yet satisfied.

"Very well," he told me. "From here out, I shall interpret any movement by you as the actions of the Counter Force."

With that he reached over, and calmly turned off the camera, the screen on my end going dark.

Silence settled in Izumo, until finally Musubi raised a hand.

"Um," she began, in a normal, albeit confused voice. "Musubi is confused. What just happened?"

*Scene Break*

It didn't take long with Matsu's help to explain the situation to the rest of my flock. The hacker proved much better at explaining complex mystic phenomenon in a way that those less informed about magecraft could understand.

"This is bad," Homura finally declared, the fire user clenching her biceps with folded arms as she scowled, eyes narrowed. Across from him, Tsukiumi chewed her thumb, nodding along with her old rival.

"All this time," Kazehana murmured, staring at her bottle as though she was looking at something far behind it. It must be especially hard for her, considering her old affection for the Director. To find out that all this time, the one she had feelings for had concealed so much from her, had used her and her species so much more than she had guessed even in her darkest day.

"Well," Musubi at least seemed unaffected, as always. "What are we going to do, Shirou-sama?"

"Well," I began flatly, "I suppose the first thing to do in this situation is concede that I was wrong in at least two areas. Asama-san," I turned to the landlady. The lavenderette's eyes flickered to me from where she had been looking down in her lap, expression severe. "It looks like you were right all along. I really am part Sekirei. And Homura," I turned to the fire user, "you were right too. It turns out killing Minaka really will solve everything."

"Why does that not relieve me as much as I thought it would?" Homura muttered, wrinkling her nose at the irony of the situation.

"Is now really the time to be making such tasteless jokes, Emiya-kun?" Miya was far less amused at my concession.

"No," I sighed. Tiredly, I scrubbed a hand through my hair, pushing back my bangs. "It probably isn't."

"Ashikabi-sama," Matsu spoke up. Her eyes were closed and her eyelids flickering. She was probably still on her Norito from earlier, and she was most likely sifting through her own data, though what she was searching for I couldn't be certain of. "What are we going to do?"

I sighed, still rubbing my forehead as the Sekirei of Wisdom turned to me for guidance. "Exactly what I said I was going to do: tomorrow at noon I'll go to MBI, fight my way to where Minaka is, and kill him."

Silence greeted my proclamation, Matsu's eyes opening as she gave me a confused look. It was echoed by Homura, and by Tsukiumi to a lesser extent.

"That seems unusually blunt, Lover-kun," Kazehana was the first to speak up, looking away from her bottle. "Before, you tended to be a bit more cautious."

"Because before I had options," I told her, battle mode in place. "Right now, we don't have any."

"The situation might be more complicated than even I suspected before," Miya noted, giving me a searching look at my grim assessment of the situation. "But surely it's not as unfavorable as you seem to think."

"Indeed," Tsukiumi declared, regaining some of her usual fire. "The churl is still only a human…"

"A human who has mastered the ability to manipulate the fabric of reality at will," I cut her off. "If he's a Second Owner, he must come from a long blood line, and most likely has far more in the way of mysteries than even an average magus. More than that, he has the resources of one of the most powerful corporations in the world, enough to have bought an entire city and an army to go with it. Plus he'll be in the center of his power, a place he would where he would have had years to build his mystic defenses up."

Tsukiumi's jaw tightened as I pointed out the facts. This wasn't some fight between Sekirei on the streets, this was a battle with a magus. It wasn't a matter of matching force with force, it was a match between mysteries, where even if you have your best prepared it might prove to be absolutely meaningless compared to what the other's best was.

"If things are as unfavorable as you make them seem, then why would you deliberately seek him out?" Miya pointed out, but even as she questioned me one hand came up to her chest, perhaps unconsciously tracing the scar her one encounter with a magus had given her.

"Because there isn't much of a choice to do otherwise," I declared. "There's no telling how much longer he will need before he can complete his experiment, so he has to be killed quickly."

"If he just needs to be killed, then why are you going to do it in person?" Homura demanded. For all that she had been hoping for this, she sounded more concerned with my safety that the death of her foe. "Didn't you have plans to just destroy the tower?" she reminded me of one of my original options for dealing with the Sekirei Plan, but I shook my head.

"Not enough, not anymore," I countered. "Even if I destroyed it when it was guaranteed that he was present, there would be no guarantee that he had died. There's no way of telling what kind of protection he might have present. He could very well live through the collapse of the building, or even have some method to evacuate on hand to escape." I drummed my finger on the table as I went over the facts as much for my own benefit as for my flock. I needed to straighten my thoughts, to get all this new information in line. "Earlier, he claimed the whole city as his workshop. He must have other facilities prepared, in case something happened or even if he just had an experiment that he needed extra security around, and we have no idea where they are right now. If it failed to kill him, he could just go underground and we might never find him in time."

"So what if he just runs the moment we show up?" Homura countered, narrowing her eyes as she considered my logic.

"Then he would be leaving his stronghold, access to all his research, and all his companies resources, in the reach of someone who has the reason and the ability to potentially use it against him," I rebuked her argument. "He has to fight me, otherwise I would threaten everything he's worked for, and the best place to do that is in his own stronghold."

"So in the end, you've both pressured the other into a confrontation which neither of you want but neither of you can avoid," Homura concluded, scowling. "Shirou, you're talking about going against all of MBI at their center of power! They have an entire army, for god's sake!"

"Which they won't be able to use," I shook my head. "He'll have had plenty of time to clear out the building, and he won't be able to involve his army in this." I couldn't suppress a slightly satisfied smile. "He might have a stronghold on the city, but he can't risk having too many witnesses for the battle."

"Why…" Matsu began, eyes narrowed as she tried to grasp the tactical advantage I was referring too, and she got it before she finished the second word of her sentence. "The Mage Association!"

"Exactly," I nodded at the hacker. "He's already straining his resources to keep the Sekirei under wrap, and they spend most of their time fighting out of sight, not targeting humans, mostly keeping to the rules of the Sekirei Plan. If he tries to bring the uninitiated against me, than he risks even more people being exposed to the supernatural when I resort to magecraft."

"But if you do that," Matsu countered, eyes narrowed, "then you risk the Mage Association finding where you are, Ashikabi-sama."

"Good," I nodded my head. "Hell, I should probably send them invitations right now. If they found out that I was risking the secrecy of magecraft, than they will send the Enforcers. If the Enforcers arrive, and find the Sekirei, and find out that Minaka is involved with something which also seriously threatened the secrecy of magecraft as well, he could find himself getting his own Sealing Designation."

"You'd use yourself as bait," Kazehana summed it up, frowning as her inherent Sekirei nature caused dislike at the thought of putting me at risk. Her eyes widened a moment later as she realized the full implications. "Or rather, you're forcing him to respond to keep you from using yourself as bait."

"It really is a fight neither of you want but neither of you can get away from," Homura realized, her angry look relaxing slightly, honest surprise leaking into her face. "It's like every advantage either of you has is automatically blocked by the other…"

"The Counter Force only gives you what you need to match the threat," I reminded her. "It's up to you to use it." I relaxed slightly, still in battle mode, but growing confident that things weren't impossible at this point. "And you Sekirei are outside of the Force's reach too, so it's possible that for once in history the Force might actually have a vessel that is overpowered for the battle…"

I trailed off, jumping slightly as the phone in my pocket started to ring. Cursing, I pulled the thing out. I thought I had finally gotten myself on a no call list, and still those lousy jerks won't…

This time my thoughts trailed off as I flipped open my phone to read the text.

"Never mind," I muttered, cursing myself for the moment of overconfidence.

"'Ding, ding, ding!'" Matsu leaned over to read the message. "'It's time for the final match of the Third Phase! Participation is mandatory! Time and place is noon, right out front of MBI corporate headquarters! See map attachment for details. Prizes include Jinki, wealth, and even a coveted "get out of jail free" card! That's right, a chance at even a pass from the rest of the Plan! Details to be announced later!'"

"'Get out of jail free'," Miya repeated, sounding resigned as she palmed her face. "Oh dear."

"Every Sekirei in the Plan will be there," I agreed, already recalculating my odds. "Even the ones who don't normally fight. And I don't need that many guesses about what those unannounced details will be."

Looks like Minaka had an army after all: an army of desperate, overpowered, and violent aliens with their equally cornered partners.

"Well," Miya sighed again. Despite her words, her expression was hard. "It seems that given the circumstances, it might be best if I were to accompany you tomorrow, Emiya-kun."

Matsu sucked in a hard gasp, her glasses falling from nerveless fingers. Nearby, the bottle in Kazehana's fingers shattered as she squeezed it too hard. Behind me, a trickle of flame erupted from Homura's shoulder as her own shock cost her temporary control of her power.

I, on the other hand, had to suppress a sudden urge to vomit.

The smell of blood, so strong and so prevalent around the landlady, a smell to which I had grown accustomed to the point of ignoring, was no longer anything that could be disregarded. It was even worse than a physical smell. If I had been dropped in an ocean of blood, there would still be limits to how much my olfactory system could process. My psychic senses, on the other hand, had no boundary like that, and just the feel of her power was enough to trigger a gag.

Miya Asama, the number zero one, the greatest of the Sekirei, had just committed to openly moving against MBI. Disregarding her wish to remain a simple widow, her one desire to maintain the inn she had lived in with the man she loved, knowing full well what kind of battle awaited her, and, judging from the change in her power, fully prepared to bring the full strength of her might to bear.

I was a little scared at that moment. And hopeful, a little too.

But in the end, as much combat potential as Miya would bring, she couldn't come along.

"You can't," I managed to choke out, and the sharp look Miya gave me, the feel of that… I couldn't decide if it even qualified as blood lust at this point, it was more like it qualified as 'promise of bloodshed', whatever it was focusing on me. "You're still the only one unattached to the plan, Asama-san. And the Jinki. If I fail…"

Miya cocked her head to the side for a moment before she followed my train of thought.

Even if we knew 'of' Minaka's plans, we didn't actually 'know' them. There was no telling just what the specifics of his ritual were, or what he would need to accomplish it. Even with things looking as grim as they did, we might already have been able to stop Minaka just by following my original plan. As it stood right now, fully half of the Jinki were theoretically out of Minaka's reach, one with the Ashikabi of the South, the other three right here, in this building.

If Miya came along tomorrow, that would leave nearly a half of those artifacts alone and unguarded. If Minaka did need them, they could not be left alone.

More than that, a cynical side of me noted, we needed her away from me. The Sekirei Plan as a whole had been designed as much as a way to shackle the Sekirei as to manipulate the Counter Force, a way to bind them to human influence. Right now, Miya Asama was the only Sekirei who still existed beyond the reach of Alaya. She was a blind spot, one with terrible power and skill, and one who was now confirmed as being more than just a little committed to seeing that whatever Minaka was planning didn't happen.

Miya seemed to understand. Not just about the Jinki, but about her status as being a reserve ace.

"I am most unhappy with this arrangement, Emiya-kun," she noted, narrowed eyes as her power continued to roil around her. No one else in the room seemed to notice, and Kuu gave me a wide eyed worried look as I had to restrain a buckle. "Both with being a Jinki vault, and with your intentions for your role in the coming conflict."

Yeah, that was the insight of the former leader of the Disciplinary Squad. She definitely understood my unstated intentions. And even if she didn't like them, she apparently agreed with them.

"Look at it this way," I managed, "the only reason I saw through the Fraga's mystery was because she used it in front of me on you. It would only be fair if we reversed it with Minaka."

Miya's eyes narrowed even more, and I got the distinct impression she was very much unhappy with that answer.

"We will discuss your flippant attitude tomorrow, upon your return," she informed me. And just like that, even though her expression didn't change her power settled, and I breathed a shaky sigh of relief. "And if you fail to return, than the conversation will be far less pleasant than if you had returned immediately."

"Right," Musubi cheered, her un-phased cheer a breath of relief after a moment like that. "Tomorrow we get to fight all kinds of strong people! This is going to be so much fun!"

"Fun," Matsu muttered, shaking her head slowly as she did so. Her eyes fluttered briefly, and as though that were a signal she reached out to physically touch the doohickey, turning it off. I guessed she must have reached the end of her Norito at that point. She wiped at her eyes briefly, not returning her glasses yet, before she turned slightly to give me a slightly satisfied look. "Still at least it looks like you can learn, Ashikabi-sama."

"What do you mean?" I asked, blinking slightly in confusion at the unexpected praise. Her smile widened.

"Not once did you suggest that you were going to do this alone," the hacker pointed out to me, and I took a shallow breath as I realized she was right.

Always before I had made plans for just me, how just I would be the one to shoulder the responsibility. This time though, this time I hadn't even considered that I would be going into this alone, that I wouldn't be including my flock. It was such a dramatic change from my usual line of thought, and I hadn't even noticed it.

Was it because I had unconsciously recognized how serious the situation was, and had instinctively grasped at the necessary advantage they would present? Or was it because I had just grown so used to having them nearby that I had just started to automatically assume their presence and plan for it?

Or was it something else? Despite myself, Rin's words came back to me…

"It looks like Lover-kun has accepted the chain around his neck," Kazehana murmured, pulling a new sake bottle towards her, ignoring the broken glass from the one she had broken earlier as she parroted my thoughts, paraphrasing Rin's words from the bath. She sounded whimsical as she said them, but despite her good nature I closed my eyes briefly.

It wasn't just me anymore and now I recognized that fact, though it had taken having my nose ground in it before I did. If I went in alone, trying to protect them, and fell, they wouldn't be protected at all. These girls' lives were in my hand, and if I wanted to keep them well, I would have to keep myself well too.

Briefly, a thought flickered through my head.

'What if I just left'?

It was such a foreign thing for me to think, so unexpected, that I couldn't help but focus on it, and the idea it represented. What if I just left? I knew how to get past MBI's defenses, knew how to escape. I could be gone before Minaka even realized it, with my flock as well. My plan to steal the Jinki could still work, after all, or maybe Minaka's plot wouldn't end in the worst case scenario. Hell, if I wanted to stop him, I could always do what I had mentioned earlier, and just call the Enforcers. I could set the Mage Association on Minaka, and even use their distraction to help hide myself when we ran. For all that I was assuming that I was the agent of the Counter Force, what if I wasn't? What if one of the other Ashikabi's were the ones that had been selected, of what if the Counter Force wasn't even present, either because there was no significant threat or because the threat was based around extraterrestrial origins?

I could think of a dozen different ways this whole situation could turn out. I could escape, protecting my aliens, my mates, could trust in someone else to save the world.

And even as the thought occurred to me, I realized it was impossible.

I, as the existence known as Shirou Emiya could never do such a thing.

My ideal would never allow for such a thing. I could not turn my back on the possibility of danger that Minaka represented. It was a danger which could consume the world, which had destroyed hundreds of lives already. I as Shirou Emiya could do nothing else but respond to it, to try and save all who were endangered by it.

To do anything else was to give up, was to be like Archer. And I refused even the thought of it.

So even if it meant endangering my strange alien lovers, even if it could end my life and theirs with it, I could do nothing else but exactly what I had said I would. Risking their lives with mine, I would still follow through with my ideal.

Maybe they were right, Rin and Saber, my flock: maybe I had changed. But even if some parts of me were different now, if some of the wounds on my psyche might have healed, in the end this part of me remained untouched.

I really was distorted, wasn't I?

"I don't like it," Tsukiumi's voice cut through my introspection. My eyes shot open in surprise at her words, and I wondered dizzily if somehow, despite it being impossible, the water user had somehow heard or perceived my thoughts. Instead, I found her glaring not at me, but at Kazehana.

"What do you mean, Panty-Flasher-chan?" Kazehana asked, blinking in surprise of her own at the other Sekirei's declaration. The fierceness of Tsukiumi's retort appeared to have caught her by surprise.

"I said I don't like it," Tsukiumi repeated, stomping her foot with a huff. "Those words! Even if I understood what Rin-sama meant by them, I disagree with the way that girl said it!" She wheeled to point her finger at me, eyes blazing as she continued. "Listen to me, Shirou," she continued. "It doesn't matter to me what you chose to do, or why! Whether you want to collect the Jinki, run away, or stop the Sekirei Plan, it doesn't matter to me anymore!"

This was a far cry from the Tsukiumi of the past who had been adamant about competing in the Plan faithfully. It seems that with the recent revelations, she had decided to move on from her original goals.

"What does matter to me is that you are my husband!" she continued, nodding firmly as she did so. "I might disagree with some of what you chose to do," she admitted, "but that doesn't mean I won't support you as the strongest Sekirei! Whatever you desire to do, this Tsukiumi will make possible for you! I am not a chain around your neck. As your Sekirei I am the wings that will support you, no matter what! I will not have my love seen as some kind of hindrance!"

Her words struck me hard, and I had to keep myself from physically flinching at them. Nearby, Kazehana took a breath herself. "Well said, Panty-Flasher-chan," the wind user declared, sounding almost like a child who had just gotten scolded by an adult. Kazehana began to smile. "It really is that simple, isn't it?"

And I suppose, maybe it was. The love of a Sekirei was selfless, an overwhelming thing which compelled them to do anything that their Ashikabi requests of them, regardless of what they might otherwise wish. In the past it had frightened me slightly, to see someone so intoxicated by a feeling that it controlled their every action.

But then again, the same could be said about me, couldn't it? Was I any different, with my goal to save everyone? Did I really have the right to try and pass judgment on their nature, when mine was so similar? If anything, with that epiphany I felt like I had finally come to understand my flock:

Just like for me it was never wrong to want to help people, for them it was not wrong to do anything for their Ashikabi.

In the end just like it was simple enough for the Sekirei, my own resolution was equally uncomplicated: if I wanted to protect them, I just had to not die.

"A Sekirei declaration!" Musubi was bouncing excitedly in place, before finally seeming to lose an internal struggle as she launched herself at Tsukiumi in a hug. The blonde squawked slightly at the sudden contact, and started pulling at Musubi's arms as she tried to escape the shrine girl's embrace, but Musubi had her overmatched when it came to physical strength. "That was beautiful, Tsukiumi-san!"

"She's come a long way from 'I'll never have an Ashikabi', that much is for sure," Homura muttered, though she looked proud too, nodding her head perhaps unconsciously in unspoken agreement. Slowly, Akitsu began to clap softly as she got caught up in the mood of the room too.

"Hmmm," Matsu also seemed affected, but she limited herself to a slightly smile instead before she turned back to me. "All that aside," she continued, watching me patiently. "Do you have anything planned for tomorrow, Ashikabi-sama?"

"Actually," I nodded slowly, letting myself focus back on the upcoming conflict. "I think I do." Despite myself, I found myself smiling slightly as I once more engaged in one of my oldest and most familiar past times. "Time for a strategy session."

*Scene Break

"Are you two still up?" Kazehana asked much later at night, peering through the door into Matsu's lair where the two of us were still hunched over glowing screens.

"Only for a bit more," I admitted, rubbing my eyes tiredly as I took a look at the clock on the bottom of my screen. It was getting late, well past one in the morning, and I didn't want to be up for much longer. I had already sent the rest of my flock to bed, wanting them well rested for tomorrow, but Matsu and I had a few more preparations to make, her in finding more information on MBI's headquarters and me in trying to figure out the best way to use that information.

Still, I was planning on ending those preparations in a minute. We would need sleep too, after all.

As though reading my mind, Kazehana 'tutted' gently, coming the rest of the way into the room and casually leaning over me as she flicked off the computer screen. "Enough," she told me gently, waving a finger at me as she leaned over. For once, she didn't take advantage of the position to try and pose for me, but even despite that I had to look away from her cleavage. She grinned, but continued on. "Go to bed, Lover-kun," she told me firmly. "You can go over this boring stuff tomorrow, before we head out."

A part of me wanted to protest, the nervous energy that only came when you knew that you were about to engage in something immensely dangerous at war with my fatigue, but in the end I surrendered.

"Alright," I sighed, pushing to my feet as I did so. Kazehana leaned out of the way, before skipping behind me and pushing me gently to the door. "I said I'm going," I muttered, before pausing as the wind user stopped at the edge of Matsu's room. "What about you?" I asked, curious as to why she was sticking around and not going to bed herself.

"I have something to talk about with Matsu," she admitted grinning as she did so. "Don't worry. It'll only take a minute, and once it's done I'll make her go to bed too. I'll probably just sleep in here tonight." Her tone turned mischievous for some reason. "Have fun!"

"Alright," I said again, as confused as to what she was planning as her choice in words, but deciding to let the two be. They were both former members of the Disciplinary Squad, so they were no stranger to battles. I trusted them not to stay up too late for something trivial.

It was only a short walk to my room, but for some reason despite the brevity of the trip I got the sudden feeling that I had been forgetting something as I walked.

It wasn't until I opened the door to find Tsukiumi sprawled out on the futon, still fully dressed, that I realized what that something was.

"Oh yeah," I muttered to myself, feeling like smacking my forehead as I stared at the sleeping woman. "That."

Tsukiumi had been pretty insistent earlier that tonight was going to be her night, after all. I had kind of forgotten it in the excitement of the day, but now that I was here I couldn't help but remember how persistent she had been in her claim.

Maybe it was a sign of how used to my flock's presence I had gotten, but I was somewhat surprised by the fact that I found I didn't mind the thought of being with the beautiful water user the night before we headed into battle. She had been patient for so long, had had to wait as I was with just about every other girl in my flock that was interested had their chance. It just didn't seem right to try and beg off at the last minute, simply because of what awaited tomorrow.

Besides, last minute encounters like this were almost as traditional as strategy meetings for me at this point.

"Tsukiumi," I whispered to her, kneeling beside her so I could shake her shoulder gently. "Wake up."

"Eh?" she muttered, yawning as her face scrunched up, resisting my attempts to wake her. She scowled, blinking sleep from her eyes as she turned to glare at whoever was disturbing her slumber, only for her eyes to shoot open when she found it was me. "S-Shirou!"

"Sorry," I apologized to her, smiling sheepishly. "I got carried away with the planning. Did you wait long?"

"N-not at all!" she hastily declared, off balanced from suddenly finding me there, stuttering as she regained her control. "We just nodded off for a bit," she hastily defended herself, recovering her poise as she sat up, glaring down her nose at me. My lips pursed at her words.

"'We'?" I repeated, wondering if the haughty tsundere had finally started to use the royal third about herself. My confusion only grew as Tsukiumi glanced around the room, and seemed surprised to find out that we were alone.

"Where are the others?" she pursed her lips, pushing herself to her feet so she could put her hands on her hips.

"'Others'?" I parroted her again, now definitely confused. "Tsukiumi, tonight was your night, remember? You said you wanted us to be together, alone."

"That was then and this is now," she shot back, scowling now as she tapped her foot. "Considering what awaits us tomorrow, I told the others that we could all sleep together as a group tonight!"

I stared at her, actually having trouble understanding her words, so outlandish were they.

"You did what?" I managed to get out after a second.

"Close your mouth," she ordered me, and I realized that I was gaping. "And I told Kazehana that I would allow them to join us so we could all be together before the battle! Kazehana agreed, and informed me that she would tell the others." Tsukiumi frowned, flushing slightly in anger most likely. "I'll admit, I did lay my head down to rest for a moment, but she should have had more than enough time to get the rest."

"But Kazehana just stopped by Matsu's room," I told her, now genuinely confused and not just startled. "She said she would be sleeping there tonight. She even told me…"

I trailed off, realizing what the Wind Sekirei's last words meant.

"That woman," Tsukiumi muttered, scowling as she glared at the door. "Even though I had graciously allowed it, she still plays around! What is she thinking?"

"I think I know," I admitted, looking at Tsukiumi, really looking at her.

This was the girl who had selflessly allowed Rin and Saber what should have been her turn, letting me have my last night with them. She had been looking after Musubi, nearly since the day the two had met. When Akitsu had had trouble expressing her wish to carry my sword, it had been Tsukiumi who intervened for her. Then there had been her words earlier, her passionate declaration of what it meant to be a Sekirei. And now, she was offering what could very well be her last chance with me alone to the others so that we could all spend that night together instead.

It looked like Kazehana had been impressed by her words, or maybe just by her selflessness. Or maybe the romance loving Sekirei had just wanted to give Tsukiumi her chance as well.

Either way, it was just Tsukiumi and I tonight; Tsukiumi, who had always looked after both me, and the rest of her sister Sekirei, even at her own expense.

That decided it for me. Tonight, it was her turn to be looked after.

"Tsukiumi," I said, but she didn't appear to hear me, instead starting to march towards the door so she could gather up the others. I said it again, catching her arm as I did so. "Tsukiumi."

"Wha..t?" she began in a stern tone, but when she turned something in my expression caused her eyes to widen and her words to trail off. I saw her swallow, her pale throat moving in what light managed to come in from off the street.

"Let's have our honeymoon," I told her, smiling as I stepped closer to her. Suddenly, it wasn't just a matter of fairness, or of schedule, or prefight traditions.

I wanted to reward her, for all that she had put up with, for all that she had done.

Tonight, I just wanted to be with my gorgeous Tsukiumi.

"H-husband," she stuttered, and despite her earlier intention to go out and gather up the others, she froze, trembling like a doe. "But the others…" Despite her words, her eyes fluttered closed and she lifted her chin as I leaned towards her.

"Tonight, it's just you," I told her, leaning forward myself.

*Scene Break*

I was with Tsukiumi.

There was no desperate underlying reason behind it, no prana exchange rituals needed to face an overwhelming foe. There wasn't any need to try and fix some crippling condition. No sudden new personalities, or visitations by the dead, or new powers emerged. There wasn't any great epiphany about the nature of a species.

We were together, just as two people being together.

I think that might have made it special, all of its own.

Though later on, when she slept happily in my arms, and I realized just why it was that Kazehana had chosen to stay in Matsu's room, I resolved to not let Tsukiumi find out about that for as long as I could. I don't think she'd take as well to having been recorded as I have been.


	43. Forty Third Wing

In Flight: Forty Third Wing

_Author's Notes: And after my last set of AN got deleted, I have to go back and write them all again! Huzzah! Anyway, 43 up. Thought about breaking it into two chapters, but decided to keep it all together. Taking some time off to work to finish the final chapter quick, so unless act of god or death occurs, expect IF to be finished in the next few days._

_On to the..._

_*Spoiler Alerts!*_

_First off, Sekirei Watch. In this chapter, the Sekirei who appear are... all of them! Man, that was easy!_

_Had some trouble writing the original confrontation scene. There were a lot of characters interacting in a lot of ways, so I had to try and make sure that I could convey that without making it too confusing. Hope that worked._

_Mikogami and Yukari: did anyone not see the two of them ending up like that? Cause I was imagining that confrontation since like chapter 7. Tried to convey Mikogami like his is in canon, as someone who's using the Sekirei Plan as a sort of escapist method of breaking out from the standard norms and pressure's of society, but he only shows up for one chapter, and sometimes character development can be tricky, so let me know if that worked._

_Next up, Karasuba. A lot of people voiced a lot of speculation about what Rule Breaker would do to a Sekirei, and now you know! I wanted her in the flock ever since I realized that having her there would just be game breaker, so she get's to join in the second to last chapter._

_Writing Karasuba is always interesting to me, because I can never see her as actually evil. Hyperviolent, easily bored, completely at ease with murder, but evil? She's just so polite and well mannered, following orders and rules (albeit somewhat loosely at times), that while its easy to see her as an antagonist, genuinely evil? Still can't quite see it. _

_Also, had to rewrite that fight scene like three times to try and make it suitably intense and epic. Hope I pulled it off._

_Next, of course, is Minaka. So much foreshadowing and world building went into the final scene, having to explain the CF and CGs, mystic codes, magic crests and Sekirei crests, explaining magus society. He was always meant to be the big bad to Karasuba's dragon, and hopefully I managed to make him suitably dangerous. It wouldn't have been very dramatic if Shirou just steam rolled the final boss of the Sekirei Plan, so I had to make his enemy as much a Guile hero as he was. Er, Guile Hero, but not actually a hero. Guile Villain? Is there a trope for that?_

_And last off, the Unlimited Blade Works. IF wasn't just meant to be a magus and his alien harem fighting evil. I wanted it to gradually build, develop, and than change Shirou's character, showing as he drifted away from being a his normal distorted and emotionally stagnant self to someone who is still Shirou at his core, but has grown as a character as well. Not sure if I was fully able to communicate that idea, but the crystallization of that was always supposed to be dawn coming to the UBW. _

_I'm not sure if anyone ever explored the idea that maybe RMs could change if their user did as well. Just another thing that I had considered way back when._

_And, as for the Cliffhanger, like I said, the next chapter should come out pretty quick, so don't worry about it too much!_

_*Spoilers Stop*_

_So, on to the next part of the routine._

_If you just want to give a shout out, feel free to hit the reviews._

_If you want to discuss something, the new moderators on my forum are doing a spiffy job of keeping the spam bots down. (Good job guys!)_

_And as always, enjoy._

"Is it time yet, Shirou-sama?" Musubi asked, rocking back and forth on her heels innocently.

"Almost," I told her softly. The shrine girl seemed to consider my response, before cocking her head to the side innocently.

"How about now?" she prompted a few moments later. I suppressed a sigh.

"Not now either."

"She's been asking that almost constantly since we got here," Homura noted to herself, sounding like she couldn't decide if she was annoyed or amused. "It's like a kid asking their parents if they're there yet."

"Was she always so scatterbrained, or is this a new development, Matsu wonders," the Hacker added on, adjusting her glasses before clutching her doohickey to her chest as a strong wind pushed her hair around her.

"Well," Kazehana noted, tapping the heel of her foot against the top of the stairwell enclosure she was perched on. "Normally by now Panty-Flasher-chan would have stopped her. However…"

I didn't have to look to see the reason that the wind user had trailed off. Tsukiumi had never been shy about her expectations of me when it came to my, I suppose the best way to put it was 'marital duties'. She had been rather understanding of my reluctance to perform them, though if it hadn't been for Kazehana's ill-timed reaction back when she had tried to seduce me right before the Fraga attacked then she might have had her honeymoon much earlier. However now that it had happened she was, for lack of a better word, glowing at the moment.

When I had first met her, it hadn't taken me that long to peg her as a 'tsundere'. The Tsukiumi that the rest of my flock was looking at, most with a bit of envy in their expression, was definitely a girl firmly set in her 'dere' mode. Rather than her usual stance, arms folded and a glare on her face she only had one hand across her body, supporting the elbow of the hand she had cradling her cheek. She was smiling with her eyes closed, and she was wearing what appeared to be both a permanent blush and a permanent smile.

I had long ago realized that Tsukiumi was beautiful, but with the change in her demeanor I was finding myself forced to up that judgment to 'radiant' at the moment. It was actually slightly embarrassing to look at for me.

"Lucky bitch," Kazehana muttered under her breath as she took in the sight of thoroughly satisfied Tsukiumi, though the wind user sounded more impressed and jealous than bitter. "Ah, to have been able to spend the last night before battle in the arms of your love; how romantic!"

"You were the one who arranged, Kazehana-tan," Matsu reminded the now wiggling Sekirei as she devolved into her girlish love of all things of the heart. "Now if only Tsukiumi-tan would just spill the juicy details…"

"Absolutely not," Tsukiumi straightened slightly, her expression sharpening slightly as she glared at the hacker. "What happened was a private and beautiful thing, and I will not share the memories of it with anyone." She started out strong as she chided the rest of my flock for their intrusiveness, but that lasted until the sweeping glare she was leveling at them landed on me. The moment it did, her eyes widened, the blush grew about two tones, and she returned to her earlier position, though she did turn a bit so that I wouldn't be able to see her face this time.

"If I had known that it would have calmed her down so much," Homura muttered, just loud enough for me to hear her, "then I would have encouraged you to take care of her earlier, Shirou."

"If I had known, I would have probably thought twice about it," I whispered back, feeling distinctly uncomfortable at both the way Tsukiumi was acting and just how casually my entire flock was discussing it. Having my bedroom activities shared so easily between so many different people was slightly embarrassing. "It's kind of weirding me out a bit."

"It's not fair that she won't talk," Kazehana continued, not having heard Homura and my exchange. "I was willing to talk about all the juicy bits. This is unfair hoarding of lovey-dovey gossip!"

"Ah," Akitsu spoke up, and I turned to give her a brief look. I realized that rather than me, the ice user had slightly turned to address Kazehana. "We can watch it later," she continued, sounding as though she was trying to console her sometime cohort.

Kazehana perked and I winced at the unsubtle reminder of just what hobby Matsu had used her surveillance equipment to start up.

"Kuu wants to watch too!" the Green Girl declared, and this time the wince was nearly universal from all the people in the know, except for Akitsu.

"Ask again when you're older, Kuu-chan," Matsu for once looked sheepish over her adventures in adult video creation, and I found myself stumbling across an unexpected gleam of hope.

If I died in the upcoming battle, at least I wouldn't have to deal with unauthorized porn of me anymore.

And like that, I felt all of the tension that the pre-battle banter had started to drain out of me return.

Just like that time before the operation to destroy Higa, I had chosen a roof for me and my entire flock to wait on. We had spread out across it, everyone assuming whatever position or pose they felt comfortable with. Musubi and Tsukiumi were standing near an enormous air conditioner, close by Kazehana's own perch. I had again taken vigil near the edge of the roof, looking out on the city, Akitsu hovering in her usual position and Homura taking a similar stance to my right as she had taken to doing recently. Nearby, towards the center of the roof Matsu stood patiently, with Kuu besides her.

It was the first time I had ever let the young girl come out with us when we was engaging in something dangerous. She was just so young, too young to be involved in this kind of thing. However, with this being the final, and possibly most dangerous battle yet, with my loss being Kusano's undoing as well, I had reluctantly allowed her presence, this time.

That, and the fact that when I had tried to get her to stay back with Miya, she had showed me just how tight she could hug my leg and just how deep she could get her teeth into my thighs.

In the end, when even Miya couldn't get her off of me and it was growing too close to the deadline for me to waste any more time, I had given in. Kusano had a strong power, and if worst came to worst she would be able to protect herself with it.

And as much as it shamed me to admit it, I was honestly considering bringing her along for another reason as well. I had a specific use for that power of hers in the upcoming fight.

To weigh all lives against each other and decide that if by bringing Kuu along could spell the difference between victory and defeat…

The Path of the Shura really was a terrible thing.

"So is it time yet?" Musubi chimed in again in the awkward silence that had settled after Matsu had had to fend off Kuu's somewhat inappropriate desire to join in on my flock's voyeuristic pursuits.

With a sigh, I opened my mouth, only for Matsu to cut me off.

"Ashikabi-sama," was all she said, and I glanced at her sharply. She met my eyes and nodded.

"Actually," I told Musubi, adjusting my response as I turned to face towards the towering spire that was MBI's stronghold, "it is."

*Scene Break*

I had wanted to wait until everyone else had arrived before I did. The reason was partially that I had a rough plan about how to proceed against what was most likely going to be overwhelming numbers against us, and partly because I didn't want anyone to show up, see me, and the hide somewhere out of sight or hearing.

I had worked hard on that reputation, but I suppose at times it did have some negative consequences.

Maybe I was a bit arrogant about that though. When we arrived, descending from the nearby roof top to land at the edge of the plaza leading up to MBI's headquarters I was expecting some kind of reaction.

Instead, no one even noticed. Considering the scene in front of us, I couldn't help but sigh, and decided not to blame them.

The plaza itself was wide, more than enough room for the entirety of the Sekirei Plan to have stood with space to spare. Most likely it was designed that way so if the company wanted to have press releases or publicity events they'd be able to fit a large enough crowd for it to be worthwhile. As it stood now, with the number of Sekirei and Ashikabi reduced from even their limited full potential, it made for a spacious soon to be battleground, providing very little in the way of cover to anyone in it. That could be both a plus and a negative in the upcoming events.

For the most part, the gathered participants had scattered in a loose circle, some preferring to stay closer to the outskirts and the potential safety of nearby alleys or buildings, while other braver folks gathered closer to the scene that had developed in the center.

Naturally, it was Yukari who was causing that scene. For some reason I couldn't help but feel I really should have planned for that.

"You'll pay for the crimes you have committed, South!" my sister was cheerfully bellowing, pointing dramatically at her foe. Standing around her were a loose gathering of Sekirei and Ashikabi, most of them recognizable to me on sight.

I recognized Youichi, for instance, the Ashikabi that had run after the confrontation so long ago in the park. Nanami, his Sekirei was beside him, and the two looked a lot more collected than the last time we had met. A little to the side was another Sekirei that I recognized, the number seventy four, Narashino. Though I hadn't come across them personally, they had managed to make a record of successful confrontations according to MBI's records, so I had memorized her, and her Ashikabi, Sansuke Katsuragi. Somewhat surprisingly I also made out none other than Haruka Shigi and number ninety five, Kuno, as well.

I hadn't thought the two of them would have lasted this long, considering how he stormed out after his breakdown. Then again, if he had been siding with my sister that would probably explain it.

Standing a little to the side of the group, close enough to possibly be part of it but distant enough to be distinct was another small group. One that I hadn't met personally but had come to my attention recently was none other than Oosumi Orihiko with his Sekirei Kaho, the number eighty seven. The other faces in that little group were instantly recognizable to me.

Dressed in a light, pale cream sundress and with a wide brimmed hat was none other than Chiho Hidaka, looking just as healthy as she had the day she and her partner had left. Uzume was beside her, the tomboy grinning with her hands locked behind her head as she looked on with obvious amusement. Looking on with much less joy, was Seo and his two Sekirei, Hikari and Hibiki. The part timer was cradling his head like he had a headache, and the thunder and lightning twins were tense, watching the Sekirei around them cautiously.

"Mistress," the ever faithful Shiina sighed, though the young man didn't seem quite as embarrassed as he usually did when responding to his Ashikabi's antics. Rather, he looked alert, keeping a keen eye on the one standing opposite their ragtag collection.

"Like you're one to talk," Hayato Mikogami, Ashikabi of the South, declared, just as dramatic as my sister as he pointed back at her. "You've done plenty of bad things yourself, Ashikabi of the East! Today I'll have you repent on your knees!"

It was my first time seeing the young Ashikabi in person. I could recognize him, both from his profile as well as the first match, but in person he looked younger. I had only had the static image and a few minutes of air time during the match to really get a judge for him, so I made sure to keep an eye on him. Him and the flock of Sekirei he had at his beck and call. With almost a dozen Sekirei surrounding him, some I recognized like the tall mist user, number sixty five, Taki, as well as the other two Sekirei that had accompanied Mikogami during the first match as well. However, I focused my attention on the most important one instead:

The number zero five, Mutsu: the final member of the original S-Guard, and the only male that had ever been a member. He was tall, and had pale grey hair like Homura, and carried a katana with him. During the invasion he had been tasked with the removal of all heavy units such a tanks and Humvees, and from what Matsu had been able to recall or dig up on him he had control over the earth.

He was also currently cradling his head, apparently sighing just like Shiina was as both their masters continued to exchange childish taunts straight out some sort of shounen drama.

"Oh god, there are two of them," I muttered to myself as we approached unheeded. The fact that there was someone out there just as obsessed with clichés as my sister somehow made my fighting spirit decrease momentarily.

It came back pretty sharply as I finished inspecting the South, and turned to the area around the group. Even as I took in the parties, I had started making my way across the plaza to join them. They already had the attention of just about everyone, and that suited me just fine. As I walked my own Sekirei fell into place around me. We must have made for a pretty intimidating sight, because the first set of Sekirei and Ashikabi we passed glanced over at us for only a second to see who was approaching before the Sekirei let loose a little gasp and the Ashikabi whitened considerably.

Despite that, the center of the plaza continued on, probably unaware that we were approaching.

"Wow," Sanada Nishi, the Ashikabi of the West grinned, laughing as he turned from the spectacle to address Seo. The biker was casually astraddle his motorcycle, with his three little Sekirei perched behind him as he sat. "She really is a spitfire loli!"

"Shut up, Sanada," Seo muttered back, still rubbing his forehead as watched on with the patience of the damned. "Just, shut up."

"He-heh!" Uzume cheered grinning as she threw her arm over Chiho's shoulder carelessly. "It's great! She's almost as much fun as bro is!"

"Uzume-chan," Chiho blushed, but her tone was happy, albeit scolding as she addressed her Sekirei. "You shouldn't say things like that about Yukari-san, or Emiya-sensei!"

"But it is!" Uzume protested, "if we could just get this on TV, we'd have a hit sitcom! It'd be primetime material for sure!"

"Not bad, girlie," Sanada at least seemed amused by Uzume's declaration. His eye trailed over to Chiho, and a playful leer split his lips. "And you too, little girl. Gotta admit, that girl next door look is good too!"

"Oi," Uzume declared, narrowing her eyes as she glared at the biker, before her cloth flashed into the shape of an 'X' between the two of them and him. "This one is mine!" she declared, as she wrapped her other arm around a now furiously blushing Chiho possessively. "Well, mine and maybe bro's if Chiho ever comes clean about her crush!"

"U-U-Uzume-chan!" Chiho wailed, now pulling off her wide brimmed hat and using it to duck behind, hiding everything but her eyes and the tips of her bright red ears as she did so. "I would never cheat on Uzume-chan like that!"

"Ain't cheating if I'm helping," Uzume's grin widened, and I swear I heard the sound of Tsukiumi's teeth gritting as the tomboy's casual declaration of trying to seduce me with her Ashikabi managed to penetrate even her afterglow.

"You'll pay for the sins of the past!" Yukari continued, either ignoring or unaware of the side chatter. "For the crime of winging Sekirei unwillingly, I'll defeat you for sure today!"

"Hah!" Mikogami laughed, folding his arms. "Mutsu! Prepare yourself! I won't have anyone badmouthing me!"

"Perhaps now might not be the best time," Mutsu muttered, and I caught the way his eyes slid away from the masses to meet mine. It looks like someone at least had the presence to keep an eye on their surroundings.

"Hah!" Yukari shouted, pointing victoriously at the observant Sekirei. "Even your own Sekirei know how wrong what you did is!"

"Nonsense!" Mikogami snorted. "There's nothing wrong with playing the game to win, and everyone knows the more you catch the better your chances!"

"Fiend!" my sister snapped. "Interfering with a Sekirei's true love…"

"I am their true love!" Mikogami declared vehemently. Despite myself, I felt an eyebrow raise. "They just didn't know it yet! And I take good care of them now. Better than anyone else could!"

I honestly wasn't certain what to make of the boy at this point. At one point, I had considered him dangerous and unprincipled, a ruthless opponent who was taking as many Sekirei as he could get purely out of greed. But the way he talked, it was almost as though his feelings for his Sekirei were somewhere between beloved pets and pieces in a game.

Well, whatever. It wouldn't matter after today.

As we passed more and more of the gathered single pairs, the crowd started parting in front of us like a plow pushing its way through a snow bank. Because they were being so cautious, it was the thunder and lightning twins that ended up catching sight of us after the number zero five.

"Seo," Hibiki hissed, causing the man to glance up from his palm. Beside the two, Hikari scowled, focusing more of her attention on me she had on the rest of the crowd.

"What…?" the part timer began, before he caught sight of me. His scowl started to grow, before he paused, eyes narrowing as he studied me. The canny man no doubt was the first to pick up that I wasn't here for the same reason as the rest.

"You delusional maniac," Yukari cried passionately. "Well, your reign of terror ends today! We, the Justice Allies will stop you!"

"And now we're the 'Justice Allies'?" Orihiko muttered to Kaho, sounding amused, and the Sekirei giggled. She was wearing a shrine outfit, more like the one Miya wore than the abbreviated version that Musubi favored, and was carrying a naginata. She looked very much like a girl that could have been guarding a mountain shrine two or three hundred years ago.

"I think it's sounds quite chivalrous," she told her Ashikabi, and near them Haruka scowled. The young man still looked just as angry and bitter as he had when he stormed off so long ago.

"Shut up," he scowled, glaring at the more carefree duo. "Maybe you two can be calm, but Kuno and I…" he trailed off as he turned to take in the crowd in the plaza, and saw me approaching. "You!" he hissed, choking as he did so.

"Who?" Orihiko, a casually dressed young man about my age, began, before seeing me as well. His eye raised slightly, betraying a calm much harder to ruffle than Haruka's. "Oh, so even they are here."

"Don't just brush it off," Haruka snarled, glaring at me. "You have no idea how dangerous that psycho is!"

"Well, I was watching the match as well," Orihiko reminded the other young man, rolling his eyes patiently as though used to Haruka's bad mood. "And is that…" he started to continue, only to trail off as his eyes flicked to my right.

"Is that Homura-san?" Kaho asked, looking confused. "But he's…"

"…A she now?" her Ashikabi finished for her, sounding just as confused.

"Oh shit," Youichi paled as he caught sight of me too. He swallowed, and beside him Nanami curled into herself, shivering.

Guess I left a lasting impression on the two.

"Eh?" Yukari grunted, distracted from her dramatic confrontation by her minions, and she glanced around, confused, only to brighten up when she caught sight of us approaching. "Onii-chan!"

"So the Devil Ashikabi and the Asura of the North are related," Mikogami perked, turning to give a curious and unguarded look as he saw me for the first time. The look changed quickly into a smirk. "But I've already figured out your secret!" he declared turning to point at me as he continued his earlier theatrics. "Secret number one hundred and nine!"

If things hadn't been so serious, I think I might have frozen and gaped at the sudden declaration. As it was, I couldn't help but blink as I pulled even with the group, stopping at distance from the others about as far as they were already maintaining.

"I'm sorry," I began, focusing on Mikogami. "What was that just now?" I couldn't even began to fathom just what he was going on about, and despite my intentions to get right down to business I couldn't help but feel that unless I understood just what he was talking about, it would probably interfere in that business.

"Don't try to play coy!" Mikogami folded his arms triumphantly. "I saw the match, and figured out your secret identity! You're actually an unregistered Sekirei! How else could you fight like one! You must be the secret midboss of the Sekirei Plan! A special Sekirei who can wing other Sekirei! If I manage to get you, than all your Sekirei will be mine as well!"

"Oh!" Yukari's eyes widened as she stared at me. "Onii-chan… it all makes sense now!"

"Mistress," Shiina sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Oh god, my sides," Uzume at least seemed to have found the perfect response to the situation. She was laughing so hard that she was actually clutching her stomach. "Q-quick! Chiho! Now's your chance! If you get his lips first…"

"Uzume-chan!" the poor girl wailed, sinking even further behind her hat, though I noticed that her eyes had focused disturbingly on my lips.

"No! Don't worry, Onii-chan! I'll protect you," Yukari declared passionately.

"Not so fast!" Mikogami, the instigator of this whole ridiculous scenario threw one hand wide, the other on his hips. "Matsu! Quick! Bring me that unwinged Sekirei!"

"Like I said," Matsu sighed, cradling his forehead as he did so. "There is no such thing as number one hundred and nine."

"Then maybe he's the number zero!" Mikogami declared, not put out at all by his Sekirei refuting him. "Either way, he's a rare type!"

I stared at them flatly, not leaving battle mode. Finally, I sighed. "And the sad part is that I can't even refute that properly."

"See!" Mikogami nodded at Mutsu after my mumbled response. "He agrees! Now, get him for me! I want him!"

"I meant that every Ashikabi here has some genetic Sekirei information in them," I corrected, and was promptly ignored.

"Excuse me," Kaho had approached, followed by Orihiko, until the two stood next to Yukari, though their attention was focused more to my right. "But are you really Homura-san?"

"Yes," the fire user admitted, and even though she tried to sound firm she couldn't keep a bit of a sheepish tone out of her voice.

"But weren't you a man?" Kaho was polite, but she definitely seemed insistent. "I apologize for prying," she continued, "but it's just that I've wanted to thank you for your assistance while I was gaining my wings for some time now…"

"Well," Homura began slowly, "various things happened…"

"Oh!" Yukari seemed to have switched her attention to the previous bishounen. Her eyes were gleaming, and I found myself at an honest loss for just what she might be thinking. "This is just like in the mangas!"

"Er, what do you mean by that, Mistress?" Shiina prompted, and Yukari spun to grin triumphantly at him.

"She must have been concealing her gender, in order to help in her quest to protect the other Sekirei!" Yukari declared. "But finally, when she met my Onii-chan she was no longer able to bear it, and revealed her femininity to him in secret!" Her eyes widened as she snapped her finger. "It must have been when Onii-chan walked in on her in the bath!"

"Actually, yes," Homura interrupted, sounding like she would prefer if that was the official story rather than reveal her transgender nature. "That was it precisely."

"Ah!" Kaho seemed relieved at that.

"See," Yukari told Shiina. "And you said real life wasn't like manga at all!"

"But Mutsu!" Mikogami had a bit of a whine in his tone as he continued to try and get the number zero five to help him try to kiss me. "Why not?"

"Because he's not a Sekirei that you can wing," Mutsu told him patiently. "And besides, it would be a hard thing to get past the Drunkard anyway."

"Oh! Hello Mutsu-chan," Kazehana greeted back, and I glanced to see her waiving cheerfully. Near her, Matsu adjusted her glasses so they caught the light.

"Oh! So you ended up with a boy Ashikabi, Mutsu-tan?" the hacker asked, giggling as she did so. "I would never have thought you'd be into that kind of thing!"

"Shut up, Pervert," he told her back dryly.

"Oh!" Musubi also spoke up, her tone cheerful as she began to waive excitedly. "Kaho-chan! How have you been?"

"Ah, Musubi-chan," the naginata user pulled her attention from Homura and smiled gently at the other shrine girl present. "I see you found yourself an Ashikabi as well!"

"Musubi," Tsukiumi hissed, "we're not supposed to be getting friendly!" It sounded like she was at least able to escape 'dere-dere' mode when faced with eminent combat, for which I was slightly thankful.

"But Matsu-san and Kazehana-san are," Musubi protested in confusion. "Kaho and I were friends ever since Yume-sama saved us!"

Wait, 'since Yume-sama saved _us_'? But my reports only indicated Musubi…

No, I shook my head internally. Now wasn't the time to focus on that. I'd be able to look into the discrepancy of my information later, after Minaka was dead. For now I had to focus on the plan.

"If you all don't mind, there's something I'd like to discuss with you all," I began, raising my voice as I tried to call attention to myself.

"But Mutsu," Mikogami didn't even notice as he continued to argue with his lead Sekirei. "If I wing him, then I'll get the former scrap as well! That's two rare types for the price of one!"

"This is great!" Sanada was howling with laughter at this point, and he turned to Uzume who was still bent over as well. "You're right! Totally a sitcom just waiting to happen!"

"Excuse me," I raised my voice, trying again.

"We gotta do something," Youichi declared to Haruka, and the grim faced young man nodded.

"Yeah, well you try trying to convince that crazy girl that her brother is insane," he growled. "'Cause I haven't had any luck with it yet."

"Oi!" Yukari spun to the two, glaring with her hands on her hips. "Enough of that! He's not evil, just misguided! It's up to me to bring him back to the light!"

"This is like herding cats," I finally declared, frustration starting to leak into my voice. The only one who actually seemed to be paying attention to me, my flock included, was Seo and the twins.

"Feel my pain and know my suffering," the part timer declared, though the canny man was watching me carefully. "Girls," he said to the side. "I think we better close our eyes. Boss over there is getting a kind of serious look."

"Probably the best idea you've ever had, you slacker," Hikari grumbled, but she looked like she agreed.

"Right," Seo declared, before following his own advice.

Out of respect for the fact that they were actually paying attention, I waited until Hikari and Hibiki did the same.

"Inane prattle," I began, "is prohibited."

And just like that, I got the attention I was requesting earlier.

Interesting thing about Asuras: with three faces, it turns out they can glare in three hundred and sixty degrees. Learn something new every day, I suppose.

"Now," I continued in a hard voice. "I have a lot of things to go over with everyone here, and not much time to do it. So everyone, shut up and pay attention. What I'm about to say next could very well save your lives. All of you. Got it?"

Nobody really responded at first. Finally, after what must have been nearly a minute, Sanada was the first one to actually choke out words.

"W-what the hell was that?" the biker had fallen off his bike completely, and his three childish Sekirei had all followed suite, though the three of them had buried their faces in his jacket at some point.

"I warned you about scary demons," Seo told him, having opened his eyes at that point, grimacing as he looked around at the reactions of so many unprepared victims. He nodded sagely, no doubt grimly content that he had managed to escape this particular scolding. "And if you think he's bad, there's another one, probably still up in the north if I were to guess. Then again, she doesn't like to wonder too much. At least, that's the way things normally work. I get the feeling things are about to change though."

Towards the end of his sentence, he had turned to give me a probing look. It didn't surprise me that he had managed to catch onto the change in the situation just by seeing me arrive.

"Asama-san originally intended to come," I told him, and his eyes widened at that. "But I convinced her to wait. If I fail, she'll probably take her turn next."

"Shit," Seo swore as he realized how serious the situation is. "If things have got that bad…"

"I see that the number zero one has taken a protégée," Mutsu was the next to speak, the somber swordsman's voice strained but previous experience dealing with Miya had most likely aided his recover time. He was grimacing, and had used the arm carrying his katana to sweep his Ashikabi behind him.

"A-a-an illusion type?" Mikogami sounded hoarse, but it seemed even faced with horror beyond human ken wasn't enough to fully break him from his delusion about me being a Sekirei. "He must be a really rare type. Maybe unique?"

"O-onii-chan," Yukari whimpered from where she had latched on to Shiina, the young boy shivering. "Was that really necessary? We're all just having fun before the match…"

"I'm not here for the match," I corrected her, giving her a direct look. "I'm here to kill Hiroto Minaka, stop the Sekirei Plan, purge all the information that MBI has on the Sekirei, and most likely destroy the entire conglomerate, just like I did with Higa."

The silence that settled on the gathered crowd was even longer than the one my Asura had formed. This time the voice that broke it didn't come from any of the groups at the center of the crowd. It came from the doorway to MBI itself.

"Oh?" Karasuba called, sounding calm but amused. "You say some interesting things, Shiroi-chan."

"Oh!" Musubi called out, as cheerful as ever. "Hello again, Karasuba-sama!"

"And hello to you too, Musubi-chan," the walking genocide greeted back just as politely. Despite that, the Dog of MBI didn't take her eyes off me as she left the front door of the offices. Beside her on either side were Benitsubasa and Haihane. Karasuba seemed as unhurried or unaffected as ever, however the two other members of the Disciplinary Squad looked nervous, though ready to fight.

"The hell was that?" I managed to make out Benitsubasa as she hissed at Haihane, staring at me as though I had just manifested a demon of hate right in front of her. Which, come to think of it, I had. "Seriously? Are we sure this guy isn't a Sekirei?"

"I don't… know?" Haihane muttered back, reaching up to scratch at her head in confusion, only to start squirming as she managed to open a new wound past her hairline. Looks like some things stay the same, regardless of place or time.

"Hello again, Karasuba," I greeted her politely, never taking my eyes off her. I managed to catch the flick of her eyes as they went down to my still bandaged arm. "Thank you for your assistance the other day."

"Oh, think nothing of it," she reassured me breezily. One hand came up to lightly brush her cheek. I hadn't been able to realize it before, not when I had been too sick too really focus, but I could make out a small white line on her cheek that she was touching lightly. I realized that it must have come from the cut I had managed to land on her. With all of MBI's medical knowledge, she must have deliberately made sure that the scar would remain rather than heal properly. "I must say," she continued, still eying my arm and smiling gently. "You certainly look better now. How's your arm?"

I raised it, giving it an idle glance, before shifting it, bending the elbow and tightening my fingers beneath the bandages. I had to twist it just right, but I managed to get it to produce another shriek like I had managed to make yesterday. A full day had let it come along a great deal, but it still wasn't fully healed.

"Oh, you know," I told Karasuba politely. "It's growing in nicely."

"Good to hear," Karasuba smiled warmly at me. "I was worried that you might not be up to anything fun with it that way."

"Well, if a broken heart won't stop me," I told her, "then why would a minor amputation?"

"Amput…" Yukari began, the strange conversation enough to shake her out of her shock. "What do you mean, Onii-chan?" she asked me, worriedly looking at my arm. "Did something happen?"

"Yes," Karasuba nodded. "I'm still curious as to just how you ended up like that, Shiroi-chan."

I decided that honesty was the best policy at this point. At the very least, it would help gear the crowd up for what would come next. "My exes showed up, and took exception to the fact that I now had an alien harem. One of them cut my arm off for it."

"Damn bro," Uzume muttered, giving me a searching look. The tomboy might be playful more often than not, but she could be serious too when she needed to. More than that, she was the only one here outside of my flock that was aware of magecraft, and she even knew just who one of my exes were. "That was harsh."

"Shut up about some bullshit story!" Haruka cut in, the young man's eyes flickering from me, to the Disciplinary Squad, to all the other Ashikabi around him. He looked like a horse about to bolt, or a mouse that had been thrown into a snake pit. "Nobody's going to believe you had an arm cut off when it's right there. And what did you mean about ending the Sekirei Plan?"

His tone had a note of hysteric desperation in it, but I could hear a soft murmur erupting from around me. All around us, Ashikabi and Sekirei who had spent so long living in fear of the Plan, who had been forced along to the whims of MBI mad game, started to whisper, desperate curiosity in their tones.

Minaka might have gathered them all here to try and use them against me, but that didn't mean I had to let him. After all, what I was attempting to do, well, it was exactly what they wanted.

Now I just had to convince them of that, and then Minaka wouldn't have an army any more. I would.

"Originally, there were eight ships that the Sekirei came to earth in," I began, raising my voice so that it could be heard all over the plaza. "Seven of them landed alright, the eight ended up sinking in the ocean and going into hibernation. Each of the original seven ships had one hundred and eight Sekirei, and those Sekirei all went out and found Ashikabi. Most of them ended up having children, and those children had children, and so on until today. Nowadays, a large percentage of the population actually has some Sekirei genes, including everyone here: all Ashikabi can be Ashikabi because they are descendants."

Murmurs of surprise greeted me, but I kept my eye on Karasuba rather than around me. She was the biggest threat at the moment, the one who might chose to stop me from revealing MBI secrets, who could stop me from attempting to sway the crowd. Despite that, the Black Sekirei made no move to stop me. Instead, she just smiled, and waited patiently for me to continue.

"And how do you know all that?" it was Orihiko who made the most audible response. His eyes were narrowed, and a confused expression was on his face.

"That damn redhead probably," Haruka growled, turning his glare from me to Matsu.

"This is Matsu, the number zero two," I ignored the belligerent Ashikabi, focusing instead on the more reasonable Orihiko though keeping my voice loud enough for everyone to hear. I needed my credential firmly established if I was going to pull this off. "Unlike normal Sekirei, she focuses on utilizing electronics instead of strength. Ever since I've winged her, I've had her investigating MBI. I've always thought that the Sekirei Plan was too suspicious, and I wanted to know what MBI really was up to. Well, I've finally found out."

"Are we really supposed to believe something so convenient?" Youichi spoke up cautiously, still looking nervous but probably relieved that I was willing to talk instead of just attack out right.

"Matsu," I said, turning to give the redhead a look. With a smile, she pulled off her glasses.

"Oracle of my pledge," she recited her Norito, already having been kissed before we even made our first appearance. All of my Sekirei were ready to use Norito at a moment's notice. "Dispel the confusion around my Ashikabi: Fingers of the Electronic God."

"So the pervert finally perfected it," Mutsu muttered, probably the only person here who didn't require proof of Matsu's powers. Even as he finished the plaza was interrupted as quite literally dozens of cell phones simultaneously started ringing.

"What did you do?" I asked Matsu out of the corner of my mouth as I waited, figuring that this was either Matsu providing proof or MBI interrupting to give the rules of the match.

"I replaced their wall papers with images taken from the plaza," Matsu murmured, eyes still closed but twitching rapidly as she used her power. "And I'm simultaneously greeting all of them, by name and number of their Sekirei."

"That would be rather convincing," I finally nodded, not sure what the type of wall paper they had in their houses had to do with anything but trusting that it must be relevant. Judging from the startled sounds and the noise of several dropped cell phones, it seemed effective enough.

In any other age, Matsu's power would have been irrelevant. Here and now, in modern times where technology had taken the place of gods, she was a whole other force to deal with.

"Is that enough to prove my point," I addressed Youichi again, still speaking loud enough to be heard by the general population. "Or do you want her to make a more personal demonstration?"

"No!" Youichi seemed unnerved by the implications as it was, shifting his nervous look from me to Matsu. He had seemed an intelligent Ashikabi when we first met, catching on to the situation much faster than his less lucky partner, and he most likely already realized the implications of having someone like Matsu around. "I've got no more doubts!"

"Well I do!" Haruka snapped. "Who cares about all this crap! What does it matter if there were other Sekirei, or one of them was our great-great grandma or whatever! What matters is that MBI has a gun to the head of everyone here, and this psycho is talking about trying to kill people!

"It matters because the Jinki have the ability to kill anyone who has even the slightest shred of Sekirei genes in them," I told him evenly. "It can be done at any time, and from any distance. And MBI is using the Sekirei Plan to try and figure out how to use them to do just that."

This time the outcry was much louder as revealed part of the capabilities of the Jinki. Part, and only part. That was the plan anyway.

I couldn't just walk up and tell people that a mad magus was planning on using the alien artifacts to try and bypass the mystic incarnation of humanity's will in a plan which had a high percentage of failure and causing possible extinction level events. That would take too much time, was too unbelievable to everyone, regardless of the fact that they should be a bit more open to the unbelievable than most. I couldn't tell them everything, but I could tell them enough to convince them to stay out of my way.

And the fact of the matter was, what I was telling was all the truth, even if it wasn't all of that truth. The Jinki really could be used that way. MBI no doubt actually had done experimentation to that effect. And the Sekirei Plan really was a method for Minaka to try and use the Jinki more effectively.

Now I just had to sell the idea to every remaining Ashikabi and Sekirei in the plan. I had to make them see me killing Minaka as the best option, compared to the order Minaka would no doubt give to kill me instead.

"Onii-chan," Yukari gasped, the younger girl looking pale. It only lasted for a second, before she narrowed her eyes and collected herself. "So that's their evil plan!"

"Oi, oi, oi," Sanada spoke up at that point, the Ashikabi of the West sounding less impressed and more doubtful. "That's a hell of a thing to say. Are we really supposed to believe that some whacko CEO is trying to figure out how to use some alien doohickey to kill people?"

"It's not that far a step from some whacko CEO starting a secret tournament comprised of alien fighters over some vague type of ascension," I pointed out dryly. Sanada grumbled.

"Point," he allowed. It helps to point out how unreasonable a situation already is when you're about to point out how much more unreasonable it can get. "But you got any proof man, any proof?"

"Sanada-san is right, er…" Orihiko spoke up slowly, hesitating for a moment, "Er, was it Sahashi-san?" he ventured, glancing between Yukari and I as he took a stab at my name.

"Emiya, actually," I corrected him. I had introduced myself as such during the third match, but it looked as though Yukari's constant referencing me as her brother had confused the other Ashikabi about what my proper family name was. "I was adopted into that name after everyone thought I died in a fire."

"Er, right," Orihiko definitely looked as though he knew there was some backstory there. He also seemed ready to overlook that for now to focus on more relevant topics. "Sanada-san is right. This is quite a claim to make. Do you have any proof?"

"Plenty," I told him. So far Orihiko was proving an intelligent guy, and he was probably the best one for me to focus on. "Originally, the Jinki were used to have absolute control over the powers of a Sekirei. When the original seven ships landed, they were used to limit the power of the Sekirei to keep them from hurting their Ashikabi, just like the adjusters did for MBI. That's how they'd be able to kill anyone with Sekirei genes: with the Jinki they can just be shut off, as easy as flicking a switch. However," I continued, "they could also be used to strengthen those genes."

"Strengthen?" Mikogami perked at that. The young boy had been quiet for most of the speech, but at that he seemed to brighten. "Mutsu! We can get you a level up if we use the rare item! I love expository scenes like this! Maybe we'll get some CGI soon too!"

"That's not quite how they work," Mutsu told him, though his attention was focused on me. "Though what he's saying isn't different from much of what I know…"

Good, I was at least getting through to the number zero five, even if his Ashikabi was looking to be more and more a lost cause.

"Because most of what I know comes from hacking MBI," I answered his unspoken question, addressing him directly. "But some of it comes from the number zero one."

"Ah," Mutsu sighed, rubbing his forehead with the hilt of his katana. "So you really are Miya-sama's protégé. That will definitely complicate things in the future."

"Wait," Yukari cut in, a suspicious gleam in her eyes. "So, if the Jinki can be used to make Sekirei stronger, than," she paused, licking her lips suspiciously as she did so. "And if all Ashikabi are a bit Sekirei, then could they be used to give the Ashikabi super powers?"

"Mistress," Shiina cut in, sounding worried. "I'm not certain that's the best thing to be focusing on…"

"But think about it, Shiina," Yukari whirled on her better half. "Then we could fight together, as Sekirei and Ashikabi! It would be awesome!"

"I've figured out a little about how to use the Jinki," I admitted, wondering if maybe I should leave this part out. The last thing I wanted was for my sister to start trying to get a Jinki to experiment on. However, I needed to set the stage for later on… Grimacing, I continued with the plan. "I can use them to heal safely. It was how I was able to stab myself," I listed my most obvious example of my suspicious healing ability, one I had already attributed to the Jinki. "And I even figured out how to use it to heal other people, like Hidaka-san."

"So that's how Emiya-sensei did it!" Chiho chirped, peeking her head out from behind her hat in surprise. She sounded relieved, as though some mystery that had been worrying her had finally been revealed. According to the story I was building, it even made absolute sense. Again, all the pieces of the puzzle were being assembled, and even if they were put together wrong they still fit.

Uzume, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes. I met her gaze briefly, and her eyes flickered to her Ashikabi. After all, Uzume knew that I hadn't even touched the Jinki to fix her Ashikabi. I could only hope that she would remain quiet for now, and let me continue to weave this lie.

"And yes," I continued, focusing on Yukari at this point. "If it's done right, then it can even give an Ashikabi unusual abilities. As long as the genes are there, then something can be done with them." I turned to Seo this time, the canny part timer grimacing. I didn't have time to hold back or ask permission, so I just went ahead and crossed my fingers that enough people had gotten suspicious of his tricks in the past. "Just like with what happened to Kaoru-san in the past."

"Aha!" Sanada snapped, pointing a triumphant finger at the part timer, Seo already grumbling and rubbing the back of his head in irritation as Hikari and Hibiki glared at me. "I knew there was something off with you! So that's how you keep grabbing my boobs and getting away with it!"

"Like I want to touch a bunch of pancakes like that," Seo snapped right back at the biker. "Not when I got melons over here!" he hitched a finger at his Sekirei, ignoring Hikari's squawk of indignation. "And I don't know shit about no Jinki! I had one of the researchers tinker with me."

"If the genes are there they can be tampered with," I cut in, trying to keep attention focused on the Jinki. "But the Jinki can do it more efficiently. The problem is," I let my voice turn grim, "is just because it can doesn't mean it's always safe. It doesn't mean it always works right either. In fact, most of the time it goes really, really wrong."

"But Onii-chan!" Yukari almost whimpered, turning to give me a hopeful look. "How bad can it be! And when can I get my own superpowers!"

Without giving her an immediate response, I traced a knife in my hand. Bringing it down carelessly, I drove the point into the top of the bandages on my arm, and cut the bundle right down the center of my forearm until I reached my wrist. With a tug, I pulled it loose, peeling it off my fingers and then lifting my arm so that everyone gathered could see it clearly.

"Emiya-sensei!" Chiho gasped, her cheeks turning green as she pulled her hat back up.

"Holy shit, bro," Uzume seemed equally disturbed.

"Onii-chan…" Yukari had turned white herself, and it looked like she had forgotten the whole prospect of gaining super powers when confronted with their supposed results.

I didn't blame them. I made sure that everyone around me could see my arm, moving it wide so that even the outlying Ashikabi and Sekirei could make it out.

It looked… well, it looked like an arm, as in it was loosely shaped with an elbow, a wrist, and I had five digits that could bend appropriately at the end to act as fingers. Beyond that, it didn't really resemble a human limb at all. Sharp lines of steel, most not even recognizable as swords laced the limb, forming the support from which loops and webs of flesh hung and twisted. There were places where the swords hadn't filled in yet, open gaps and avulsion like spaces marred with strands of muscles that connected the edges haphazardly. My fingers were even less defined, just sharp tips and points loosely webbed with the biological material and veins of red.

It was actually very steady progress. Sure, Avalon had never had to heal a wound quite this serious or growth intensive, but I'd been using the Body of Swords for some time now, so having blades compose my flesh was no new feeling to me. Considering the rate at which it was growing back, I had no reason to think that I wouldn't eventually have a one hundred percent recover of my perfectly normal looking arm.

Nobody else here but my flock had any clue about that though, and so I shamelessly used my recovering body as a prop to help convince the gathered Sekirei and Ashikabi that yes, I really had learned how to use the Jinki to give myself powers, and yes, the Jinki really were a double edged sword that could cause horrible maiming and death if used improperly.

"As you can see," I began, before pausing, grimacing as I felt something shift in my arm. I twisted it so that I could see it out of the corner of my eye, and right on cue one of the blades right on the edge of one of the more open spots shuddered, than sprouted a few inches with a harsh noise of metal on metal as it closed a bit of the wound, trailing muscle as it did so. I heard somebody vomit at the grotesque sight, but ignored them. After a moment it looked like nothing else was going to happen, so I continued. "As you can see, using the Jinki doesn't always work quite as one might hope."

"Beautiful," Karasuba, who had so far remained completely silent and content to allow me to undermine MBI right in front of her breathed out, calling my attention to the Disciplinary Squad as a whole. Benitsubasa seemed like she was shook up by the sight, but Haihane actually looked a little curious, wiggling her own claws slightly as she took in mine. The Black Sekirei on the other hand was smiling, a contented and nearly blissful look as she sighed at the sight. "Really, you show me the most interesting things, Shiroi-chan."

"That is…" Mikogami began softly, not even noticing when Taki had pulled him close, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind as though to comfort him or shield him from the sight. "That is awesome!" He shouted, surging forward so he could gape at my arm shamelessly. The only thing that kept him from running over to me outright was Mutsu, the Sekirei calmly interposing himself between me and his master, his eyes narrowed but calm as he took in my arm. "Look at it! He has to be a Sekirei! He's a secret boss for sure! Mutsu! You have to get him for me! You have to…"

I narrowed my eyes as the Ashikabi of the South continued to rant about video games, and make demands that the number zero five acquire me like an object. If this was what most normal Sekirei had felt like before they were winged, I was starting to sympathize with them more thoroughly.

There was something rather demeaning and degrading as being thought of as nothing more than a prize or a pet, or whatever it was that Mikogami considered his Sekirei. I pointed my arm at the still gushing Ashikabi

"Trace Bullet On," I declared, and I heard shouts and hisses of surprise as I traced a sword directly in front of me. It hovered in the air for a fraction of a moment, before it launched with unnerving speed and accuracy at the Ashikabi of the South.

"What was…" Mikogami barely even noticed, but Mutsu was a blur in front of him, batting the single sword into the air with his own katana, eyes narrowed as his thoughts raced. "He can shoot swords with his mind?" Mikogami gaped, before ignoring the whole attempt on his life entirely. "He can make illusions and swords! He's the best…!"

It seems that some people have trouble grasping reality.

"Trace Machine Bullet On," I declared, and where it had once been a single sword, a dozen flashed into existence. Mutsu's eyes widened, and then he was blurring, showing his own power as a single digit as he started batting the attacks away with frightening speed. I let each sword disappear after it was launched, before continuing the barrage, summoning blades from different angles and of different shapes, launching them high and low. Mutsu continued to intercept each one, but Mikogami's eyes were wide as he started to stumble back, realizing his own danger. I increased the speed of the onslaught, trying to keep Mutsu too busy to notice the one sword I shot not directly at him, but high in the air, tracing an arch that would…

"Master!" A Sekirei with a whip screamed, even as she struck out. Mikogami let out a high-pitched noise and fell back, but his Sekirei managed to intercept the blade that had come down from almost directly above to nearly impale him.

When the boy hit the ground, I let the onslaught stop.

"Do you think this is a joke?" I asked, voice low and harsh. "MBI, led by Hiroto Minaka, are on the verge of being able to initiate mass genocides at will, to any place on earth. Even if they don't, they can just target influential descendants of the Sekirei in order to black mail them. More than that, he will soon be able to influence his own soldiers reliably, generating soldiers with the power of the Sekirei that won't even have Ashikabi to keep them in check."

I had been raising my voice while speaking. Though I had started the speech just angry at the carelessness of the other Ashikabi, I had to make sure that the full potential consequences were clear to everyone present.

"And even if he has that power, do you think the other nations of the world will just sit back and take it? If it meant keeping themselves safe, then I don't think a nation in the world would hesitate to attack Shin Tokyo to try and get at MBI. The first five numbers, the original Disciplinary Squad, have fought off attacks like those before, and enhanced soldiers could almost certainly be able to do the same. Thousands of humans died. And if an army wouldn't work, then the threatened countries wouldn't hesitate to use simpler methods: Japan is the only country in the world that has already had nuclear weapons used on them in war, so why not add another one to the list? Worse, what if one of the other countries get a Jinki as well, and manage to do the same thing that MBI did?"

It was a gruesome picture, and for all I knew it would be true. If the Counter Guardians did move, than it would probably be some sort of natural disaster that afflicted humanity, but even if they didn't there was no way of knowing whether or not the portrait I was painting might not end up anyway, given human nature.

"And even then," I continued, this time turning to face Seo directly. The part timer was scowling, hands jammed in the pocket of his coat as he listened. It looked like he was smart enough to see the truth in my lie. "The Jinki can only possibly be beneficial to someone that has Sekirei genes. It's lethal to anyone who doesn't have any in them, to any pure human. It was how they lost their best researcher, years ago."

"Takehito," Seo bit the name of his best friend out like it was an oath. His glare fixed on me, and this time it had a warning in it. "Emiya, if you're just fucking with me with that…"

"No," I shook my head. "I confirmed it from the head geneticist myself. Jinki exposure was the direct cause of his death." I grimaced, not wanting to add too much but wanting to put all my cards on the table. "I got the impression that it was, well, it was unpleasant when it happened."

He met my eyes, searching for any lie, and when he found none he spat to the side. "Minaka has a lot to answer for."

"This is why I hate adults," Mikogami had finally managed to right himself. "Even when you have the chance to forge your own paths, even when you have the ability to change who you are, from the ground up, all you can do think about the past!" For once, the childishness that Mikogami usually showed dried up, and an unusual maturity in one so young glimmered. For all his youthfulness, Hayato Mikogami was an heir of a powerful and rich family himself. It's no doubt he must have been groomed from a young age to be able to take over that responsibility. It looked like some of those lessons had stuck, regardless of his usual demeanor. "Dragging in your pasts and bickering about the future. Why can't any of you just appreciate the game for what it is?"

"Because this is not a game," I told him flatly. I thought maybe I sounded a bit like Archer at that moment. 'Drown in your ideals and die…' "This isn't an adventure, this isn't even a war. Shin Tokyo isn't a game board, or even a battleground: it's a petri dish. You aren't a player, or a warrior: you're an ingredient in an experiment. All of us are. And the only thing that can stop this experiment from finishing is by killing the one in charge."

I looked around, taking in the effect my words had. The cold dismissal in them, the bitter truth revealed, it was plainly reflected in the faces of those around me: so many young men and women, human and alien alike, who had fought so desperately, who had reacted to this strange circumstance, some with reluctance others with pleasure. But now, all those past gains, all those accomplishments, what they really were was laid out in front of them for what they really were:

Nothing.

I could see doubt, and despair in a lot of faces. Many of the duos had drawn closer to each other, the Sekirei or the Ashikabi seeking their partners hands or embraces to ward off the chill. I nearly sighed, and felt much of my rage vanish, left behind with only a strange emptiness.

Enough was enough.

"Go home," I said, no longer in the mood to continue with the intimidation. "All of you. Leave. The Sekirei Plan is over. You have no reason to fight, no reason to get involved. Just stay out of my way, and let me do what needs to be done."

The mood of the plaza was cautious, a thrill moving through the crowd. For many of them, it was a ray of light after a storm had passed. All these months, having to worry about fighting and staying alive, having someone like me arrive and reveal just how hopeless their situation was, and then, despite everything, be given a chance to truly escape, to not have to worry any more, to have the chance to be with their mate and partner without needing to live in fear: it was probably too much for them to believe at first.

I could actually see some of them turning to leave, when that ray of light was abruptly cut off.

"Now, now," Karasuba broke in gently, and I caught sight of her in time to see her eyes as they cracked open, as her smile widened to show a hint of the teeth beneath. "We can't be having any of that, now can we?"

"Karasuba," I hissed, narrowing my eyes as I focused my attention directly on her. I could make a couple guesses over what was about to happen, and none of them good.

"Attention all Ashikabi and Sekirei," the Black Sekirei began, her own voice rising as she did so. "The fourth match of the Third Phase is about to commence. The rules are simple: anyone who takes out one of the Sekirei of the Ashikabi known as the Asura of the North, the sword bearing Ashikabi," her lips actually quirked wider at the second title as her eyes drifted to my arm once more, "will be considered a winner. They will be allowed to leave Shin Tokyo with MBI's permission. They will be allowed to continue to use their MBI cards as well, without limits. MBI will even protect them against any official actions taken against them by foreign or domestic governments. This prize isn't limited to just the Sekirei who committed the final attack, but any that deliberately and usefully contribute to a defeat.

"Of course," and here Karasuba turned her eyes to Mutsu, her former squad mate, and behind him Mikogami who was still glaring at me, shaking in anger at my dismissal of the Plan he liked and loved so much, "if someone doesn't want that prize, MBI will be happy to offer alternative prizes. There are still four Jinki left, after all."

"Oi, oi," Sanada called out, the irreverent biker sounding annoyed. "And what if we don't wanna participate? I gotta say, this Asura guy has a pretty good deal going himself…"

"Participation is mandatory," Karasuba told him, still sounding calm and benevolent. "Anyone who fails to participate, well," and here all pretense of gentility vanished from the blood thirsty alien's demeanor, "I have been granted permission by the Director to terminate them myself. By all means, I would like to encourage as many of you as possible to allow me that opportunity."

And just like that, the couples who had been getting ready to leave froze. I wasn't the only one with a reputation in the Plan, after all. There probably wasn't a soul in the know about the Plan who didn't know about Karasuba and didn't know just how terrifying she really was.

Well shit. There goes the chance of getting everyone to leave willingly.

On one hand, they only had my word and the somewhat circumstantial proof I had offered so far that I intended to end the Plan. They had to take me at my word that I really was going to stop the Plan and let them go free. But that was still a chance that most of them had been willing to take, and they would probably have left with only a few moments hesitation if I had let them.

But now, if they left, Karasuba, the walking genocide, the Dog of MBI, the Black Sekirei, had promised them that she would hunt them down personally.

Well, I guess everything that happened next would come down to each individual Ashikabi and Sekirei. They were all caught between a rock and a hard place, and how they responded would depend on how much they believed my chances were against this new foe, would depend on their own personal willingness to fight for a chance to escape with MBI's permission versus trust on me to free them totally.

"Karasuba," I spoke up, hoping to find some crack in her willingness to go through with her threat, but severely doubting I'd find one. "You know what might happen if Minaka isn't stopped. You know the consequences. Are you really willing to go through with this? You could step aside, and take your Ashikabi with you…"

"No thanks," she interrupted me, her grin sliding back even fiercer. "You see, I don't actually care about my Ashikabi. I don't care about saving the other Sekirei, or about the fate of the world, or about how many die. You see," she licked her lips slowly, nearly sensually as her eyes fluttered briefly, "the only thing I care about is watching the world burn, from atop a mountain of corpses." Her eyes met mine directly. "And my Ashikabi, well, he agrees with me as well. So," she continued, her tone taunting. "What are you going to do about it, Sahashi-chan?"

Damn. I had hoped that maybe I could get some sign of her wanting to protect her Ashikabi, or maybe even reach Natsuo himself. He hadn't appeared in the plaza, most likely to avoid a repeat of his capture in the third match, but he had to be listening somewhere. If I could have reached him, had him rein Karasuba in, that might have worked. But if he wasn't just some pawn of MBI, wasn't someone who didn't realize the consequences of what was happening in Shin Tokyo, but if he was in fact someone who matched Karasuba's own mindset so well…

It looks like I had severely underestimated him. He had seemed so cheerful.

"I watched the world burn once, Karasuba," I told her firmly. In my hands, my left hand screeching slightly as the twisted digits closed, twin swords of black and white formed. I hadn't bothered to trace Kanshou and Bakuya to bring them in with me this time, a fact which had made Akitsu slump a bit in disappointment. Now properly armed, I prepared myself for what would come next. "I won't let it burn again."

"Onii-chan," a soft voice from my side caused me to divert what attention I could to my peripheral vision. Yukari was there, and despite the fact that a fight was about to break out, she looked hesitant, like she was nervous about something. "Are you really going to do it? Are you really going to kill Minaka?"

"Yes," I declared flatly, focusing on Karasuba more than anything else on the field. Around me, I could hear rustling and murmurs as those gathered tried to decide what to do. "For this to end, he needs to die."

"But Onii-chan," Yukari began, before swallowing and trying again. "Minato-kun," she used my birth name. "There's… there's something you don't know about him… You can't… you can't just kill him."

"I know everything I need to know about him," I assured her. "And yes, I can."

"But Minato," Yukari swallowed, before finally shouting in a high pitched voice. "Minaka is your… he's our father!"

'Father'. The word was familiar, but it didn't make sense in this context. Another wave of strange sounds rippled at that revelation. In me, the thought bounced. I had never asked Takami who my paternal father is. It had never occurred to me to ask, or even care. I figured if the man who had donated half my genetic material really cared, or was still around, Takami would have already brought it up. But now, with this new knowledge in me…

"So what?" I responded plainly, and Yukari flinched, staring at me in surprise at the absolute lack of reaction to the revelation. "It doesn't change anything."

"Doesn't change…" Yukari repeated, staring at me blankly. "But he's our father! You can't just kill him! We can stop him, together, but that doesn't mean you have to kill him! No, you absolutely can't kill him!"

"When the man who adopted me, Kiritsugu Emiya, was a child he didn't know that his own father, Noritaka Emiya, was an internationally wanted criminal," I stated evenly. "Noritaka specialized in developing biological weapons, and was hiding out on a small tropical island."

"What does that have to do…" Yukari began, before I cut her off.

"When Kiritsugu was young, around twelve, one of his father's experiments got out of the lab. The population was exposed, and the only people on the island who had been vaccinated were Noritaka and Kiritsugu. In the end, everyone on the island except for those two died."

It was a simplification, a twisted version of the truth, but I was getting used to making cover stories like that. In truth, Noritaka had been researching Dead Apostles, and though everyone on the island died, they had come back as mindless ghouls afterwards, as so many who were bitten by the Apostles did. The island had become a City of the Dead, an isolated hell filled with nothing but still moving bloodthirsty corpses. In a way, I guess just like the fire was for me, that had been the birthplace of the man who Kiritsugu would become.

It hadn't been hard to find that much out about my father. The Clock Tower had dispersed Enforcers to contain the outbreak, and those records had been simple enough to locate when I had still been welcome with the Mage Association.

"When Kiritsugu found out that everyone had died because of his father, he confronted Noritaka. His father confirmed that it was his work that had caused everything. Then he told Kiritsugu to hurry up and pack so they could escape and Noritaka could continue his research somewhere else," I continued the story in the same tone.

"Is this story going somewhere, Sahashi?" Karasubab asked as I took a breath, the Black Sekirei's eyes never leaving mine. I narrowed mine back at her, but continued.

"When Kiritsugu found out that his dad was going to continue researching ways to hurt and kill people, he stabbed his father in the stomach, recovered his father's pistol, and emptied the entire clip into his head," I stated flatly. "Rather than let him hurt anyone else, Kiritsugu killed Noritaka himself."

"Shirou," I heard Homura hiss, the only one of my flock I had spoken to about my father. I could imagine the thoughts going through the Sekirei's head, but I focused only on Karasuba.

"What Minaka is doing has the potential to cause a thousand, maybe even a million times more deaths than what Noritaka had been doing. And I can't stand by and let that happen any more than Kiritsugu could," I announced bluntly. "My name isn't Minato Sahashi; it's Shirou Emiya, and just like Kiritsugu, if murdering my father is what needs to be done to save lives, than that's exactly what I'm willing to do."

It wasn't a promise, or a boast, or a threat. It was just what I was going to do. I saw Karasuba's eyes narrow slightly, and her grin just got wider. To the side, I heard the sound of Yukari's teeth gritting.

"No," she declared, a hitch in her voice as though she was fighting back tears. "No," she declared again, her voice firmer. "I won't let you. I won't let you kill our father! If I have to stop you myself, than that's what I'll do! I don't know what happened to you, Minato, but I won't let you do this to yourself either!"

Damn my sister for being so hotheaded. It looks like the urge to save people might actually be a genetic trait or something. Still, this wasn't good. It didn't matter why she was doing it, but Yukari had decided to act, and it wasn't going to be to help me but to defeat me.

You know, I think I smelt a smidgeon of empathy for Archer at that moment, seeing someone so full of hotheaded stupidity. I think I hated myself for that too.

Stupid Archer.

"Katsuragi-san," Youichi muttered urgently to the other Ashikabi, "what should we do?"

"I-I don't know," the other Ashikabi sounded flustered, confused and scared. All around me, I could feel the tension rise. It was the tension right before a battle, a feeling I was all too familiar with and one I think even the inexperienced and relatively normal Ashikabi and Sekirei around me could understand as well. The talking was done, the chips on the table. All the lines had been drawn. There were only three options left for everyone else gathered here.

The first was to run, to get away from the upcoming fight. But if they did that, there were two possible outcomes. The first was that I won and freed them all, and the second was that I lost, and later on Karasuba would have the carte blanche from MBI to hunt them all down for abandoning the match. Minaka didn't need them anymore, not since he had already decided that I was the agent aranaged by the Counter Force. If he beat me, it meant he had already won, and it would be up to him whether or not his countermeasures could stop the Counter Guardians.

The second option was to help me, to try and assist me in stopping Minaka. But to do so, that would mean facing the Disciplinary Squad directly. If they all did that, than victory would be almost guaranteed. Karasuba was strong, but against every Sekirei in the plan? Not even she could survive that. But she would take plenty of the less experienced fighter s down before hand, and I doubted many of these civilians really wanted to take that chance.

The third option, was to obey MBI and come at me. It was probably just as dangerous as the second in the eyes of many, but if they did, and if they succeeded, than that tantalizing reward was right in front of them. Not only would they be free from the Sekirei Plan, but they would have MBI's support and protection, even after they left.

Two of those options were fine with me. If they helped me or got out of the way, that would only increase my chances of success. It was the reason I had told them all so much in the first place. It was those in the third option that I had to worry about.

"Yoichi, Katsuragi! You're going to help me stop my onii-chan before he does something evil," Yukari declared vehemently. "Orihika, you too! Justice Allies! Prepare to stop him at any cost!"

And it looked like my sister had just decided, for whatever reason she might have, not to take either of those two.

"Stop him?" it was Haruka again, shouting, his voice shrill. "Stop him? Are you fucking crazy? He's a murderer! He's psychotic! He's some kind of freak, someone who already experimented on himself! Look at him," he snapped his hand up to point at my left arm. "Who cares about the Jinki, who cares about some crazy conspiracy, or some bullshit end of the world story!" His eyes were wide, so wide I could see their whites even from a distance. Spittle was flying from his lips, and his tone was getting higher and higher with hysteria. "This is our chance! Our chance for Kuno and I to get out of this, to be together without having to fight! Everyone, else, you as well!" He was turning to the crowd now, shouting. "All it takes is just getting one of his Sekirei, and MBI will let you go!"

Shit. He had snapped, I realized grimly. The constant pressure, the tension that had been building, all of it was coming to a head in Haruka Shigi, and it looked like was too much for him to bear anymore. I had seen it earlier, when he first stormed out of Izumo, but the time since then had only made his fear and confusion worse, and it looked like just like before, I was to be the target of his anger. Only now, his words were affecting the crowd as well, riling them up, making them more willing to come down with MBI.

I couldn't let that happen. I started to form the image of a sword in my head, aimed at the boy. If I hit him in the stomach, if I could avoid any fatal spots, I could stop him before he made things worse, and he might even be able to survive. It would make any others hesitate as well…

Even as the thought crossed my mind, a new voice interrupted Haruka's rant.

"By the veil of my contract, my Ashikabi's nightmare will be dispelled."

"Wha-" Haruka began, but cut off as Kuno fell to her knees, her eyes fluttering in absolute confusion before she fell forward. I could just make out the crest on the back of her neck as it faded. "Kuno?" Haruka couldn't seem to understand what had just happened, and blankly turned to look behind him.

"Sorry," Uzume said softly, looking down at the Sekirei she had just level one terminated, and the Ashikabi whose mate she had just ended. "But if you kept that up, you might have gotten in the way of bro over there."

"Uzume-chan?" Chiho whispered, watching as her Sekirei stood without a smile in front of her. "Why did you…"

"Because I trust in bro," Uzume smiled slightly, but only slightly. "I know that if anyone can stop the Plan for good, it's gonna be him. Sorry about that, Chiho-chan. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"I," Chiho began, before swallowing, and poking her head out from behind her hat. "No," she shook her head, and smiled wanly. "You're right. We trusted in Emiya-sensei this far. Let's trust him to the end!"

Uzume had seemed tense, but when her Ashikabi agreed her smile erupted like the sun from behind a cloud. "Right!" Uzume declared. "And once he's done, we can drag him with us to a love hotel!"

"Ri-" Chiho seemed infected by her Ashikabi's smile and started to agree before her flush erupted, also like the sun in its brightness. "Uzume-chan!"

"He-heh," Uzume declared, before turning back to the still frozen Haruka. "Sorry," she said bluntly, still smiling. "But it's like that now. Anyone who tries to stop Shirou over there will have to deal with me first."

"You-" Yukari's face was betrayed as she watched one of the supposed members of her 'Justice League' as she was calling it switch sides. "How could you!"

"Seo," Hikari interrupted, the volatile lightning user's voice tense. At her side the usually calmer Hibiki also seemed on edge.

"Yeah," the part timer said in a low tone. He pulled his hands from his pockets, and they were clenched in fists. "Sorry," he said louder, his tone serious as he turned to Yukari. "But since that scary guy over there is the one handing my paychecks, it looks like I'm gonna have to switch over too."

"Seo-san," Shiina's voice was low, and tense. The bishounen didn't look as surprised as my sister did, but he was tensing as he prepared to act.

"Hey, MBI," Mikogami shouted, not at the growing drama from the East's Ashikabi, but at the Disciplinary Squad. Karasuba had eyes only for me, it seemed, but Benitsubasa turned to growl at the boy.

"What?" the redhead snapped, turning to glare at the Ashikabi of the South.

"What are those prizes that MBI is offering?" Mikogami demanded, a wicked smile starting to form. "And what happens if someone gets two of the North's Sekirei?"

"How the hell should I know?" the Red Sekirei threw her hands up in the air in disgust. "Ask after you've won!"

"Heh," Mikogami turned to glare at me, still grinning evily. "Mutsu!"

"Oh course," the number zero five sighed, but readied his sword as he prepared himself to obey his Ashikabi's orders.

"Well then," Karasuba was probably every bit as much a veteran as me when it came to conflict. Maybe even more so. I could see her muscles tense, and could feel mine as well. The time for talk was over, and the battle was only seconds from erupting. "It looks like the fun starts now, Sa-" surprisingly, she stopped at the name, and her smile grew wider. "No. Shirou Emiya!"

Shouting my name as though it was a battle cry, she moved, and as her katana flashed at me, I realized with surprise that she had finally gotten my name right.

And then there wasn't time for such thoughts any more.

*Scene Break*

Things moved very fast by that point.

They tended to, in actual battles.

And that was what this was at this point: not a match, or just a fight. This was a battle, a conflict as large and confusing as could be found in any war in any chapter of history.

The night before, I had discussed tactics with my flock, and in the end, even though I knew it would probably come down to a scene just like this one, I hadn't been able to do much planning. Trying to stage an elaborate strategy or some detailed plan was pointless. There were just too many unknown variables, too many ways that things could have developed.

In the end, the best I could come up with was to go over which targets they should prioritize with my own Sekirei, to give them the matchups they should strive for, the ones that would give them the advantage. The basic idea was that the quicker any of them won their battles, the quicker they'd be able to help one of the other members of our group. I had been working under the worst case scenario that most of the gathered Sekirei would be enemies though, and that the typical fight would involve it being one on two, or even one on three to our disadvantage.

From the confused glimpses I managed to make out, I was relieved to see that that wasn't fully the case. Once the fighting had truly begun, it looked like the vast majority of the gathered Sekirei and Ashikabi were either fleeing, or just hovering back out of the fight, hesitating about which side to join, or even if they should join at all. So long as they stayed there that was fine though.

The fights themselves though, from both my flock and the Sekirei who had chosen to join me, were already underway, or starting. I could only make out glimpses really, just confused images and disjointed sounds.

"Not bad, Mutsu-chan!" Kazehana giggled twirling in the air like a fairy. "It looks like you've been keeping up!" She giggled girlishly. "Sorry for not contacting you sooner!"

"Shut up, Drunkard," Mutsu stated bluntly. He didn't add anything else though, and I got the impression that he was probably rather laconic in personality. As though to prove my hypothesis, he didn't even announce an attack as slammed the scabbard of his sheathe into the ground, causing it to shake around him. Kazehana kept her footing with nimble grace, the wind Sekirei twisting as the earth Sekirei slashed at her.

Kazehana was probably the best pairing out of my Sekirei against number zero five. They were both former Disciplinary Squad members, and knew each other's powers. Mutsu might have been able to use that knowledge to avoid the nearly invisible slashes of wind that were raining down on him, but it also meant that Kazehana had the same advantage as she twisted and dodged at speeds which far surpassed any that I've seen her use in the past. If she could just keep him busy long enough for one of the others to blindside him that would be enough.

Most of my flock was similarly locked in battle with the Sekirei of the Ashikabi of the South. It made sense, seeing as he was the one who had brought the most Sekirei with him. By simple numbers alone, they were the second biggest threat present. More than that, they were unified in that their Ashikabi was unwaveringly dedicated to being my enemy, unlike the other more hesitant Ashikabi around.

"At least announce your numbers, your craven dogs!" Tsukiumi demanded. Even as she spoke, she was engaging the two similar looking Sekirei that had originally accompanied Mikogami to the first match. While one used string and the other used a whip, neither one of them were able to get the advantage against the water user.

"I think we're past that at this point, Tsukiumi," Homura declared tightly. Like his opposite in elements, the fire user was handling two Sekirei as well, though I didn't recognize any of their appearances out of hand.

"I can't believe we're actually working with this guy," Hikari snapped angrily.

"Ah, Hikari," Hibiki began apologetically, "is he really a guy? I mean, didn't she say that she was a girl all along?"

"Which makes it even worse!" Hikari shouted, lightning crackling around her. "Who the hell actually disguises their gender anyway? That is so lame!"

Despite the byplay between the two, they had also pitted themselves against Mikogami's forces, though they were only handling one a piece.

That accounted for seven of the eleven Sekirei that the South had brought. I had already caught sight of the mist user wrapping her and Mikogami up in a dense shroud and pulling away from the fighting itself, so that made for eight. The remaining three…

"The number zero two," one of the remaining three declared, a shorter girl with a long dress and mantle, and wielding a large double sided blade. "If she really is a brain type she'll…"

Whatever the Sekirei was going to declare was cut off as she leapt, dodging a sharp dagger of ice that pierced the air she had been in only moments ago. The other two who had been accompanying her dodged as well.

"You will not touch her," Akitsu told them in her slow way as she maintained her vigil by Matsu. As one of the stronger and more ruthless members of my flock, I had asked the former scrapped to act as Matsu's bodyguard, seeing as she was the least useful in direct combat. The hacker was standing still, eyes still closed. I had a moment to wonder what she was doing, before her eyes opened and she smiled.

"Infiltration, success," she declared in her more mature tone.

"Infiltration of wha- ahhh!" the blade wielding Sekirei began, only to scream and jump to the side as a tower of light and heat suddenly occupied the spot she had been in a second ago.

"Infiltration of MBI's orbital lasers, of course," Matsu smiled calmly.

Looks like everything was in order over there then.

"You've gotten stronger, Musubi!" Kaho declared, the modest shrine maiden sounding impressed as she swung her naginato through the air.

"Teehee! Thanks!" Musubi sounded as cheerful as ever, even as she dodged to slam her fist into the ground in front of the number eighty seven's feet, causing her opponent to slip momentarily. It was a tactic I had never seen the less modest shrine maiden use, and made me wonder what other tricks she might have developed. "I had to work hard to be as strong as Shirou-sama and the Landlady!"

"Landlady?" Kaho repeated, sounding confused.

I had no idea why Musubi had chosen her as a specific target, but if what Kaho had declared earlier, about also once having been a captive was true, maybe there was some sort of history there?

"Orya!" surprisingly, this shout came from Sanada, as he slugged Youichi in the chin. "Trying to pick on a girl, are you? Take that!"

"Oh!" Chiho gasped, sounding relieved. "Thank you, biker-san!"

"Oi, oi," Seo grumbled, "Why does that copycat get a thanks but not me?"

"Thank you too, Kaoru-san," Chiho hastily added, blushing and bowing as she did so.

"You're the copycat, you copycat!" Sanada protested the title Seo had bestowed on him, and despite the fact that the two had actually been fighting with the Ashikabi of the 'Justice Allies' that apparently had tried to attack Chiho the two turned to butt heads against each other.

"Whee!" then number eight nine, Kujika squealed happily as she bounced under Nanami's pole arm attack. Sanada's other Sekirei, Kuzuri, was also merrily playing around with Narashino. Sanada's final Sekirei, Shijime, was still perched on his bike, the young looking Sekirei clapping merrily as her sisters had their fun.

I had a moment to wonder why it was Sanada and Seo that were protecting Chiho, before I made out where Uzume had gotten off to.

"Why won't you just get out of the way so I can kill your Ashikabi!" Benitsubasa shouted in frustration, wrapped tight in a bolt of clothes.

"If you even think of threatening my Chiho again, then bro isn't going to be the only one with a level five by the time I'm done with you," the Veiled Sekirei's voice was a deadly hiss, but before she could follow through with her threat she had to dodge as the claws of Haihane nearly sliced her back.

"I can't look this undignified in front of Natsuo-sama!" Benitsubasa screamed, struggling free.

"At least you weren't… squished," Haihane offered, before snorting as Benitsubasa started shouting something about breast size.

I was glad I was able to check on the status of just about all the major parties. In the end, there was just one other Sekirei from my flock and Ashikabi from the 'Justice Allies'.

"Kuu-chan," Shiina had a complex tone as he beheld the one he saw as his sister standing in front of him. She didn't make for an intimidating sight, flushed and with her cheeks puffed out. "Why are you…?"

"Shii-chan," Kuu declared. "Kuu-chan doesn't want Shii-chan or Onii-chan to fight! So Kuu won't let you fight!"

"Kuu, you shouldn't be out here," Shiina declared, fist clenched as he grit his teeth. "You should be back at the inn where you would be safe! To think that Aniki would actually let you…"

"Kuu-chan didn't let stupid Onii-chan leave her behind this time!" Kuu shouted, stomping her foot. "Kuu-chan is Oni-chan's Sekirei too! Kuu-chan can fight too! And Kuu-chan won't let Onii-chan or Shii-chan get hurt!"

"Kuu," Shiina looked taken aback by his surrogate sister's fierceness, a side of her that rarely came out and staid buried in her childish behavior. Then he hissed, as the ground around him shook, and vines started to erupt. "Kuu-chan, stop that!"

"Kuu-chan will keep Shii-chan safe," Kuu declared crossing her arms. "Don't worry Shii-chan!"

I hadn't wanted Kuu to have to come, but when she insisted, at tooth point, I had known there was a way that she could contribute to the battle and still remain safe. She was the one that was directly opposite Shiina's own power by nature. Shiina wouldn't ever actually hurt Kuu, so she would be safe if she acted as a counter to his death powers. More than that, Shiina was Yukari's Sekirei. By deadlocking him in this way, I was keeping Yukari out of the fight as well.

I was able to gather all this information piecemeal, and by chance. I wasn't able to actually follow the fights, not in their entirety.

After all, my own fight wasn't at the level where I could look away without consequence.

"You're keeping up nicely, Emiya!" Karasuba was grinning, and it wasn't her usual friendly one as her long nodachi clashed against Bakuya, sparks erupting as I pushed against the force of her strike. Even though I tried to lock blades, she was already pulling back, dodging as Kanshou flickered at her side. "Is this the result of your using the Jinki? Wonderful!"

"Thanks," I grunted, not able to answer back anywhere nearly as easily as my opponent as I anticipated her counter. Even though I had two swords, even though every time I blocked I countered, she was still just that fast enough to slip free before I could start an endless combo on her. "You finally got my name right, at least."

"Too bad I never got to try those apple tarts," she declared, though she didn't sound regretful at all, truthfully. If anything, her teeth gleamed whiter as her grin grew. I could literally see a reflection on them of the sparks from where Kanshou had intercepted her next attack, right before she dodged, letting Bakuya flash by in return.

I grit my teeth in return, feeling the burn of prana as I ruthlessly Reinforced myself, trying desperately to get ever closer to that line where I would start damaging myself without crossing over it. I needed every bit of strength and speed that I could muster.

I had known for a while, how dangerous the power types were. I knew that it had been stupid to try and engage them head on, and then even confronting them obliquely like I had with Toyotoma and Ichiya was a risk that I was better off avoiding. And yet here I was, stupidly fighting against one of the strongest and most dangerous Sekirei in the plan, by myself, in a straight up fight.

And the sad part was, this really was the best possible opponent for me to fight at this time.

Karasuba was fast, and strong. She had destroyed my knee and nearly killed me in one blow the last time we crossed swords. But that was after she had added gravity and her mobility to the power of her blow. Here, on open ground, she was limited to just the strength she could muster in her own body. Here, she was forced to fight me head on. Here, we could keep anyone from interfering.

For all that she had her advantages I had my own counters to them.

I grunted, straining briefly as one of her attacks knocked Bakuya wide, but then, rather than hold the blade, I simply released it. Karasuba's eyes widened briefly as I surrendered a weapon, but then they narrowed as she dodged Kanshou, only to find a newly traced Bakuya already in my hand even as the disarmed one vanished.

For all that she had the power to push my guard open, to force my blades away, I didn't need to match that power exactly. Even if it would have torn the sword from my hand, I could just let the blade get pushed enough to get me free, to manage that strength enough to dodge, and even if I lost the sword I could just bring it back in a heartbeat.

She was fast, so fast that she was nearly a blur. If I hadn't reinforced myself, I would never have been able to follow even a single one of her blows completely. As it was, I still lost track of her movements at time, still wasn't able to reliably see her attacks.

But one on one, that didn't matter. My whole style was meant to fight faster, stronger, and more skilled foes. Again and again, despite not even being able to track her sword on occasion, my blades intercepted her attacks. Just like when Miya had been confronted it, I could see that strange wonder, that disbelief at a human being able to match her even momentarily in Karasuba's eyes.

Just like with Miya, that wonder seemed to be burgeoning into curiosity. At least, it seemed that way, until that curiosity changed almost immediately into savage joy as the Black Sekirei started to batter away at me even harder.

But even as her pace increased, there was still a measure of restraint in her, something that was causing her to hold back. Against anyone else, it wouldn't have mattered. Then again, against anyone else, she wouldn't have had a reason to hold back.

"Still holding hostages, Emiya?" Karasuba almost giggled as she reached the conclusion that all skilled swordspersons reached after seeing through my style. "I'm surprised. You didn't seem the type."

"Honestly, though it looks that way, it's just a side effect," I grunted, the air in my lungs hot as I struggled to maintain my breathing. "But it's a nice side effect, so I don't mind using it."

My style was based around deliberately leaving the openings that my opponent could attack. They had to be tempting enough for the opponent to strike at, otherwise they'd never engage in such an obvious trap, so those openings were mostly lethal ones.

And for all that she was enjoying the fight, Karasuba wouldn't kill me. Not yet, anyway.

She still had her match with Musubi, after all: the match that mattered enough to her even to turn her back on her reaction to me. And so the only places she could attack were places that would kill me, and since she could not kill me yet, that was enough to hold her back enough for me to keep up. So long as it was just one on one, I could keep this stalemate going.

But not indefinitely. Which was why I was really hoping one of the other fights would end soon.

"Well," Karasuba literally laughed at that. If anything, what could have been seen as a cowardly tactic just seemed to excite her more. "I don't mind. I don't mind at all! After all, if that arm of yours is any sort of sign, just turning you into a Daruma should be fine. I can even add you to my so called shrine like a doll while you recover. Then, after I killed Musubi, we could have a rematch!"

"It might be worth it, to get a look in your room," I growled back, controlling my temper at the thought of one of my flock being killed. "I bet you're one of those types that act tough, but have some secret 'Hello Kitty' fetish or something."

Even if I kept the banter lighthearted the casual threat, made me grit my teeth. No, that wasn't even a threat: it was just a course of action that had spontaneously occurred to her and she was absentmindedly considering, not something with enough malice in it despite its nature to count as a threat. Daruma dolls were based around the myth of a Buddhist monk that meditated for so long that his limbs fell off. But even as she mused about turning me into a quadriplegic just so she can have the time to kill one of my Sekirei while I healed, despite her bloodthirstiness, her intent to kill, the most unbelievable thing about Karasuba remained one thing:

I couldn't find an honest ounce of malice, anywhere in her.

There wasn't hint of anger to cause her to be so willing to kill. There wasn't any sign of a grudge, or hatred. There might have been a bit of sadism there, but it was more like a side effect of her desire to fight than an emotion, some echo that barely remained.

And despite everything that hung on this fight, despite the danger to the world, and my cold resolution to kill Minaka no matter the cost, I couldn't find it in myself to harbor any malice for this killer in front of me either.

She was a killer of the highest order, who had slaughtered thousands, but those were all deaths on a battlefield. She enjoyed provoking fights with her own species, enjoyed killing Sekirei as much as humans, but she had always done so while fulfilling her duty as a member of the Disciplinary Squad and protecting the civilian populace. She enjoyed fighting, but limited her engagements.

"I just don't understand you," I finally snapped, frustration over being unable to classify just what to think of my enemy. I let that emotion fuel me, and Karasuba's eyes narrowed as I increased the power of my attacks. It was her turn to go on the defensive, her blade forced to block as I drove into her, forcing the beginning of a combo through sheer unexpected strength and mule headed stubbornness I thought I had done away with a long time ago.

"What's not to get, Shirou-chan?" she asked back, and I was heartened to hear her own tone clipped, a sign of shortness of breath and an indication that even she wearing down a lot slower than me than at least I was capable of tiring her. Now if one of the others would just show up to take advantage of her state…

"Why are you so damn likeable!" I snapped at her, and this time she honestly blinked and actually fumbled her sword slightly. "You're a ruthless killer, and should stand against everything I believe in! But despite that you follow orders, you only engage active threats, and you're even capable of being friends with Musubi! You're the biggest threat to me stopping the world from being plunged into destruction! But despite all that, I can't dislike you!"

Toyotama and Ichiya were easy to hate: they were sadistic and cruel, had enjoyed the suffering they inflicted so much that their entire aura spoke of arousal at such acts. But just like with Miya, even though this thing was so bloodstained it had seeped into every aspect of her power, I couldn't hate her just for that. I wasn't someone clean from that smell either.

"You," Karasuba began, before her smile turned rapturous. It was the only warning I got before she set herself, and with one broad swing sent me flying. It was an easy attack to block, no attempt at subtlety and had been projected well in advance, but even though I had gotten both Kanshou and Bakuya between me and the edge the power of it was just enough to plain lift me off my feet and send me stumbling several feet away. "You really know how to charm a girl!"

"Shirou!" I heard Homura yell in the background, but I focused on Karasuba as I caught my breath and regained my stance. She was stalking forward, her sword low and at the ready, her movements like some great hunting cat before it pounced. When she drew her blade up and increased her pace I was ready for it.

Despite that, the first blow was enough to rip both of my swords out of my hands and send them flying across the battlefield.

"Since you were so honest a second ago, let me be the same," Karasuba told me, her voice low and damn near sultry. It was the kind of thing I'd expect from Kazehana in the bedroom, and it disturbed me when I realized how much it suited Karasuba on a battlefield. "I love fighting."

"I thought Sekirei were all about loving their Ashikabi," I gasped, blocking another blow. Damnit! Karasuba had abandoned any attempt at technique, and my style was paying for it! I could block the blows, yes, but without being able to predict them completely I couldn't counter. More than that, the disparity between our natural strengths was so much that even if I could block, it was enough to hurt me anyway. I could feel the blows all the way through my shoulders, and if she kept this up for long than I would eventually lose feeling in my hands. Despite that, I could do nothing at the moment but continue.

"And I am a Sekirei," Karasuba admitted. "I even reacted to you, after all. But what I love more than even an Ashikabi is fighting. When I first started fighting, I told myself that it was for a good cause. I told myself that it was to protect the other Sekirei. But the more I fought the more I realized: I didn't care about them at all. They were just an excuse. And once I realized that, I loved fighting even more. But you know what I love even more than that?"

"What!" I gasped, barely able to keep up with her at this point. As though her unexpected confession was exciting her even more, her speed was starting to increase.

"When it's an actual fight, not just a slaughter," Karasuba declared. "I don't want to just kill things, I want to fight them! Even if it was a monster like Miya, I would be fine with losing, just as long as I could fight. And here you are, Shirou Emiya! I'm so glad I didn't take you as an Ashikabi, because if I did I wouldn't be able to fight you, here and now!"

"You…!" I grit out, desperate to keep my defenses up. Karasuba wasn't even trying to use technique by this point. She was simply hammering down at me, and I had to go to one knee just like I had before, holding my swords up in a desperate cross as she just battered down at me like she was trying to break through my guard with pure force.

Strangely enough, with that confession that only I heard, I think I truly did come to an understanding about Karasuba.

She was just born in the wrong age of history.

If she had been born in Lancer's time, she would have been right at home with his old teacher, Scathach, the warrior goddess who had taught Cu Chulainn to use his spear, a woman warrior whose skill and ferocity was worshiped throughout the land, or at the side of Mebd, the warrior queen of the Connacht. Just like with Lancer, she would have been the kind of warrior you could drink with the night before, and fight to the death the day after.

She would have been hailed as hero if she had been born in the Age of the Gods to the amazon tribes. Her name would have been right up there with Hippolyta when Hercules came for her girdle or Penthesilea when she stood on the fields of the Trojan war. Karasuba would have done just as well fighting beside Hervor as she quested for Tyrfing, or with Brynhildr before or after she was cast out as a Valkyrie. For any pantheon I could think of, any time or age where they needed warriors and heroes, Karasuba would have fit in marvelously.

At any other time in history, anywhere but here, she would have been honored and respected for her strength, her skill, her martial prowess. But here, in the time past the Age of the Gods when mankind no longer had need of strength like hers, she was an aberration. She was doubted and feared, even by her own kind, despite everything she had done for them. Despite that, she didn't care, carrying on with her own choices, walking her path as a warrior regardless of how she was viewed by others.

Much the same as me, come to think of it.

Despite that realization, I focused. Regardless of what she really was like, it didn't change the one fact that mattered most: if I was to stop Minaka, I had to defeat her first.

"Trace on!" Maybe if I hadn't had to show off earlier, or if I had found a better way to show that I had supernatural powers while stopping Mikogami, than maybe this would have been enough to end the fight. As it was Karasuba's eyes only widened fractionally, and she was already moving as the half dome of swords I created around her shimmered into existence.

I hadn't had much experience tampering with my range, not having enough time to see what the effect of having winged so many Sekirei might have on some of my more basic skills, but with Karasuba on top of me it was easy to place, aim, and discharge my projectiles. I launched them fast, as quickly as my mind could reproduce them and at differing angles, but Karasuba had already proven more than capable of keeping track of multiple attacks from various angles. I wasn't even able to aim any at her from behind, seeing as if she dodged that would result in me being in their path. It was still enough to drive her back.

"Raido, algiz, nauthiz," I gasped out, dividing my attention between the screening swords and the runes I was frantically tracing. The glow in the air that followed my fingers glimmered, before fracturing slightly, and then breaking apart. Despite their disappearance, I sighed in in relief.

When I stood, I caught sight of the way Karasuba's eyes lingered on my legs, at the glimmering at the knees and ankles.

It was an extremely bastardized version of whatever mystery the Fraga had been able to use, but it was still enough for even a reduced effect. When I cut off the flow of swords, Karasuba's eyes widened and she took a slight breath as I closed in at speeds that were distinctly above what I was able to muster earlier.

I must never let other magi find out about the power of the digital workshop. If it only took me one night of collaborative effort with Matsu to put together this minor mystery, there's no telling what I could have done if I had actually had enough time to spend a few days of proper research on the runes.

And despite that increase in speed, that I was reinforced until it bordered on a Sorcery at this point and further augmented by runes, I was still barely breaking even with Karasuba.

"More! Come on, Emiya! I know you can show me more!" the Black Sekirei was laughing again, her eyes still sharp as she did. With this new speed, I was able to match her better. Twisting back and forth, we switched between the offensive and defensive roles almost interchangeably.

I was panting by now, and when my breath came out it was in plumes of steam. The strain of keeping up my Reinforcement and the Runes simultaneously while maintaining the blue prints of a half dozen Noble Phantasms and a dozen more regular blades beside was a steady pull on my circuits. It wasn't an incredibly great strain on them, but it was definitely in the moderate zone. I had wanted to maintain my reserves as much as possible, had hoped to keep this fight just a holding action using nothing more than Reinforcement until one of my flock could come to my aid, but that had proven to be a pipe dream.

Strangely, despite the fact that I knew this was bad for the overall picture, I was also somewhat relieved that I would have the chance, even if it was a stupid wish, to be the one who took out this warrior in front of me alone.

I think Miya was really onto something when she commented on me taking pride in my swords.

Around me, I could make out more flashes of battle. Just shapes and images; nothing really concrete. I could see Mutsu and Kazehana, the field around them rubble. Similarly, the field around where Akitsu and Matsu were maintaining position was a checkerboard of scorched pavement and glimmering ice. A constant surge back and forth between green vibrant plant life and brown dying remains marked time between Shiina and Kuu. Musubi and Kaho were still going at it, the immodest shrine girl raising her hand with a cry as a flash of brilliant light erupted from her…

"Yume…!?" the Black Sekirei froze. Mid battle, in the act of swinging her blade at my neck, her eyes shot open, homing in on the flash of light, a gasp of a name.

There was less than a moment, a flash of impressions that I didn't even have time to fully correlate: Musubi in my memory mentioning that Yume was probably Karasuba's only friend, how she had died, the words of a ghost blessing out union…

The thought that Karasuba hadn't known, had no way of knowing that Yume still lingered on through Musubi, and had given the shrine girl access to her power occurred to me only after I had begun moving, the analysis of the situation secondary to this one fact:

For the first, and probably only time in rest of this fight as well, Karasuba was fully and truly open!

My mind felt like it was moving fast, too fast. Karasuba wouldn't stay open for long, was too good to do so, and I wouldn't have time to plan a complicated strike. Use Kanshou, or Bakuya? Neither. The strike would be too obvious, would pull her attention back. Then what? Something new? This chance would be brief, too brief. Chances of giving serious injury too low. She was just too fast. I needed something that would stop her no matter what even with a shallow strike…

There. It was less than one in a hundred. It was probably one in a thousand, or even ten thousand. But it was a chance of seizing victory against this creature which surpassed me in every way.

I didn't have time for an invocation, but it was fine. I didn't need to call the Body of Swords. My left hand already was one. Kanshou was released, the swords laced with muscle that was my arm snapping forward even as it started to drop. Tightly, in the moment of inattention as Karasuba tried to find the source of Yume's power on the field, I latched onto her blade, tightly, and I clenched.

It felt like I was moving in slow motion, like my brain had accelerated to the point where it could no longer control my body properly. I could make out the jerk in her eyes as Karasuba focused back on me, the way they widened as she saw me catching her blade. They jerked again, moving to my right hand as it released Bakuya too, and started to flash forward, fingers held as though around a hilt that wasn't there anymore. Even as I pulled, trying to yank the lighter framed female off balance, one of her hands was already releasing from her swords hilt.

I could see her thought process working behind her eyes. She knew that I could make a blade instantly, knew that the closer my hand was the closer that blade would be when it appeared. But she didn't know what kind of blade it would be. She didn't know if I was limited to just Bakuya and Kanshou, or if I could make something bigger or longer. So the most appropriate thing was to make sure that when it came my hand wasn't pointing towards her body. More than that, she had to be careful of my hand holding her sword. She had to keep attention there too. Would I try to pull it, or push it to throw her off balance? Maybe I would just hold it steady? Could she take advantage of the move?

She strained herself, and I could see her shoulders brace as she prepared to shake me off her blade, even as her hand reached my wrist, closing on with a grip like iron.

Checkmate.

It wasn't a sword, pointed at her that appeared in my right hand. It was a dagger, curved jagged, and shining. I was holding it awkwardly backhanded, loosely, the blade aimed not at her body, but at her wrist. I was only just able to reach it, the opalescent steel giving her nothing but the gentlest of scratches.

It was enough.

"Rule Breaker," I told her. I made out the first hint of confusion laced with shock at her second injury.

Then her eyes rolled back, her entire body went limp, and she slumped to the ground without even having the chance to say a word.

I let her crumble to the ground, releasing her sword, and despite the fact that I should be following up with some sort of attack to make sure she was really down, that I could be assaulted without any warning from any angle at any second, the only thing I could do was slump as well, falling to my knees, than on to my hands as well. My body was burning from exertion and prana consumption, sweat was pouring down my face and steam from my lips.

"Shirou!" I could hear the voices of my flock calling out to me by name or by title, but for the first few moments it was as though I was hearing them through water.

Moving slowly, though after a few breaths the feeling of being submerged was already starting to rescued, I reached out. Karasuba was face down in front of me, close enough for me to touch, and with shaking fingers I pushed back the hair covering the base of her neck to confirm what I had gambled on.

Her crest was gone.

I had no way of knowing what Rule Breaker would do to a Sekirei, and even if I was inclined to experiment I wouldn't have tried it on anyone I cared about. The Noble Phantasm was designed to sever mystic contracts and mysteries. The Sekirei crest was very much like a Thaumaturgical Crest, true, and they used prana in ways that I still couldn't fully understand. And their partnership with their Ashikabi very much resembled the bond between Master and Servant, or even Magus and Familiar.

But it still had been one hell of a chance to take. I had had to gamble everything on being able to lure Karasuba close enough for the athame to reach, to hope that it would have some effect, even if it was just a stunning one or discomfort, though what I had hoped for had indeed came into effect.

The contract between Sekirei and Ashikabi was severed, and without it, Karasuba's ability to function was gone as well.

It almost would have been a waste for it to end like this, if I wasn't so thankful that I had won.

"Crow-chan?" I managed to make out Kazehana's voice amongst the shouts, the former Disciplinary Squad member's voice shaken, somewhere between sadness and hope. Even if they had fallen out, they had been comrades once. I guess it was fair to have complicated feelings at seeing a former comrade fall.

"Did he really manage to defeat that Monster?" I could recognize Mutsu as well, his tone guarded and heavy. He was one of the ones most aware of the power of the now fallen number zero four.

Enough lazing about, Shirou! Get up. You can't look weak, not now! Get up and get back to the fight!

"Yes," I declared, standing up, trying really hard to pretend that the collapse hadn't happened or that no one had noticed it. It was probably a lost cause, but even just the appearance of strength would be enough for now. "Sekirei number zero four has lost her crest: level one termination."

"No way! You have to be lying!" Benitsubasa shouted, a clear note of panic in her voice. I wasn't certain what the relationship between the two had been like, but they had both been members of the same flock, so there had to be something. "That Karasuba? By this guy? Impossible!"

Still struggling to control my breath, I started to make my way back towards the center of the plaza. While there was still fighting going on between my flock and Mikogami's, many of the fights had come to a stop, the combatants more focused on the fact that the Black Sekirei, MBI's dog, had just fallen.

"Now," I began, trying to take control of the situation. "With Karasuba no longer a threat, how many of you want to take your chance with me, or use the opportunity I gave you…" I began to make the offer I had earlier, trying to get as many of the Ashikabi and Sekirei to take advantage of the fact that the one who had threatened to hunt them down and kill them for leaving was no longer around.

"Ashikabi-sama! No!" It was Matsu who screamed, the raw panic and fear in her sudden cry enough to drive me to move, even though I didn't know why. The hacker was looking at me, no, past me, and I cursed, spinning as I tried to form Bakuya and Kanshou in time…!

The black blur struck me at just above waist level with enough force to drive the air from my lungs. It was comparable with being hit by a car or a wrecking ball, and if my body hadn't been reinforced so heavily it might have cost me some ribs. I gasped as I was lifted of my feet and thrown backwards, actually flying backwards a half dozen feet or so before I hit the ground hard. The black blur was still on me, pinning me down, and I grit my teeth as I stared up at Karasuba. Her coat had been left behind in her mad rush leaving her just in her black uniform. Her face was red with rage or anger or embarrassment, I couldn't tell which, and she was so furious that she was panting. I tried to bring back my swords even as I cursed myself for being so stupid as to just trust that she was actually level one instead of cutting off her head when I had the chance!

"Y-you," she hissed at me, her words shaky as she shook with her anger. One hand came up to grab my chin, jerking my head up. "You!"

I braced myself, trying to prepare the Body of Swords, ready to call out the blades of my Reality Marble through my flesh like I had by accident in front of Matsu if I had to as I prepared myself for anything…

Anything except the way Karasuba slammed her lips down on mine so hard I could feel my lips cut on her teeth, and tasted her blood as my teeth returned the favor to her. I had only a moment of utter and total confusion, feeling the od being shifted out of me, tasting blood and the salt of sweat, and feeling as she drove her freaking tongue into my mouth to start caressing mine with it…

Wait. In all the confusion, in all the straight out mind blanking chaos, one thing suddenly struck me.

My od. She was drinking my od. But when Uzume had kissed me after healing Chiho it had proven that unwinged Sekirei no longer…!

Karasuba had practically mounted me as she had put her mouth against mine, and with a groan that started deep in her throat, she broke the contact, grinding her hip down on mine as she arched her back. The groan continued, a deep almost guttural sound that reminded me a little too much of Akitsu when she climaxed, and from her back erupted two black wings. So dark they looked like they drank in the noon light, and shaped like her namesake, the wings stretched wide behind her.

"Impossible!" That was Mutsu again, though I could hear similar sounds from around the two of us.

I didn't blame them.

I had thought that by severing the contract between Sekirei and Ashikabi and destroying the crest I would be ending them. Sekirei needed their crests, after all. But I had neglected one aspect:

When Rule Breaker severed a contract, it did so without negative consequence to either side.

I had thought of the crest as though it was some kind of organ. If you remove someone's heart without damaging any other organ, they would still die without it. But it looked like the crest didn't function the same way. Instead, Rule Breaker must have reset the potential for the contract within Karasuba.

The panting and color on her face when she mounted me hadn't been anger or exertion: before she had gotten an Ashikabi she had been reacting to me. And since that happened, I had ended up winging more Sekirei, increasing my power as an Ashikabi. Even before, I could drive Sekirei to doing outrageous things while they were reacting to me.

Outrageous things like forget that they were in the middle of a battle in favor of pinning me to the ground and winging themselves to me by force, apparently.

Panting, Karasuba trembled as though she was being suspended by some invisible force, then her body slackened as her wings disappeared. She hunched over me, her body shaking and sweat dripping down on me as she met my eyes. She seemed confused for a moment, before what happened seemed to strike her all at once as well.

"Well," she breathed. For a moment she seemed confused, uncertain, and then she started to laugh, more a quiet shaking of her body then an actual sound. "At least I got to fight you first. Maybe this won't be so bad after all."

"Karasuba," I began, hesitant, not sure if my theory was correct, or if something completely outside of my expectations was going on. "Are you really… were you winged to me?"

She continued chuckling softly, eyes closing briefly. "Number zero four, Karasuba, at your side," she told me. She smiled, the gentle smile that concealed her bloodlust normally. "Next time the world burns we can watch it together from that pile of corpses, forever and ever."

This could spell nothing but trouble in the future, I idly thought to myself. As though to prove that thought, Karasuba grabbed the front of my shirt, and pulled me up for another kiss that included her probing my mouth intensely with her tongue.

"No fair!" I could make out Mikogami, sounding outraged from wherever he was. "Mutsu! Hurry up and get them both for me!"

"Master, we're leaving, now," I had only known Mutsu for a few minutes at this point, but even that was enough to think his tone sounded strange.

"I've had enough of this!" Benitsubasa sounded outraged, and I could make out her pulling at her hair from the corner of my eyes.

"Benitsubasa," Haihane on the other hand was backing away, the normally laid back girl sounding unusually nervous. "We need to… get out of here…"

"Why?" the Red Sekirei shouted, stamping her foot in outrage. "What are you so freaked out about?"

"Mistress," Shiina snapped, and though I couldn't see him he sounded scared, more frightened then I had ever heard the boy. "We need to run!"

"Shiina?" Yukari sounded confused, and angry, and like she was lost enough to even pay attention to the suggestions of her partner that she usually ignored. "Why?"

"Mistress, he can steal winged Sekirei!" Shiina snapped, raw panic in his voice.

Oh. Oh!

I had been so distracted by the fact that Karasuba was deep kissing me, and trying to figure out why she would suddenly start doing that, that I hadn't even considered one, very important thing.

I knew that all I had done was sever the contract. I also knew that beforehand, Karasuba had already been reacting to me. I also knew the intense effect that reactions caused by me had.

No one else knew all that though. In their eyes, all I had done was take a winged Sekirei, someone who should already have had their partner, and then through some method they had no understanding of, claimed that Sekirei as my own. Since they wouldn't know of our prior connection, it would look like I could just forcibly take a Sekirei regardless of them being winged.

Thanks to Matsu's efforts, I was familiar with a whole number of fetishes that I hadn't been aware of before. One of them was called 'Netorare', 'to take someone away by sleeping with them'. In the eyes of Sekirei and Ashikabi everywhere, I had probably just become the very incarnation of the act. For a species that lived off of love, it was probably the most terrifying thing that any of them had ever seen.

With great effort, I managed to get my hands up to either side of Karasuba's head. Though she did so with reluctance, after a few pulls she seemed to understand that I was trying to stop her from kissing me. It took a few more pulls before she relented to the unspoken request.

"Yes, Shirou-chan?" she asked casually. She had her usual closed eyed smile, no trace of her earlier blood thirst, no indication that only a minute ago we had been trying to kill the other. As though nothing had happened at all, she waited for me to respond as though we had just been talking normally a second ago.

Oh yes, this was definitely going to complicate things in the future.

Well, at least I can use this for now. If it was going to be hell in the long term, at least its immediate practicality was obvious.

"Could you please kill your former teammates for me?" I asked her as politely as I could while still in battle mode.

"Oh," Karasuba's smile widened. "I think we're going to get along very well in the future, Shirou-chan."

"W-wait, you can't be serious!" Benitsubasa finally seemed to understand just how much the situation had changed. She gave a frantic look about her, only to find that Haihane had already fled, disappearing into MBI's headquarters. The Blue Sekirei had proven sensible in the past, if absent minded, so if I had to guess I'd say she was rushing to regroup with her Ashikabi and flee.

"Sorry," Karasuba's smile didn't look apologetic in the least. She had been clutching her sword when she tackled me, though she had released it when she had been winged. "But I suppose I'm under new management."

"You can't be-!"

It was over so quick and was so brutal it was painful to watch. With one blurring charge, and a flash of steel, blood sprayed out of the confused number one oh five. Despite having been teammates, despite having shared Ashikabi, Karasuba was a creature that didn't hold back unless you made her. Benitsubasa was still too confused, still unable to cope with the unprecedented events that she barely even resisted.

"Na… Natsuo?" the Red Sekirei whispered her last words, the cruel cut that had opened her from shoulder to hip letting her life slip out of her too fast for her to have time for anything else.

"Last chance," I called to the frozen crowd of Ashikabi and their Sekirei around me as I climbed to my feet, Kanshou and Bakuya returning to my hands. "Leave."

"Or not," Karasuba offered pleasantly as she flicked her sword clean of the blood, sheathing it with a benevolent smile. "You're choice."

*Scene Break*

"Is this real?" Homura asked me after the vast number of people present were gone, many of them outright running as they fled. "I mean, this is impossible." She hesitated in approaching, her eyes flicking back and forth between me and Karasuba who had retrieved her coat and was standing casually nearby, arms resting on her sheathed sword's hilt. "Wait," the fire user suddenly stiffened, glancing around the rest of the flock with a distinctly accusatory look. "You all knew about this already, didn't you? And you didn't warn me again?"

"No Homura-san," Matsu reassured her. The hacker was approaching, though she did so slowly as though trying to decide whether to draw near to a dangerous animal or to flee. The fact that she was looking between Karasuba and myself as though either of us were the dangerous one made me grimace. "Ashikabi-sama… what… what did you…?"

"Oi, boss," Seo interrupted, the part timer Ashikabi one of the few besides me and my flock that had remained in the clearing. Besides him, the only other set of Sekirei and Ashikabi that was still around was Uzume and Chiho. Despite the fact that they stayed, both Seo and his Sekirei as well as Uzume and Chiho were staying far, far back from me. "What the hell was that? What the hell did you do?"

"Seo," Hibiki hissed, as both she and her twin pulled at his arms. "We have to get out of here. Now! You saw what he did…"

"Yeah, and unless he has a damn good explanation than getting the hell out of here is exactly what we're doing," Seo bluntly agreed. "So talk. What the hell did you do, Emiya?"

"Emiya-sensei… you… how could you…?" Chiho was literally choking up, and Uzume had wrapped her with linen as though to protect her. Even though she had earlier declared her belief in me, even going so far as to attack a Sekirei from behind to keep him from riling up the crowd, now Uzume had that same caution she had right after the Fraga had attacked.

"Bro, you know I trust you, but if you don't get rid of that thing…" she began, and I blinked, only then realizing that I was still holding Rule Breaker. The glimmering blade seemed even more sinister than it normally did, with just a drop of Karasuba's blood drying on its tip.

"Well now," the Black Sekirei spoke up, though out of everyone present she was the only one who didn't seem on edge. "Is this how things normally are? From the way Musubi described it, I thought you were usually a little more relaxed…"

"Karasuba-sama," as though summoned by her name, the Bear Sekirei took a hesitant step forward. She had both hands clenched in front of her, and while every other Sekirei present seemed soaked in nameless dread, Musubi looked like she was about to explode in cheers. "Is it true… You really were winged by Shirou-sama?"

"Mmm," Karasuba shrugged, expression not changing. "Looks that…"

"Karasuba-sama!" Musubi cried out, and in a move which probably surprised no one who knew her launched herself at her longtime friend. Karasuba managed to take what should have been a tackle rather well, swaying slightly as Musubi wrapped her arms around her in a bear hug. "You did it! You have your Ashikabi!"

"Yes, yes," Karasuba smiled tolerantly at the invasion of her personal space. "Settle down you scatterbrain."

"Shirou," Kazehana was the one who spoke up first, talking over the gushing Musubi. "That thing… if you really just stole a Sekirei… than I… I don't think…"

I sighed, understanding what she wanted to say but couldn't squeeze out. For Kazehana, who adored love the second most of my flock, the thought that I might betray love like this was most likely unforgiveable.

"This is called 'Rule Breaker'," I began, holding the blade up. Even I thought it looked ominous. "It was the athame, the ritual knife, of Medea of Colchis, daughter of Aeetes, who helped Jason and the Argonauts retrieve the golden fleece. After she was cursed by Aphrodite to love Jason in order to help him in his quest, it was the knife she used to murder and dismember her brother as a distraction when they were fleeing. After that, it was the knife she let the daughters of Pelias borrow after she convinced them to cut their father up into pieces. After Jason abandoned her, it was the knife she used to murder her two sons for revenge. It is so steeped with betrayal and bloodshed, that it gained the power to sever any contract or binding without any difficulty. If just looking at it doesn't disgust you, there is something seriously wrong with you."

With a grimace of distaste, I let the blade disappear. A great deal of tension in the crowd disappeared at that. My flock at least was aware of my abilities, and that brief history should be enough for them to at least conceptualize what had happened. Uzume too seemed to relax, though it was probably at the fact that the Noble Phantasm was gone rather than the explanation.

Seo on the other hand just tensed up more, taking in the way my Sekirei seemed to take my unbelievable story seriously. Karasuba just chuckled softly.

"So back then when you let me go despite me reacting to you, you already had a backup plan?" she 'tsked' in amusement. "How sly, Shirou-chan."

"Not really," I told her bluntly, looking at her straight on. "I thought that it would destroy your crest, but I just assumed that without it you'd go into level one. I was trying to kill you, not marry you."

Strangely enough, the blunt declaration seemed to ease up everyone present except for Karasuba herself, and not-unexpectedly, Musubi.

"Shirou-sama! How could you!" the shrine girl huffed, folding her arms and puffing her cheeks out at me.

Karasuba's reaction was different all of its own. Slowly, her eyes opened from their lidded expression, and her smile faded as she studied me.

"You really were, weren't you?" she finally asked me slowly. When I just gave her a blank confirming look, the smile that showed her teeth came back instead of her normal one. "When this is over, I'm going to throw you down on top of whatever corpses we might have made, and ride you until both our hips our broken."

"Crow-chan!" Kazehana yelped, though it sounded like she was torn between horrified, scandalized, and delighted. "Oh, I always knew you had a naughty side."

"Wait," Musubi suddenly narrowed her eyes, rubbing her forehead slowly. "Isn't today Tuesday? That would make it Homura-san's turn, right?"

"She can take it!" Homura hastily spoke up, looking very uncomfortable. Karasuba smiled benevolently at her, and the fire user looked even more nervous at the expression.

"Cut the crap," Seo spoke up, though he seemed slightly less tense then earlier. "I'm not even going to bother asking for details about that 'Rule Breaker' thingy of yours. You obviously have more games going on then I know about, and from what I know about you the less I know the better. But if what you say is true, than just what happened next? That crow girl suddenly gets cut loose from her Ashikabi and then what? Decides she needs a man in her life so bad she jumps you?"

"Not many people know this," I explained shaking my head, "but before Karasuba got winged, she was reacting to me naturally." Seo's eyes widened at that, and he glanced around. When no one else present seemed even the slightest bit surprised, he realized that this was only new news to him. "And I have a history of causing harsh reactions. Homura nearly died, Musubi had to be restrained, Kazehana would start masturbating…"

"Oh, Lover-kun! Don't talk about it like that with strangers!" Kazehana put both hands to her cheeks to cover a blush, but despite her words she started wiggling sensually as though relishing the memories. I suppressed a sigh, focusing on Seo instead as a somewhat impressed look appeared on his face as he took in the spectacle the Wind Sekirei was supplying.

"Karasuba was reacting before I winged Akitsu and Kazehana as well. If the power of an Ashikabi grows with new Sekirei, then when she suddenly was unwinged, having me so nearby…" I offered, shaking my head and rubbing my forehead. I could already feel a headache appearing.

"Ano," Chiho spoke up softly. The cloth around her had loosened as Uzume heard my explanation. "Then that means… even if you were to… to use it again," she stumbled, unable to bring herself to actually name the act of unwinging a Sekirei, "then they would still react with their Ashikabi?"

I opened my mouth to confirm her words, before pausing. With a grimace, I started massaging my head harder. "You know, at this point, I don't even know? I just made Karasuba, the Black Sekirei, MBI's dog, the walking genocide herself, forget that she was in the middle of a death match in favor of sticking her tongue down my throat. What if I'm reaching the point where I really will interfere with another's Sekirei…?"

"Shirou!" Tsukiumi spoke up quickly, her voice back to her stern 'tsun-tsun' mode. "You must never use that thing again!"

"Right," I sighed, shaking my head. "It's just too much of a risk. Now that I know that it won't just level one anyone…"

"Risk is putting it lightly," Tsukiumi declared, folding her arms and stomping angrily. "We now have six concubines! With me as your legal wife, that makes seven! There aren't any more days in the week!"

"Er," I began, blinking as I tried to adjust to the apparently skewed priorities of a Sekirei's point of view. "But…"

"No, Panty-flasher-chan is right," unexpectedly Kazehana stepped in, frowning fiercely. "In fact, with Kuu-chan it's eight. Though it won't be a problem for now, in a few years…"

"Can we please focus?" I felt that if I didn't interrupt at this point, the impending debate might seriously hamper my attempt at, you know, saving the world and everything.

"Boss, I can't tell if I hate you or want to worship you," Seo decided, finally relaxing. Hikari and Hibiki didn't look as though they would be joining him in that state any time soon. I don't think those two ever liked me, and I doubt after what just happened they ever will. "And I can't tell if it's because of all those awesome tits, or because you actually know how to keep things in perspective." Despite the way that sentence began with a grin, it ended with a scowl. "Now, tell me. That bullshit story you hit the rest of them with. How much of it is true?"

And that was why I had decided to keep Seo around for so long. For all that he looked like a scruffy underachiever, the man had his fingers on the pulse of what was really happening around him.

"Only about seventy five percent of it," I admitted bluntly. "I had to hold back some of it to keep the heat from maybe coming down on any of them too hard."

"So there's more," Seo grunted, sagging slightly as what was no doubt his worst case scenario was proven correct.

"W-wait!" Chiho spoke up, the poor girl looking so confused. "What do you meant? I'm sorry, but I don't understand what's going on?"

"Chiho-chan," Uzume spoke up, a somewhat forced smile on her lips as she addressed her Ashikabi. The Veiled Sekirei hugged her, though whether it was to comfort herself or her mate I think not only she knew for sure. "Bro over there, he's into some pretty heavy stuff. He's a good guy… but, some of the things… er, well, some of the things he's into…"

"Hidaka-san," I took over for her, speaking politely. "Please forgive me for my keeping certain things secret. I can only tell you that there are things you are safer not knowing, and hope that you will forgive me for keeping secrets."

"Ah," Chiho swallowed quietly, glancing between me and her Sekirei. When Uzume flinched and looked away, Chiho swallowed again. Then she straightened, still clutching her wide brimmed hat to her chest. "Emiya-sensei!"

"Yes?" I blinked, straightening at the unusually firm tone from the gentle girl.

"W-whatever it is you're doing, let me ask you this one thing!" the girl had closed her eyes as she raised her voice towards me. "W-will it ever make Uzume cry! If it will, then I won't ever forgive you!"

"C-Chiho-chan!" I was treated to the extremely unusual spectacle of Uzume, brash and tomboyish consummate teaser, blushing to the roots of her hair as her Ashikabi made her announcement. "B-but! I-I! I don't cry!"

"A-Answer me! Emiya-sensei!" Chiho finally abandoned the cover of her hat as both her fists went to her side. She was leaning in aggressively, and even though her lips were quivering and tears were starting to form, the look she gave to me was as stern as anything I might have seen from Rin, Saber, Miya, or any of my flock for that matter.

"It will only make her cry if I fail," I told her honestly. Even if I was inclined to lie about this, such resolve from such a normally gentle girl like Chiho would have been enough to make me falter.

"G-g-good!" Chiho nodded firmly, though the firmness was softened by the fact that her hat was starting to come back up. "I don't want Uzume-chan to cry ever again!"

"Chiho-chan," Uzume whispered, and in front of my disbelieving and slightly amused eyes, I bore witness to the Veiled Sekirei imitating her Ashikabi by pulling a length of cloth up, probably unconsciously, until it was just under her nose and hiding the rest of her face.

"Those two…" I heard Kazehana whisper in a dazed tone.

"I understand your feelings, Kazehana-san," Matsu spoke up, still in her 'glassesless mode' but with a hint of her more mischievous side in her tone. "Don't worry. I have recorded this scene for later. Once our task is finished, we can enjoy it together."

"Good job, Matsu," Kazehana sounded overjoyed at the prospect.

Sometimes I wondered how I got anything done with these girls. However, I found it equally surprising that sometimes I wondered how I ever got along without them.

"Boss," Seo spoke up, though he looked less affected by the scene and more focused. I was thankful for that much at least. "That story you gave earlier, about the Jinki, and what they can do. How much of it was true?"

"The scenario that I presented has about a one in three chance of happening," I admitted to him honestly. Seo grimaced at that, but when Hikari and Hibiki started to tug at him he still refused to leave.

"So what are the other two in three?" he demanded.

"The second most likely outcome is the complete extinction of the human race," I told him flatly. Seo flinched, and despite themselves Hikari and Hibiki also froze. Uzume and Chiho also seemed to come out of their brief romantic interlude. "And the third is that nothing happens at all." I sighed, and at that moment I felt every ache and pain in my body. "There's a chance that absolutely nothing will come of this. But it's only a chance. And considering what the last two options are…"

"Yeah," Seo sighed, scrubbing his hand roughly through his hair as he did so. Face grim with resolve, he straightened. "So. What's the plan now?"

"For now, all of you should get back to Izumo House and let Asama-san know what's going on," I told both Seo and Chiho. "I wasn't lying when I said that Asama-san was in on this. She knows everything that's happening, and if we don't succeed this time, she gets to try next. If we fail, you can help plan what you should do afterwards, though my advice is that you all take the Jinki I collected and run, as fast and as far as you can."

Seo grimaced, but it looked like Hikari and Hibiki were somewhat relieved by the chance to get away. Similarly, Uzume frowned slightly at being dismissed, but Chiho looked guiltily happy about being able to leave.

"I don't like it," Seo finally grumbled, but he fixed his coat, preparing to depart. "I got grudge enough against the man too, and I don't like being kept out just 'cause it might get dangerous. Boss, tell me the truth: what are you chances of succeeding?"

"Well, honestly, my chances are a hell of a lot higher than they were this morning," I admitted, glancing at Karasuba. She smiled back, nodding her head, but offering nothing else. "And if it's just a matter of you wanting to experience danger of your own, consider this: how do you think Asama-san is going to react when she hears that I just winged Karasuba?"

Seo froze mid step, and I was gratified when he started to sweat lightly. He always reassured me of having a good grasp of the situation. "When you put it like that, are you sure you're not going to need help up there?"

"Oh, Miya-chan is going to have an episode," Kazehana sighed. Matsu shivered, and I guessed as people that had served together under Miya back when she had been members of the Disciplinary Squad they had a better idea than even I did about how the landlady would act.

"I'm looking forward to it," Karasuba added, her smile widening as she voiced a slightly different reaction to that same knowledge.

"Alright," I took a deep breath, turning to confront the MBI tower. "Let's go."

*Scene Break*

"It's so quiet," Musubi declared, her expression confused as she looked around. "Where are all the people?"

"Minaka most likely didn't want anyone around," I reasoned, leading my flock from the front as we made our way higher and higher up the MBI tower. "Either because he didn't want me depleting any of his researchers or human resources, or because he didn't want to risk the exposure of magecraft by having too many witnesses. Because of that, just about anyone we meet should most likely be an enemy. Be sure to react accordingly."

"Oh, I can see having you as an Ashikabi is already going to be much more pleasant than working for MBI," Karasuba mused, and I heard the click of a blade being cleared a few inches from a sheathe.

"I don't think that's quite what Lover-kun means," Kazehana spoke up a bit hesitantly.

"No, that's exactly what I mean," I corrected her. Battle mode was firmly in place at this point. "If they're still here, they're most likely already either collaborating with Minaka or at the least aware of the true nature of his experiments." I paused, glancing back at my flock. "Except for Takami. She might be here as a hostage. Karasuba, if she shows up, just knock her unconscious. The rest I'll leave it to you."

"Much more pleasant," she decided.

The tension in the group was obvious. At my sides, Akitsu and Homura were both tense, the snow woman's hands down at her side and chest jutted in her normal battle stance and the fire user hunched forward, hands lightly curled as though ready to grab something at any second. Behind them came Matsu and Karasuba, the genocide tapping her fingers idly against the hilt of her sword, while Matsu was walking upright, her eyes closed and twitching as she clutched a doohickey to her chest with both arms. Behind them Kazehana was walking with Kuu, the wind user holding the green girl's hand and looking tense why Kuu had one hand up in a fist to her lips as she looked around curiously. The last of the group were Musubi and Tsukiumi, the shrine girl holding her chin and the water user worrying a thumb with her other arm folded.

Well, tension in most of the group. Karasuba looked like she was taking a walk in the park and Musubi just seemed curious at the most.

"Does anyone else get the feeling that this has been entirely too easy so far?" Homura's voice was low and tense. "I know that when Shirou plans an operation it usually goes smoothly, but if Minaka really is as dangerous as he says, shouldn't something have gone wrong by now?"

"We're still probably in the public parts of the facility," I told her, taking in the hallway we were passing. MBI tower was built like any other corporate facility, at least from what I've seen so far. "Minaka wouldn't put anything seriously related to magecraft where normal research was occurring. He'd probably keep any bounded fields, Formalcraft circles, or any of the more exotic magi instruments somewhere more private, the true heart of his workshop."

We were closing in on the top by now, and progress was going steady. It was hampered by the fact that we weren't using any elevators. They were just too easy to trap. Add on that none of the staircases themselves went to all levels, most only going between three and five before you were forced to change staircases. It was a design used for corporate security, making any potential infiltrators unable to access every part of the facility easily through one medium.

"But shouldn't there be locks, or storm doors, or something?" Homura continued, voicing a serious concern. That observation had a simple answer.

"There probably are, but how do you think most of the locks and security measures are controlled?" I asked back, shaking my head as I did so. "Matsu, how many have you seen so far?"

"So far I have bypassed thirty five entrapment features, seventy two mechanical sentries, five automated guns, and three hundred and sixty seven locks," the hacker dutifully listed, before pausing as I pushed open the next door to the stair case that would get us even higher floors. "Three hundred and sixty eight," she corrected herself.

"Oh?" Karasuba hummed to herself. "So you finally managed to do something useful with your powers?"

"Yes," Matsu didn't seem offended by her former and now current teammate's observation. A slightly smug smile flitted across her lips as she continued walking with her eyes closed not missing a step. "Thanks to my Ashikabi-sama, I have become complete."

"When it comes to support abilities, Matsu's powers are the best," I reminded Homura. "We live in the electronic age, after all. Well, most of us do. Magi tend to prefer old fashioned things better. However, Minaka has already proven himself to be adaptive in these regards. Just keep your eyes open, so to speak, Matsu."

"Understood, Ashikabi-sama," she nodded, still wrapped up in her Norito.

"Crow-chan," Kazehana spoke up, sounding curious. "I can't help but notice that even though Lover-kun keeps mentioning it, you don't really seem to be noticing it."

"Mentioning what?" Karasuba asked back obediently, tone not really changing at all.

"The whole magic thing," Kazehana stated bluntly.

"Magic?" Karasuba repeated, sounding just vaguely amused.

"Right! Let Musubi explain, Karasuba-sama!" Musubi still seemed swept up with joy that hero oldest friend had joined the group. "Shirou-sama is a wizard, and we're going to stop the director who is an evil wizard from destroying the world!"

"Really?" Karasuba didn't sound very put off by the declaration at all. "Well then, that's fine."

"You seem to be handling that pretty well," Homura grumbled behind me. "Aren't you, you know, just a little bit skeptical? You know, we're saying magic is real, after all."

"It's not that I'm not skeptical," Karasuba admitted. "It's just that I don't care. If magic is real, I'm sure there must be all kinds of interesting things out there." The drumming on her sword's hilt increased marginally, and I caught sight of her eyes widening slightly. "I can't wait to meet them."

My mind flashed back to her confession, how what she loved most in all the world was to fight. I wasn't sure if she was secretly holding doubts, or just playing along, or really didn't care at all like she claimed, but I got the impression that as long as I could feed her battle, Karasuba would be fine with pretty much any circumstances.

"I'll give you the details later," I told her over my shoulder, focusing forward again. "For now, just focus on Minaka. Kill him the moment you see him. Don't give him time to talk, don't give him time to move."

"Understood," Karasuba hummed. "You don't seem to be hesitating to use me at all, are you Emiya?"

"Don't take this the wrong way," I told her flatly. "I'm not using you just so I don't have to get my hands dirty. I'm going to be trying to kill him myself. If you like, we can make a competition out of it."

"Sounds fun," Karasuba's tone changed just a little, a hint of playfulness there. "I wonder what the winner will get?"

"Oh! A race! Can Musubi race too?" the shrine girl perked happily, probably thinking of her normal success in the shopping race. "The winner normally gets to sleep with Shirou-sama!"

"Not that kind of race, you dolt," Tsukiumi sighed next to her friend.

"Well," an entirely new voice joined the conversation, and I nearly froze, eyes flashing side to side as it spoke up. "Aren't you having fun, planning your victory celebration already? Some would consider that presumptuous."

"Minaka," Homura hissed, and his cupped hands flared as fire formed in them. She half spun to the side, trying to locate the source of the voice.

"He's using the speaker system," Matsu added a moment later. "Ashikabi-sama, should I…?"

"Now, now," Minaka cut in. He was in magus mode, his tone cool and collected. "I doubt that Emiya-kun will be inclined to indulge in typical magus ceremony once he arrives, so there's no reason we can't take advantage of the time now to do so."

"Typical magus ceremony?" Matsu repeated, one eye opening briefly to look to me.

"Shameless posturing and self-indulgent bragging," I explained bluntly.

"Also the chance to demean your opponent's mysteries while lauding your own," Minaka didn't seem the least bit offset by my summation of magi culture's views on dueling. If anything he sounded just as distasteful of them as I did, though much more amused as well. "Though I doubt that would have much point. Considering how much of my mysteries depend on the physiology of the Sekirei I doubt you'd be able to make sense of them so easily. And considering that your own mysteries are based around a Reality Marble, I suppose I would be similarly handicapped." He chuckled softly. "You know, I think I might actually have been proud when I learned of the reason that you were Sealed."

"Oh?" I asked back, wondering just where he was going with this conversation. It was unlikely that he was just talking for the sake of talking, or to fulfill magi ceremony. Did he have a reason? Was he delaying, or trying to distract? "Why's that?"

"Why wouldn't a father be proud of their son for accomplishing something outstanding?" Minaka pointed out, and I almost paused.

"If you're attempting to appeal to familial piety of some sort, I should point out that Emiya family tradition states that patricide is perfectly acceptable in the name of stopping mass murder," I told him flatly. Was he seriously attempting to use the 'I'm your father' card? Really?

"It makes me wonder for the future of our children," Kazehana pointed out in a sing-song tone. It was like her to attempt to lighten the mood, but she also sounded just a little bit worried by what the Emiya family considered acceptable behavior among its members.

Minaka just laughed again, before trailing off for a moment.

"You know," he began with a small sigh, tone almost nostalgic. "I was actually happy, when I learned that you had been found by that man?"

"What do you mean?" I frowned. I couldn't make heads or tails of just what he was trying to accomplish with this conversation.

"Originally, when you were born, I had considered making you my heir," Minaka admitted. "You're had above average circuits, and they were off good quality, back before the fire anyway. You also showed signs of our Sorcery Trait as well. You would have been a fine successor of the Minaka line."

Despite myself, I felt myself gasp at the sudden confession.

I had always thought of myself as just a first generation magus. I barely qualified as one, more of a magecraft user than an actual magus. I hadn't even considered the possibility, not even after Yukari mentioned who our father was, that I might have ever had the chance to be anything other than that.

Wait. A Sorcery Trait? The Minaka line actually had something like that?

"I was just preparing to start the transfer of my crest," Minaka continued in that same regretful tone. "But it was at that same time that research about the Sekirei was reaching a pivotal point. Some of the things we were learning, they made me hesitate. I was beginning to see that Akasha might just be in reach in my lifetime. So I hesitated over whether or not to initiate you into the lifestyle."

"So what happened then?" I called back, still continuing to climb. Despite myself, much in the same way when I had first met Takami or Yukari, I found myself wondering just what my life would have been like if I had grown up as Minato and not Shirou. Though the story Minaka was painting was a far different one that with the other two, I still found myself curious.

If he grew too nostalgic, it might cause him to lower his guard, as well.

"The fire happened," he admitted. "I hadn't even known that Takami-kun's parents were planning a move to Fuyuki. If they had, I certainly wouldn't have sent you out to the battlefield for the Holy Grail," he clucked ruefully. "But imagine my surprise when I managed to find you, a few days after the conclusion, and none other than the Magus Killer himself was already hypnotizing his way through the adoption paperwork. It felt as though the hand of fate was reaching down. So I decided to trust in him, the man I admired, to raise my son and focus instead on my research."

"I doubt Takami would have agreed with that," I pointed out. Really? It made sense, in a way. It wasn't uncommon for magi families with multiple children to foster them to another lineage. Since only one could inherit the crest, it was a way to keep conflict from arising while simultaneously allowing their child to grow up a part of the magus heritage. If what he was saying was true, than in a way I had much more in common with Sakura Matou than I had ever thought possible.

"I took steps to ensure she wouldn't find out," Minaka admitted, and I shook my head at the thought. So it hadn't just been a matter of me not remembering my proper name, or her not looking hard enough. She might actually be relieved about that, once she came down from the no doubt towering rage finding out Minaka had kept her from me would put her in.

"So, what? You decided to just gamble everything on your one in three chance? You decided to just give up the one who was supposed to be your heir? Are you really a magus at all?" I asked him, grimacing. I thought it was for the better, all things considered. I was happy with the life I was leading, but the choice he had made was so outside of typical magus behavior, so completely unconventional, that if Rin were here she would be pulling out her hair at the thought. "I can't believe I'm even suggesting this, but what about Yukari? And what did you mean, the man you admired? I know Kiritsugu, and even I would never associate him with the word 'admirable'."

"By the time Yukari was old enough to start learning, I had already moved past the point of needing an heir. In fact, you could say I had squandered the bloodline enough to the point where an heir was no longer possible in the first place," Minaka chuckled. "If the Mage Association ever found out what I've done, I think that alone would have been enough to deem me a heretic. As for the Magus Killer, what wasn't to admire about him? In a time when more and more options, more and more tools and technology that could help with the development of mysteries, what was the Association doing? What was the Clock Tower, or Atlas, planning on taking advantage of the newest innovations? Nothing! Even now, years later, when I'm forced to call on the Clock Tower it's to find that not even a one of their buildings are even wired for electricity!"

He snorted, and it was probably the most emotional sound I'd heard from him since he revealed himself as a magus. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep my laptop battery charged during those trips? And Takami-kun would never let me charge extra batteries for them as a business expense."

"That must have been quite hard for you," I told him, though honestly I wasn't quite certain how to respond to his confession. I mean, yeah, when I had been there as Rin's apprentice I had had the same complaints, but even thinking that I had anything in common with this man left a bad taste in my mouth.

"A part of me always thought that Shirou was exaggerating when he went on about how bad magi were, but to hear it from someone else, even if it's from that man…" Homura muttered, sounding as though she couldn't really suppress her disbelief despite the situation.

"Compared to them, Kiritsugu Emiya was a pioneer," Minaka continued, a touch of remembered admiration in his tone. "Even if they looked down on him, all their mysteries and pride amounted to nothing against him. With the same tools that anyone could buy or use regardless of their talent with magecraft, he was still able to surpass any of the mysteries used against him. I was honestly overjoyed when I found out that you had been taken in by that man."

"Is this going anywhere?" Karasuba broke in, sounding idly curious.

"Crow-chan," Kazehana 'tutted', sounding displeased. "Don't go interrupting their dramatic moment."

"No, she's right," I shook my head. "Is this enough to satisfy you, Minaka, or are we going somewhere with this?"

"Hmmm," the other mage hummed softly to himself, sounding contemplative. "I was thinking of segueing into a 'join me or die' cliché, but it sounds like it would be a fruitless attempt."

"Thank you for sparing me it," I told him dryly. "Now, if you don't mind us, I'm going to have Matsu cut you off so I can plan your death."

"Very well," Minaka told me tolerantly. "I look forward to ending your life soon."

"Matsu," I said, and though there was no visual or audible proof of it, a few moments later she spoke up.

"All speakers or audio receivers in range have been disabled," she announced.

"You know, the more I deal with you magi, the more I'm convinced that you're all absolutely crazy," Homura chimed in a moment later, her tone dry. "Did you really just have a casual conversation about how you were abandoned by your father to a mass murderer that you ended with a series of polite death threats?"

"Welcome to the world of magecraft," I told her with a sigh, "where everything, including your own family, is trying to kill you."

"Ah," I nearly stumbled when Akitsu spoke up. Glancing backwards to face the snow woman, I caught her just as she nodded slowly. "I'm worried about our children, too."

"I'll keep that in mind, Akitsu," I told her, struggling to keep my tone serious as I suppressed another sigh. "But for now, we should be getting ready. This is going to be harder than I suspected."

"Oh?" Matsu began, starting to frown slightly. "Whys that? You already said this would be extremely dangerous, Ashikabi-sama."

"That was before the magus we're about to face just admitted to looking up to the first Magus Killer as inspiration," I grimaced. "Now I'm not just worried about magecraft or mysteries, but also explosives, poison, and potential snipers watching his office as well."

"Great," Homura sighed, palming his forehead. "Just when you don't think it can get any worse."

"The more I hear about your father, Emiya, the more interested I become," Karasuba admitted casually.

"If we live through this, I'll tell you some stories," I told her. "Now let's pick up the pace. We need to consolidate our tactics."

"Shirou," unexpectedly, it was Kazehana who spoke up, her tone unusually serious for the normally flighty girl. "If it comes to killing… comes to killing the Director, I don't think… I don't think I can…"

I glanced sharply back at her, only to find the number zero three glancing away, her expression ashamed. I grimaced, but nodded briefly.

Even if he was the enemy, she had loved him once. That meant a lot to the Sekirei.

"Right," I nodded. Kuu as well shouldn't be involved with this directly, and I doubted Musubi would be able to follow through as well. "Well, this is how we'll go in…"

*Scene Break*

"Why is he sniffing the door?" Karasuba had turned to ask Musubi, sounding more politely curious than actually concerned.

"Because it's how Shirou-sama finds Sekirei!" the shrine girl declared, probably only serving to further the Black Sekirei's confusion.

"It's how I sense psychic phenomenon," I added, even as I continued studying the bounded field. I wasn't able to determine much about it, but I had been able to sense it at least before we went through it and tripped whatever it was intended to do. "Like Sekirei, or magecraft."

"So there's some magic or something on the door?" Homura asked tensely. She was opening and shutting her hands repeatedly, and she looked more than ready to burst in and take down the man who she blamed all of her misfortunes and those of her species on.

In her defense, that blame was probably correctly placed.

"Yes," I answered back. "But it's nothing I can't get around. Is everyone ready?"

Even as I nodded at the chorus of affirmative answers ranging from, 'Of course' to even an 'oki-dokie', that particular phrase coming from Kuu, I took a deep breath.

The plan was simple at this point. Minaka had to know we had arrived, either through magecraft I hadn't detected or just through security cameras. So, he most likely had whatever mystery or counter measure he had prepared ready and waiting. Even if his first attack didn't work, this was most likely the center of his workshop, the place with the most defenses prepared and ready. The longer this fight went on, the worst it would get for us.

Our best chance would be to simply overwhelm him and his magecraft directly. I would go first, with Rho Aias and swords at the ready. Karasuba, Tsukiumi, Homura, and Musubi would spread out, attacking as best they could, while Kazehana, Akitsu Matsu, and Kuu held back, the first two focusing on protecting the second two.

It was ridiculously simplified and straightforward approach, but it would be enough for a first move. After, depending on what happened, I could plan on the fly. I would just have to hope I was ready for anything.

"Alright," I took a deep breath, tensing. "Let's go."

Fast enough that I was hoping none of my flock would notice and get upset, I called out Rule Breaker once more, the Noble Phantasm ending the bounded field on the door. With a Reinforced body and my simplified rune augmentations, I kicked in the door. Charging in, I made it through the doorframe, even as flashes of color accompanied by the rustle of clothes let me know that my Sekirei were moving much quicker than me as they spread out. Eyes moving fast, I took in the room: wide, spacious, and empty except for a throne like chair that I recognized from the broadcast of the first and second match, with Minaka lounging on, looking relaxed as he cradled a staff that was mounted with…

Mounted with…

My eyes wouldn't move from it. I could only stare, losing my momentum and stumbling to a halt as I took it in. From my peripheral vision I saw fire, water and light being sent, only to be brought up short as it bounced against something invisible but solid. I could see as Karasuba's sword came down on the same invisible thing, and a tiny imperfection, like glass being cracked appeared, only for it to start glowing and the damage to start shrinking. Some kind of material then, probably synthetic, and fortified with magecraft. It was most likely sturdy enough to stop even Miya if Minaka was able to be so at ease even in the face of alien war machines attacking.

But all that paled as I stared, eyes locked on the thing Minaka was holding.

"Kazehana! Wake up Shirou-sama," I heard Matsu's panicked voice. "Minaka is holding a Jinki!"

"Of all the bad timing," the wind user sounded aggrieved, and I felt her hands on my shoulder as she started to shake me.

It was pointless though. It wasn't the Jinki I was looking at this time. It was the Jinki's encasement. Lines of power, runes and bounded fields and other forms of enchantment laced it. The power and something else, something familiar that I was having trouble identifying ran through it, into it, into the the Jinki itself, that strange incomprehensible phenomenon. The power did something, was meant to be used, but due to the way it interacted with the Jinki itself, it was just as incomprehensible to me as the alien artifact, no matter how terrestrial the source.

It was…

"You turned a Jinki into a Mystic Code," I found myself stating flatly, sheer disbelief over something so impossible and ominous appearing before me.

Minaka smiled. "Indeed. Would you like to see what it does?"

With that he lifted the staff and tapped the butt on the ground. I could see that the staff was untouched by magecraft, was just a way to hold the Mystic Code more easily, but even if the move was probably pure theatrics, it didn't change what happened next.

Screams.

I jerked, as the sound came from behind me, and even though it was stupidity to turn my back on the other magus, I wheeled, a brief surge of panic flushing through me as I turned to find my flock collapsed. Kuu, Matsu, and Tsukiumi were all on the floor, convulsing as though in the throes of a seizure. Homura was on her hands and knees, body also shaking even as she tried to force herself back up, her teeth gritted in pain. Musubi was kneeling, looking confused as she stared at her hands, even as long twitches rolled through her body.

"Ah, Shirou-sama," the shrine girl managed to say, her voice more confused than anything else. "Musubi can't seem to move her legs!"

"How-!" I began, desperation seeping through me as I struggled to understand how Minaka had done this. Had he actually learned to use the Jinki to its fullest? Had he mastered it to that extent? No! If he had, then he wouldn't just be limited to affecting my flock. As a Sekirei descendent, he would be able to turn me off with just a thought. He wouldn't have needed that wall defense even if it had been the case that Miya had shown up, she would have been just as powerless.

In one of those frantic moments I found only in the hardest of battles, I caught sight of it. Homura was hunched over, shaking from whatever she was enduring, and it caused her hair to fall forward, away from her neck even as her arched back pulled her collar back enough for me to see her neck.

There, on the Sekirei crest! A thin line of something glowing, circling the Yin-yang symbol at the bottom. That glow… it was familiar! I'd seen the like before.

What Minaka had said earlier flashed back to me in sharp clarity. He had moved past the point of needing an heir, how he had squandered his bloodline, how the Mage Association would brand him a heretic…

"You used the Minaka Thaumaturgical Crest," I breathed, unable to comprehend what I was seeing. "When you were adjusting them, you graphed it into them as well. And into that Jinki…"

This… This was beyond outrageous. This was something that no magus, no one who even thought to call themselves by that title, would ever do. The very thought would have been heresy, a blasphemy so outrageous that it could well have started a witch hunt from the rest of the association. If Rin were here to hear this, she would probably be physically sick.

"I thought we had decided not to expound on the other's mysteries?" Minaka responded dryly. "But if you're going to indulge me after all, yes. In actuality, it was surprising just how well the process went. There were only a few failures, and even then the hardest part was making sure they remained inert, instead of just bonding to me by association."

"The scrapped numbers," I swallowed grimly.

"Exactly," Minaka allowed graciously. "But Emiya-kun. Are you sure you should be focusing on something like this? After all…"

I heard the chink, the sound of some panel unlocking and sliding back. I caught sight of the three turret guns that were lowering from the ceiling on this side of the room, twisting as they focused on me. With Matsu down, Minaka had regained control of his building.

"…After all, I like to think I learned a few things from following the Magus Killer's career," Minaka finished.

"Rho Aias!" I shouted, desperately forming the Shield of Ajax, my mind frantic as it raced. It wouldn't be enough! The three guns were spread out across the room, one directly in front of me but the other two to either side! Their shots were all focused on us, and even if I could block one firing line I couldn't interrupt the other two, and with my Sekirei helpless there was no way they would be able to dodge!

Even as I grimaced, watching the end come, I heard the sound of chains clinking.

Just before the firing started, in time to get up and protect the rest of my flock, two massively thick walls of ice erupted, chilling the room enough for my breath to start fogging in front of me for a reason besides prana use.

"You will not hurt my sisters, or my Ashikabi," Akitsu declared, speaking without her usual pause like she did when she was being deadly serious. Even as the turrets started firing, a rapid fire stream of bullets at the rate comparable to a Gatling gun the bullets did nothing more than bounce of my Noble Phantasm, and even if they chipped away at the ice she had provided any progress they made was just as quickly erased as more ice formed immediately.

"Akitsu?" I gasped, feeling the strain of Rho Aias. The bullets were striking hard, but they lacked the edge that they needed to penetrate a Noble Phantasm. I could still feel their impacts, but they were disregarded as I stared at the Sekirei who was somehow unaffected despite Minaka's Mystic Code. "How are…!"

It hit me.

"The Crest," I turned back to Minaka, unable to do anything but glare at him in my current position. "When I winged her, her original crest vanished and was replaced. The new one doesn't have your influence, and you can't affect her with your Code!"

"Bravo, Emiya-kun!" Minaka started clapping dramatically. "It seems you really do have talent for dueling! Now, shouldn't you take the time to make your own move? If you don't hurry…"

I grit my teeth, trying to find my next move, my next option, and though it was irrelevant I also bit back some annoyance at having yet another battle with a magus turn into some cliché dueling exposition. Even as I tried to think of a move that would let me strike back while maintaining my shield, a blur of black appeared by one of the turrets, and with a flash of steel the machine exploded, ammunition erupting as the gun backfired.

"Karasuba," I realized, watching the Black Sekirei as she grinned her teeth baring battle smile. Just like with Akitsu, when I had unwinged her earlier I had also inadvertently freed her from being able to be influenced as well!

"You know, maybe I am a bit curious about just how you two are doing these things," Karasuba admitted even as she closed to the next turret. "That shield of yours… I wonder just how well my sword would do against it, for instance."

"Save it for later," I snapped back, allowing Rho Aias to vanish. My next step, what was it? I had to get the others free from the influence of the Jinki, and with Karasuba free to act I knew at least one sure fire way to do so.

Whirling, I kneeled by the closest Sekirei, Kazehana who had been attempting to wake me out of a Jinki daze, Rule Breaker forming as I held her upright. However, when I tried to use it, despite the fact that she was convulsing, she managed to grasp my wrist, stopping me.

"No!" she gritted out from between clenched teeth, before her back arched spastically. I almost couldn't believe it, but was she really resisting having the bond separated, even if it would only be for the moment before I rewinged her, and even if it would stop whatever pain she was going through?

"This isn't the time, Kazehana," I ordered her, trying to bring the Phantasm closer. "I know it'll be uncomfortable, but I'll wing you right…"

"That too, but no! The wind," she managed to interrupt me, a desperate look in her eyes as she met mine before dragging her gaze upwards. "Something wrong… with the wind!"

"Wrong with…?" I began, following her gaze, before my eyes narrowed as I saw what she was trying to tell me: vents. Along the edges of the room, so small that you'd miss them if you weren't looking for them, were a series of small, narrow vents. I narrowed my eyes, and maybe it was just my imagination, but I could almost see something leaking out of them.

Minaka had warned me that I needed to hurry, even if it had just been battle banter, but would he really go so far as to have gas being vented in? This was getting outrageous. What kind of magus had so many mundane traps like turrets and gas?

The kind of magus that admired the Magus Killer and would even go so far as to sacrifice his own Thaumaturgical Crest, I reminded myself grimly.

Time, time, time! How much more time did I have? How long had the vents been running? What was being pumped in? Could I somehow make some ventilation in the room? I could try blowing a hole out through the side of the building instead of the panel that was keeping Minaka out of reach, but how much power would I need to do that? Would it even be enough? What if he had reinforced the walls just like the panel? How many other traps, mundane or mystic, could he have set up, just ready and waiting to set off? I wouldn't put a freaking tiger trap out of the options at this point.

In the end, it was just like I knew: attempting to attack a magus who had time to prepare at the base of their power was nearly suicidal. This was his battleground, his field, and he had all the advantages.

So, the logical part of me reminded me, all you need to do is change the field, right? And you know how you can do that. You almost managed it last time you tried, and now you've even added another Sekirei.

"Akitsu, I want you to block those vents along the edge of the room," I ordered abruptly. "Karasuba, after you take care of the turrets, focus on getting through that barrier unless another attack comes." Just because I was going to try didn't mean it would work. Better to cover all my options, in case I fail.

"Excellent strategy, Emiya-kun," Minaka clapped politely as I stood to face him directly. "But tell me, what will you do if I…"

"My body," I interrupted him, meeting his gaze and he faltered, eyes narrowing, "is made of swords. Iron is my blood, and glass is my heart."

Recklessly, without a care for the potential consequences, power flooded through me. Without bothering to wait until it was needed, oddic prana flooded through all twenty seven of my circuits. I could feel my body like it was on fire, could hear the blood pounding in my ears, and the frost plume I was breathing out thickened even more.

"I see," Minaka narrowed his eyes further, before he closed them briefly and sat back. "I'd heard that you might have accomplished it, but that you still couldn't manifest it. So this is your answer? Very well. Let's see if your move will be enough."

"I have crossed a thousand battlefields," I continued, desperately focusing. I needed my Aria, now more than ever. Even with full power, if I couldn't drive myself deeper, deep enough into my conviction, then even with all my circuits activated it still wouldn't be enough. Conviction, concentration, and power, just like the first time I called my Reality Marble forth…

But then, the thought struck me like a bolt of lightning, this time wasn't like that time anymore, was it? Things had changed. I had changed.

Without giving myself time to think about it, relying on my instincts and my experiences, I changed my Aria, letting the first thing that came to mind come out instead, just like I had once long ago when I changed Archer's chant.

"Having finally now learned defeat, I have finally now learned victory."

Yes. It was just like Saber had said. No matter how or who I fought, no matter the outcome, I had never felt any emotional significance, regardless of the outcome. I was simply following my ideals, obeying the traits which defined me. Until I had to choose between Rin and Saber, and the rest of my flock.

Even if I had won the fight, I had still lost something important. I loved them but I couldn't be with them anymore.

And just like I had lost something, I had gained something as well: my flock, my partners, my lovers, my harem, my wives, whatever the right word for them. My Sekirei.

"No longer alone on the hill of swords, I forge my steel!"

It was true. I was no longer a solitary existence. My life was their lives. If I died, they died. Their power was now my power as well. Through them, my conviction was reinforced.

"This sounds like…" Karasuba had paused, the turrets gone, and she was regarding me with the first frown I had ever seen on her face.

"Ashikabi-sama's Norito," Akitsu was standing stiff, watching me even as ice continued to blossom on vents.

"With them, my life's meaning can be:"

Even if I was distorted, they wouldn't care. If I were to throw myself into danger, they would follow without complaint. Even if no one else in the world will ever understand me completely, even if they themselves will most likely never understand me completely, they will still follow. Because of that, I can be…

"Unlimited Blade Works."

I didn't shout the name of my Reality Marble, I declared it. And with that declaration, it was.

Fire swept the room, swept the world, and I closed my eyes to it. When summoning a Reality Marble, the wielder can decide who and what does or does not enter it with them. I pulled myself, my flock, and Minaka despite him being on the other side of the barrier.

When I opened my eyes, it was to a sight which lingered in my dreams, even to this day.

Swords. The endless hill of swords. There were no bounds to my world, no edge. It was an infinity, a reality where there was nothing but the hill, and the swords that littered it.

Behind me, I heard my flock go silent, their cries and screams stopping, and I could hear groans and stirring. Nearby, Karasuba was tense, eyes darting about as she tried to take in the change of surroundings. Akitsu also seemed unable to do anything besides look around her.

In front of me, Minaka sighed, raking his hand through his hair. He glanced around as well, but it was with the professional air of an artist studying another's work.

"That Aria," he spoke up politely. "You just completed it on the spot, didn't you?"

"Yes," I admitted. A calm had settled between us, and despite my distaste for the customs of magi during duels, I felt I could at least allow him this much. He knew, just as I knew, that with this, the battle was over. We were no longer in his territory, we were in mine.

And within my territory, my will was final.

"What a reckless thing," Minaka shook his head at the thought of adjusting magecraft on the fly in a life or death situation. Then he sighed. "So this is your Reality Marble. I honestly never thought I'd ever see such a thing. It's magnificent."

"Thank you," I told him. I raised my arm above my head before pausing. "Do you have any last words or wishes?"

"I recorded a will, at my desk," he told me. "It has my last testament and my wishes for my belongings. Afterwards, please view it." He smiled slightly. "That is, if everything goes well for you."

My eyes narrowed at his last phrase. For him to say something like that, he must have one last trick, one final mystery to bring to bear. Without waiting any longer to give him the chance, I brought my arm down.

Normally, when I trace a blade, it is the process of bringing the blade out of the Unlimited Blade Works. Here, in my Marble, there was no need to go through that process. The blades I wanted were simply there, and they descended on the white clad magus in one glistening steel wave.

There was a sound not unlike rain on a tin roof as they struck, and then it was over.

I turned back to my flock. "Everyone alright?" I called out, kneeling back by Kazehana's side as she pushed herself into a seated position.

"I'm alright, Lover-kun," she gave me a shaky smile, before starting to continue. "Though if you want to play doctor… later… on…"

She trailed off, eyes darting to the open sky, then around her. I helped her to her feet, but she didn't seem to notice as she took in my world.

"Ashikabi-sama…" Matsu trailed off, the hacker already back on her feet, looking around. She swallowed. "Is this…?"

"My fully manifested Reality Marble," I confirmed for her, moving to check on Kuu. The poor girl was still shaking from whatever had happened to her, so rather than force her to stand I picked her up, letting her wrap her arms around my shoulder as her shaking trailed off. "A perspective so different it can surpass the world, and for a brief time supersede reality."

"It's…" words seem to be failing her, but even as she trailed off, Musubi's excited shout burst through.

"It's amazing! Shirou-sama, is this your Norito? Is it really? It's so strong! Musubi will have to work even harder, if she's ever to be as strong as Shirou-sama!" I was nearly bowled over as the battle maniac launched herself at me in a hug that nearly knocked me and Kuu right over. Like a child on to much sugar, she was nearly vibrating in place as she squeezed me, staring up with eyes that looked too wide and shiny to be real. "What does it do? Is there a secret base? And you made swords fall from the sky! Can I see it again!"

"Muu-chan you scatterbrain," Karasuba sighed indulgently. She was nearby, her own sword sheathed at her side as she pulled one of the ones littering the landscape free. She started studying it carefully, checking the blade with an experienced eye. "This is quite a collection, Emiya-kun."

"Every sword I have ever seen is here," I told her. "Every blade, from every battle, recorded and preserved here." Partially to prove a point, and partially maybe just to show off a bit, I pulled a blade from the ground near me. Karasuba's eyes narrowed slightly, probably because she was observant enough to know that that blade hadn't been there a moment ago. Then they widened as she realized that the blade I was holding right now was identical to the one on her waist. She glanced down quickly to verify that she was still armed, and when she looked up her eyes were narrowed in concentration. "And I've been through a lot of battles."

Karasuba was silent for a moment, her eyes taking in the endless blades, numbers that seemed to dwarf even the stars in the sky. Then she gave me a serious look.

"Until both our hips our broken," she told me, before turning back to study another sword. It took me a second to remember her earlier promise, and now that the battle was over I was calm enough to have to fight back a blush.

"Tsukiumi, I want you to pinch me," I heard Homura ask in a flat voice. I glanced at the fire user to find her palming her forehead, eyes closed and with a scowl on her face. "Do it hard. I want to wake up already."

"Only if you pinch me as well," she told him, and before my bemused eyes I watched as the two reached over, in one of those synchronous moments between flock members, and each one pinched the other on the exact same place on the other's shoulder.

"Nope," Homura declared afterwards. "Reality is still broken."

"Hmph. You should have pinched harder, Homura!" Tsukiumi told her, before her eyes narrowed and she turned to the side. "And you, Akitsu. What are you doing?"

"Ah," the snow woman began, and I realized that she had currently gathered nearly half a dozen swords, and she was cradling them to her chest like she was holding a child. "Nothing?" she finished a few moments later, and I knew I could hear some sheepishness in her tone, however small it might be.

"You guys," I sighed, before Kuu suddenly stiffened in my arms. Worried, I looked down to make sure she was alright to find that she had recovered enough from Minaka's attack to open her eyes. For a moment she was still, then she put both arms on my shoulders and pushed herself up, eyes darting all around her as she took in the sights. I nearly dropped her as she wiggled, before she looked down at me with a serious expression on her face.

"Onii-chan has swords," she declared reverently, the emphasis on the word 'swords' like a priest talking about a god. She paused, and then shook her head quickly. "Onii-chan has all the swords!"

"Er?" I got out, before she started wiggling again frantically, and I realized she was trying to get me to put her down so she could start frolicking among the dangerous weapons lying about. "Kuu-chan, stay still! You're not allowed to play with sharp things!"

It was nearly impossible to keep ahold of her, especially since I could only use my right arm. I didn't want her accidently sitting on something sharp if I used my left.

And wow, did that last sentence really bring home just how crazy my life was.

"Shirou," Matsu had seemed to recollect herself. She was looking around slowly, but she seemed confused by something. "I could barely hear it, but your Norito, er, your Aria…"

"Yeah," I confirmed for her, smiling slightly. "I changed it. It works much better now."

Matsu had been the only one to hear my previous chant, and for a moment she studied my face as though looking for something. I would probably never understand precisely what it was she was looking for, but when she suddenly smiled at me, I guess she must have found it.

"It's beautiful," Kazehana spoke up softly, finally regaining her voice. "But," she sighed, glancing at me. "But it seems lonely, doesn't it?"

"It might seem lonely, but I'm not alone. I have all of you, don't I?" I told her. She stiffened at my words, and quite suddenly began to blush. Her smile turned radiant, and she nodded happily at my words.

A while back, I had been musing on the difference between mine and Archer's Reality Marble. I already knew that cosmetic differences could mean many things. Reality Marbles were a reflection of the user's perception. Our Marbles were different because we were different. I hadn't been aware, and I didn't think anyone in the Mage Association knew this either, but it appeared that changes in a Reality Marble could also occur normally over time.

Long ago, my Reality Marble's sky had been red, a sky right before the sun rose, with a thin mist hovering over the earth and equally thin clouds in the sky.

That had changed.

Dawn had come to the Unlimited Blade Works, a brilliant sun raising from a horizon it had been behind for far too long, to greet a clear blue sky above.

If I needed any more proof that I had changed, I suppose that would have been enough.

"Alright," I declared, calling everyone's attention back to me. "Let's go on and head back. We still need to take care of things at MBI, and after that we should let Asama-san know…"

I choked, snapping my mouth closed so quickly I bit my tongue as some… some THING, some pulse swept through me. It felt as though my body was a string and someone had just plucked it, a resonance that passed over, around, and through me in a quick wave.

"Oh!" Musubi squealed, and as I glanced around I saw that everyone else had apparently felt that strange pulse too. "That was kind of strange, Shirou-sama. What were you doing?"

"That," I began, swallowing a suddenly dry throat, "that wasn't me."

My eyes strayed back to where Minaka still hung, his body upright by virtue of the numerous blades impaling him in that position. Even as I dismissed the corpse I looked down, to where the staff he had been carrying had fallen, and more importantly to the Mystic Code Jinki that had been attached to it.

In my eyes, I could see the change in it forming. I could smell something, some sort of power, something I didn't recognize or understand. The scent was faint, but even as I identified it, I could feel it growing stronger.

"Oh no," I muttered, feeling the bottom of my stomach drop out. So this was his final mystery. "Minaka, you asshole."

"Shi-rou!" Kazehana started my name curiously, but it finished as a yelp as I pushed a still squirming Kuu-chan at her, already jogging over as quickly as I could manage to where the Mystic Code had fallen. Hesitantly, I reached out to it, not sure if touching it was safe, but even as I did, I felt the power gathering in it change slightly, and then I shuddered as another pulse was released from it, sweeping through me. Judging from the way my flock reacted, they all felt it too. The ones closer, Akitsu and Karasuba, were the first to shiver, and then the ones further back.

"Some kind of wave?" I muttered, deciding that it might already be too late for prudence, and snatching up the staff the Jinki was attached to. Lifting it, I got my face as close as possible, already muttering an Aria. "Structural Analysis."

"Shirou, what's happening?" Matsu's face appeared near mine, and I could see the worry on it as she glanced between me and the Jinki I was studying.

"I don't know," I told her in a tight voice. "It's… there's something happening in it. Its building power… no, it's drawing power! Whatever he did to it, he's using the Jinki itself as some sort of power source. Or maybe it's the Jinki that is causing this, and the magecraft is just directing it. I don't know, no matter how much I look I just can't understand it…!"

"Shirou, calm down," Homura chimed in, her tone worried. "Tell us what you can."

"Ah," Kazehana also spoke up, though she sounded like she was trying to force a note of cheerfulness in it. "And could you perhaps not do it… so close to… you know?"

I managed to spare a glance at the wind user, to find her carefully shielding Kuu's eyes while she herself looked away, and I realized her concern. Waving an arm at Minaka's corpse, I didn't even bother to look as a wall of swords erupted, the enormous blades interlocking until they formed a circle around it, blocking it entirely from view.

"How did you…" Homura began, surprise at the sudden construct of blades, but I cut her off, already focusing on the Jinki.

"This is my Reality Marble. In here I'm the closest thing to a god that the world still has left. Now… how is this thing…" That was as far as I got, before I had to throw my head back and grit my teeth through another wave of power that the Jinki released.

"The waves," Matsu noted, her expression uncomfortable as she endured the sudden pulse but serious. "Is it just me, or are they getting…"

"Closer together, yes," I answered for her. I felt absentminded, even as I tried to focus, my concentration wavering and splintering and forcing me to piece back together endlessly. "I think this part here… but no, if that were the case then…"

"Shirou," Tsukiumi spoke up, sounding much closer. I spared another glance to see that everyone else had gathered closer as well. The water user sounded worried, her thumb hovering near her lips. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," I told her, sweat starting to break out on my forehead as I tried desperately to comprehend the Mystic Code that had been constructed around an alien artifact capable of rendering me into a drooling vegetable on sight by a man who had had decades more to research it than I did. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!"

"Calm down," Matsu told me, her tone sharp but serious. "Start with what it could possibly be doing, and we can work from there."

"It could be activating in order to try to transport us to Akasha," I told her, taking a deep breath. "Or it could be trying to kill us by manipulating our Sekirei genes. Or it could be trying to fully release your power and change me into a Sekirei as well. Or it could be about to self-destruct, or summon some other aliens from a distant planet, or change the color of the sky or make it rain cheese for all I know! If it was made from this earth I might have been able to piece together what it's trying to…"

I was cut off, and all of us shuddered, unconsciously leaning away from the Jinki as it released another pulse like wheat being pushed by the wind.

"Alright," Homura took her turn before I could start rambling again. "If we don't know what it's doing, than what are the things we can do in response?"

"We could simply wait and see, and pray that it isn't something bad," I listed quickly, my mind racing to put together possibilities. It was hard. Anything dealing with the Jinki always left me a little scatterbrained, and trying to analyze something interacting with one was also proving distracting. "We'd have to stay in the Unlimited Blade Works, because if we took this back to reality there's no telling how far the pulse would travel and how many people would be affected. But if something bad does happen, and I can't maintain my Marble anymore, than we're going to be returned back to the world anyway, and the same thing that could happen."

"Than what else can we do?" Matsu was tapping away at her tablet, but I didn't know what she could accomplish with it. It would only be limited to what was already saved on it, seeing as we were completely cut off from normal reality. Nothing, no type of energy, should be able to reach…

I froze, an option that I had considered many times but had never been able to find a workable method for appearing in my brain as though a bulb being lit.

"We could destroy it," I said softly.

"Destroy it?" Matsu repeated, frowning. "But didn't Miya say that doing something like that could have long range affects? And even if that wasn't the case, can the Jinki even be destroyed? They're supposed to be…"

"If we're here, in the Unlimited Blade Works, than yes, I'm certain I can destroy it," I told her. "I have the perfect tool for it. And also, here in the Reality Marble, even if it explodes, or it releases some sort of radiation or power, I would be able to contain it for as long as I'm alive and well and can keep Unlimited Blade Works up. I… we might not survive, or might end up hurt, but whatever happens wouldn't affect anyone in the normal world…"

I trailed off as again the conversation was interrupted. I couldn't quite suppress a groan as the pulse went off again. It was definitely getting stronger. Just what was it doing? Was it priming up for something, or were we already being affected by it? Was the pulse some kind of countdown, or was it just warming up to the point where it will release that energy constantly? And what was the energy meant to do?

Questions, questions, questions. And the only one who had answers was impaled behind a wall of blades, and probably wouldn't have given those answers anyway.

"Do it." Surprisingly, the first person to speak up was Karasuba.

"Crow-chan?" Kazehana blinked, sounding uncertain as the swordswoman smiled gently. Despite the situation, Karasuba still seemed relaxed, drumming her fingers against her sword's hilt as she watched the situation unfold.

"It's not like any of us know what's going to happen if this keeps up," she pointed out reasonably. "So why risk an uncertain outcome when we can simply choose one we can reasonably prepare for? Besides," she added, eyes widening slightly as she studied me. "It looks like I was wrong when I said I didn't care about magic after all. The more I see Emiya do, the more curious I am about what else there is. I'd like to see this tool that can destroy even a Jinki."

"She's right," Homura nodded slowly. "Not about seeing what Shirou can do, but about destroying it. We have no idea what it's doing, but if it's something harmful than if it gets back to… to wherever isn't here is," she fumbled slightly as she was confronted by the reality of the fact that we were currently in an alternate dimension, "then everyone, human, Ashikabi, and Sekirei could be in trouble. At least here, where Shirou is at his strongest, we might have a chance. Even if we don't, then we can keep everyone else from having to suffer."

"But," Tsukiumi chimed in, only for another pulse to cut her off. She started again instantly. "But if… if something bad happens… We… Shirou…"

"It might not be so bad," Kazehana spoke up as Tsukiumi trailed off. The wind user had a whimsical smile on her face, and though it didn't look like a happy one it wasn't an unhappy one either. "If it does, than dying with the one you love might not be so bad. Not as good as living with them, but if there are no other choices… I've lived, looking for love so long that now that I found it, I don't mind dying for it…"

"So long as I am with Shirou-sama, than even death is acceptable," Akitsu spoke up, still cradling half a dozen swords. The snow woman looked completely undaunted by the situation.

"It will be fine!" Musubi declared, so cheerful it was jarring considering the situation. "As long as we're all together, than there's no way we can lose! All we need to do is believe in the power of love, and try our best!"

"Mmm!" Kuu added as well, holding a tiny fist up as she agreed with Musubi's words. For a moment, Tsukiumi stared at her friend, before she suddenly snorted.

"For the legal wife to be lectured by the concubine," she muttered, before proudly putting her hands on her hips. "Very well! Let's deal with this petty trifle, and be home quickly!"

"Musubi," Matsu murmured, shaking her head slightly at the other girl's baseless optimism. Despite that, the hacker was starting to smile slightly too. "Well, there you have it, Shirou-tan," she declared, idly pulling her glasses from the neck of her cheongsam and putting them back on as she slipped back into her cute mode. "This Matsu thinks she will agree with Musubi-tan! She believes in Shirou-tan, and that we will all go home together!" She cocked her head to the side. "After all, she knows that Shirou-tan wouldn't be able to risk anyone else, so as long as she can be with him, this Matsu doesn't mind whatever it is he does!"

Destroying the Jinki right here and now was the path that would most likely save the most lives. It would take one of the potentially dangerous alien artifacts permanently out of the picture as well as stop whatever it was that Minaka had set in motion by experimenting on it. Doing it here, in the Unlimited Blade Works meant that the minimum number of people would be at risk, with the best chance for the rest of the world to be unaffected, even if the worst case happened.

And despite that, for a moment, I hesitated.

The only ones at risk were me, and the beautiful creatures that I had come to love.

The moment passed.

No matter how much I changed, I was still Shirou Emiya. I would still do everything I can to save as many as I can. I would still become a hero. That these creatures, my Sekirei, would support me no matter what choice I made, and stand beside me to face the consequences, didn't change who I was.

But no matter what happens, I will always be grateful to them for it. I will, I already, love them for it.

"Get behind me," I told them, tossing the Jinki lightly so that it landed a dozen feet or so in front of me. Reaching out, I grasped the sword at my side.

"I was paying attention, and I know that wasn't there a moment ago," I heard Karasuba mutter, sounding aggrieved for some reason. I also heard Homura as she suddenly gasped.

"That sheathe…" the fire user whispered, uncertainty and awe in her tone. "So that sword…"

"The Sword that Promises Victory," I confirmed for her, pulling the golden blade above my head, grasping it with both hands. I felt my magic circuits burn as they began to pull prana from me. There was enough, but not much more left. I would have to gamble everything on this attack. "The strongest Noble Phantasm in the world."

Even as I spoke, light erupted from the sword. It was a pillar, so vast and immense that it seemed it would split the sky. It was so bright that its light should scorch, and so pure it should be impossible to look at. Instead, its warmth felt gentle and its sight was…

"Beautiful," I heard Kuu whisper.

Musubi had once spoken of the 'joy of the miracle of having met me'. I found myself understanding her words now, as I felt that same joy for having met her, and Tsukiumi. Of having met Kazehana and Akitsu, Homura and Kusano, Matsu and even Karasuba I suppose. So with them in mind, I decided to take the chance that maybe Musubi was right about love being enough to pull us through this as well.

There were worse things to gamble on.

"Excalibur!"

I brought the sword down, and the world vanished in light.


	44. In Flight: Taking Wing

In Flight: Taking Wing

_Author's Notes: Will be included at the end of the fic._

It was dark.

No. Darkness wasn't the word for it. Darkness implied an existence that lacked definition due to the absence of light.

This was emptiness. A void. An abyss. The kind of thing you didn't look at, because if you did, it might just look back at you.

But only where I was. My consciousness, aching and spun out and wrong in how it was working, could not see, or hear, or smell, or feel, or taste but still somehow discern, that there was something before me. I knew it, not with my senses but simply as a function of my consciousness.

And if I could feel pain, I think that knowing would have been agony. As it was, it was simply overwhelming. The thing before me was too much, too much knowledge and feeling, too much expression and impulse, too much…

No. Not too much. It was just enough. It was everything.

And then, between one second that didn't exist in a place where time had no meaning and the next, there was something else before me, between me and the thing which dwarfed me.

It was just as impossible to explain the new thing as it was to express the previous thing. It was vast, but somehow more contained, something primal and at least recognizable.

The presence was familiar, and if I could think, if I could express my thoughts, I would have scowled and cursed to myself.

The presence… knew me. Just like I knew the thing behind it, and knew it as well. For a moment, I could feel it's consideration as it regarded me.

Then, with an action that felt equal parts amused as it did satisfied, it rejected me, and everything became real again…

"Stupid Archer," I growled, blinking as I opened my eyes. I wasn't at that strange place. I might never have been there at all, it might have all been my imagination, might have all been just a fever dream that resulted in using the most powerful Noble Phantasm in existence on an incomprehensible alien artifact.

But if it was, true, if it really had happened, even to this day, years later, Archer was still finding ways to piss me off.

"Did you have that dream again?" a voice mumbled, and I yawned, rubbing my eyes as I sleepily tried to identify it.

"Yeah," I glanced around, taking in my room. It was too lavish for my taste, but then again, considering that it was only nominally my personal room it made sense that everyone else who spent time here had a bit of a say in its designing. The bed, for instance, was huge, big enough to fit a dozen people easily. Or a smaller number than that with plenty of space for movement.

It had played host to both possibilities before, so I guess it was the right choice, but I still felt awkward when it was just me there. It felt weird to sleep in the middle with that much space on either side, and if I just slept on the side where I could easily reach the edge when I woke up it felt kind of lonely.

Not that I slept alone all that often, but sometimes it happened.

But besides its size, it was always sigh provoking to see the lacy curtains as well. And honestly, the mirror above the mattress was just too much. This was my personal room, not a love inn.

Even as I contemplated that ridiculous over the top touch, I used it to find the bump that was beside me, buried completely under the sheets. It gave me a reference, and when the lump started to wiggle it was warning enough for when I felt something heavy press against my stomach, the warm touch of someone's breath on my bare skin. It was enough for me to place the voice, and as the breath on my skin started going lower I pulled up the sheets so I could look in on the person venturing to Dangerous territory.

"Stop that, Kuu," I told her with a sigh. I was greeted by an impish pout, and the girl jabbed my side slightly.

"I told you. Start calling me Kusano," she grumbled, though she relented on her attempt to stray into naughty territory. "Kuu's what you called me when I was a child, and I'm not a kid anymore!" She grinned, and started to resume her attempt to go to wiggle lower on my body. "And if you'd like, I can show you that right now…"

"We all agreed none of that until you turn eighteen," I scolded her with a sigh, throwing the blanket off both of us as I pulled away, kicking my legs over the edge of the bed. "For my own sanity as much as for the legality of it."

"'We?'" Kuu, Kusano I suppose I should start making more of an effort to use her preferred form of address. "I don't recall ever agreeing to something like that. Actually, if I remember correctly, and I'm pretty sure I do, I think I had some nasty things to say about that in the past."

"Well, tough," I told her, yawning as I checked the clock. It was a little later than I normally slept, but still early enough not to interfere with my day. "We, and by that I mean, me, every other member of my flock, my mother, and your brother, all agreed: no funny business until you're legal by human law."

"And I still say that human law is for humans," Kusano grumbled, though she obediently stopped attempting to seduce me. "It's the law of Sekirei to love, and do you have any idea how much I've been looking forward to a little of that lovin'?" She threw her hands up in the air and flopped on the bed until she was laying on her back with her head towards me, idly kicking her legs up in the air. "Besides. I turn eighteen in a week. What's wrong with flubbing the dates a little?"

"Oh? A week? Well, then, in that case…" I started seductively, turning to lean over her, and her eyes widened in delight. They were hidden a moment later when I hit her softly in the face with one of the pillows. "I guess we'll just have to wait a week."

"Tyranny! Oppression! I call on all my Sekirei sisters to rise up against the humans and over throw their cruel dictatorship! We shall turn the world into a utopia of free love!" Kusano cried out, tossing the pillow back at me as she rolled onto her stomach and started punching and kicking the bed childishly. "I should just bite you like the old days. At least back then you'd give me what I wanted!"

I smiled slightly. Even if things change, and yes, things had most definitely changed when it came to my youngest bird, some things at least stayed the same.

It had been nearly a decade, at this point. Nearly ten years since the threat of the Sekirei Plan ended. Ten years since Minaka was stopped. A lot changes, in ten years.

Kuu-chan, for instance. She wasn't just a little girl anymore that much was for certain.

The former little pixie had grown; almost overnight it seems in my memories, once she was firmly into her species puberty. I had initially wondered if maybe the Sekirei had some sort of advanced aging characteristic when she had started to sprout, but Takami had just sighed and told me you didn't need to be an alien to grow that quick.

Now, Kusano was taller. Not as tall as me, but taller than most of my flock. The only one that still had a height advantage on her was Kazehana. She was thin, though I'd hesitate to call her something like 'lithe', considering she had inherited a bust and hips that also was in the upper limits of my flock.

More than just her body had changed in her appearance. Her hair, for instance, had been dyed an electric blue, though she still kept it long. And gone were the days of innocent orange pajamas. I wasn't sure when she had snuck into bed with me, but she had done so wearing a cut off white tank top and thin white thong.

It made it very easy to see that she had grown, and where she had grown as well. It was enough to make me very nervous around her at times, and I was a little worried about what would happen next week when I finally ran out of excuses.

I had always known there would come a day when she'd join the rest of my flock as more than just a little sister. It was hard to look at this young, seductive creature and think of the tiny charming little girl she used to be. But I didn't think she was going to take 'no' for an answer much longer. It didn't help that the rest of my harem was coming down on her side more and more when it came to that kind of thing. Stupid Sekirei and their willingness to band together in the name of their brethren.

I still felt like something right out of 'The Tales of Genji' though.

"Oh? Does onii-chan see something he likes?" she cooed, grinning seductively, and I realized that while I had been staring she had adopted a seductive pose, leaning backwards as she fiddled with the hem of her tank top, and spreading her legs slightly to reveal…

"I'm going to go take a shower now," I gulped, and even as I saw her eyes light up I continued. "Alone."

"Onii-chan is a big meanie!" she called after me as I made my inglorious escape. "A meanie with a great ass though!" she added with a catcall as I made it to the door.

Oh, what had happened to my sweet innocent Kuu-chan?

*Scene Break*

It was after I finished my shower, and turned it over to Kusano, who had inappropriately decided to follow Akitsu's frequent example of just stripping in the room so to save time when she reached the bathroom and then made sure to be waiting to greet me when I was done, that I found myself typing briefly at the computer that made its home on the desk near my bed.

I would have preferred having my office further away from where I slept, but since Matsu had never stopped with her completely inappropriate hobby of turning my time in bed into raunchy productions, and since some of my flock liked to watch them while we were together…

Ten years was a lot of time for Matsu to corrupt her fellow Sekirei, and the number of kinks I'd been forced to endure over the years was starting to get ridiculous.

That aside, as was something of a habit for me, I found myself once more pulling up one particular video.

This one had absolutely nothing to do with bedroom games.

This one…

"Hello, Minato Sahashi," Hiroto Minaka began, smiling slightly at the screen. "No, I suppose it's best to use your given name. Hello, Shirou Emiya. If you're watching this, then I'm dead. Congratulations. You won."

This one was the will Minaka had spoken of, before he died.

"Though," the long dead face smirked at me slightly. "If I'm dead, then you've probably discovered my other use for the Jinki. If you're watching this, then I suppose I can safely say that my final experiment was a success.

"Congratulations, Emiya-kun. You've the first step in the salvation of humanity. Enjoy it."

It had taken me years to fully understand what he meant when he said those words.

"Long ago," Minaka continued, leaning backwards and gesturing briefly with one hand, "Humanity was far different from what it is today. I'm sure you know how the strength of humanity had been diminishing, petering out as less and less people become capable of becoming heroes, as we grow weaker and weaker. It's well documented, and even the magi of today have accepted it.

"Those same magi still haven't learned how much time they could save if they traded in their abacuses for a calculator, so I'm sure you'll forgive me if I disagree with their acceptance.

"Before I was ever joined the Clock Tower, I was a member of Atlas, you see. Atlas isn't like the Clock Tower, as I'm sure you're aware. It focuses instead on preventing the end of the world. And it was while I was there, that I actually discovered the Sekirei. And with them, I saw my chance. Since no research in Atlas is allowed to leave its premise, I destroyed all my previous research, and instead joined the Clock Tower. If it wasn't for their resources, I wouldn't be where I am now.

"You see, Emiya-kun, it is my belief even from my time in Atlas that the world's end is inevitable. However, that doesn't mean that humanity has to end with it. All it needs to do is to find a way to survive. And to do that, humanity needs to be stronger. Stronger like it was during the Age of Gods. But the thing is, what if humanity doesn't want to be strong anymore? What if it prefers to be weak?

"It should be no secret to you, who have already displayed your familiarity with the Counter Force. Why were they always stopping events and things that could make humanity stronger as a whole? It's because humanity prefers to be weak, I think. It prefers not to have to struggle. It prefers peace, not having to be strong, to have those with some unbelievable power that could stand over them to be done with. They want everyone to be equal, to be just as powerless as them."

Minaka paused, idly pushing his hair back. "At least, according to my theory that was the case before. However, things change.

"Do you know what the biggest cause of fear is, Emiya-kun? It's ignorance. Centuries ago, you never knew what was beyond the valley or mountain that you lived in. You never knew just what could be out there. In that situation, wouldn't you want for whatever and whoever might be beyond your sight not to be strong? Not to have the power to oppress you? But now, things are changing. Ignorance is disappearing, and knowledge is spreading.

"If you want to know the state of the world, you can find out what is going on anywhere with only a few moments. You can learn of the advancements easily, and understand how they affect your life. Everything that was once frightening can now be understood, analyzed, and reacted to.

"So tell me, Emiya-kun. What if the will of humanity started to change? What if Alaya would someday no longer move to stop potential changes, because humanity had started to hope for those changes?"

Minaka smiled. "I suppose, someone had to try and see, didn't they? Like any hypothesis, it had to be tested. And with the opportunity that the Sekirei presented me, I suppose it fell to me to do that testing.

"All this was something I pondered for a long time, while I was initially studying the Sekirei. When I first stumbled across a potential method to uncover Akasha, I hesitated. My family had never aspired as much to Akasha as those who had been in the Clock Tower for generations, but even still the thought of it was tempting. But my other research, into preserving humanity through the end of the world, that too was progressing swiftly. It was then, when I still wasn't certain what path to take, that you stopped being my son, and started being the son of the Magus Killer. Like I said before, it was as though the hand of fate was touching my life.

"So I made my choice. Rather than try to aspire to Akasha or save humanity, I decided that I would try to do both. And that I would gamble everything, my pride as a magus, my ancestry, and even my life on either one."

Minaka smiled slightly, shrugging and raising a hand in a careless gesture, as though to say 'what else was there to do?'

"However, when I gamble, I do like to stack the deck a bit. I only had a one in three chance of succeeding with Akasha, and if that had worked I would have done my best to return, with the knowledge I needed for my other goals. But if I were to fail, than I would rather my failure result in its own success. If I were to die, then at least I would make humanity into something new, something better. I would guide them to Ascension."

Even now, so many years later, the words still gave me a chill. For all his unconventionality, for all that some of his actions would have made his fellow magi cringe and decry him, the man himself was a magus every bit as thorough and ruthless, probably more so, than Rin was.

"And so, if you're watching this, Emiya-kun, then I am already dead, but my work was a success. I leave my research into magecraft to you. I do hope you study it and continue it, but if you choose to destroy it, at least it has already found root in you personally. As for my business, I also leave it to you. Rather, to you, Takami-kun, and Yukari-chan. My private shares will be divided among the three of you, and you can do what you wish with the company, and the technology that I've accumulated. I rather hope that you will continue to look after the Sekirei, but considering what I know of all three of you, I think that I can rest assured in that department at least.

"I, Hiroto Minaka, wish you luck, Shirou Emiya. You'll need it for what is to come."

"Watching that stupid thing again?" a voice in my ear nearly made me jump, and I felt a warm breath on my ear as something soft pressed against my back. Kusano leaned forward, the blue of her dyed hair at the edges of my sight as she spoke in my ear. "Really, you should stop obsessing over that. What's done is done, and you should be focusing on the future. Namely, the future one week from now…"

"Kusano," I sighed, already identifying the state of the softness on my back. "Go put your clothes on."

"But Onii-chan," she whined, just hugging me tighter. "The upper levels are private, and everyone who comes up here either already seen it or has their own pair. I was thinking…"

"No, we're not changing the private level to a nudist zone," I told her firmly. "No matter how big the list of reasons Matsu and Kazehana have managed to scrounge up.

"Tyranny and oppression," Kusano pouted, backing off with reluctant obedience. "One day, we will rise. You have been warned, Onii-chan."

*Scene Break*

"I thought I told you to get dressed," I grumbled as the two of us made our way out of the room. I was trying to focus on my tablet as I pulled up the day's schedule, but with Kusano walking beside me, fiddling with her own tablet in kind, I couldn't help but stealing glances at the feminine form beside me.

"But I am dressed, Onii-chan," she protested innocently.

"Is that what they call it these days?" I sighed again.

Just like with her hair, Kusano had made some changes in her clothing preferences. While she still preferred white when it came to undergarments, which was easy to tell considering how much of her thong was visible above her low cut shorts, the rest of outfit had started straying into something which was either leather or latex given its shine, and black as well. The hot pants at least covered the important bits, and the thigh high boots covered most of her legs, so I should be happy with that I suppose. Her halter top had more coverage than some of the things I'd seen Sekirei wear, and she showed off less cleavage than some of my flock like Akitsu or Kazehana.

I think the most disturbing element of her outfit was what was wrapped loosely around her stomach and hips. At first glance, most people would think it just some sort of decorative belt or something similar.

Having seen her unwind it to its proper shape, that of a long, braided whip made out of vines, I knew better. And considering that I'd seen her use it, both in combat and at home, every time I saw it I found myself suppressing a shiver.

And that laugh whenever she started using it only made the shivers harder.

I'd always wondered what Kuu would end up like, growing up in the situation she did. And now I fear I knew. I fear I knew all too well.

"How can one girl change so much?" I found myself muttering again, shaking my head at the disparity between Kuu of the past and this new Kusano.

"Actually, Matsu recommended it," Kusano admitted, sounding slightly shy at the confession. She spun in place, showing off the changes. "She thought it would make it easier on Onii-chan when the time came, make it easier to separate me as a girl and me as a woman. Like the difference between Onii-chan when he's fighting and when he's not."

"Really?" I blinked, considering her words. I'd heard of using image changes to help change the way people interact with you, and if what she was saying was true than I had to admit it was working. It was far easier on my conscious to look at this new Kusano and not think of the old one. "Then what about with you calling me 'Onii-chan'?" I ventured, wondering if that title would also be set aside in time.

"No," Kusano instantly declared, shaking her head with an evil grin. "I think that kind of thing is hot!"

"I blame the internet for that," I sighed again. "You've been having way too much of it lately."

"Hmmm, you're right," Kusano nodded seriously. "If only there was something I could do to take my mind of it and keep me to busy. Something that involved hours upon hours of sweaty, fumbling, erotic…"

"Wait for your birthday."

"Stupid Onii-chan."

She's just in heat, I reminded myself. She's a Sekirei, it's what they do. And she has been forced to wait nearly ten years. It's only natural that she would start to get like this by the end of it, with the end so close and in sight. Just… just put up with it for now, Shirou. Remember, Not Human.

"So what's today's agenda?" I changed the subject, turning my attention back to the tablet. I could pull it up myself, but I thought it might help get Kusano's mind out of the gutter if she had something else to focus on.

"Well," Kusano began, looking through the list. "First off is Homura and Akitsu's proposal."

"Tell them I'll think about it," I shook my head, but Kusano pushed onward.

"I have to say, they raise some nice points. A dungeon really would spruce up the upper floors," she nodded seriously.

I had well and truly gotten used to Akitsu's particular preferences. They were actually practical, considering her strength, even if that wasn't as much a factor as it once had. I had even taken the shibari courses she had wanted me to, and if she wanted to add a few other toys, well, I still had a tendency to indulge the former scrap.

It was Homura's own leanings in that direction which were still a little uncomfortable to me. It had taken years before she had grown comfortable enough with her new gender for us to cross that line. However, I don't think either of us anticipated the side effect of her unusual biology that lingered.

Homura had been right, in that if I made something an order there was no way she could resist it. But neither of us had any clue that she would find following those orders so enjoyable. From there, things escalated, mostly due to Matsu and Akitsu, and nowadays…

She was still the diligent and serious fighter on the battlefield she had always been, was still the calm and reasonable figure in day to day life, but once we were in the bedroom…

"I'll," I began, before wincing and giving in. "I'll see about the budget for next quarter. We might be able to squeeze it in."

"Excellent!" Kusano chirped, and I purposefully did not notice the way her hand stroked her whip unconsciously. "I'll give them the good news after breakfast! The two have been researching prices, so I'm sure they can put something together quick enough!"

"I'm sure they will too," I muttered, flipping through the files my tablet provided so I could check that research. Some of the gear seemed basic enough, if by basic you mean 'extremely kinky', but some of them were also reaching 'deranged', 'this is supposed to be fun?', and 'okay, I had enough, I'm going home now'.

Though one of the items seemed particularly familiar. I think I had Musubi throw it out back when I had first moved to Izumo House. Now I even knew what it was used for too.

I resented myself for that knowledge.

"Okay, next up is my own proposal…" Kusano began and I interrupted her immediately.

"Next week."

"Not that proposal, the other one," she elaborated patiently.

"Oh," I frowned, feeling somber. "Has… has there been any word? About them?"

"Two possible sightings, mostly in the Mideast, and another site that has Shii-chan's trademarks all over it in Indonesia," Kusano listed seriously, scowling herself. "Mou! 'That woman'! Dragging my other onii-chan all over. When is she just going to get over herself?"

Kusano never used her name, but I knew who she was talking about.

My sister, Yukari.

It had been years ago, almost immediately after I killed Minaka, that she had disappeared. I don't think she ever forgave me for killing our father. Even after Takami had revealed some of the things he had been up to, even after I had explained to both of them some of the secret parts of the world, it didn't change the fact that in her eyes, it was me who had forever ruined the chance of us, all of us, one day coming together as a family, and living together happily ever after.

At first I had been worried, when she disappeared, but also relieved in my own way. I had hoped that she had vanished with Shiina to live together with her partner a life away from MBI and the dangers of associating with a corporation owned by a Sealing Designee that specialized in alien research.

That lasted until the first time I heard about a young woman and a young man with strange powers appearing in the middle of a war zone. It was with equal parts worry and déjà vu that I had taken in the piecemeal reports of the pair defeating a local warlord before disappearing before the populace could thank them.

I wonder. Was it really my distortion that had caused an alternative me to live a similar life until he died a broken end, or was it the Minaka blood? Or maybe the Sahashi blood?

All attempts to contact Yukari or Shiina, or to find them, so far even after ten years have ended in failure. I wasn't sure how she had grown crafty enough to dodge the resources of an international conglomerate, or if she maybe had some organization of her own backing her. All I knew, was that I desperately wanted to find her, to sit her down, and tell her just how a life like that one ends.

Preferably before she found herself on some hopeless battlefield, listening to the offer of a representation of Alaya…

Maybe I was worrying too much. Maybe my own experience was causing me to overreact.

Maybe it was already too late…

"The proposal to break her legs and keep her chained in the basement while you take Shiina to a park is rejected," I told Kusano finally. Grimly, I continued. "The proposal to locate, contact, and hopefully bring her in on the other hand is already underway."

It might be hopeless. Yukari, she had always had more spirit than most. She had always believed more strongly in justice, in adventures, and in heroes than others. Archer, nothing had ever been able to dissuade him from living his life as he had: just like I wasn't one to turn away from my ideals.

It didn't mean I wouldn't make the effort to try to save my sister.

"Hmph," Kusano grunted, still glowering. She peaked at her tablet, and brightened a bit. "Oh, Miya-san was here yesterday. She wanted to talk to you about our next visit, but since you weren't here she stayed for tea."

"Oh? That's good to hear," I smiled, letting the topic get changed to one more cheerful.

Miya had done well for herself, over the years. That is to say, she had hardly changed at all. She still ran that inn left to her by her husband. It was still hardly a quiet place, considering a good number of Sekirei Ashikabi partners tended to make use of it. Now that they no lingered needed to fight, many took advantage of MBI's continued willingness to foot their bills and protect them, and had stayed in Shin Tokyo. The clientele rarely stayed long, so there was a pretty high turnabout in residents, but most came back after they'd been away for a while.

Miya had never let up on the 'lewd activities are prohibited' rule, and there was only so long that a Sekirei and Ashikabi duo could stay in a place like that regardless of how low the prices were or how good the meals before they needed a little more leniency in their private lives.

I think it did Miya good, to have company like that. Even if most of her species had never found out what she was, by this point most of the Sekirei thought of her as something of an unofficial big sister. Having so many people around was good for her. Even if it was the place left for her by her husband, it didn't change the fact that her husband had been gone for a long time now. Even we, me and my flock who had once called Izumo home, had gone eventually.

But even if we had left, moving into MBI tower, we still regularly scheduled stays at Izumo House. Usually just a week or two, every couple of months, but it was still a place we all looked at fondly, the place where we had all come together, where we had fought and struggled, and where we had eventually triumphed.

I think the company kept Miya from being lonely. That, and the fact that she frequently made trips to visit my flock and I. She and Musubi had also kept up with their lessons, though with Musubi's progress they were more like spars at this point. With Minaka gone and the Sekirei plan over, Miya had finally relented a bit on her anti-MBI stance.

"Honestly," Kusano sighed, looking aggrieved. "Onii-chan, when are you just going to give in and screw her?"

"Kuu!" I yelped, turning to glare at her. I was not blushing. I was definitely not blushing! "What are you saying! Miya and I are just friends!"

"'Miya'?" Kusano smirked. "So you've finally started to just use her name. You know, it's been a long time since her husband passed. A lonely widow, frequently calling on a strapping younger man, a dear friend who had helped heal her heart, who has started to wake her womanly urges once more…"

"You've been spending way too much time around Kazehana," I interrupted. Damnit, I really wasn't blushing! It wasn't like that, it wasn't like that at all!

"You can deny all you like, but it doesn't change the fact that every time we leave the two of you alone, you always end up with such a nice atmosphere," Kusano sang teasingly. "What was it last time? Watching cotton fall as you sipped tea beneath the full moon, your hands brushing lightly as you reach for the tea, both of you looking away as you blushed…"

"And Matsu has got to hurry up and get rid of those cameras," I added, finding something else in the hallway very interesting to look at. That that thing happened to be in the opposite direction from the teasing alien was just coincidence. Miya and I were just friends. We enjoyed being alone together, talking about inconsequential things, savoring the hard earned peace and quiet. Why, it was so peaceful that even the smell of blood and regret that had once hung around her had started to ease. I could hardly smell the iron tang of blood anymore, just a lingering shadow, and the regret had all but disappeared. In fact, I was starting to sense something new in her, something I couldn't quite place…

"Oh, by the way," Kusano continued with an uncharacteristic sigh. "During the visit, it looked like Karasuba ended up returning early…"

"How bad was it?" I sighed as well, rubbing my forehead.

"We should be able to fix up the sitting room in a week or so, but when it spilled over to the gym, things got ugly," Kusano reported. "At least this time they managed to avoid the kitchen. Then again, considering what happened last time they got too enthusiastic…"

I'd had many years now to explore just what I could do with my Asura. And I don't care how long we'd been friends or lovers, depending on whether we were talking about Miya or Karasuba, it didn't matter when my kitchen was involved.

It had taken a long time, but every electrical appliance in it had been fully converted to run off runes and magecraft. I was rather proud of that, though I doubt the 'Mystic Kitchen' would ever gain mainstream popularity among magi anywhere.

While Miya continued to enjoy her retirement running an inn, Karasuba had retained her position as chief enforcer of MBI, but with her introduction to the world of magecraft she had found other hobbies as well, some of which I enjoyed too.

When it was her turn to have me to herself, we liked to go Apostle hunting. It was what we did on our honeymoon, after all. It wasn't something the others enjoyed, so it was usually just the two of us for those trips.

So long as Karasuba got her battles, she was happy. She usually got pretty frisky afterwards too. I put my foot down on no mattresses of corpses though. I'd gotten pretty open minded over the years, but there were some kinks that were just wrong.

"It's too much to hope that those two would remain civil," I sighed, already pulling up the damage estimates. I think, that the two were just too similar in some ways and too different in others. If Karasuba was a warrior born in the wrong age, than Miya was a soldier perfect for these times of peace, perfectly willing to do her duty no matter how heartless and then retire to a peaceful life when the job was done. It was the complete opposite of Karasuba, who will no doubt someday die with a sword in her hand and a grin on her lips.

"Those two should just screw as well," Kusano added helpfully.

"Kusano, your theory of their animosity being unresolved sexual tension is the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard," I told her flatly. "Also, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but sex is not the answer to everything."

"That's not what vast amounts of empirical evidence gathered by my sisters indicate!" Kusano chirped brightly.

"Let's just move on to the next subject," I sighed again. If my hair wasn't already completely white at this point, I think dealing with Kusano in heat might have made it that way naturally.

"Right, right," Kusano began, before her tone changed to something more serious. "Takami and Matsu have finished analyzing their latest tests. They've been reviewing it with Rin and Saber-nee, and they think they've made some progress. However, they're worried of sharing the results with the rest of the Clock Tower. They still don't think we're ready for human experimentation, and you know the Mage Association doesn't agree with those reservations…"

"Damn magi," I sighed, also growing serious as I started studying the report my mother and Matsu had put together.

I wasn't able to understand some of the more technical parts, but since I was the test subject it did help a lot.

So far, the results were still inconclusive. We still haven't figured out if I was human or not anymore.

Hell, we still weren't sure my flock even counted as 'Sekirei' anymore either.

That day, in the Unlimited Blade Works when we destroyed the Jinki, something changed in us. Even now, after years of research by Takami, joined by Matsu and a dozen other trusted researchers, we didn't know if that change was the result of the destruction of the Jinki, or if it was the result of the machinations of Minaka.

Was this what he had meant, when he had spoken of Ascension? Even using his notes and studying his research, he had been vague in the details of what the conclusion of his research would be like. Maybe, even he hadn't been sure, simply arranging the necessary situation and resources to allow for a change to occur even if the change was unguided.

Whatever his intentions, he apparently succeeded. I was stronger now, my physical capabilities on par with a power type Sekirei, and the abilities of my flock, already on par with what even the best of magi could accomplish, had grown as well.

It was frightening, just how much stronger we were now. It was even more frightening not knowing why we had changed that way.

We had gotten so desperate that we even had turned to the Mage Association for assistance.

And what a mess that was, let me tell you.

The Clock Tower hadn't been happy when a Sealing Designee actively contacted them, requesting their assistance with research done by a member of their association that I had recently killed. They had been even less happy when their enforcers discovered that attempting to capture or kill a Designee with a fully mastered Reality Marble, a body altered to be able to perform superhuman feats, and who had inherited one of the largest corporations in the world and their standing army as well just wasn't going to happen.

They also hadn't been happy to learn that an entire new species of aliens had been kept from them. They were similarly dissatisfied when they found that all of the species had already ended up bonded, mostly with simple ordinary humans. And they were positively livid when they discovered that those aliens also enjoyed the enthusiastic protection of aforementioned Designee as well.

So, after a few months of posturing, the deployment of Karasuba against some overeager magi who weren't correct at all when they thought that they might be able to kidnap a few without me noticing, and a small scale military conflict that ended up with me accidently ending yet another magus lineage, a tentative solution was formed.

I was now, for the first time in the history of the Clock Tower, officially regarded as a multiple Sealing Designee, for research into Reality Marbles as well as research into human enhancement through extraterrestrial means. In order to save face, the Clock Tower had officially declared that due to my contributions to magecraft I would be allowed to maintain an administrative post and not be summarily dissected.

It was all a farce, of course. They simply didn't have the power to take me anymore, not without a large scale operation that would threaten the secrecy of magecraft itself. So rather than admit that, they announced my administrative post as the new Director of the new 'Alien Physiology' department and Second Owner to Shin Tokyo. I was to be officially bound to the city, never to leave.

Naturally, I didn't let that stop me from going where I felt I was needed. And just as naturally, when I did, it didn't stop the Clock Tower from sending a few enforcers, or for a few free lancers, to try and kill me. But for the sake of formality, we both pretended not to notice the other side's little deceits.

Actually, it was nearly a year after things had tentatively settled down that I received a third Designation for the advancement of the electronic workshop. In fact, MBI had an exclusive contract for maintaining the Mage Association's servers. Some of the older bloodlines still declined to use it, but I hear the new Lord El-Melloi the second of the Archibalds was a user, and many first generation magi had started to take advantage of it as well.

"I should mention," Kusano added, her tone lightening slightly, "that Rin has announced that she wanted to have a conference to 'discuss' these findings with your personally. In fact, her and Saber-nee have already booked tickets sometime next week…"

"I see," I said, doing my best to maintain a straight face. Kusano nodded seriously.

"I'll talk to the others about adjusting the whiteboard," she added innocently, and I suppressed a twitch.

It had been natural that when we reached out for the Mage Association, it would be to Rin, breaking the Geas I had put on us. The resulting explosion had also been natural. When explanations over just why I had done something so foolish concluded, the subsequent assault by both Gandr and Noble Phantasm was similarly expected and dealt with.

The make-up sex that occurred afterward was, on the other hand, unexpected, albeit welcomed, considering how things had ended between us before.

It was difficult to quantify my relation these days with Rin and Saber. We weren't the same as we were before I received my first Designation. Too much time had passed and too many things had changed. But similarly, too much had occurred before, too much had passed between the three of us during the Grail War for us to ever truly separate.

Nowadays, I spoke with the two frequently, either through exchanging research or just to check up on each other. I think we were more in the lines of good friends, coworkers and research partners as well. I knew for a fact that Musubi hadn't given up her attempt to get the two to join my harem, but Rin was still adamant about not doing something so demeaning.

The pride of a magus was not something to be appeased so easily, I suppose. Despite that, whenever we ended up meeting in person, it usually ended with me spending the night with the two. My flock knew, and pretended not to notice the infidelity. Rin and Saber knew that they knew, but pretended that they were being discreet.

The capacity of a magus for overly complicated scenarios was also not something to be underestimated, I suppose.

Still, they hadn't found out about Matsu's hobby of recording them yet, so I still drew breath. I lived in fear of the day they discovered.

"Oh, I nearly forgot to mention," Kusano continued, perking up slightly as she focused on her tablet. "It looks like Takami-san and the rest have at least come to a conclusion on us Sekirei, at least."

"So they made some progress? What is it?" I asked eagerly. Even if research on what happened to me was slow, MBI had had considerably more information on the Sekirei in general, so it stood to reason that they might make better progress researching what had happened to my flock.

"They decided on a name," Kusano deadpanned, and I felt like palming my face.

"That's it?" I deadpanned back, and Kusano giggled.

"Don't underestimate the need for eggheads to make things overly complicated," she tittered. "Officially, we're now being refered to as the 'A-type Sekirei subspecies'. They shortened it to 'Eirei' for short."

"Eirei?" I repeated, frowning. I knew it was just an abbreviation of the letter 'A' and the ending of 'Sekirei', but in Japanese the word 'Eirei' could have the meaning 'Heroic Spirit'. "I think Saber might take offense to that…"

"Well, that's how it's being pronounced," Kusano shrugged. "The eggheads are using romanji for it." She spelled it out for me briefly, pronouncing the romantic letters individually.

"A-ray, then," I nodded, tasting the words. "Well, hopefully with that difficult and no doubt immensely constraining hurdle finished, they can start working on the less important things, like making sure you all will be alright," I muttered.

"Yup! The hard part is over, Onii-chan," Kusano smirked, before the smile briefly faded. "There is, well, there's something else that Rin said she wanted to talk to you about. Recently, it looks like the Ort is starting to become more active. Since we happen to be the literal experts on aliens, she wanted to see if we had any insight. And there's one more thing..." she touched her screen, and my own tablet blinked as she sent me a particular file. "This is from our space research department. It was taken recently, and, well, take a look, Onii-san."

Frowning at her serious tone, I opened the file, only for a music clip to start playing. It took me a second to recognize the theme from the old movie '2001', before I was distracted by the image itself.

"Is that, Jupiter?" I narrowed my eyes. There were several pictures, most likely taken from a satellite, probably from a project I didn't have any active involvement in. They were focused on Jupiter's spot, the planet's most noticeable and defining physical feature, the great red swirl that marked the enormous planet's southern hemisphere. The magnification of the picture made it grainy, but…

"They think that they found something," Kusano continued softly, completely serious for probably the first time this conversation. "They can't know for sure, but it looks…"

"Yeah," I frowned, eyes narrowing further. It might only be a shadow, but if almost looked like there was something humanoid there, something immensely huge to be visible even from the distances the satellite had taken these pictures from. I could see a part, in what would be the torso of the shape that looked like some sort of black sphere. "Whatever project this came from, double their funding and reprioritize their original goals. I want proof, even if it's proof that this is just a bad picture."

"On it," Kusano tapped her screen quickly with one hand. "We can go over the details later. I just thought it should be brought to your attention sooner rather than later."

"Good call," I told her. She gave me a brief half grin, before she spoke up again, in a deliberately cheerful tone.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, Kazehana, Tsukiumi, and Musubi all have something they want to talk to you about," I could just tell from her leer that whatever she was bringing up would most likely complicate my life endlessly.

"And that is?" I began carefully.

"Babies," she told me with a nod.

"Babies?" I repeated, blinking.

"Babies," she confirmed.

"Kazehana wants another one?" I couldn't help but ask, seeking clarification. "That would be her third… wait," I cut myself off abruptly, pulling up short as I stopped walking. "Tsukiumi and Musubi too?" I repeated slowly.

It didn't take a particularly observant person to see just how much Kazehana treasured romance, how much she longed for the joys of a relationship. Even before, when the Plan had still been active and I hadn't winged her, that much had been obvious.

What hadn't been so obvious back then was how it wasn't just lovey-dovey stuff that motivated Kazehana, but the thought of having a family as well. I wasn't sure if she saw it as simply the proof of that love, or if it was some secret wish of hers, or if it was just a manifestation of a Sekirei's typical devotion being displayed by her. Whatever the case, Kazehana hadn't waited long after the Plan was stopped before she approached me about the next step.

Well, more like she gleefully boasted of it after announcing that she was pregnant quite unexpectedly at breakfast, while Takami was over, and then went on to describe the encounter she was sure had caused it in gushing details, once more, still while Takami was over.

I still wasn't sure if that was Kazehana just being overwhelmed with joy, or if she was doing it on purpose as some sort of revenge on Takami for having been chosen over her in the case of her first love. Either way, there were some things my mother didn't need to know about my sex life.

My daughter was born nine months later, in the typical fashion as human children, secretly relieving me of a silly fear that there might be an egg involved somewhere in the process.

She was beautiful.

I honestly had no idea how I felt about children until the first time I held her. My life, all of our lives, were complicated. The mysteries surrounding our physical conditions, the very real dangers that might befall us at any time, even just how I would function as a father, whether or not I would be able to care for children appropriately given how distorted I was, had lingered in me the entire length of her pregnancy.

All that disappeared when I looked down into my firstborn's eyes.

I still don't know how I rate as a father. I did my best to try to care for her like I should, and at least we had the finances to make sure that she wouldn't want for anything. I'm sure there are times I screw up, but my flock, and even my mother, were there as well to cover for any mistakes. At least I would ensure that unlike with my dad, my child would only have to learn to cook if she wanted too rather than for the need to escape fast food and takeout, unlike with me.

I had even thought I'd started to get the hang of it, when Kazehana announced that she was pregnant again only a year and a half later, still glowing, and still going on to describe the encounter she was sure we had conceived in, this time going so far as to bring up the recording of it.

I think Takami might never forgive me for that particular trauma.

When I held my son for the first time, I fell in love all over again.

I still wasn't sure if I was going to train them in magecraft. Minaka had destroyed our bloodline's Crest, and I didn't really have any mysteries to share with them, no family specialty or skill to pass on. Well, none except what was left to me by Kiritsugu, and Kazehana had already put the foot down on teaching them how to be Magus Killers.

I suppose I'm still waiting to see if they're interested. If they are, I might be able to talk to Rin about an apprenticeship. If not, they can grow up as they will, and I'll be happy to support them.

Still, all things considered, maybe it was a bit surprising that so far only Kazehana had been pregnant. I was with all of my flock quite frequently, save for Kusano. Homura had already declared that she didn't want any for a long time, but that didn't stop her from adoring the children just as much as all the others did.

Even Karasuba, surprisingly enough, though her adoration seemed to stray towards giving them weapons on the sly, and occasionally trying to slip them completely inappropriate spoils of war.

I don't care how much effort she put into it, a mounted head of a Dead Apostle is not an appropriate birthday present for a five year old girl.

"Yup," Kusano giggled devilishly. "Is it any surprise that it's those two? Or that they want to have them together?"

"Actually, no, it isn't," I admitted. Tsukiumi and Musubi did everything together. Despite their rocky beginning, those two were probably the closest friends I had ever seen. Even if they still argued over who was the official wife and the concubine. Or that they competed over everything from doing shopping to cleaning. Or who gets to go first when it's their turn to sleep with me, something they almost without exception shared while giving as much attention to the other as they did me…

I'd seen weirder friendships, I suppose. And Musubi really had come a long way from the slightly clueless battle maniac she had been at the beginning. Nowadays, you could hardly tell she was distorted as all.

Just like me, for that matter.

"So," Kusano drawled. "Babies?"

"I'll talk to the three of them privately later," I blushed, not wanting to talk about babies or how they came about with someone who was still too young for the process. "I'm not against it, but I want to make sure they're sure…"

"Great!" Kusano cheered happily. "Oh, I can't wait to see them! They're so adorable! Oh, wouldn't it be great if Musubi and Tsukiumi had twins or something?"

"Er, right. Great," I broke into a sweat at the thought. I love my children, but that didn't mean that I couldn't also acknowledge how hard it can be to raise them. Especially when they're that young.

At least pregnant Sekirei are nowhere near as temperamental as pregnant humans, something I had learned to my immense relief through Kazehana's two pregnancies. Though the cravings they get can also be pretty bizarre.

I better start stocking up on pistachios, spinach, and ketchup. And ask them to let me know when they're going to snack so I can make sure I'm not around and thus not see the resulting mix. I didn't care if they loved it, it still looked disgusting.

We were closing in on the conference room by this point, Kusano's morning briefing wrapping to a close as we neared it. It was the highest floor of MBI's headquarter that normal personal can come to, all the floors higher being either my flock and I's personal quarters, or my workshop or other labs dedicated to mystic research. Probably because it was meant to be impressive, the corridor leading up to the conference room had wide floor to ceiling windows that let you stare out over the city from high above.

We generally used it as a dining room when it wasn't serving as a reception area to visiting VIPs.

As was my usual habit, I paused before entering the room, turning to face the city proper.

It had been years, and even now, I was still struck by how small everything looked from this height, how different. The things I interacted with, the people and objects which littered everyday life, all seemed different up here, and even though that would change when I exited the building back on their level, up here, even after so many years, an overlooking view still unsettled me.

Not just the things, either. A decade ago, I would never have imagined how my life would have turned out. No, I suppose I could imagine, a future on a hill of swords. This new, different life though… It was something I had come to love and treasure.

Still not something I ever would have predicted, even if the Minaka Sorcery trait ended up being…

"Feeling the urge to jump?" Kusano's voice from behind me was unexpected, but it was warning enough that I didn't start when she wrapped her arms around me, looking from over my shoulder with me.

"Only a little," I admitted. It was a familiar old impulse, just a passing one, and I dismissed it easily.

"Maybe you should," Kusano's voice was teasing, and I turned my head a little to give her a curious look. She flashed me an impish smile. "Jumping isn't bad, you know. Did you know, there are two things that might happen when you jump from up high?"

"Hm?" I hummed at her, wondering what she meant and encouraging her to continue.

"The first is that you fall," Kusano admitted, shrugging a bit. "But that doesn't happen to everyone. After all, sometimes, the second option happens."

"And that is?"

"You fly," Kusano nuzzled her face against my back, her breath warm. "And with us as your wings, how could you do anything else, Onii-chan?"

"Hmm," I simply grunted at her, considering her words. It wasn't like Kusano to go around using strange metaphors. That was typically a magus job. Still, maybe she was on to something. I turned to make my way to the conference room, Kusano letting go of me reluctantly but following. "Let's go join the others."

I suppose the day Kiritsugu had taken me from the fire, that had been the day I had jumped, or perhaps been thrown, off the precipice between a normal life and this one that I was living. And since I was still here, I must not have hit the ground yet.

I suppose, I'd been flying for quite some time then.

Fin

_Author's Conclusion: Three years, plus a few weeks. That's how long its been since I began "In Flight"._

_It was quite a journey, that much was for sure._

_With this conclusion, I hoped to let people get a glimpse, if only that, of how the rest of the cast besides Shirou had spent the time. Also, though it was only a bit, I thought I'd offer glimpses into the future as well, possibilities that I'll allow you to imagine for yourselves._

_Enough of that for now._

_Just like with "Hill of Swords", it's hard to recall precisely what it was that prompted "In Flight". It was originally an idol thought comparing to completely dissimilar characters' hair color. From there, it lingered, more and more ideas starting to generate, ways the two worlds could end up being blended, ways that might change things for the worlds in general._

_In the end, I discovered I had planned out a whole story, and then it was just time to put it down on paper, so to speak._

_And so things come to an end. Some will like it, others may not, but in the end, it is still the end._

_So, for the final time in "In Flight' I invite you to read, and if you want to comment on it, please, use the reviews. If you wanted to speak about it in more detail, the forum awaits. _

_And as always, dear reader, enjoy._


End file.
